Monday, 2nd June 2025 in London
Welcome to your daily snapshot of London! Explore 42 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in London. From remarkable moments in local and world history to the people who left their mark — find out what makes today special. Today's weather in London brings drizzly with temperatures between 12°C and 21°C. Tonight's moon is in its waning gibbous phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Gemini. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Monday, 2nd June in London, GB.
London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is a major global centre for finance, culture and politics situated on the River Thames. On Monday, 2nd June 2025, the weather in London is drizzly with overcast conditions typical of early summer. The date falls under the Gemini zodiac sign, which runs from 21st May to 20th June, and the moon is in its waning gibbous phase, gradually diminishing in illumination as it moves towards the new moon.
On this day
On 2nd June 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, an event that marked the formal beginning of her reign and became one of the most significant state occasions of the twentieth century. The ceremony was watched by millions across the Commonwealth and established traditions that would define the modern British monarchy for decades to come.
Seventy years earlier, on the same date in 1883, Air Canada Flight 797 suffered a catastrophic in-flight fire that forced an emergency landing in Cincinnati. As the aircraft's doors opened following touchdown, a flashover swept through the cabin, claiming 23 lives in one of aviation's most tragic accidents. The disaster led to significant changes in aircraft safety standards, including improvements to cabin materials and emergency procedures.
In more recent times, 2nd June 2010 witnessed a shooting spree in Cumbria, England, when a gunman killed 12 people and injured 11 others before taking his own life. The incident became one of the deadliest mass shootings in British history and prompted further discussions about firearms regulation and public safety.
DayAtlas provides comprehensive information for any date and location, displaying weather conditions, significant historical events, and notable births and deaths. Users can explore what happened on a specific day throughout history whilst learning about the astrological and meteorological context of their chosen date.
Find out what's happening today in London.
What the Weather Had in Store for London on 2nd June 2025
Many paths ascend the mountain; one descends.
Fortune of the Day
2nd June in the Stars – Star Sign Gemini
Personality Profile
Personality Those born on June 2nd embody the quintessential Gemini: intellectually sharp, perpetually curious, and always in motion. They thrive on exchanging ideas and find joy in engaging conversations with others. Stagnation feels suffocating to them.
Strengths & Weaknesses Their strength lies in adaptability, quick wit, and communication mastery. However, they risk superficiality, impatience, and scattered focus when their restless minds lack sufficient stimulation and direction.
Love In relationships, June 2nd natives require mental compatibility and lively dialogue. They're charming conversationalists but may seem emotionally detached if intellectual spark is missing or emotional depth isn't cultivated.
Caree & Finance Versatility opens many doors—journalism, teaching, sales, or technology suit them well. The number 8 amplifies ambition, yet concentration on long-term goals matters for sustained financial success and professional growth.
Health Restlessness can trigger nervousness and insomnia. June 2nd natives should consciously practice relaxation, channel energy through sports and creative pursuits, and establish grounding routines for holistic wellbeing.
That night, the moon was in its waning gibbous phase.
Chinese year of the Snake (Wood).
Fun Facts About 2nd June
Name Days in Your Language: Elma, Elmer, Elmo, Elmore, Erasmo
Someone born on this day would be just 363 days old today — roughly 8,716 hours, 522,962 minutes, or 31,377,746 seconds spent on Earth so far.
It's the 153. day of the year. In 2025, 2nd June falls on a Monday.
There are 212 days still to come.
We’re currently in Week 23 — the year marches on.
Famous Birthdays on 2nd June
On this day, 202 notable people were born on 2nd June — spanning from 1305 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
02/06/2002
Madison Hu, American actress
Madison Hu is an American actress. She is known for playing the role of Frankie Wong on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark, and for her previous recurring role as Marci on another Disney Channel series, Best Friends Whenever. More recently, she was cast as Constance Wang in the Netflix limited series The Altruists, with casting news reported in July 2025. She also played college student Eva in a recurring role for the show Rooster with Steve Carrell.
Fonua Pole, New Zealand rugby league player
Fonua Pole is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop or lock forward for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL).
02/06/2001
Kysaiah Pickett, Australian rules footballer
Kysaiah Klem Paul Kropinyeri-Pickett is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder and a forward, he is 1.71 metres tall and weighs 73 kilograms (161 lb).
02/06/2000
Jay Idzes, Indonesian footballer
Jay Noah Idzes is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Sassuolo. Born in the Netherlands, he captains the Indonesia national team.
02/06/1999
Campbell Graham, Australian rugby league player
Campbell Graham is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a centre or winger for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL and Australia at international level.
02/06/1997
Scott Wozniak, American YouTuber
Scott the Woz is a gaming comedy review web series created by American YouTuber Scott Wozniak. It stars Wozniak, covering video game topics such as consoles, accessories, gaming history and subculture. Episodes are written and directed by Wozniak, with recurring characters played by his friends.
02/06/1996
Morissette, Filipina singer-songwriter
Johanne Morissette Daug Amon is a Filipino singer and songwriter nicknamed in the press "Asia's Phoenix". She gained notice as a runner-up in TV5's Star Factor at age 14 and made her theatrical debut in 2012 as Mitchie Torres in Repertory Philippines' adaptation of Disney's Camp Rock. She received wider notice as a semi-finalist in the first season of ABS-CBN's The Voice of the Philippines (2013). She has a wide vocal range and has used the whistle register in some songs.
02/06/1993
Adam Taggart, Australian footballer
Adam Jake Taggart is an Australian soccer player who plays as a striker for A-League club Perth Glory, whom he captains, and the Australia national team.
02/06/1992
Pajtim Kasami, Swiss footballer
Pajtim Kasami is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Winterthur in the Swiss Super League.
02/06/1990
Dane Rampe, Australian rules footballer
Dane Rampe is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously served as co-captain of the Swans from 2019 until the end of the 2023 season.
02/06/1989
Steve Smith, Australian cricketer
Steven Peter Devereux Smith is an Australian international cricketer, former captain of the Australian national team in all three formats of the game and since 2021, the vice-captain of the Australian Test team. He is regarded as the best Test batsman of his generation, scoring over 10,000 Test runs, having reached an ICC Test batting rating of 947, the second-highest figure of all time, only behind Don Bradman's 961 and was named ICC Men's Test Player of the Decade for 2011–2020.
02/06/1988
Sergio Agüero, Argentine footballer
Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo, also known as Kun Agüero, is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in the history of the Premier League. He played for Manchester City from 2011 to 2021 and is the club's all-time top goalscorer and holds the record for most Premier League hat-tricks, with 12.
Awkwafina, American actress, rapper, and comedian
Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina, is an American actress and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, Yellow Ranger (2014), and appeared on the MTV comedy series Girl Code (2014–2015). She expanded to films with supporting roles in the comedies Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). For her starring role as a grieving young woman in The Farewell (2019), she won a Golden Globe Award.
Staniliya Stamenova, Bulgarian canoeist
Staniliya Stamenova is a Bulgarian sprint canoer and former athletics competitor. She won the gold medal in the C-1 200 m event at the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan and has won the gold in the same event at the Canoe Sprint European Championships three times, in 2012, 2014, and 2015.
02/06/1987
Clayton Bartolo, Maltese politician
Clayton Bartolo is an accountant and registered auditor. He is a Maltese politician and former Minister for Tourism. He first entered politics as a councillor and later deputy mayor of the local council of Mellieħa. He was elected as a Labour member of the Parliament of Malta in June 2017.
Maryka Holtzhausen, South African netball player
Maryka Holtzhausen is a former South African netball player. She played in the positions of GA and WA. She was a member of the South Africa national netball team, and competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore. She also participated in the 2010 World Netball Series and the 2011 World Netball Series. She played in the 2012 Netball Quad Series, and in the same year, she won a bronze medal in 2012 Fast5 Netball World Series with the Fast5 Proteas.
Yoann Huget, French rugby player
Yoann Huget is a former French rugby union player. He played as a wing or fullback.
Matthew Koma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Matthew Fredrick Bair, known professionally as Matthew Koma, is an American singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Songs written or co-written by Koma include "Spectrum", "Find You", and Grammy Award-winner "Clarity", all produced by Zedd. He has collaborated with artists such as Shania Twain, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Hardwell, Zedd, Miriam Bryant, Sebastian Ingrosso, Alesso, Afrojack, Tiësto, Vicetone, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, and others.
Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan cricketer
Angelo Davis Mathews is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the national cricket team in all formats. Mathews retired from Test cricket in 2025. Mathews was a member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made the finals of 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. Mathews and Lasith Malinga hold the record for the highest ninth wicket partnership in ODI cricket.
Sonakshi Sinha, Indian actress
Sonakshi Sinha is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and series. The daughter of actors and politicians Poonam and Shatrughan Sinha, she has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list from 2012 to 2017, and in 2019. Her accolades include a Filmfare Award.
02/06/1986
Todd Carney, Australian rugby league player
Todd Carney, also known by the nickname of "Toddy", is an Australian former professional rugby league player who played in the 2000s and 2010s.
02/06/1985
Rhett Bomar, American football player
Rhett Matthew Bomar is an American former professional football quarterback. He was selected by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL draft. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma and Sam Houston State University. He was also a member of the Minnesota Vikings and Oakland Raiders.
Miyuki Sawashiro, Japanese voice actress and singer
Miyuki Sawashiro is a Japanese actress and narrator. She has played voice roles in a number of Japanese anime/games including Beelzebub, Bishamon in Noragami, Petit Charat/Puchiko in Di Gi Charat, Mint in Galaxy Angel, Sinon in Sword Art Online II, Twilight/Towa Akagi/Cure Scarlet in Go! Princess Precure, Dlanor A. Knox in Umineko: When They Cry, Izuna Hatsuse in No Game, No Life, Amagi in Azur Lane, Celty Sturluson in Durarara!!, Kurapika in Hunter × Hunter, Raiden Mei and Dr. Mei in Honkai Impact 3 and Gun Girl Z, Raiden Shogun/Raiden Ei in Genshin Impact, Acheron in Honkai: Star Rail, Akane Kurashiki in Zero Escape, Ayane Yano in Kimi ni Todoke, Fujiko Mine in later installments of Lupin the Third, Queen in Mysterious Joker, Jun Sasada in Natsume's Book of Friends, Shinku in Rozen Maiden, Haruka Nanami in Uta no Prince-sama, Kotoha Isone in Yozakura Quartet, Kanbaru Suruga in Bakemonogatari, Saber of Red/Mordred in Fate/Apocrypha, Elizabeth and Chidori in Persona 3, Catherine in Catherine, Ivy Valentine in Soulcalibur, Jolyne Cujoh in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, Wizard Cookie in Cookie Run: Kingdom, Kirari Momobami in Kakegurui, Ho'olheyak in Arknights and Rosetta in Punishing: Gray Raven.
02/06/1984
Jack Afamasaga, New Zealand rugby league player
Jack Taualii Afamasaga, also known by the nickname of "Skuks", is a New Zealand former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at club level for the Parramatta Eels, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League, the Western Suburbs Rosellas in the Newcastle Rugby League competition, with stints in the Queensland Cup and France, as a second-row or lock.
Feleti Mateo, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
Feleti Sosefo Mateo is a former Tonga international rugby league footballer. He played a variety of positions from lock, second-row and five-eighth. Mateo was also selected to represent NSW City Origin and the NRL All Stars. He last played for English club Salford Red Devils of Super League in 2016. Before that, he played for Sydney club the Parramatta Eels between 2004 and 2010. He also played for the New Zealand Warriors between 2011 and 2014, and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 2015 and 2016 before moving back to England and finishing his top-level career with Salford. Mateo was renowned for his versatility and extravagant style of play.
02/06/1983
Chris Higgins, American ice hockey player
Christopher Robert Higgins is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the skills and development coach for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). While playing college hockey, he was selected 14th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2002 NHL entry draft. He finished a two-year career with the Yale Bulldogs, earning ECAC Hockey Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, before turning professional for the 2003–04 season. After two seasons with the Canadiens' minor league affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League (AHL), he joined the NHL in 2005–06. He recorded three consecutive 20-goal seasons to begin his NHL career before being traded to the New York Rangers in June 2009. After brief stints with the Rangers, Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers, he joined the Vancouver Canucks in February 2011. Internationally, Higgins has competed for the United States in two World Junior Championships and one World Championship (2009).
Toni Livers, Swiss skier
Toni Livers is a Swiss former cross-country skier. Livers began competing in 2000 and competed in the World Cup from 2003 to 2020. His best individual finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was ninth in the 15 km + 15 km double pursuit at Sapporo in 2007.
02/06/1982
Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
Jewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Kaylee Frye in the series Firefly (2002–2003) and its follow-up movie Serenity (2005), and as Jennifer Keller on science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis (2007–2009). Staite also starred as Catalina in Space Cases (1996), as "Becca" Fisher in Flash Forward (1996–1997), as Raquel Westbrook in the Canadian drama The L.A. Complex (2012), as Caroline Swift in AMC's crime drama The Killing (2013–2014), and as Abigail Bianchi in the Canadian legal drama series Family Law (2021–2026).
02/06/1981
Nikolay Davydenko, Russian tennis player
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 in November 2006. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the semi-finals, which he accomplished on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open, losing to Roger Federer in all but one of them. His biggest achievement was winning the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals, and he also won three ATP Masters Series. In mid-October 2014 Davydenko retired from playing professionally.
Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player
Chin-Hui Tsao is a Taiwanese professional baseball pitcher for the Fuzhou Sea Knights of Chinese Professional Baseball. He is the second major league player, and the first major league pitcher from Taiwan. Like the first Taiwanese major league player, former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Chin-Feng Chen, he is a Taiwanese aborigine of Amis ancestry. He had previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies and Dodgers before spending the 2009 season with the Brother Elephants in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). After the 2009 Taiwan Series, Tsao was investigated for game-fixing scandals, although he was ultimately not indicted on February 10, 2010. Tsao was expelled by CPBL on December 23, 2009. He has recorded the fastest pitch by a Taiwanese pitcher at 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) in 2005.
02/06/1980
Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian-American drummer
Fabrizio "Fab" Moretti is a Brazilian-American musician and visual artist best known as the drummer for American rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since 2001. A collaborative artist, he has been part of a series of groups since the mid-2000s, most notably the Brazilian-American band Little Joy, which released one album in 2008, and the experimental pop collective Machinegum, which he has led since 2018. Throughout his career, Moretti has worked on a variety of art projects which span the mediums of drawing, sculpture, and installation and performance art.
Bobby Simmons, American basketball player
Bobby Simmons is an American former professional basketball player. During his NBA career, Simmons played for five NBA teams between 2001 and 2012. He won the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 2005.
Richard Skuse, English rugby player
Richard David Skuse is a retired Rugby union prop who last played for the Saracens during the 2009–10 season.
Abby Wambach, American soccer player and coach
Mary Abigail Wambach is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. She played for the U.S. women's national soccer team from 2003 to 2015. With 184 international goals, she ranks second on the all-time list of international goals scored by players of any gender. Wambach is a six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year in 2012. She was included on the 2015 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Tomasz Wróblewski, Polish bass player and songwriter
Tomasz Wróblewski, stage name Orion, is a Polish musician, best known as the bassist for the extreme metal band Behemoth. Since 1997, he also is a member of symphonic black metal band Vesania as a lead vocalist and guitarist.
02/06/1979
Morena Baccarin, Brazilian-American actress
Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin is an American actress. Known for her lead role as Mickey Fox in the CBS television series Sheriff Country since 2025, Baccarin has played multiple television and film roles. She portrayed Adria in season 10 of the TV series Stargate SG-1, Inara Serra in the sci-fi television series Firefly (2002–2003) and its follow-up film Serenity (2005), Vanessa in the superhero comedy films Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Jessica Brody in the thriller series Homeland (2011–2013), and Leslie Thompkins in the superhero series Gotham (2015–2019). For Homeland, Baccarin was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2013. Born in Brazil, she immigrated to the United States as a child.
Butterfly Boucher, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Butterfly Giselle Grace Boucher is an Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer born in Adelaide. From the age of 15 years she played bass guitar in her older sister Rebecca Boucher Burns (Becca)'s band Eat the Menu, which issued a debut album, Whoosh, in 1996. Since mid-2000 Boucher has lived in Nashville, United States, and has released four solo albums, Flutterby, Scary Fragile, a self-titled album, and a 10th-anniversary celebration of Flutterby called Happy Birthday Flutterby. Since 2008, Boucher has recorded material for Ten Out of Tenn, a Nashville-based music collective. Boucher is also a member of the pop rock trio Elle Macho.
02/06/1978
Dominic Cooper, English actor
Dominic Edward Cooper is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show Preacher (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and the ABC series Agent Carter (2015–2016), among other Marvel productions. Cooper played Sky in Mamma Mia! (2008) and its sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).
Nikki Cox, American actress
Nikki Cox is an American actress, known for her roles on the television series Unhappily Ever After, Las Vegas, The Norm Show, and Nikki.
Yi So-yeon, biotechnologist and astronaut, the first Korean in space
Yi So-yeon is a South Korean astronaut and biotechnologist who became the first South Korean to fly in space.
Justin Long, American actor
Justin Jacob Long is an American actor and comedian.
02/06/1977
Teet Allas, Estonian footballer
Teet Allas is a retired Estonian professional footballer. He played the position of defender.
A.J. Styles, American wrestler
Allen Neal Jones, better known by his ring name AJ Styles, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a talent scout. He is also best known for his tenures in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Ring of Honor (ROH). Jones debuted in 1998 and competed for various independent promotions as well as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) before gaining initial mainstream exposure in TNA.
Zachary Quinto, American actor and producer
Zachary John Quinto is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series Heroes (2006–2010); Spock in the film Star Trek (2009) and its sequels Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016); Charlie Manx in the AMC series NOS4A2, and Dr. Oliver Thredson in American Horror Story: Asylum, for which he received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
02/06/1976
Earl Boykins, American basketball player
Earl Antoine Boykins is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is an assistant coach for the USC Trojans men's team. He played thirteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Bobcats, Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets. Standing at 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) in height, Boykins is the second-shortest player in NBA history behind Muggsy Bogues. He also played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and overseas in Italy.
Martin Čech, Czech ice hockey player (died 2007)
Martin Čech was a Czech ice hockey defenceman.
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is the twin brother of UFC fighter Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Nogueira rose to prominence in Japanese promotions Fighting Network RINGS where he won the 2000 RINGS King of Kings tournament, and later with Pride Fighting Championships, where he was the first Pride Heavyweight Champion from November 2001 to March 2003, as well as a 2004 PRIDE FC Heavyweight Grand Prix Finalist. He is one of only three men to have held championship titles in both Pride Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Tim Rice-Oxley, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
Timothy James Rice-Oxley is a British musician, best known for being the keyboardist, backing vocalist and songwriter of the alternative rock band Keane. In 2010, he formed a side-project, Mt. Desolation, with his Keane bandmate Jesse Quin.
02/06/1975
Salvatore Scibona, American author
Salvatore Scibona is an American novelist. He has won awards for his novels as well as short stories, and was selected in 2010 as one of The New Yorker's "20 under 40: Fiction Writers to Watch". His work has been published in ten languages. In 2021 he was awarded the $200,000 Mildred and Harold Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his novel The Volunteer. In its citation the academy wrote, "Salvatore Scibona's work is grand, tragic, epic. His novel The Volunteer, about war, masculinity, abandonment, and grimly executed grace, is an intricate masterpiece of plot, scene, and troubled character. In language both meticulous and extravagant, Scibona brings to the American novel a mythic fury, a fresh greatness."
02/06/1974
Gata Kamsky, Russian-American chess player
Gata Rustemovich Kamsky is an American-French chess grandmaster and a five-time U.S. champion.
Matt Serra, American mixed martial artist
Matt Serra is an American former professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. He is a former UFC Welterweight Champion. He is the co-star of Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight and co-host of the official podcast of the UFC, UFC Unfiltered, alongside Jim Norton.
02/06/1973
Marko Kristal, Estonian footballer and manager
Marko Kristal is an Estonian football manager and former player. He is the assistant manager of Nõmme Kalju.
Neifi Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
Neifi Neftali Pérez is a Dominican former Major League baseball player. He was a switch hitter who threw right-handed. During his career, he played with the Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, and Detroit Tigers.
02/06/1972
Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, game show host, and singer
Wayne Alphonso Brady is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular cast member on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? He was the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show, the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and he has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival.
Raúl Ibañez, American baseball player
Raúl Javier Ibañez is an American former professional baseball left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) now serving as vice president of baseball development and special projects for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played 11 of his 19 big league seasons for the Seattle Mariners, while also playing for the Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. While primarily a left fielder, Ibañez often saw considerable time as a designated hitter (DH) throughout his career.
Wentworth Miller, American actor and screenwriter
Wentworth Earl Miller III is an American actor known for playing the role of Michael Scofield in Prison Break, for which he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 2005. He made his screenwriting debut with the 2013 thriller film Stoker. In 2014, he began playing Leonard Snart / Captain Cold in a recurring role on The Flash before becoming a main series regular on the spin-off first season, Legends of Tomorrow.
02/06/1971
Kateřina Jacques, Czech translator and politician
Kateřina Jacques is a Czech Green Party politician. She was elected to the lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in the June 2006 election, representing the Prague electoral district. Before the election she was director of the human rights section of the prime minister's office. She gained media attention when she was assaulted by a policeman while protesting against a neo-Nazi rally on 1 May 2006.
02/06/1970
B Real, American rapper and actor
Louis Mario Freese, known by his stage name B-Real, is an American rapper. Since 1991, he has been one of two lead rappers in the hip hop group Cypress Hill, along with Sen Dog, and the only constant member of the band. He has also been a part of the rap metal band Kush (2000–2002), the hip hop supergroup Serial Killers (2014–present) and the rap rock supergroup Prophets of Rage (2016–2019). He has released a variety of solo mixtapes, as well as two solo albums: Smoke n Mirrors (2009) and Tell You Something (2020).
02/06/1969
Kurt Abbott, American baseball player
Kurt Thomas Abbott is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) primarily as a shortstop and second baseman from 1993 to 2001.
Paulo Sérgio, Brazilian footballer
Paulo Sérgio Silvestre do Nascimento, commonly known as Paulo Sérgio, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a forward. Whilst at German club Bayern Munich, he won the Champions League in 2001.
David Wheaton, American tennis player, radio host, and author
David Wheaton is an American author, radio host, columnist, and former professional tennis player.
02/06/1968
Merril Bainbridge, Australian singer-songwriter
Merril Bainbridge is an Australian pop music singer and songwriter. Her debut was in 1994 with the single, "Mouth", which peaked at number one for six consecutive weeks in Australia and became a top five hit in the United States.
Andy Cohen, American television host
Andrew Joseph Cohen is an American radio and television talk show host, producer, and writer. He is the host and executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise and Bravo's late night talk show, Watch What Happens Live! He also hosts a two-hour show with co-host John Hill twice a week on Sirius XM.
Lester Green, American comedian and actor
Lester Green, known professionally as Beetlejuice, is an American comedian and actor. Green rose to prominence in 1999 due to his appearances on The Howard Stern Show, becoming a member of Stern's Wack Pack. He was named the greatest Wack Packer of all time in 2015. He has also appeared in such feature films as Bubble Boy (2001) and Scary Movie 2 (2001).
02/06/1967
Remigija Nazarovienė, Lithuanian heptathlete and coach
Remigija Nazarovienė is a retired Lithuanian heptathlete. She won the bronze medal at the 1997 World Championships and finished third at the 1998 IAAF World Combined Events Challenge. She won the Talence Decastar twice, in 1996 and 1997, and was runner-up in 1989 and 1998. She competed at three consecutive Olympic Games, three consecutive World Championships in Athletics, ad four straight editions of the European Athletics Championships.
Mike Stanton, American baseball player
William Michael Stanton is an American former left-handed relief pitcher who pitched for eight teams in Major League Baseball between 1989 and 2007. Stanton won the World Series in 1998, 1999, and 2000 as a member of the New York Yankees.
Nadhim Zahawi, British politician
Nadhim Zahawi is an Iraqi-born British politician who served in various ministerial positions under prime ministers Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak from 2018 to 2023. He most recently served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio from 25 October 2022 until he was dismissed by Sunak on 29 January 2023. A former member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stratford-on-Avon from 2010 to 2024. As of January 2026, he is a member of Reform UK.
02/06/1966
Dayana Cadeau, Haitian born Canadian-American professional bodybuilder
Dayana M. Cadeau is a Haitian Canadian professional female bodybuilder.
Candace Gingrich, American activist
Candace Gingrich is an American LGBT rights activist at the Human Rights Campaign. Candace is the half-sibling of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Pedro Guerra, Spanish singer-songwriter
Pedro Manuel Guerra Mansito, better known as Pedro Guerra, is a Spanish singer-songwriter. He originally performed under the name Pedro Manuel.
Catherine King, Australian politician
Catherine Fiona King is an Australian politician serving as the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government since 2022 and as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ballarat since 2001. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and briefly served as a minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments in 2013. She served as Shadow Minister of Health from 2013 to 2019 and as Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development from 2019 to 2022.
Petra van Staveren, Dutch swimmer
Petronella ("Petra") Grietje van Staveren is a former breaststroke swimmer from the Netherlands who won the gold medal in the 100 meter breaststroke at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She also won a bronze at the 1986 world championships and a European silver in 1983 in the 4×100 meter medley relay. She finished five times in fourth place at European championships in 1981–1985.
02/06/1965
Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer and journalist
Mark Edward Waugh is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) debut in 1988. Waugh was a part of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup.
Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
Stephen Rodger Waugh is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman and a medium-pace bowler, Waugh is considered one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Waugh was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Australia to fifteen of their record sixteen consecutive Test wins, and to victory in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Waugh is considered the most successful Test captain in history with 41 victories and a winning ratio of 72%.
02/06/1964
Caroline Link, German director and screenwriter
Caroline Link is a German television and film director and screenwriter.
02/06/1963
Anand Abhyankar, Indian actor (died 2012)
Anand Abhyankar was an Indian actor who appeared in Marathi film, television and theatre. He starred in films such as Spandan (2012), Balgandharva (2011), Matichya Chuli (2006), Vaastav (1999) and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hain. On television, he is known for his roles in Mala Sasu Havi, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Fu Bai Fu, Avaghachi Sansar and Asambhav.
02/06/1962
Mark Plaatjes, South African-American runner and coach
Mark Plaatjes is a former marathon runner who was champion at the 1993 World Championships in Athletics in Stuttgart.
02/06/1960
Olga Bondarenko, Russian runner
Olga Petrovna Bondarenko is a retired Russian track and field athlete who competed mainly in the 10,000 metres. She trained at the Armed Forces sports society in Volgograd and represented the Soviet Union internationally.
Tony Hadley, English singer-songwriter and actor
Anthony Patrick Hadley is an English pop singer. He rose to fame in the 1980s as the lead singer of the new wave band Spandau Ballet and launched a solo career following the group's split in 1990. Hadley returned to the band in 2009 but left again in 2017, and has since toured regularly as a solo artist. Hadley has been noted for his expressive voice and vocal range.
Kyle Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster
Kyle Eugene Petty is an American former stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and father of racer Adam Petty, who was killed in a crash during practice in May 2000. Petty last drove the No. 45 Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises, where he was CEO; his last race was in 2008. He is also an active philanthropist and has run the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America since 1995.
02/06/1959
Rineke Dijkstra, Dutch photographer
Rineke Dijkstra HonFRPS is a Dutch photographer. She lives and works in Amsterdam. Dijkstra has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, the 1999 Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize and the 2017 Hasselblad Award.
Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no wave scene as the singer and guitarist of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.
02/06/1958
Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player
Lawrence Wendell Pfohl, better known by the ring name Lex Luger, is an American retired professional wrestler, bodybuilder, and professional football lineman. He is best known for his work with National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under Jim Crockett Promotions, and the World Wrestling Federation.
02/06/1957
Mark Lawrenson, English footballer and manager
Mark Thomas Lawrenson is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is best known for his time at Liverpool, during the 1980s. After a short career as a manager, he then became a radio, television and internet pundit, most prominently with the BBC, until his retirement in 2022. Born and raised in England, Lawrenson qualified to play for the Republic of Ireland through his grandfather, Thomas Crotty, who was born in Waterford.
02/06/1956
Jan Lammers, Dutch race car driver
Johannes Antonius "Jan" Lammers is a Dutch racecar driver, most notable for winning the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans world endurance race, for Silk Cut Jaguar/TWR; after four seasons in Formula One racing, from 1979 through 1982, for the F1 teams of Shadow, ATS, Ensign and Theodore, respectively. After a world-record setting ten-year hiatus, Lammers made a brief Formula One comeback, for two races, with team March in 1992. Aside from racing in these two of the highest leagues of global auto-sports, Lammers has raced in an exceptionally wide number of racing series and competitions, domestic and abroad, over four decades.
02/06/1955
Dana Carvey, American comedian and actor
Dana Thomas Carvey is an American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, screenwriter and producer.
Nandan Nilekani, Indian businessman, co-founded Infosys
Nandan Mohanrao Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur. He co-founded Infosys and is the non-executive chairman of Infosys replacing R Seshasayee and Ravi Venkatesan, who were the co-chairs of the board, on 24 August 2017. After the exit of Vishal Sikka, Nilekani was appointed non-executive chairman of the board effective 24 August 2017. He was the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). After a successful career at Infosys, he headed the Government of India's technology committee, TAGUP. He is a member of Indian National Congress but not active in politics as of 2019. As of October 2025, he is the 100th richest person in India with a net worth of US$3.2 billion.
Mani Ratnam, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
Gopalaratnam Subramaniam, known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada films. He is known as one of the most prominent and greatest directors in the history of Indian cinema.
Michael Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player
Michael Steele is an American former musician, best known as the bassist for the Bangles. Under the name Micki Steele, she was a founding member of the Runaways but left in 1975, shortly before the band's major label debut. For the next several years, she played with various other musical groups for short periods of time.
02/06/1954
Dennis Haysbert, American actor and producer
Dennis Dexter Haysbert is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles as President David Palmer on the first five seasons of 24, baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, Secret Service agent Tim Collin in the political thriller film Absolute Power, Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the CBS military action drama series The Unit, and God on the Netflix show Lucifer. He has also appeared in the films Love Field, Navy SEALS, Heat, Waiting to Exhale, and Far from Heaven, as well as the science fiction series Incorporated. He is currently the narrator for the A&E Network's American Justice television series.
02/06/1953
Vidar Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist
Vidar Johansen is a Norwegian jazz musician, music arranger and composer.
Craig Stadler, American golfer
Craig Robert Stadler is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including one major championship, the 1982 Masters Tournament.
Cornel West, American philosopher, author, and academic
Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, politician, social critic, and public intellectual. West was an independent candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election and is an outspoken voice in left-wing politics in the United States. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West's primary philosophy focuses on the roles of race, gender, and class struggle in American society. A socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, democratic socialism, left-wing populism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism.
02/06/1952
Gary Bettman, American sports executive, 14th Commissioner of the National Hockey League
Gary Bruce Bettman is an American sports executive who serves as the commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL), a post he has held since February 1, 1993. Previously, Bettman was a senior vice president and general counsel to the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bettman is a graduate of Cornell University and New York University School of Law. Bettman was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
02/06/1951
Gilbert Baker, American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag (died 2017)
Gilbert Baker was an American artist, designer, activist, and vexillographer, best known as the creator of the rainbow flag.
Arnold Mühren, Dutch footballer and manager
Arnold Johannes Hyacinthus Mühren is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. His older brother Gerrie, also a midfielder, won three European Cup titles with Ajax in the early 1970s. Mühren is among the few players to have won all three major UEFA-organised club competitions, the European Cup (1972–73), the Cup Winners' Cup (1986–87) and the UEFA Cup (1980–81). The last of these was won with Ipswich Town, while the other titles were won while playing for Ajax. He is also one of the two Dutch players, together with Danny Blind, to have won all UEFA club competitions.
Larry Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Larry Clark Robinson is a Canadian former ice hockey coach, executive and player. His coaching career includes head coaching positions with the New Jersey Devils, as well as the Los Angeles Kings. For his play in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings, Robinson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995. He was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017, Robinson was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players". Larry is the brother of Moe Robinson.
Alexander Wylie, Lord Kinclaven, Scottish lawyer, judge, and educator
Alexander Featherstonhaugh Wylie, Lord Kinclaven was a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland.
02/06/1950
Joanna Gleason, Canadian actress and singer
Joanna Hall Gleason Sarandon is a Canadian-American actress and singer, known for her performances in theatrical musicals and plays, and on film and television.
Momčilo Vukotić, Serbian footballer and manager (died 2021)
Momčilo "Moca" Vukotić was a Serbian football coach and player.
02/06/1949
Heather Couper, English astronomer and physicist (died 2020)
Heather Anita Couper, was a British astronomer, broadcaster and science populariser.
Frank Rich, American journalist and critic
Frank Hart Rich Jr. is an American essayist and liberal op-ed columnist, who held various positions within The New York Times from 1980 to 2011. He has also produced television series and documentaries for HBO.
02/06/1948
Jerry Mathers, American actor
Gerald Patrick Mathers is an American former actor best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963. He played the protagonist Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of the suburban couple June and Ward Cleaver and the younger brother of Wally Cleaver.
02/06/1946
Lasse Hallström, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström is a Swedish film director. He first became known for directing almost all music videos by the pop group ABBA, and came to international attention with My Life as a Dog (1985). He is also known for What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The Cider House Rules (1999), and Chocolat (2000). He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as the Academy Award for Best Director twice.
Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer (died 2020)
Peter William Sutcliffe, also known as Peter Coonan, was an English serial killer who was convicted of murdering thirteen women and attempting to murder seven others between 1975 and 1980. Press reports dubbed him the Yorkshire Ripper, an allusion to the Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper. Sutcliffe was sentenced to twenty concurrent sentences of life imprisonment, which were converted to a whole life order in 2010. Two of his murders took place in Manchester; all the others took place in West Yorkshire. Criminal psychologist David Holmes characterised Sutcliffe as being an "extremely callous, sexually sadistic serial killer".
02/06/1945
Richard Long, English painter, sculptor, and photographer
Sir Richard Julian Long is an English sculptor, painter, photographer, and one of the best-known British land artists.
Bonnie Newman, American businesswoman and politician
Jane Ellen "Bonnie" Newman from North Hampton, New Hampshire is an American administrator and business executive. A Republican, she worked for Judd Gregg, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Newman was also interim president of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the Community College System of New Hampshire. She was announced by the governor of New Hampshire as his selection for eventual appointment to the United States Senate when Gregg was nominated to become the United States Secretary of Commerce, but did not take office when the vacancy she was to fill did not materialize.
02/06/1944
Robert Elliott, American actor (died 2004)
Robert Elliott was an American actor. He is known for his roles in the movies Animal House (1978), Flashpoint (1984) and Vixen Highway (2001). He died on December 25, 2004, in Tucson, Arizona.
Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and conductor (died 2012)
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch was an American composer and conductor. He is one of a handful of people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards, a feat dubbed the "EGOT". He and composer Richard Rodgers are the only people to have won those prizes and a Pulitzer Prize ("PEGOT").
02/06/1943
Ivi Eenmaa, Estonian politician, 36th Mayor of Tallinn
Ivi Eenmaa is an Estonian politician.
Charles Haid, American actor and director
Charles Maurice Haid III is an American actor and television director, with notable work in both movies and television. He is best known for his portrayal of Officer Andy Renko in Hill Street Blues.
Crescenzio Sepe, Italian cardinal
Crescenzio Sepe is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Naples from 2006 to 2020. He served in the Roman Curia as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples from 2001 to 2006. He was made a cardinal in 2001. Before that he spent 25 years in increasingly important positions in the Roman Curia.
02/06/1942
Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland (died 2023)
Michael John Ahern was an Australian National Party politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1987 to September 1989. After a long career in the government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Ahern became his successor amid the controversy caused by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into official corruption. Ahern's consensus style and political moderation contrasted strongly with Bjelke-Petersen's leadership, but he could not escape the division and strife caused by his predecessor's downfall.
02/06/1941
Stacy Keach, American actor
Walter Stacy Keach Jr. is an American actor, active in theatre, film and television since the 1960s. Keach first distinguished himself in Off-Broadway productions and is a prominent figure in American theatre, particularly as a noted Shakespearean. He is the recipient of several theatrical accolades, including four Drama Desk Awards and two Helen Hayes Awards. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Arthur Kopit's 1969 production of Indians, and twice nominated for the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actor
Lou Nanne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
Louis Vincent Anthony Nanne is a Canadian-born American former National Hockey League defenceman and general manager. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars between 1968 and 1978 and then served as the general manager of the team from 1978 to 1988. He also coached the team briefly during the 1978–79 season. Internationally Nanne played for the American national team at the 1968 Winter Olympics and the 1976 and 1977 World Championships, as well as 1976 Canada Cup, and managed the American teams at the 1981, 1984, and 1987 Canada Cup. He is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.
Irène Schweizer, Swiss jazz pianist (died 2024)
Irène Schweizer was a Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist.
Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (died 2021)
Charles Robert Watts was an English musician who was the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021.
02/06/1940
Constantine II of Greece (died 2023)
Constantine II was the last King of Greece, reigning from 6 March 1964 until the abolition of the Greek monarchy on 1 June 1973.
02/06/1939
Charles Miller, American musician (died 1980)
Charles William Miller was an American musician best known as the saxophonist and flutist for the multicultural California funk band War. Notably, Miller provided lead vocals as well as saxophone on the band's Billboard R&B number one hit "Low Rider" (1975).
John Schlee, American golfer (died 2000)
John H. Schlee was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s.
02/06/1938
Kevin Brownlow, English historian and author
Kevin Brownlow is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent documenting and restoring film. Brownlow has rescued many silent films and their history. His initiative in interviewing many largely forgotten, elderly film pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s preserved a legacy of early mass-entertainment cinema. In 1981, he received a BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the 34th British Academy Film Awards. He received an Academy Honorary Award at the 2nd Annual Governors Awards given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 13 November 2010. This was the first occasion on which an Academy Honorary Award was given to a film preservationist.
George William Penrose, Lord Penrose, Scottish lawyer and judge
George William Penrose, Lord Penrose, PC was a Scottish judge and member of the Privy Council who sat in the Court of Session, the supreme civil court.
02/06/1937
Rosalyn Higgins, English lawyer and judge
Rosalyn Cohen Higgins, Lady Higgins, is a British judge who was a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from 1995 to 2009. She was the first female judge elected to the ICJ. Higgins was elected to a three-year term as its president in 2006.
Sally Kellerman, American actress (died 2022)
Sally Clare Kellerman was an American actress whose acting career spanned 60 years. Her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in Robert Altman's film M*A*S*H (1970) earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. After M*A*S*H, she appeared in a number of the director's projects, namely the films Brewster McCloud (1970), Welcome to L.A. (1976), The Player (1992), and Prêt-à-Porter (1994), and the short-lived anthology TV series Gun (1997). In addition to her work with Altman, Kellerman appeared in films such as Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972), Back to School (1986), plus many television series such as The Twilight Zone (1963), The Outer Limits, Star Trek (1966), Bonanza, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman (2006), 90210 (2008), Chemistry (2011), and Maron (2013). She also voiced Miss Finch in Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985), which went on to become one of her most significant voice roles.
Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (died 2012)
James Jones was an American singer-songwriter who moved to New York City while a teenager. His biggest hits were "Handy Man" (1959) and "Good Timin'" (1960). According to Allmusic journalist Steve Huey, Jones sang "in a smooth yet soulful falsetto modeled on the likes of Clyde McPhatter and Sam Cooke."
Robert Paul, Canadian figure skater and choreographer
Robert Paul was a Canadian pair skater. He teamed up with Barbara Wagner in 1952. They became the 1960 Olympic champions, four-time World champions, and five-time Canadian national champions. After retiring from competition, the pair toured with Ice Capades.
Deric Washburn, American screenwriter and playwright
Deric Washburn is an American screenwriter.
02/06/1936
Volodymyr Holubnychy, Ukrainian race walker (died 2021)
Volodymyr Stepanovych Holubnychy was a Ukrainian race walker, who competed for the Soviet Union. He dominated the 20 kilometre race walk in the 1960s and 1970s, winning four Olympic medals from 1960 to 1972 and finishing seventh in 1976. He became Olympic champion in 1960 and 1968. He is regarded as one of the greatest race walkers of all time and competed at the Olympics on five occasions in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976.
02/06/1935
Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (died 2003)
Carol Ann Shields was an American-born Canadian novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her 1993 novel The Stone Diaries, which won the U.S. Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Governor General's Award in Canada.
Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek poet and educator (died 2021)
Dimitri Kitsikis was a Greek philosopher, Turkologist and Sinologist, as well as a professor of international relations and geopolitics. He also published poetry in French and Greek.
02/06/1933
Sasao Gouland, governor of Chuuk State, Micronesia (died 2011)
Sasao H. Gouland was the governor of Chuuk State, Micronesia from 1990 to June 1996.
Lew "Sneaky Pete" Robinson, drag racer (died 1971)
Lew Russell Robinson, nicknamed "Sneaky Pete", was an American drag racer.
02/06/1930
Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (died 1999)
Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer, aviator, and test pilot who commanded the Apollo 12 mission, on which he became the third person to walk on the Moon. Conrad was selected for NASA's second astronaut class in 1962.
02/06/1929
Norton Juster, American architect, author, and academic (died 2021)
Norton Juster was an American academic, architect, and writer. He was best known as an author of children's books, notably for The Phantom Tollbooth (1961) and The Dot and the Line (1963).
Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (died 2007)
Kenneth Bruce McGregor was an Australian tennis player from Adelaide who won the Men's Singles title at the Australian Championships in 1952. He and his longtime doubles partner, Frank Sedgman, are generally considered one of the greatest men's doubles teams of all time and won the doubles Grand Slam in 1951. McGregor was also a member of three Australian Davis Cup winning teams in 1950–1952. In 1953, Jack Kramer induced both Sedgman and McGregor to turn professional. He was ranked as high as World No. 3 in 1952.
02/06/1928
Erzsi Kovács, Hungarian singer (died 2014)
Erzsébet "Erzsi" Kovács DRH was a Hungarian pop singer and performer. After an attempt to escape to the west in 1951, she was arrested and imprisoned for three years. Afterwards, she resumed her singing career. She recorded her last album, Mosolyogva búcsúzom, aged 79. She was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.
Ron Reynolds, English footballer (died 1999)
Ronald Sidney Maurice Reynolds was an English goalkeeper whose career spanned nearly 20 years; he played 290 League games for three professional clubs, and for most of the 1950s played for Tottenham Hotspur, alongside his friend and tactical confidant, Danny Blanchflower.
02/06/1927
W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (died 2013)
William Watts "Buck" Biggers was an American novelist and co-creator of the long-running animated television series Underdog.
Colin Brittan, English footballer (died 2013)
Colin Brittan was an English professional footballer who played for Bristol North Old Boys, Tottenham Hotspur and Bedford Town.
02/06/1926
Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 41st Yokozuna (died 1977)
Chiyonoyama Masanobu was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Fukushima, Hokkaidō. He was the sport's 41st yokozuna, between 1951 until 1959. He is regarded as the first "modern" yokozuna in that he was promoted by the Japan Sumo Association itself and not the House of Yoshida Tsukasa. He was the first yokozuna from Hokkaidō, which was also the birthplace of the subsequent yokozuna Yoshibayama, Taihō, Kitanoumi and his own recruits Kitanofuji and Chiyonofuji. After his retirement he left the Dewanoumi group of stables and founded Kokonoe stable in 1967. He died in 1977 while still an active stablemaster.
Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (died 2013)
Milo Donal O'Shea was an Irish actor. He received nomination for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his breakthrough role of Leopold Bloom in Ulysses (1967), and was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play for his performances in Broadway productions of Staircase (1968) and Mass Appeal (1982).
02/06/1924
June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (died 2007)
June Rose Callwood, was a Canadian journalist, author and social activist. She wrote articles and columns written for national newspapers and magazines, including Maclean's and Chatelaine. She also founded a number of charities.
02/06/1923
Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016)
Lloyd Stowell Shapley was an American mathematician and Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist. He contributed to the fields of mathematical economics and especially game theory. Shapley is generally considered one of the most important contributors to the development of game theory since the work of von Neumann and Morgenstern. With Alvin E. Roth, Shapley won the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design."
02/06/1922
Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (died 2002)
Juan Antonio Bardem Muñoz was a Spanish film director and screenwriter, born in Madrid. Bardem was best known for Muerte de un ciclista (1955) which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, and El puente (1977) which won the Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1979 film Seven Days in January won the Golden Prize at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival.
Carmen Silvera, Canadian-English actress (died 2002)
Carmen Blanche Silvera was a British actress. Born in Canada of Spanish descent, she moved to Coventry, England, with her family when she was a child. She appeared on television regularly in the 1960s, and achieved mainstream fame in the 1980s with her starring role in the British television sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! as Edith Artois.
02/06/1921
Betty Freeman, American photographer and philanthropist (died 2009)
Betty Freeman was an American philanthropist and photographer. She had originally trained to be a concert pianist, practicing six to eight hours per day for twenty years, but eventually, by the mid-1960s, gave up this dream to pursue concert managing.
Ernie Royal, American trumpet player (died 1983)
Ernest Andrew Royal was a jazz trumpeter. His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big band recording The Genius of Ray Charles (1959).
Sigmund Sternberg, Hungarian-English businessman and philanthropist (died 2016)
Sir Sigmund Sternberg was a Hungarian-British philanthropist, interfaith campaigner, businessman and Labour Party donor.
András Szennay, Hungarian priest (died 2012)
András Szennay was a Hungarian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born in Budapest and ordained a priest on 19 November 1944. Szennay was appointed Abbot nullius and Archabbot of the Pannonhalma Archabbey on 14 March 1973 and remained in this position until resigning in 1991. He died in 2012, aged 91.
02/06/1920
Frank G. Clement, American lawyer and politician, 41st Governor of Tennessee (died 1969)
Frank Goad Clement was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st governor of Tennessee from 1953 to 1959 and from 1963 to 1967. Inaugurated for the first time at age 32, he was the state's youngest and longest-serving governor in the 20th century with 10 years of service, having been elected to the governorship in 1952 and re-elected in 1954 and again in 1962. Clement owed much of his rapid political rise to his ability to deliver rousing, mesmerizing speeches. His sermon-like keynote address at the 1956 Democratic National Convention has been described as both one of the best and one of the worst keynote addresses in the era of televised conventions.
Yolande Donlan, American-English actress (died 2014)
Yolande Donlan was an American-born British-based actress who worked extensively in the United Kingdom.
Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-German author and critic (died 2013)
Marcel Reich-Ranicki was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the informal literary association Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the field of German literature and has often been called Literaturpapst in Germany. His TV appearances made Reich-Ranicki a household name even among non-readers; in 2010, a survey found that 98% of Germans had heard of him.
Tex Schramm, American businessman (died 2003)
Texas Earnest Schramm Jr. was an American professional football executive who was the original president and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys franchise of the National Football League (NFL). Schramm, usually referred to as "Tex", became the head of the Cowboys when the former expansion team started operations in 1960.
Johnny Speight, English screenwriter and producer (died 1998)
Johnny Speight was an English television scriptwriter of many classic British sitcoms.
02/06/1918
Ruth Atkinson, Canadian-American illustrator (died 1997)
Ruth Atkinson Ford, née Ruth Atkinson and a.k.a. R. Atkinson, was an American cartoonist and pioneering female comic book writer-artist who created the long-running Marvel Comics character Millie the Model and co-created Patsy Walker.
Kathryn Tucker Windham, American journalist and author (died 2011)
Kathryn Tucker Windham was an American storyteller, author, photographer, folklorist, and journalist. She was born in Selma, Alabama, and grew up in nearby Thomasville.
02/06/1917
Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and director (died 2006)
Heinz Sielmann was a German wildlife photographer, biologist, zoologist and documentary filmmaker.
02/06/1915
Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy (died 1992)
Alexandru Nicolschi was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime. Active until 1961, he was one of the most recognizable leaders of violent political repression.
02/06/1913
Barbara Pym, English author (died 1980)
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was an English novelist. In the 1950s, she published a series of social comedies, of which the best known are Excellent Women (1952) and A Glass of Blessings (1958). After a period of rejection by publishers, her career was revived in 1977 when the critic Lord David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin nominated her as the most underrated writer of the previous 75 years. Her novel Quartet in Autumn (1977) was nominated for the Booker Prize that year, and she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (died 2015)
Elsie Tu, known as Elsie Elliott in her earlier life, was a British-born Hong Kong social activist, elected member of the Urban Council of Hong Kong from 1963 to 1995, and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1988 to 1995.
02/06/1911
Joe McCluskey, American runner (died 2002)
Joseph Paul McCluskey was an American track and field athlete. During his running career, he won 27 national titles in various distance events and captured the steeplechase title a record nine times in a 13-year period.
02/06/1910
Hector Dyer, American sprinter (died 1990)
Hector "Hec" Monroe Dyer was an American athlete, winner of a gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
02/06/1907
Dorothy West, American journalist and author (died 1998)
Dorothy West was an American novelist, short-story writer, and magazine editor associated with the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement in the 1920s and 1930s that celebrated black art, literature, and music. She was one of the few Black women writers to be published in major literary magazines in the 1930s and 1940s.
John Lehmann, English poet and publisher (died 1987)
Rudolf John Frederick Lehmann was an English publisher, poet and man of letters. He founded the periodicals New Writing and The London Magazine, and the publishing house of John Lehmann Limited.
02/06/1904
Frank Runacres, English painter and educator (died 1974)
Frank Runacres was an English painter who worked in both watercolours and oil. He studied at Saint Martin's School of Art, at the Slade School of Fine Arts, and at the Royal College of Art under Sir William Rothenstein between 1930 and 1933.
Johnny Weissmuller, Hungarian-American swimmer and actor (died 1984)
Johnny Weissmuller was a Hungarian-born German American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He has one of the best competitive-swimming records of the 20th century. He set world records alongside winning five gold medals in the Olympics. He won the 100m freestyle and the 4 × 200 m relay team event in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Weissmuller also won gold in the 400m freestyle, as well as a bronze medal in the water polo competition in Paris.
02/06/1899
Lotte Reiniger, German animator and director (died 1981)
Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her best known films are The Adventures of Prince Achmed, from 1926, the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, and Papageno (1935). Reiniger is also noted for having devised, from 1923 to 1926, the first form of a multiplane camera, one of the most important devices in pre digital animation. Reiniger worked on more than 40 films throughout her career.
Edwin Way Teale, American environmentalist and photographer (died 1980)
Edwin Way Teale was an American naturalist, photographer and writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930–1980. He is perhaps best known for his series The American Seasons, four books documenting over 75,000 miles (121,000 km) of automobile travel across North America following the changing seasons.
02/06/1893
Maire Comerford, Irish Republican (died 1982)
Mary Eva Comerford was an Irish republican from County Wexford. As a member of Cumann na mBan she witnessed the events of 1916 to 1923 and took an active part in the Irish War of Independence. She opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. During the Irish Civil War she fought against the Irish Free State, being imprisoned and wounded by gunfire, and went on hunger strike. She was later a journalist for The Irish Press. Comerford remained an opponent of partition and the Free State until her death. Her memoir of the Irish revolutionary period, On Dangerous Ground, was published posthumously in 2021. The British newspaper, The Daily Mail, called her "the Jeanne d'Arc of the Republican cause".
02/06/1891
Thurman Arnold, American lawyer and judge (died 1969)
Thurman Wesley Arnold was an American lawyer best known for his trust-busting campaign as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Department of Justice from 1938 to 1943. He later served as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Before coming to Washington in 1938, Arnold was the mayor of Laramie, Wyoming and a professor at Yale Law School, where he took part in the legal realism movement and published two books: The Symbols of Government (1935) and The Folklore of Capitalism (1937). He also published The Bottlenecks of Business (1940).
Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral and pilot (died 1945)
Takijirō Ōnishi was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II who came to be known as the father of the kamikaze.
02/06/1881
Walter Egan, American golfer (died 1971)
Walter Eugene Egan was an American golfer who competed in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
02/06/1878
Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (died 1912)
Wallace Henry Hartley was an English violinist, who became best known for his actions during the sinking of the Titanic. The bandleader on the Titanic during its maiden voyage, he led the eight-member band in various pieces as the ship sank on 15 April 1912; neither he nor any of the band survived.
02/06/1875
Charles Stewart Mott, American businessman and politician, 50th Mayor of Flint, Michigan (died 1973)
Charles Stewart Mott was an American industrialist and businessman, philanthropist, a co-owner of General Motors, and the 50th and 55th mayor of Flint, Michigan.
02/06/1866
Jack O'Connor, American baseball player and manager (died 1937)
John Joseph O'Connor, also known as Peach Pie, was an American catcher, outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball in the American Association, the National League, and the American League, primarily used as a catcher. O'Connor appeared in games across four decades. He also was player-manager of the 1910 St. Louis Browns, finishing with a record of 47–107–4 (.305). O'Connor has the most career stolen bases (219) by a primary catcher in MLB history.
02/06/1865
George Lohmann, English cricketer (died 1901)
George Alfred Lohmann was an English cricketer, regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. Statistically, he holds the lowest lifetime Test bowling average among bowlers with more than fifteen wickets and he has the second highest peak rating for a bowler in the ICC ratings. He also holds the record for the lowest strike rate in all Test history.
Adelaide Casely-Hayford, Sierra Leone Creole advocate and activist for cultural nationalism (died 1960)
Adelaide Casely-Hayford, was a Sierra Leone Creole advocate, activist of cultural nationalism, teacher, fiction writer, and feminist. Her commitment to public service led her to improving the conditions of black men and women. She played an important role as an advocate of women's education in Sierra Leone to popularize Pan-Africanist and feminist politics in the early 1900s. In 1923, she founded a Girls' Vocational and Training School in Freetown to instil cultural and racial pride for Sierra Leoneans under colonial rule. The school lasted until 1940 and strongly emphasized the education of African women. She later went on to further her mission of feminism and cultural nationalism from the school by writing short stories and memoirs. In 1925, she attended a reception in honour of the Prince of Wales where she wore an African attire thereby creating a sensation in pursuit of Sierra Leone national identity and cultural heritage.
02/06/1863
Felix Weingartner, Croatian-Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1942)
Paul Felix Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.
02/06/1861
Concordia Selander, Swedish actress and manager (died 1935)
Concordia Cornelia Johanna Selander, née Hård, was a Swedish actress and theatre manager.
02/06/1857
Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (died 1934)
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.
Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919)
Karl Adolph Gjellerup was a Danish poet and novelist who together with his compatriot Henrik Pontoppidan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1917. He is associated with the Modern Breakthrough period of Scandinavian literature. He occasionally used the pseudonym Epigonos.
02/06/1840
Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (died 1928)
Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain such as those from his native South West England.
Émile Munier, French artist (died 1895)
Émile Munier was a French academic artist and student of William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
02/06/1838
Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (died 1900)
Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Russia was a great-granddaughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia and the wife of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia, the elder.
02/06/1835
Pope Pius X (died 1914)
Pope Pius X was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 until his death in August 1914. He was known for opposing modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, and for promoting liturgical reforms and Thomist scholastic theology. He initiated the preparation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive and systemic work of its kind, which was ultimately promulgated by his successor. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
02/06/1823
Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (died 1905)
Gédéon Ouimet was a French-Canadian politician.
02/06/1813
Daniel Pollen, Irish-New Zealand politician, 9th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1896)
Daniel Pollen was an Irish-New Zealand politician who became the ninth premier of New Zealand, serving from 6 July 1875 to 15 February 1876.
02/06/1774
William Lawson, English-Australian explorer and politician (died 1850)
William Lawson, MLC was a British soldier, explorer, land owner, grazier and politician. In 1800, he migrated to Sydney, New South Wales, and from 1819, he served as the commandant of the Bathurst, New South Wales region, and from 1843, he served as a member of the New South Wales Parliament.
02/06/1773
John Randolph of Roanoke, American planter and politician, 8th United States Ambassador to Russia (died 1833)
John Randolph, commonly known as John Randolph of Roanoke, was an American planter, and a politician from Virginia, serving in the House of Representatives at various times between 1799 and 1833, and the Senate from 1825 to 1827. He was also Minister to Russia under Andrew Jackson in 1830. After serving as President Thomas Jefferson's spokesman in the House, he broke with the president in 1805 as a result of what he saw as the dilution of traditional Jeffersonian principles as well as perceived mistreatment during the impeachment of Samuel Chase, in which Randolph served as chief prosecutor. Following this split, Randolph proclaimed himself the leader of the "Old Republicans" or "Tertium Quids", a wing of the Democratic-Republican Party who wanted to restrict the role of the federal government. Specifically, Randolph promoted the Principles of '98, which said that individual states could judge the constitutionality of central government laws and decrees, and could refuse to enforce laws deemed unconstitutional.
02/06/1743
Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian occultist and explorer (died 1795)
Giuseppe Balsamo, known by the alias Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, was an Italian occultist, self-styled magician and confidence trickster. He became a glamorous figure associated with the royal courts of Europe where he pursued various occult arts, including psychic healing, alchemy, and scrying. In his 1833 essay, Count Cagliostro, Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) pronounced him the "Quack of Quacks".
02/06/1740
Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and politician (died 1814)
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French writer, libertine, political activist, and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy, and pornography. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts. Some of these were published under his own name during his lifetime, but most appeared anonymously or posthumously.
02/06/1739
Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (died 1815)
Jabez Bowen Sr. was an American shipper, slave trader and politician. He was a militia colonel during the American Revolutionary War, and served as Deputy Governor of Rhode Island and chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
02/06/1731
Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (died 1802)
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, who was a Founding Father and the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the inaugural first lady of the United States, defining the role of the president's wife and setting many precedents that future first ladies observed. During her tenure, she was referred to as "Lady Washington". Washington is consistently ranked in the upper half of first ladies by historians.
02/06/1644
William Salmon, English medical writer (died 1713)
William Salmon was an English empiric doctor and a writer of medical texts. He advertised himself as a "Professor of Physick". Salmon held an equivocal place in the medical community. He led apothecaries in opposing attempts by physicians to control the dispensing of medicines, and was derided by physicians as "the King of the Quacks". He has been described as "a brilliant publicist, but not much of a philosopher".
02/06/1638
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (died 1709)
Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, PC was an English aristocrat and politician. He held high office at the beginning of the reign of his brother-in-law, King James II.
02/06/1621
Rutger von Ascheberg, Courland-born soldier in Swedish service (died 1693)
Count Rutger von Ascheberg, also known as Roger von Ascheberg was a Swedish soldier born in Courland, an officer and civil servant who served as Lieutenant General in 1670, General in 1674, Field Marshal in 1678, Governor General of the Swedish Scanian provinces in 1680, and became a Royal Councilor in 1681. He is also remembered for his exceptionally large number of children with his wife Maria Eleonora von Busseck, a noted beauty.
(baptized) Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (died 1649)
Isaac van Ostade was a Dutch genre and landscape painter.
02/06/1602
Rudolf Christian, Count of East Frisia, Ruler of East Frisia (died 1628)
Rudolf Christian of Ostfriesland, Count of East Frisia, was count of East Frisia, and the second son of Enno III, Count of East Frisia and Anna of Holstein-Gottorp. During his reign, foreign troops participating in the Thirty Years' War began retreating into and quartering in East Frisia. Also during his reign, fen exploitation in East Frisia begins.
02/06/1535
Pope Leo XI (died 1605)
Pope Leo XI, born Alessandro di Ottaviano de' Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 April 1605 to his death, on 27 April 1605. His pontificate is one of the briefest in history, lasting under a month. He was from the prominent House of Medici originating from Florence.
02/06/1489
Charles, Duke of Vendôme (died 1537)
Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme was a French soldier, governor, Prince du Sang and courtier during the reigns of Louis XII and François I. Charles was the son of François de Bourbon and Marie de Luxembourg. Beginning his military career in the Italian Wars of Louis XII, he saw service at the crushing French victory of Agnadello in 1509 and the capture of Genoa in 1507. With the death of the king in 1515, he continued his service under François. He was rewarded with the elevation of the comté (county) de Vendôme to the rank of duché (duchy), he was also made governor of the Île de France. He joined the king for his first Italian campaign in 1515. He thus participated in the battle of Marignano. Returning to France he traded his government of the capital for that of Picardie in 1519. It would be in Picardie he saw most of his military service for the rest of his life. He participated in the northern campaigns against first the Holy Roman Empire and then England in 1521 and 1522 respectively. In 1523, his cousin, the duc de Bourbon defected to the Imperial cause. The king feared Vendôme might follow him in his treason and recalled him from Picardie. Thus the vicomte de Thouars led the campaign in the north in 1523. Vendôme, having proven his loyalty, was soon permitted to return north, and he played a role, alongside Thouars in combatting the Chevauchée of the duke of Suffolk that was threatening Paris in the Autumn. In late 1524 the king departed France to conquer Milan. His campaign ended in disaster at the battle of Pavia at which he was captured.
02/06/1423
Ferdinand I of Naples (died 1494)
Ferdinand I, also known as Ferrante, was king of Naples from 1458 to 1494.
02/06/1305
Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, ruler of Ilkhanate (died 1335)
Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, also spelled Abusaid Bahador Khan, Abu Sa'id Behauder, was the ninth ruler of the Ilkhanate, a division of the Mongol Empire that encompassed the present day countries of Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, as well as parts of Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. After his death in 1335, the Ilkhanate disintegrated.
Lives Remembered on 2nd June
On 2nd June, 114 remarkable people passed away — from 657 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
02/06/2024
Larry Allen, American football player (born 1971)
Larry Christopher Allen Jr. was an American professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Butte Roadrunners and the Sonoma State Cossacks, and was selected by the Cowboys in the second round of the 1994 NFL draft. A player capable of using his speed against defenders, Allen was regarded as one of the strongest players to ever play in the NFL, and has been ranked as the best offensive lineman of all-time by Fox Sports.
Rob Burrow, English rugby league footballer (born 1982)
Robert Geoffrey Burrow was an English professional rugby league footballer who played as a scrum-half or hooker. Burrow spent his entire professional career with the Leeds Rhinos, making nearly 500 appearances as well as representing Great Britain, England, and Yorkshire.
David Levy, Israeli politician (born 1937)
David Levy was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1969 and 2006. Levy's ascent to political prominence demonstrated the growing influence of Mizrahi Jews in Israel. He played a crucial role in changing the political power structure in Israel by motivating hundreds of thousands of Mizrahi voters to cast their ballots for Menachem Begin. To quote Benjamin Netanyahu, "David, born in Morocco, forged his way through life with his own two hands... On the national level, he made a personal mark on the political world, while taking care of weak populations that knew adversity."
Janis Paige, American actress and singer (born 1922)
Janis Paige was an American actress and singer. With a career spanning nearly 60 years, she was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
02/06/2017
Peter Sallis, English actor (born 1921)
Peter Sallis was an English actor. He was the original voice of Wallace in the Academy Award-winning Wallace & Gromit films and played Norman "Cleggy" Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine from its 1973 inception until the final episode in 2010, making him the only actor to appear in all 295 episodes. Additionally, he portrayed Norman Clegg's father in the prequel series First of the Summer Wine.
02/06/2015
Fernando de Araújo, East Timorese politician, President of East Timor (born 1963)
Fernando de Araújo, also known as Lasama was an East Timorese activist and politician. He was a clandestine activist for the independence of East Timor, and then founded the Democratic Party after independence. He was President of the National Parliament of East Timor from 2007 to 2012. He also served as the Acting President for two months in early 2008.
Irwin Rose, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926)
Irwin Allan Rose was an American biologist. Along with Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.
02/06/2014
Ivica Brzić, Serbian footballer and manager (born 1941)
Ivan "Ivica" Brzić was a Yugoslav and Serbian football manager and player.
Nikolay Khrenkov, Russian bobsledder (born 1984)
Nikolay Nikolayevich Khrenkov was a Russian bobsledder.
Alexander Shulgin, American pharmacologist and chemist (born 1925)
Alexander Theodore "Sasha" Shulgin was an American biochemist, broad researcher of synthetic psychoactive compounds, and author of works regarding these, who independently explored the organic chemistry and pharmacology of such agents—in his mid-life and later, many through preparation in his home laboratory, and testing on himself. He is acknowledged to have introduced to broader use, in the late 1970s, the previously synthesized compound MDMA ("ecstasy"), in research psychopharmacology and in combination with conventional therapy, the latter through presentations and academic publications, including to psychologists; and for the rediscovery, occasional discovery, and regular synthesis and personal use and distribution, of possibly hundreds of psychoactive compounds. As such, Shulgin is seen both as a pioneering and a controversial participant in the emergence of the broad use of psychedelics.
02/06/2013
Mario Bernardi, Canadian pianist and conductor (born 1930)
Mario Bernardi, was a Canadian conductor and pianist. He conducted 75 different operas and over 450 other works with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Chen Xitong, Chinese politician, 8th Mayor of Beijing (born 1930)
Chen Xitong was a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and the Mayor of Beijing until he was removed from office on charges of corruption in 1995.
Mandawuy Yunupingu, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1956)
Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu, formerly Tom Djambayang Bakamana Yunupingu, and also known as Dr Yunupingu, was a teacher and musician, and frontman of the Aboriginal rock group Yothu Yindi from 1986. He was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Yolŋu people, with a skin name of Gudjuk.
02/06/2012
Adolfo Calero, Nicaraguan businessman and political activist (born 1931)
Adolfo Calero Portocarrero was a Nicaraguan businessman and the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest rebel group of the Contras, opposing the Sandinista government.
Richard Dawson, English-American soldier, actor, television personality, and game show host (born 1932)
Richard Dawson was an English actor, comedian, game-show host, and panelist. He was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in Hogan's Heroes, as a regular panelist on Match Game (1973–1978), and as the original host of Family Feud.
LeRoy Ellis, American basketball player (born 1940)
LeRoy Ellis was an American basketball player.
Kathryn Joosten, American actress (born 1939)
Kathryn Joosten was an American actress. Her best known roles include Delores Landingham on NBC's The West Wing from 1999 to 2002 and Karen McCluskey on ABC's Desperate Housewives from 2005 to 2012, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2005 and 2008.
02/06/2009
David Eddings, American author (born 1931)
David Carroll Eddings was an American fantasy writer. With his wife Leigh, he authored several best-selling epic fantasy novel series, including The Belgariad (1982–84), The Malloreon (1987–91), The Elenium (1989–91), The Tamuli (1992–94), and The Dreamers (2003–06). Whether credited as the sole author or with Leigh, David Eddings wrote over two dozen novels.
02/06/2008
Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1928)
Ellas Otha Bates, known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy Holly, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, George Thorogood, Syd Barrett, Tom Petty, and the Clash.
Mel Ferrer, American actor (born 1917)
Melchor Gastón Ferrer was an American actor, director, and producer, active in film, theatre, and television. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with Scaramouche (1952), Lili (1953), and Knights of the Round Table . He starred opposite his wife, actress Audrey Hepburn, in War and Peace (1956) and produced her film Wait Until Dark (1967).
02/06/2007
Kentarō Haneda, Japanese pianist and composer (born 1949)
Kentarō Haneda was a Japanese pianist, composer and arranger. He composed for popular anime series, movies and video games. His popular name was Haneken.
Huang Ju, Chinese engineer and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (born 1938)
Huang Ju was a Chinese politician and a high-ranking leader in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was one of the nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP, China's top decision-making body, between 2002 until his death in 2007, and also served as the first-ranked vice premier of China beginning in 2003. He died in office before he could complete his terms on the Standing Committee and as vice premier.
02/06/2006
Keith Smith, English rugby player and coach (born 1952)
Keith Smith was an English dual-code international rugby footballer who played in the 1970s. He played representative rugby union (RU) as a centre, for England, England (Under-23s), Yorkshire, and Yorkshire (Colts), and at club level for Moortown RUFC and Roundhay RUFC, and he played representative rugby league (RL) as a centre for England, and at club level for Wakefield Trinity.
02/06/2005
Lucien Cliche, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1916)
Lucien Cliche was a lawyer and political figure in Quebec. He represented Abitibi-Est in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec and then the Quebec National Assembly from 1960 to 1970 as a Liberal. Cliche was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1960 to 1961.
Gunder Gundersen, Norwegian skier (born 1930)
Gunder Gundersen was a Norwegian Nordic combined skier and sports official. He was born in Asker.
Samir Kassir, Lebanese journalist and educator (born 1950)
Samir Kassir was a Lebanese-Syrian-Palestinian journalist of An-Nahar and professor of history at Saint-Joseph University, who was an advocate of democracy and prominent opponent of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. He was assassinated in 2005 as part of a series of assassinations of anti-Syria Lebanese political figures such as Rafic Hariri and George Hawi.
Melita Norwood, English civil servant and spy (born 1912)
Melita Stedman Norwood was a British civil servant, Communist Party of Great Britain member and KGB spy.
02/06/2003
Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (born 1918)
Frederick Kenneth Blassie was an American professional wrestler and manager, known by the ring name "Classy" Freddie Blassie. His achievements in the ring included holding the Los Angeles-based World Wrestling Associates (WWA) world title four times. Renowned as "The Hollywood Fashion Plate", he was a one-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion and was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994. He is regarded as one of the greatest wrestling heels, or villains, of all time.
Alma Ricard, Canadian broadcaster and philanthropist (born 1906)
Alma Ricard, née Vézina was a Canadian broadcaster and philanthropist. A partner with her husband F. Baxter Ricard in his broadcasting holdings, including Northern Cable and Mid-Canada Communications, after her husband's death in 1993 she became a prominent donor to institutional and educational charities.
02/06/2002
Hugo van Lawick, Dutch director and photographer (born 1937)
Hugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick was a Dutch wildlife filmmaker and photographer.
02/06/2001
Imogene Coca, American actress and comedian (born 1908)
Imogene Coca was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and pursued a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret, and summer stock. In her 40s, she began a celebrated career as a comedian on television, starring in six series and guest-starring on successful television programs from the 1940s to the '90s.
Joey Maxim, American boxer (born 1922)
Giuseppe Antonio Berardinelli was an American professional boxer. He was the World Light Heavyweight Champion from 1950 to 1952. He took the ring-name Joey Maxim from the Maxim gun, the world's first self-acting machine gun, based on his ability to rapidly throw a large number of left jabs.
02/06/2000
Svyatoslav Fyodorov, Russian ophthalmologist, academic, and politician (born 1927)
Svyatoslav Nikolayevich Fyodorov was a Russian ophthalmologist, politician, professor, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. He is considered to be a pioneer of refractive surgery. He was also one of the candidates in the 1996 Russian presidential election, running as a member of the Party of Workers' Self-Government.
John Schlee, American golfer (born 1939)
John H. Schlee was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 1970s.
Gerald James Whitrow, English mathematician, cosmologist, and historian (born 1912)
Gerald James Whitrow was a British mathematician, cosmologist and science historian.
02/06/1999
Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican singer (born 1949)
Franklin Delano Alexander "Junior" Braithwaite was a reggae musician from Kingston, Jamaica and the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers.
02/06/1997
Doc Cheatham, American trumpet player, singer, and bandleader (born 1905)
Adolphus Anthony Cheatham, better known as Doc Cheatham, was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He is also the grandfather of musician Theo Croker.
Helen Jacobs, American tennis champion (born 1908)
Helen Hull Jacobs was an American tennis player who won nine Grand Slam titles. In 1936 she was ranked No. 1 in singles by A. Wallis Myers.
02/06/1996
John Alton, Hungarian-American cinematographer and director (born 1901)
John Alton was an American cinematographer of Hungarian-German origin. Alton photographed some of the most famous films noir of the classic period and won an Academy Award for the cinematography of An American in Paris (1951), becoming the first Hungarian-born person to do so in the cinematography category. He also worked as a director during the Golden Age of Argentine cinema.
Leon Garfield, English author (born 1921)
Leon Garfield FRSL was a British writer of fiction. He is best known for children's historical novels, though he also wrote for adults. He wrote more than thirty books and scripted Shakespeare: The Animated Tales for television.
Ray Combs, American game show host (born 1956)
Raymond Neil Combs Jr. was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host. He began his professional career in the late 1970s. His popularity on the stand-up circuit led to him being signed as the second host of the game show Family Feud in its second run and first revival. The show aired on CBS from 1988 to 1993 and was in syndication from 1988 to 1994. From 1995 to 1996, Combs hosted another game show, Family Challenge.
02/06/1994
David Stove, Australian philosopher, author, and academic (born 1927)
David Charles Stove was an Australian philosopher whose writings often challenged prevailing academic orthodoxy. He was known for his critiques of postmodernism, feminism, and multiculturalism.
02/06/1993
Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (born 1913)
John Robert Mize, nicknamed "Big Jawn" and "the Big Cat", was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, and New York Yankees from 1936 to 1953, losing three seasons to military service during World War II. Mize was a ten-time All-Star and won five consecutive World Series with the Yankees.
Tahar Djaout, Algerian journalist, writer and poet (born 1954)
Tahar Djaout was an Algerian journalist, poet, and fiction writer. He was assassinated in 1993 by the Armed Islamic Group.
02/06/1992
Philip Dunne, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1908)
Philip Ives Dunne was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer, who worked prolifically from 1932 until 1965. He spent the majority of his career at 20th Century Fox. He crafted well regarded romantic and historical dramas, usually adapted from another medium. Dunne was a leading Screen Writers Guild organizer and was politically active during the "Hollywood Blacklist" episode of the 1940s–1950s. He is best known for the films How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Robe (1953) and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).
02/06/1991
Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (born 1927)
Ahmed Arif was a Turkish-Kurdish poet.
02/06/1990
Rex Harrison, English actor (born 1908)
Sir Reginald Carey Harrison was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, in what was his breakthrough role. He won his first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as Henry VIII in the Broadway play Anne of the Thousand Days in 1949. He returned to Broadway portraying Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1956) where he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
02/06/1989
Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer and footballer (born 1907)
Edward Lambert à Beckett was an Australian cricketer who played in four Test matches between 1928 and 1931. He played in 47 first-class matches for Victoria.
02/06/1988
Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, director, and producer (born 1924)
Ranbir Raj Kapoor was an Indian actor and filmmaker who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors and filmmakers in the history of Indian cinema. He has been referred to as The Greatest Showman of Indian Cinema as well as The Charlie Chaplin of Indian Cinema.
02/06/1987
Anthony de Mello, Indian-American priest and psychotherapist (born 1931)
Anthony de Mello, also known as Tony de Mello, was an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist. A teacher and public speaker, de Mello wrote several books on spirituality and hosted numerous spiritual retreats and conferences. He is known for his storytelling, which drew from the various mystical traditions of both East and West.
Sammy Kaye, American bandleader and songwriter (born 1910)
Sammy Kaye was an American bandleader and songwriter, whose tag line, "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye", became one of the most famous of the Big Band Era. The expression springs from his first hit single in 1937, "Swing and Sway". He was the first to record and release the standard "Blueberry Hill" in 1940. During World War II, he co-wrote and recorded the anthemic "Remember Pearl Harbor". He was the first to record and release the #1 song "Daddy" in 1941. His final #1 hit was "Harbor Lights" in 1950.
Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (born 1893)
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña, was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were either students of Segovia or students of Segovia's students. Segovia's contribution to the modern-romantic repertoire included not only commissions but also his own transcriptions of classical or baroque works. He is remembered for his expressive performances: his wide palette of tone, and his distinctive musical personality, phrasing and style.
02/06/1986
Aurèle Joliat, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1901)
Aurèle Émile Joliat, nicknamed the "Mighty Atom" and "Little Giant", was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens.
02/06/1983
Stan Rogers, Canadian singer-songwriter (born 1949)
Stanley Allison Rogers was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter who sang traditional-sounding songs frequently inspired by Canadian history and the working people's daily lives, especially from the fishing villages of the Maritime provinces and, later, the farms of the Canadian prairies and Great Lakes. He died in a fire aboard Air Canada Flight 797, grounded at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, at the age of 33.
Ray Stehr, Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1913)
Raymond Ernest Stehr was an Australian rugby league footballer, a state and national representative player whose club career was played at Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club. He has been named as one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.
02/06/1982
Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (born 1904)
Fazal Elahi Chaudhry was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fifth president of Pakistan from 1973 until his resignation in 1978, due to Zia-ul-Haq's martial law following the 1977 coup d'état which overthrew Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's government. He was the first legislatively-elected president in the country's history, serving as a constitutional figurehead.
Shah Abdul Wahhab, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (born 1894)
Shah Abdul Wahhab was a Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic scholar, educator, jurist, and spiritual leader. He served as the second rector of Darul Uloom Hathazari, primarily participating in administrative and educational activities. He was a vice president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, and sat on the Chittagong Court jury for 23 years. He graduated from Darul Uloom Deoband and Mazahir Uloom, and was one of the disciples of Ashraf Ali Thanwi.
02/06/1979
Jim Hutton, American actor (born 1934)
Dana Scott James Hutton was an American actor in film and television best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name, and his screen partnership with Paula Prentiss in four films, starting with Where the Boys Are. He was the father of actor Timothy Hutton.
02/06/1978
Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and coach (born 1895)
Santiago Bernabéu de Yeste was a Spanish football player, coach, and administrator who played for Real Madrid as a forward, later serving as the club's manager and then president. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Real Madrid, having served as its president for 34 years and 264 days, from 11 September 1943 until his death on 2 June 1978.
02/06/1977
Albert Bittlmayer, German footballer (born 1952)
Albert Bittlmayer was a German footballer who made a combined total of 142 league appearances for 1. FC Nürnberg and Tennis Borussia Berlin until he died of cancer at the age of 24.
Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish-born American actor (born 1931)
William Millar, better known by his stage name Stephen Boyd, was an actor from Northern Ireland. He emerged as a leading man during the late 1950s with his role as the villainous Messala in Ben-Hur (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. He received his second Golden Globe nomination for the musical Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962).
02/06/1976
Kenneth Mason, English soldier and geographer (born 1887)
Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Mason MC was a British soldier and explorer notable as the first statutory professor of Geography at the University of Oxford. His work surveying the Himalayas was rewarded in 1927 with a Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal, the citation reading for his connection between the surveys of India and Russian Turkestan, and his leadership of the Shaksgam Expedition.
Juan José Torres, Bolivian general and politician, 61st President of Bolivia (born 1920)
Juan José Torres González was a Bolivian socialist politician and military leader who served as the 50th president of Bolivia from 1970 to 1971, when he was ousted in a coup that resulted in the dictatorship of Hugo Banzer. He was popularly known as "J.J." (Jota-Jota). Juan José Torres was murdered in 1976 in Buenos Aires, in the frame of the United States-backed campaign Operation Condor.
02/06/1974
Hiroshi Kazato, Japanese race car driver (born 1949)
Hiroshi Kazato was a Japanese racecar driver. Kazato started his career at age 19. He took part in the 1971 Can-Am season, finishing 10th in the championship driving a Lola T222-Chevrolet. He participated at Formula Two European seasons 1972 and 1973, scoring 7 championship points. He graduated from Seikei University in 1973.
02/06/1970
Orhan Kemal, Turkish author (born 1914)
Orhan Kemal is the pen name of Turkish novelist Mehmet Reşit Öğütçü. He is known for his realist novels that describe the life of the poor in Turkey.
Albert Lamorisse, French director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)
Albert Lamorisse was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer of short films which he began making in the late 1940s.
Bruce McLaren, New Zealand race car driver and engineer, founded the McLaren racing team (born 1937)
Bruce Leslie McLaren was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer, and motorsport executive who competed in Formula One from 1958 to 1970. He won four Grands Prix across 13 seasons and was runner-up in the 1960 Formula One World Drivers' Championship with Cooper. He won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans with Chris Amon in a Ford GT40 and won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup in 1967 and 1969.
Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian soldier, journalist, and academic (born 1888)
Giuseppe Ungaretti was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experimental trend known as Ermetismo ("Hermeticism"), he was one of the most prominent contributors to 20th-century Italian literature. Influenced by symbolism, he was briefly aligned with futurism. Like many futurists, he took an irredentist position during World War I. Ungaretti debuted as a poet while fighting in the trenches, publishing one of his best-known pieces, L'allegria.
Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Spanish anarchist feminist (born 1895)
Lucía Sánchez Saornil, was a Spanish poet and anarcha-feminist activist, best known for co-founding the Mujeres Libres organisation together with Mercedes Comaposada and Amparo Poch y Gascón. Born into a working-class Madrilenian family, she taught herself from an early age and began writing poems for the burgeoning Futurist and Ultraist movements.
02/06/1969
Leo Gorcey, American actor (born 1917)
Leo Bernard Gorcey was an American stage and film actor, famous for portraying the leader of a group of street-wise city toughs known variously as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids, and as adults, The Bowery Boys. Gorcey was famous for his use of malapropisms, such as "I depreciate it!" instead of "I appreciate it!"
02/06/1968
André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (born 1929)
André Mathieu was a Canadian pianist and composer.
02/06/1967
Benno Ohnesorg, German student and activist (born 1940)
Benno Ohnesorg was a West German university student who was fatally shot in the back of the head by policeman Karl-Heinz Kurras during a demonstration in West Berlin. His death spurred the growth of the left-wing West German student movement.
02/06/1962
Vita Sackville-West, English author and poet (born 1892)
Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, CH, usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer.
02/06/1961
George S. Kaufman, American director, producer, and playwright (born 1889)
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and others. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical Of Thee I Sing in 1932, and won again in 1937 for the play You Can't Take It with You. He also won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 1951 for Guys and Dolls.
02/06/1959
Lyda Borelli, Italian actress (born 1884)
Lyda Cini, Countess of Monselice was an Italian actress of cinema and theatre. Her career in theatre started when she was a child, acting on stage with Paola Pezzaglia in the French drama I due derelitti.
02/06/1956
Jean Hersholt, Danish-American actor and director (born 1886)
Jean Pierre Carl Buron, known professionally as Jean Hersholt, was a Danish-American actor. He is most famous for starring on the CBS radio series Dr. Christian from 1937–1954, reprising the role in a film series from 1939-1941. He also co-starred with Shirley Temple in the film Heidi (1937). When asked how to pronounce his name, he told The Literary Digest, "in English her'sholt; in Danish, hairs'hult." From 1924 to 1955, he had 140 motion picture credits: 75 silent film and 65 "talkies"; he directed four.
02/06/1952
Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Central Sofia Market Hall (born 1880)
Naum Torbov was a Bulgarian architect.
02/06/1948
Viktor Brack, German physician (born 1904)
Viktor Hermann Brack was a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS), a convicted Nazi war criminal and one of the prominent organisers of the involuntary euthanasia programme Aktion T4; this Nazi initiative resulted in the systematic murder of 275,000 to 300,000 disabled people. He held various positions of responsibility in Hitler's Chancellery in Berlin. Following his role in the T4 programme, Brack was one of the men identified as responsible for the gassing of Jews in extermination camps, having conferred with Odilo Globočnik about its use in the practical implementation of the Final Solution. Brack was sentenced to death in 1947 in the Doctors' Trial and executed by hanging in 1948.
Karl Brandt, German SS officer (born 1904)
Karl Brandt was a German physician and Schutzstaffel (SS) officer in Nazi Germany. Trained in surgery, Brandt joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and became Adolf Hitler's "escort doctor" (Begleitarzt) in August 1934. A member of Hitler's inner circle at the Berghof, he was selected by Philipp Bouhler, the head of Hitler's Chancellery, to administer the Aktion T4 euthanasia program. Brandt was later appointed the Reich Commissioner of Health and Emergency Services. Accused of involvement in human experimentation and other war crimes, Brandt was indicted in late 1946 and faced trial before a U.S. military tribunal along with 22 others in the Doctors' Trial. He was found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed on 2 June 1948.
Karl Gebhardt, German physician (born 1897)
Karl Franz Gebhardt was a German physician and a war criminal. Gebhardt was the main coordinator of a series of medical atrocities performed on inmates of the concentration camps at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz. These experiments were an attempt to defend his approach to the surgical management of grossly contaminated traumatic wounds, against the then-new innovations of antibiotic treatment of injuries acquired on the battlefield.
Waldemar Hoven, German physician (born 1903)
Waldemar Hoven was a Nazi physician at Buchenwald concentration camp, and convicted war criminal for conducting human experiments regarding typhus which led to the deaths of many concentration camp prisoners, and as one of the organizers of the euthanasia program Aktion T4; this Nazi initiative resulted in the systematic murder of 275,000 to 300,000 disabled people. He was sentenced to death and hanged on 2 June 1948.
Wolfram Sievers, German SS officer (born 1905)
Wolfram Sievers was a Nazi and convicted war criminal for medical atrocities carried out while he was managing director of the Ahnenerbe from 1935–1945. He was convicted of war crimes in the Doctors' Trial in 1947 and executed by hanging in 1948.
02/06/1947
John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, English sailor and politician (born 1867)
John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, was a British businessman and Conservative politician. Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 46 years, representing three midlands-based constituencies in that period.
02/06/1942
Bunny Berigan, American singer and trumpet player (born 1908)
Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. Although he composed some jazz instrumentals such as "Chicken and Waffles" and "Blues", Berigan was best known for his virtuoso jazz trumpeting. His 1937 classic recording "I Can't Get Started" on RCA Victor was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1975. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism which ended with his early death at the age of 33 from cirrhosis. His recordings of "I Can't Get Started" on Vocalion and "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" were re-released in 1976 as part of the Columbia Records Hall of Fame series.
02/06/1941
Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (born 1903)
Henry Louis Gehrig was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned him the nickname "the Iron Horse", and he is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Gehrig was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice and a member of six World Series champion teams. He had a career .340 batting average, .632 slugging average, and a .447 on-base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBIs). He is also one of 21 players to hit four home runs in a single game. In 1939, Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired by a team when his number 4 was retired by the Yankees.
02/06/1937
Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (born 1870)
Louis Victor Jules Vierne was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death. As a composer, much of his output was organ music, including six symphonies and four suites, and works for choir and organ, including a Messe solennelle for choir and two organs. He toured Europe and the United States as a concert organist. His students included Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Duruflé.
02/06/1933
Frank Jarvis, American runner and triple jumper (born 1878)
Frank Washington Jarvis was an American sprinter, the 1900 Olympic 100 m champion, and a triple jumper.
02/06/1929
Enrique Gorostieta, Mexican general (born 1889)
Enrique Gorostieta Velarde was a Mexican soldier best known for his leadership as a general during the Cristero War.
02/06/1927
Hüseyin Avni Lifij, Turkish painter (born 1886)
Hüseyin Avni Lifij was a Turkish impressionist painter of Circassian origin. He is known for landscapes with architectural features.
02/06/1901
George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary and author (born 1844)
George Leslie Mackay was a Canadian Presbyterian missionary. He was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Taiwan, serving with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. Mackay is among the best known and most influential Westerners to have lived in Taiwan.
02/06/1882
Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (born 1807)
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. He contributed to the Unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He is considered to be one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland", along with Camillo Benso di Cavour, King Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Mazzini. Garibaldi is also known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe.
02/06/1881
Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (born 1801)
Émile Maximilien Paul Littré was a French lexicographer, freemason and philosopher, best known for his Dictionnaire de la langue française, commonly called le Littré.
02/06/1875
Józef Kremer, Polish psychologist, historian, and philosopher (born 1806)
Józef Kremer was a Polish historian of art, philosopher, aesthetician and psychologist.
02/06/1865
Ner Middleswarth, American judge and politician (born 1783)
Ner Middleswarth was an American politician from New Jersey who served as a Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district from 1853 to 1855. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1815 to 1841 including two terms as speaker of the house. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the 15th district from 1853 to 1854.
02/06/1853
Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, English general (born 1777)
General Henry Otway Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, CB was a peer and British Army officer.
02/06/1806
William Tate, English painter (born 1747)
William Tate was an English portrait painter who was a pupil and friend of Joseph Wright of Derby.
02/06/1785
Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician and academic (born 1713)
Jean Paul de Gua de Malves was a French mathematician who published in 1740 a work on analytical geometry in which he applied it, without the aid of differential calculus, to find the tangents, asymptotes, and various singular points of an algebraic curve.
02/06/1761
Jonas Alströmer, Swedish businessman (born 1685)
Jonas Alströmer was a pioneer of agriculture and industry in Sweden.
02/06/1754
Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish minister and theologian (born 1680)
Ebenezer Erskine was a Scottish minister whose actions led to the establishment of the Secession Church.
02/06/1716
Ogata Kōrin, Japanese painter and educator (born 1658)
Ogata Kōrin was a Japanese landscape illustrator, lacquerer, painter, and textile designer of the Rinpa School.
02/06/1701
Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (born 1607)
Madeleine de Scudéry, often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer.
02/06/1693
John Wildman, English soldier and politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (born 1621)
Sir John Wildman was an English politician, republican activist and soldier. A prominent Leveller during the English Civil War, he helped draft the Agreement of the People and later engaged in political intrigue under the Commonwealth, Protectorate, and after the Restoration of the Monarchy. Surviving multiple imprisonments, he served as a member of Parliament and as Postmaster General under William III.
02/06/1603
Bernard of Wąbrzeźno, Roman Catholic priest (born 1575)
Bernard of Wąbrzeźno was a Catholic priest and a Benedictine monk from the Benedictine Abbey in Lubiń, Poland. He has been named as a candidate for beatification several times, beginning in the 1730s and most recently in 2009.
02/06/1581
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Scottish soldier and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (born 1525)
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton was a Scottish nobleman. He played a leading role in the murders of Queen Mary's confidant, David Rizzio, and king consort Henry Darnley. He was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of James VI. He was in some ways the most successful of the four since he won the civil war that had been dragging on with the supporters of the exiled Mary, Queen of Scots. However, he came to an unfortunate end, executed by means of the Maiden, a predecessor of the guillotine.
02/06/1572
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (born 1536)
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk,, was an English Roman Catholic nobleman and politician. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I and held many high offices during the earlier part of her reign.
02/06/1567
Shane O'Neill, head of the O'Neill dynasty in Ireland (born 1530)
Shane O'Neill was an Irish chieftain of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster in the mid-16th century. Shane O'Neill's career was marked by his ambition to be the O'Neill—sovereign of the dominant O'Neill family of Tír Eoghain. This brought him into conflict with competing branches of the O'Neill family and with the English government in Ireland, who recognised a rival claim. Shane's support was considered worth gaining by the English even during the lifetime of his father Conn O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone. But rejecting overtures from the 3rd Earl of Sussex, the lord deputy from 1556, Shane refused to help the English against the Scottish settlers on the coast of Antrim, allying himself for a short time instead with the MacDonnells, the most powerful of these settlers. Shane viewed the Scottish settlers as invaders, but decided to stay his hand against them with hopes of using them to strengthen his position with the English. However, tensions quickly boiled over and he declared war on the Scottish MacDonnell's defeating them at the Battle of Glentaisie despite the MacDonnells calling for reinforcements from Scotland. The Scottish MacDonnells would later assassinate Shane O'Neill and collect the bounty on his head.
02/06/1453
Álvaro de Luna, Duke of Trujillo, Constable of Castile
Álvaro de Luna y Fernández de Jarava, was a Castilian statesman, favourite of John II of Castile. He served as Constable of Castile and as Grand Master of the Order of Santiago. He earned great influence in the Crown's affairs in the wake of his support to John II against the so-called Infantes of Aragon. Once he lost the protection of the monarch, he was executed in Valladolid in 1453.
02/06/1418
Katherine of Lancaster, queen of Henry III of Castile
Catherine of Lancaster was Queen of Castile by marriage to King Henry III of Castile. She governed Castile as regent from 1406 until 1418 during the minority of her son.
02/06/1292
Rhys ap Maredudd, Welsh nobleman and rebel leader
Rhys ap Maredudd was a senior member of the Welsh royal house of Deheubarth, a principality of Medieval Wales. He was the great grandson of The Lord Rhys, prince of south Wales, and the last ruler of a united Deheubarth. He is best known for his leadership of a revolt in south Wales in 1287–88 whilst King Edward I of England was away in Gascony.
02/06/1258
Peter I, Count of Urgell
Peter I was the second son of King Sancho I of Portugal and his wife Dulce, infanta of Aragon, and would eventually become Count of Urgell and Lord of the Balearic Islands. Most of what is known about him comes from the Tratado da Vida e Martírio dos Cinco Mártires de Marrocos.
02/06/1200
Bishop John of Oxford
John of Oxford was a medieval Bishop of Norwich.
02/06/0910
Richilde of Provence (born 845)
Richilde of Provence was the second wife of the Frankish emperor Charles the Bald. By her marriage, she became queen and later empress. She ruled as regent in 877.
02/06/0891
Al-Muwaffaq, Abbasid general (born 842)
Abu Ahmad Ṭalḥa ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Muwaffaq bi'Llah, better known by his laqab as Al-Muwaffaq Billah, was an Abbasid prince and military leader, who acted as the de facto regent of the Abbasid Caliphate for most of the reign of his brother, Caliph al-Mu'tamid. His stabilization of the internal political scene after the decade-long "Anarchy at Samarra", his successful defence of Iraq against the Saffarids and the suppression of the Zanj Rebellion restored a measure of the Caliphate's former power and began a period of recovery, which culminated in the reign of al-Muwaffaq's own son, the Caliph al-Mu'tadid.
02/06/0657
Pope Eugene I
Pope Eugene I was the bishop of Rome from 10 August 654 to his death on 2 June 657. He was chosen to become Pope after the deposition and banishment of Martin I by Emperor Constans II over the dispute about Monothelitism.
Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 2nd June
Children's Day (North Korea)
Children's Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually in honour of children, whose date of observance varies by country. In 1925, International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare. Since 1950, it is celebrated on 1 June in many countries that were part of the Eastern Bloc and Non-Aligned Movement, which follow the suggestion from Women's International Democratic Federation. World Children's Day is celebrated on 20 November to commemorate the issuance of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1959, along with the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on that date in 1989. In some countries, it is Children's Week and not Children's Day.
Christian feast day: Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church)
Ahudemmeh was the Grand Metropolitan of the East in the Syriac Orthodox Church from 559 until his execution in 575. He was known as the Apostle of the Arabs, and is commemorated as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Christian feast day: Alexander (martyr)
Saint Alexander was a martyr and companion of Saint Pothinus. Alexander was a physician in Vienne, Gaul, when he converted to Christianity. He was arrested during the persecutions conducted under Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Along with Pothinus and forty-six other Christians, Alexander was tortured and executed. As part of this group, Alexander is one of the Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne.
Christian feast day: Elmo
Erasmus of Formia, also known as Saint Elmo, was a Christian saint and martyr. He is venerated as the patron saint of sailors and abdominal pain. Erasmus or Elmo is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, saintly figures of Catholicism who are venerated especially as intercessors.
Christian feast day: Felix of Nicosia
Felix of Nicosia was a Capuchin friar, and is honored as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
Christian feast day: Marcellinus and Peter
Saints Marcellinus and Peter are venerated within the Catholic Church as martyrs who were beheaded. Hagiographies place them in 4th century Rome. They are generally represented as men in middle age, with tonsures and palms of martyrdom; sometimes they hold a crown each.
Christian feast day: Martyrs of Lyon, including Blandina
The persecution in Lyon in AD 177 was an outbreak of persecution of Christians in Lugdunum, Roman Gaul, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, recorded in a contemporary letter preserved in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, book 5, chapter 1, which was written 150 years later in Palestine. Gregory of Tours also describes the persecution in the 6th century in De Gloria martyrum.
Christian feast day: Pope Eugene I
Pope Eugene I was the bishop of Rome from 10 August 654 to his death on 2 June 657. He was chosen to become Pope after the deposition and banishment of Martin I by Emperor Constans II over the dispute about Monothelitism.
Christian feast day: Pothinus
Saint Pothinus was the first bishop of Lyon and the first bishop of Gaul. He is first mentioned in a letter attributed to Irenaeus of Lyon. The letter was sent from the Christian communities of Lyon and Vienne to the Roman province of Asia.
Christian feast day: Blessed Sadok and 48 Dominican martyrs from Sandomierz
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".
Christian feast day: June 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
June 1 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - June 3
Civil Aviation Day (Azerbaijan)
There are several public holidays in Azerbaijan. Public holidays were regulated in the constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR for the first time on 19 May 1921. They are now regulated by the Constitution of Azerbaijan.
Coronation of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, also Social Forestry Day (Bhutan)
Public holidays in Bhutan consist of both national holidays and local festivals or tshechus. While national holidays are observed throughout Bhutan, tsechus are only observed in their areas. Bhutan uses its own calendar, a variant of the lunisolar Tibetan calendar. Because it is a lunisolar calendar, dates of some national holidays and most tshechus change from year to year. For example, the new year, Losar, generally falls between February and March.
Day of Hristo Botev (Bulgaria)
Hristo Botev, born Hristo Botyov Petkov, was a Bulgarian revolutionary and poet. Botev is considered by Bulgarians to be a symbolic historical figure and national hero. His poetry is a prime example of the literature of the Bulgarian National Revival, though he is considered to be ahead of his contemporaries in his political, philosophical, and aesthetic views.
Decoration Day (Canada)
Decoration Day is a Canadian holiday that recognizes veterans of Canada's military. The holiday has mostly been eclipsed by the similar Remembrance Day.
Festa della Repubblica (Italy)
Festa della Repubblica is the Italian National Day and Republic Day, which is celebrated on 2 June each year, with the main celebration taking place in Rome. The Festa della Repubblica is one of the national symbols of Italy.
Gawai Dayak, harvest festival in the state of Sarawak (Malaysia)
Gawai Dayak is a form of harvest festival celebrated on 1 and 2 June annually in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia.
International Sex Workers Day
International Whores' Day or International Sex worker's Day is observed annually on June 2 of each year, honours sex workers and recognises their often exploited working conditions. The event commemorates the occupation of Église Saint-Nizier in Lyon by more than a hundred sex workers on June 2, 1975 to draw attention to their inhumane working conditions. It has been celebrated annually since 1976. In German, it is known as Hurentag. In Spanish-speaking countries, it is the Día Internacional de la Trabajadora Sexual, the International Day of the Sex Worker.
Telangana Day (Telangana, India)
Telangana Day is a state public holiday in the Indian state of Telangana, commemorating the formation of the state of Telangana. It is observed annually on 2 June. Telangana Day is commonly associated with parades and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history and traditions of Telangana. The state celebrates the occasion with formal events across the districts. The formal event of national flag hoisting by the Chief Minister of Telangana and the ceremonial parade is held at the parade grounds. Celebrations are held in all 33 districts of the state.
What Happened on 2nd June?
42 significant events took place on Friday, 2nd June — stretching from 260 to 2023. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.
02/06/2023
A collision between two passenger trains and a parked freight train near the city of Balasor, Odisha in eastern India, results in 296 deaths and more than 1,200 people injured.
On 2 June 2023, three trains collided in Balasore district in the east Indian state of Odisha. The crash occurred around 19:00 IST when Coromandel Express, a passenger train, collided with a stationary goods train near Bahanaga Bazar railway station on the Howrah–Chennai main line. Due to the high speed of the passenger train and the heavy tonnage of the goods train, the impact resulted in 21 coaches of the Coromandel Express derailing, three of which collided with the oncoming SMVT Bengaluru–Howrah Superfast Express on the adjacent track.
02/06/2022
Following a request from Ankara, the United Nations officially changed the name of the Republic of Turkey in the organization from what was previously known as "Turkey" to "Türkiye".
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of over 5.3 million residents in its urban center, out of 6 million residents in Ankara Province. Ankara is Turkey's second-largest city by population after Istanbul.
02/06/2014
Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana is a state in southern India on the Deccan Plateau bordering Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to the north and Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to the south. It is the eleventh largest and the twelfth most populated state of India. According to the Rigveda's Aitareya Brahmana, the region corresponding to Telangana has been inhabited by the Andhras since at least the 9th century BCE with the later Satavahana dynasty, who ruled over the entire Deccan Plateau, establishing trade relations as far as the Roman Empire. Subsequent major dynasties include the Vishnukundinas, Eastern Chalukyas, Kakatiyas, the Vijayanagara Empire, and Qutb Shahis, followed by the British Raj. Following the Independence of India, the Telugu speaking regions of India were gradually regrouped within the state of Andhra Pradesh but after decades of protests and agitations, the Telangana movement obtained its bifurcation with the creation, in 2014, of the state of Telangana corresponding to the Telugu speaking regions of the Princely State of Hyderabad.
02/06/2012
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
The president of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt. Under the various iterations of the Constitution of Egypt following the Egyptian revolution of 1952, the president is also the Supreme commander of the Armed Forces, and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government.
02/06/2003
Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", for its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous atmosphere that is primarily carbon dioxide. At the average surface level the atmospheric pressure is a few thousandths of Earth's, atmospheric temperature ranges from −153 to 20 °C, and cosmic radiation is high. Mars retains some water, in the ground as well as thinly in the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds, fog, frost, larger polar regions of permafrost and ice caps, but no bodies of liquid surface water. Its surface gravity is roughly a third of Earth's or double that of the Moon. Its diameter, 6,779 km (4,212 mi), is about half the Earth's, or twice the Moon's, and its surface area is the size of all the dry land of Earth.
02/06/1998
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-91, the final mission of the Shuttle-Mir program.
Space Shuttle Discovery is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft as of December 2024. The Space Shuttle launch vehicle had three main components: the Space Shuttle orbiter, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry.
02/06/1997
In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later.
Denver is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Officially a consolidated city and county, it is located in the South Platte River valley on the western edge of the High Plains, and is just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains (Rockies). Denver is the 19th-most populous city in the United States and the fifth-most populous state capital, with a population of 715,522 at the 2020 census. The ten-county Denver metropolitan area, with 3.1 million residents, is the 19th-largest metropolitan area in the country and functions as the economic and cultural center of the broader Front Range Urban Corridor.
02/06/1990
The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12.
The June 1990 Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawned 65 tornadoes, including seven of F4 intensity, in southern Illinois, central and southern Indiana, southwestern Ohio, and northern Kentucky on June 2–3, 1990.
02/06/1983
After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
Air Canada Flight 797 was an international passenger flight operating from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Montréal–Dorval International Airport, with an intermediate stop at Toronto International Airport. On 2 June 1983, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the service developed an in-flight fire in air around the rear lavatory that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with toxic smoke. The spreading fire also burned through crucial electrical cables that disabled most of the instrumentation in the cockpit, forcing the plane to divert to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Ninety seconds after the plane landed and the doors were opened, the heat of the fire and fresh oxygen from the open exit doors created a backdraft, and the plane's interior immediately became engulfed in flames, killing 23 passengers—half of the people on board—who were unable to evacuate the aircraft.
02/06/1979
Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX.
02/06/1967
Luis Monge is executed in Colorado's gas chamber, in the last pre-Furman execution in the United States.
Luis José Monge was a convicted mass murderer who was executed in the gas chamber at Colorado State Penitentiary in 1967. Monge was the last inmate to be executed before an unofficial moratorium on executions that lasted for more than four years while most death penalty cases were on appeal, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, invalidating all existing death penalty statutes as written.
Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran are brutally suppressed, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
West Berlin was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1990, the territory was claimed by the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The legality of this claim was contested by the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries, although West Berlin de facto aligned itself politically with the FRG from May 1949, was thereafter directly or indirectly represented in its federal institutions, and most of its residents were citizens of the FRG.
02/06/1966
Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
The Surveyor program was a NASA program that, from June 1966 through January 1968, sent seven robotic spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. Its primary goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of soft landings on the Moon. The Surveyor craft were the first American spacecraft to achieve soft landing on an extraterrestrial body. The missions called for the craft to travel directly to the Moon on an impact trajectory, a journey that lasted 63 to 65 hours, and ended with a deceleration of just over three minutes to a soft landing.
02/06/1964
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed.
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is currently represented by the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh.
02/06/1962
During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.
The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between August 1960 and December 1961, with 56 teams entering from six confederations, and fourteen qualifying for the finals tournament alongside Chile, the hosts, and Brazil, the defending champions.
02/06/1958
Aeronaves de México Flight 111 crashes on approach to Guadalajara International Airport, killing 45.
Aeroméxico Flight 111 was a scheduled commercial flight from Tijuana to Acapulco with stopovers in Mazatlán, Guadalajara, and Mexico City. On June 2, 1958, the Lockheed L-749 Constellation was operating a scheduled flight and crashed near Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, killing all 45 occupants.
02/06/1955
The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between the two countries, discontinued since 1948.
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, the largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, with the largest and most populous being the Russian SFSR. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.
02/06/1953
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation and one of the first major international events to be televised.
The coronation of Elizabeth II as queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. Elizabeth acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive councils shortly afterwards. The coronation was held more than one year later because of the tradition of allowing an appropriate length of time to pass after a monarch dies. It also gave the planning committees adequate time to make preparations for the ceremony. During the service, Elizabeth took an oath, was anointed with holy oil, was invested with robes and regalia, and was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon.
02/06/1946
Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled.
An institutional referendum was held by universal suffrage in the Kingdom of Italy on 2 June 1946, a key event of contemporary Italian history. Until 1946, Italy was a kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy, reigning since the unification of Italy in 1861 and previously rulers of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In 1922, the rise of Benito Mussolini and the creation of the Fascist regime in Italy, which eventually resulted in engaging the country in World War II alongside Nazi Germany, considerably weakened the role of the royal house.
02/06/1941
World War II: German paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the villages of Kondomari and Alikianos.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
02/06/1924
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously served as the 29th vice president from 1921 to 1923, under President Warren G. Harding, and as the 48th governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921. Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, with a taciturn personality and dry sense of humor that earned him the nickname "Silent Cal".
02/06/1919
Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state with stateless societies and voluntary free associations. Anarchism is described as being part of the libertarian wing of the socialist movement.
02/06/1910
Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
Charles Stewart Rolls was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft, when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display in Bournemouth. He was aged 32.
02/06/1909
Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
Alfred Deakin was an Australian politician who served as the second prime minister of Australia from 1903 to 1904, 1905 to 1908, and 1909 to 1910. He held office as the leader of the Protectionist Party, and in his final term as that of the Liberal Party. He is notable for being one of the fathers of Federation and for his influence in early Australian politics.
02/06/1896
Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess, was an Italian radio-frequency engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This led to his being largely credited as the inventor of radio and sharing the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy." His work laid the foundation for the development of radio, television, and all modern wireless communication systems.
02/06/1878
Nobiling assassination attempt by anarchist Karl Nobiling targeting the German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.
The Nobiling assassination attempt, or the assassination attempt on Wilhelm I of 2 June 1878, was an armed attack carried out by Karl Nobiling, a German anarchist philosopher, against the Kaiser Wilhelm I, severely wounding him. Along with the Hödel assassination attempt, less than a month earlier and aimed at the same target, it was one of the first acts of propaganda by the deed in history.
02/06/1866
The Fenians defeat Canadian forces at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, but the raids end soon after.
The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish republican organisation founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Members were commonly known as "Fenians". O'Mahony, who was a Gaelic scholar, named his organisation after the Fianna, the legendary band of Irish warriors led by Fionn mac Cumhaill.
02/06/1848
The Slavic Congress opens in Prague.
The Prague Slavic Congress of 1848 took place in Prague, Austrian Empire between 2 June and 12 June 1848. It was the first occasion on which representatives from nearly all Slav populations of Europe met in one place to discuss the emerging idea of Pan-Slavism. The delegates at the Congress were not only anti-Austrian, but also anti-Russian, despite the latter being the only fully independent Slavic nation at the time.
02/06/1805
Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptures from the British the island of Diamond Rock, which guards the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, Martinique.
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a global series of conflicts fought by a fluctuating array of European coalitions against the French First Republic (1803–1804) under the First Consul followed by the First French Empire (1804–1815) under the Emperor of the French, Napoleon I. The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe. The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: the War of the Third Coalition, War of the Fourth Coalition, War of the Fifth Coalition, War of the Sixth Coalition, War of the Seventh Coalition, the Peninsular War, and the French invasion of Russia.
02/06/1793
French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.
The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse. It was caused by a combination of social, political, and economic factors which the existing regime proved unable to manage.
02/06/1780
The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in London leave an estimated 300 to 700 people dead.
The Gordon Riots in London in 1780 involved several days of unrest and violence motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began on 2 June 1780 with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which had somewhat reduced official discrimination against British Catholics enacted by the Popery Act 1698 . The Protestant Association, headed by Lord George Gordon, MP, noted that the law enabled Catholics to join the British Army and warned that the relaxation might enable Catholic soldiers to plot treason. The resultant protest led to widespread rioting and looting, including attacks on the buildings of Newgate Prison and of the Bank of England, and was the most destructive in the history of London.
02/06/1774
Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act of 1774 is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
The Intolerable Acts, sometimes referred to as the Insufferable Acts or Coercive Acts, were a series of five punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to collectively punish Massachusetts colonists for the actions of those protesting the Tea Act, a tax measure enacted by Parliament in May 1773, by dumping tea into Boston harbor. In Great Britain and the American colonies at the time, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts. The term Intolerable Acts did not arise until the 19th century. Many Massachusetts colonists considered them a "virtual declaration of war" by the British government. They were a key development leading to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in April 1775.
02/06/1763
Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
Pontiac's War was launched in 1763 by a confederation of Native Americans who were dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region following the French and Indian War (1754–1763). Warriors from numerous nations joined in an effort to drive British soldiers and settlers out of the region. The war is named after Odawa leader Pontiac, the most prominent of many Indigenous leaders in the conflict.
02/06/1692
Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty the same day and hanged on June 10.
Bridget Bishop was a midwife and the first person executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in 1692. Nineteen were hanged, and one, Giles Corey, was pressed to death. Altogether, about 200 people were tried.
02/06/1676
Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
The Franco-Dutch War, 1672 to 1678, was primarily fought by France and the Dutch Republic, with both sides backed at different times by a variety of allies. Related conflicts include the 1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and 1675 to 1679 Scanian War.
02/06/1615
The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
The Franciscan Recollects were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects devoted their lives to an extra emphasis on prayer, penance, and spiritual reflection (recollection), focusing on living in small, remote communities to better facilitate these goals. Today they are best known for their activities as missionaries in various parts of the world, most notably in early French Canada.
02/06/1608
The Colony of Virginia gets a charter, extending borders from "sea to sea".
The Colony of Virginia was a British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colony lasted for three attempts totaling six years. In 1590, the colony was abandoned. But nearly twenty years later, the colony was re-settled at Jamestown, not far north of the original site. A second charter was issued in 1606 and settled in 1607, becoming the first enduring English colony in North America. It followed failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583 and the Roanoke Colony by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 1580s.
02/06/1259
Wedding of Manfred, King of Sicily, and Byzantine princess Helena Angelina Doukaina.
Manfred was the last King of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen dynasty, reigning from 1258 until his death. The natural son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, Manfred became regent over the Kingdom of Sicily on behalf of his nephew Conradin in 1254. As regent he subdued rebellions in the kingdom, until in 1258 he usurped Conradin's rule. After an initial attempt to appease Pope Innocent IV, he took up the ongoing conflict between the Hohenstaufens and the papacy through combat and political alliances. He defeated the papal army at Foggia on 2 December 1254. Excommunicated by three successive popes, Manfred was the target of a Crusade (1255–1266) called first by Pope Alexander IV and then by Urban IV. Nothing came of Alexander's call, but Urban enlisted the aid of Charles of Anjou in overthrowing Manfred. Manfred was killed during his defeat by Charles at the Battle of Benevento, and Charles assumed kingship of Sicily.
02/06/1098
First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later.
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, which were initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Their aim was to return the Holy Land—which had been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century—to Christian rule. By the 11th century, although Jerusalem had then been ruled by Muslims for hundreds of years, the practices of the Seljuk rulers in the region began to threaten local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West and the Byzantine Empire itself. The earliest impetus for the First Crusade came in 1095 when Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent ambassadors to the Council of Piacenza to request military support in the empire's conflict with the Seljuk-led Turks. This was followed later in the year by the Council of Clermont, at which Pope Urban II gave a speech supporting the Byzantine request and urging faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
02/06/0575
Pope Benedict I is consecrated after obtaining imperial approval from Constantinople.
Pope Benedict I was the bishop of Rome from 2 June 575 to his death on 30 July 579.
02/06/0455
Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
The sack of Rome in 455 was carried out by the Vandals led by their king Gaiseric.
02/06/0260
Sima Zhao's regicide of Cao Mao: The figurehead Wei emperor Cao Mao personally leads an attempt to oust his regent, Sima Zhao; the attempted coup is crushed and the emperor killed.
Sima Zhao's regicide of Cao Mao, also known as the Ganlu Incident, occurred on 2 June 260 in Luoyang, the capital of the state of Cao Wei, during the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Mao, the nominal emperor of Wei, attempted to oust the regent Sima Zhao, who effectively controlled the Wei government. However, the plot concluded with Cao Mao's death and Sima Zhao retaining his status. Contrary to its intention, the coup actually increased the Sima clan's power and influence in Wei, albeit at the cost of Sima Zhao's personal standing, thus providing a foundation for the eventual usurpation of the Wei throne in February 266 by Sima Zhao's son Sima Yan, who founded the Western Jin dynasty.