(Following Advance for Use Saturday, June 7th)


Today in History

Today is Saturday, June 7th, the 159th day of 2008. There are 207 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: On June 7th, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for American independence from Britain.

On this date: In 1753, Britain's King George II gave his assent to an Act of Parliament establishing the British Museum.

In 1769, frontiersman Daniel Boone first began to explore present-day Kentucky.

In 1848, French Postimpressionist painter Paul Gauguin was born in Paris.

In 1929, the sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.

In 1937, actress Jean Harlow died in Los Angeles at age 26.

In 1948, the Communists completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia with the resignation of President Edvard Benes (BEH'-nesh).

In 1967, the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic opened in San Francisco.

In 1967, author-critic Dorothy Parker, famed for her caustic wit, died in New York at age 73.

In 1972, the musical "Grease" opened on Broadway, having already been performed in lower Manhattan.

In 1981, Israeli military planes destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq, a facility the Israelis charged could have been used to make nuclear weapons.

Ten years ago: In a crime that shocked the nation, James Byrd Junior, a 49-year-old black man, was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. (Two white men were later sentenced to death for the crime; a third received life in prison.) At the Tony Awards, "The Lion King" won best musical and "Art" was named best play.

Five years ago: In a national first, New Hampshire Episcopalians elected the Reverend V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, their next bishop. A suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed four German peacekeepers; the blast also killed a teenage Afghan bystander.

Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-4 at the French Open, in the first all-Belgian Grand Slam final. Empire Maker beat Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner Funny Cide in the Belmont Stakes.

One year ago: At the G-8 summit in Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin, bitterly opposed to a U.S. missile shield in Europe, presented President Bush with a surprise counterproposal built around a Soviet-era radar system in Azerbaijan (ah-zur-by-JAHN'); Bush promised to consider the idea. After three days in jail for a reckless-driving probation violation, Paris Hilton was released by Los Angeles County sheriff's officials because of an undisclosed medical condition to be sent home under house arrest. (The next day, a judge ordered Hilton back to jail.)


Today's Birthdays: Movie director James Ivory is 80. Actress Virginia McKenna is 77. Singer Tom Jones is 68. Poet Nikki Giovanni is 65. Actor Ken Osmond ("Leave It to Beaver") is 65. Former talk show host Jenny Jones is 62. Actress Anne Twomey is 57. Actor Liam Neeson is 56. Actress Colleen Camp is 55. Singer-songwriter Johnny Clegg is 55. Author Louise Erdrich (UR'-drihk) is 54. Actor William Forsythe is 53. Record producer L.A. Reid is 52. Latin pop singer Juan Luis Guerra is 51. Singer-songwriter Prince is 50. Rock singer-musician Gordon Gano (The Violent Femmes) is 45. Rapper Ecstacy (Whodini) is 44. Rock musician Eric Kretz (Stone Temple Pilots) is 42. Rock musician David Navarro is 41. Actress Helen Baxendale is 38. Actor Karl Urban is 36. Rock musician Eric Johnson (The Shins) is 32. Actress Larisa Oleynik (oh-LAY'-nihk) is 27.

Tennis player Anna Kournikova is 27. Actor Michael Cera is 20.

Actress Shelley Buckner is 19.

Thought for Today: "Some seek bread; and some seek wealth and ease; and some seek fame, but all are seeking rest." Frederick Langbridge, English clergyman and author (1849-1922).

(Above Advance for Use Saturday, June 7th)


Copyright 2008, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 05-25-08 0804CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list