13th June is the 164th day of the year (165th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. 201 days remain until the end of the year. Find out some important events that occurred on this day in history.

 

Historical events

1325 — Ibn Battuta begins his travels, leaving his home in Tangiers to travel to Mecca (gone 24 years).

1611 — John Fabricius dedicates earliest sunspot publication.

1707 — Hungary declares itself independent under Ferenc Rákóczi II (aka Francis II Rákóczi).

1774 — Rhode Island becomes the first colony to prohibit importation of slaves.

1777 — Leonard Norcross patents a submarine diving suit.

1789 — Mrs Alexander Hamilton serves ice cream for dessert to Washington.

1854 — Anthony Faas patents the first US accordion, having made improvements to both the keyboard, and to enhance the sound (11,062)

1868 — Oscar Dunn becomes first African American to be elected a Lieutenant Governor, of Louisiana.

1871 — Hurricane kills 300 in Labrador.

 

13th June in the 20th Century

1910 — Pilot Charles Hamilton makes the first one-day round-trip from NY to Philadelphia.

1920 — The US Post Office says children cannot be sent by parcel post (after various instances). Children “mailed” by their parents because it was cheaper to mail them – if a child came in under the 50-pound parcel weight limit than other ways to travel.

1922 — Longest recorded attack of hiccups begins: Charlie Osborne gets the hiccups and continues for 68 years, dies 11 months after it stops.

1925 — Charles Jenkins demonstrates the transmission of synchronised pictures and sound (early television).

1933 — The first sodium vapour lamps installed (Schenectady, NY).

1938 — Jews injured and property destroyed in Przemyal, Poland.

1942 — The United States opens its Office of War Information, with Elmer Davis as the head.

1946 — The first transcontinental round-trip flight in one day, California-Maryland.

1954 — Cornerstone of Albert Einstein College of Medicine laid in the Bronx.

1955 — Mercedes racing car kills 77 at Le Mans, France.

1956 — The first European Cup Final, Paris: Héctor Rial scores twice as Real Madrid beats Stade de Reims, 4-3 to claim inaugural title.

1962 — Norway named ombudsman.

 

More dates

1963 — Vostok 6 launched, the pilot is the first woman cosmonaut.

1971 — “The New York Times” begins publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, classified documents on the long history of the US in Vietnam.

1976 — Reggae musician Bob Marley performs in Amsterdam.

1976 — Inge Helten runs female European record 100m (11.04).

1977 — Convicted Martin Luther King assassin James Earl Ray recaptured.

1978 — The film “Grease” opens, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on the 1971 musical.

1980 — UN Security Council calls for South Africa to free Nelson Mandela.

1981 — Teenager fires 6 blank rounds at Queen Elizabeth II.

1983 — NASA’s Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the solar system.

1990 — “Les Miserables” opens at S Alberta Jubilee Centre, Calgary.

1991 — The National, the first all-sports daily newspaper, ceases publication.

1994 — A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages.

2000 — Actor Samuel L. Jackson is honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

13th June in the 21st Century

2005 — A jury in Santa Maria, California acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo at his Neverland Ranch.

2008 — “Viva la Vida” single released by Coldplay, – their first US No. 1, (Grammy Song of the Year).

2011 — Christchurch, New Zealand is hit by another strong earthquake measuring magnitude 6.3.

2012 — “The Amazing Spider-Man” directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone premieres at the Tokyo Film Festival.

2015 — Floods in Tbilisi, Georgia, kill 12 people and free animals from the city’s zoo including bears and hippos to roam the city.

2015 — Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet in European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission re-awakes after seven months.

2018 — Antarctica is melting at an accelerating rate – 200 billion tonnes a year, three trillion tonnes in 25 years, in a report published in “Nature” journal.

2018 — Raccoon climbs 23 story office building in St Paul, Minnesota. It becomes an internet sensation.

2018 — Volkswagen fined €1 billion (£880m) by German prosecutors over the diesel emissions scandal.