On This Day: 5 June

English missionary St. Boniface – 'The Apostle of Germany' – is murdered, with 53 companions, by a band of pagans at Dokkum in Frisia		755
Isaac Newton is admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge		1661
Louis Napoleon is declared King of the Netherlands		1806
The June Rebellion – a Republican attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis Philippe – breaks out in Paris		1832
Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy by the signing of a new constitution		1849
The first instalment of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, is published in the US abolitionist newspaper The National Era		1851
The first regularly scheduled Orient Express leaves Paris		1883
The signing of the Treaty of Saigon cedes parts of southern Vietnam to France, but the mandarin Trương Định refuses to recognise it, choosing to fight on against the Europeans in defiance of Emperor Tự Đức		1888
In the Second Boer War, Pretoria – capital of the South African Republic – falls to General Buller		1900
French artist and sculptor Henri Gaudier–Brzeska, aged 23, is killed in action in the trenches at Neuville–Saint–Vaast in northern France		1915
Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage		1915
Lord Kitchener, on his way to Russia for talks with the Tsar, is lost at sea when HMS Hampshire strikes a mine off Orkney		1916
The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire breaks out		1916
Ramsay MacDonald forms a minority Labour government		1929
Congress nullifies the right of creditors to demand payment in gold, abrogating the USA's use of the gold standard		1933
Four thousand residents of Chongqing, China's capital during its war with Japan (1937–45), are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during three hours of bombing by the Japanese		1941
The USA declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania		1942
More than 1,000 RAF bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast, in preparation for the D–Day landings		1944
The Allied Control Commission assumes authority over Germany		1945
US Secretary of State George C. Marshall outlines his plan to assist Europe, in a speech at Harvard University		1947
Elvis Presley scandalises the audience with his suggestive hip movements as he introduces his new single Hound Dog on The Milton Berle Show		1956
Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigns from office, from the House, and from the Privy Council, after admitting that he "misled" Parliament over his relationship with "call girl" Christine Keeler		1963
In several cities across Iran, angry demonstrations against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by the Shah are confronted by tanks and paratroopers		1963
Israel launches surprise "pre–emptive" strikes against Egyptian airfields, in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border – beginning the Six–Day War		1967
Senator Robert Francis Kennedy is shot by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles, after giving a speech to celebrate his win in the California Primary; he dies 25 hours later		1968
Alan Mullery is the first footballer to be sent off while representing England (v. Yugoslavia, in the European Championship semi–finals – Yugoslavia score in the 87^th minute to win 1–0)		1968
The Duke of Windsor is buried at Frogmore		1972
In its first referendum, the UK votes 2 to 1 in favour of remaining in the EEC		1975
The Suez Canal is re–opened to all but Israeli shipping, having been closed since the Six–Day war of 1967		1975
The Teton Dam, in Idaho, collapses – causing widespread flooding and killing over 100		1976
The Apple II – the first personal computer – goes on sale		1977
US immunologist Michael Gottlieb reports that five people in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems; these turn out to be the first recognised cases of AIDS		1981
More than 100 lives are lost when the Volga cruise ship Aleksandr Suvorov collides with a railway bridge in the city of Ulyanovsk. The ship was further damaged when a goods train derailed, but remained afloat and was eventually restored and returned to service		1983
Australian sailor Kay Cottee (aged 34) sails into Sydney in her 37–foot yacht Blackmores First Lady, to complete the first solo circumnavigation by a female		1988
At the culmination of the Tiananmen Square protests, an unidentified man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour		1989
Iran demands that Salman Rushdie be handed over to British Muslims		1990
Mikhail Gorbachev receives the Nobel Peace Prize for 1990		1991
South Africa repeals the Land Acts of 1913 and 1916 and the 1950 Group Areas Act		1991
Three years after privatisation, figures show that the number of people in Britain having their water supplies cut off for failing to pay their bills has almost trebled in a year		1992
Parts of the Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough fall into the sea following a landslide		1993
Pascal Lissouba, President of the Congo, anticipating a coup, orders the detention of his predecessor Denis Sassou Nguesso – precipitating the Republic's Second Civil War (which would end two years later in a victory for Sassou)		1997
HM Government announces that Dounreay, the first station to generate electricity from nuclear power, will carry out no more active work and will be dismantled		1998
Rolls Royce shareholders vote overwhelmingly to accept Volkswagen's £430 million offer		1998
Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper–Texas coastline, causing $5.5 billion in damages – the second costliest tropical storm in US history		2001
Manchester's Ricky Hatton wins the IBF light–welterweight title when defending champion Kostya Tszyu of Australia retires at the end of the 11^th round		2005
Serbia declares independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, following Montenegro's similar declaration two days earlier – marking the final demise of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia		2006

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On This Day: 5 June