On This Day: 18 June

'Norsemen' from European Russia ('the Rus') sail into the Bosphorus on about 200 ships, and begin pillaging the suburbs of the Byzantine capital Constantinople		860
Five monks from Canterbury report seeing "the upper horn [of the moon] split in two". In 1976, the geologist Jack B. Hartung proposed that this described the formation of the crater Giordano Bruno; it is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon's distance from the Earth (on the order of metres) are a result of this collision		1178
The Parliament of Ireland holds its first definitively known meeting, at Castledermot in County Kildare		1264
Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall – a favourite of Edward II – is beheaded		1312
French forces led by Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War		1429
The first Life Insurance policy is sold in London, to William Gybbons for a period of 12 months. He died on 29 May 1594; the insurers went to court to avoid payment as he had survived for 12 lunar months		1583
Charles I is crowned King of Scotland at St. Giles's Cathedral, Edinburgh		1633
John Hampden, Parliamentary general, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Chalgrove Field		1643
Austrian troops occupy Brussels		1789
USA declares war on Britain, starting the "Second War of Independence"		1812
Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon's defeat by Wellington and Blucher forces him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time		1815
The Prince Regent opens the first Waterloo Bridge, on the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo		1817
Weber's opera Der Freischutz first performed, in Berlin		1821
Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory		1858
Francis Fox Tuckett, J. J. Bennen, V. Tairraz and P. Bohren make the first ascent of the Aletschhorn – second summit of the Bernese Alps, after the Finsteraarhorn – said to command the finest of all the panoramic views from Alpine summits		1859
Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph executed by firing squad in Mexico		1867
Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in her home town of Rochester, New York, in the 1872 presidential election		1873
Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families		1900
San Francisco earthquake – 452 killed (on the night of the 18th/19th)		1906
Joan of Arc beatified by the Pope		1909
Mein Kampf published		1925
Nurburgring motor racing circuit opened		1927
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic)		1928
Roald Amundsen is lost in a plane crash in Spitzbergen		1928
Two men are executed for plotting to assassinate Mussolini		1932
Winston Churchill, in a speech to the House of Commons, urges the nation: "let us brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'"		1940
Charles de Gaulle broadcasts from London, an appeal to the French people to fight German occupation		1940
William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) is charged in London with high treason for his pro–German propaganda broadcasting during World War II		1945
Columbia Records introduces the long–playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel in New York City		1948
Britain gives the USA permission to build an air base at Greenham Common, Berkshire		1951
The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends as King Faud is deposed, signifying the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty; Egypt is proclaimed a republic, with General Neguib as President		1953
129 lives are lost when a USAF plane crashes near Tokyo		1953
Pierre Mendes France becomes prime minister of France		1954
President Johnson speaks to Japanese prime minister Hayato Ikeda to inaugurate the first trans–pacific telephone service using the transoceanic cable		1964
The Sunday Citizen is published for the last time		1967
Conservatives win the UK general election – Edward Heath replaces Harold Wilson as prime minister		1970
All 118 people on board lose their lives when a BEA Trident–1 crashes in Staines, two minutes after take–off from Heathrow		1972
Prince Faisal ibn Museid of Saudi Arabia beheaded for the assassination of his uncle, King Faisal		1975
A watercolour by J. M. W. Turner is sold at auction for £340,000		1976
Carter and Brezhnev sign the SALT II treaty in Vienna		1979
The Lockheed F–117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight		1981
The body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi is found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge, London		1982
Sally Ride becomes the USA's first woman astronaut		1983
During the 1984–85 miners' strike, about 5,000 police and a similar number of miners clash violently at the British Steel coking plant at Orgreave, South Yorkshire		1984
The Sun depicts Graham Taylor as a turnip after his England side lose 2–1 to Sweden in the European Championships. Taylor had substituted Gary Lineker, in what would prove to be his last game for England (aged 31) – he needed one more goal to equal Bobby Charlton's England record		1992
Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub in Loughinisland, Co. Down, where people are watching a World Cup match, with assault rifles. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded		1994
The Whitewater Committee of the US Senate issues its final report, implicating President and Mrs. Clinton in a wide range of questionable conduct		1996
Louise Woodward returns home to Eaton, Cheshire, after the Massachusetts Supreme Court reduces her sentence to 279 days (the time she has already spent in custody), while upholding her conviction for manslaughter		1998
The Group of Seven countries, at a summit in Cologne, agrees to waive $70 billion in third world debt		1999
UEFA says it may eject England from Euro 2000 if hooliganism that surrounded England's victory over Germany is repeated		2000
The World Health Organisation declares that poliomyelitis has been eradicated from Europe		2002
Twenty people die in a suicide attack in Jerusalem		2002
TV presenter John Leslie is charged with two counts of indecent assault		2003
Paul Johnson, a US engineer taken hostage by al–Qa'eda militants in Saudi Arabia, is reported to have been beheaded by his captors		2004
EU leaders reach agreement on a European constitution		2004
Pro–whaling countries, led by Japan, gain control of the International Whaling Commission after a ten–year campaign to secure the votes of small African and Caribbean countries in exchange for foreign aid		2006

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On This Day: 18 June