On This Day: 2 June

Rome is sacked by the Vandals, who continue to plunder the city for two weeks		455
St. Augustine baptises King Ethelbert of Kent		597
During the First Crusade, the first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later		1098
Thomas à Becket ordained		1162
Henry V of England marries Catherine de Valois		1420
Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged		1692
Gordon Riots begin in London		1780
The Derby first run, at Epsom – won by Diomed		1780
François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean–Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror		1793
A Franco–Spanish fleet recaptures Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort–de–France, from the British		1805
P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States		1835
Corfu occupied by Greek troops		1864
The first Trades Union Congress convenes		1868
Britain crushes the Marathas in India and annexes their land		1868
President Grover Cleveland marries Miss Frances Folsom, 27 years his junior at the age of 22, in the White House		1886
The International Football Association Board – the body that determines the laws of the game – meets for the first time		1882
Japan takes possession of Formosa (Taiwan) from China		1895
Gugliemo Marconi granted the first patent for wireless telegraphy		1896
Nijinsky and Pavlova star in the premiere of Les Sylphides, in Paris		1909
Charles Rolls makes the first return flight over the English Channel		1910
Bombs are detonated simultaneously in eight separate US cities, by anarchists		1919
US President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act (a.k.a. the Snyder Act) into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States		1924
New Zealand engineer Frank Holmes discovers oil in Kuwait (Bahrain? – Times 2001)		1932
German paratroopers murder Cretan civilians (23 according to German records, but as many as 60 in other sources) in the village of Kondomari		1941
Clothes rationing introduced in the UK		1941
Italians vote in a referendum to abolish the monarchy and become a republic		1946
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey is the first major international event to be televised		1953
Lester Piggott wins his first Derby, on Never Say Die		1954
By the Belgrade declaration, the USSR and Yugoslavia normalize relations, discontinued since 1948		1955
Britain's first legal casino opens in Brighton		1962
Referee Ken Aston (of England) is escorted off the pitch after the 'Battle of Santiago', in the World Cup finals tournament – Chile won 2–0 and two Italian players were sent off; police intervened several times in fights between players		1962
The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) is founded in Jerusalem		1964
Surveyor 1 lands on the Moon and starts sending back the first close–up pictures of its surface – the first US spacecraft to soft–land on an extra–terrestrial body		1966
Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into riots, during which university student Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June		1967
Lester Piggott wins the Derby for a record seventh time		1976
Pope John Paul II makes an emotional return to Poland – the first papal visit to a Communist country		1979
After an emergency landing at Cincinnatti/North Kentucky because of an in–flight fire, 23 passengers aboard an Air Canada DC–9 en route from Dallas/Fort Worth to Montreal are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open; the incident would lead to the introduction of numerous new safety regulations		1983
UEFA announces an indefinite ban on English clubs participating in European competitions		1985
Lindy Chamberlain officially pardoned over her conviction for the murder of her baby		1987
Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh found guilty in Denver of 15 counts of murder for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing		1997
Officials insist that tomorrow night's Jubilee pop concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace will go ahead, despite a minor fire that broke out in an unoccupied flat in the west terrace		2002
The European Space Agency's Mars Express – Europe's first mission to another planet, consisting of the Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2 – is launched from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan		2003
Police raid a house in Forest Gate, south London, after "an intelligence tip–off" suggested that the house was being used to build a chemical weapon. One man is shot in the shoulder. Nothing is found and the police are later forced to apologise		2006
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the revolution of 2011		2012

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On This Day: 2 June