On This Day: 4 June

King Charles VI grants a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort–sur–Soulzon in southern France, as they had been doing for centuries		1411
The steeple of St Paul's Cathedral in London is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning; it was never replaced, although the entire cathedral was rebuilt following the Great Fire of 1666		1561
Battle of Hohenfriedburg (Silesia): Frederick the Great of Prussia gains one of his most famous victories, defeating the Austrians (during the War of the Austrian Succession)		1745
The Montgolfier brothers demonstrate balloon flight for the first time in public in Annonay, near Lyons		1783
Opera singer Elisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in a hot air balloon; the flight lasts 45 minutes, reaching an estimated altitude of 1,500 metres and travelling four kilometres		1784
The Dauphin Louis, son of Louis XVI, dies aged 7		1789
Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain		1792
King Charles Emmanuel IV abdicates the throne of Sardinia in favour of his brother, Victor Emmanuel		1802
The first Trooping of the Colour ceremony takes place at Horseguards Parade, London		1805
Prince Leopold of Saxe–Coburg–Gotha, Duke of Kendal, becomes the first King of Belgium		1831
Parliament passes the Great Reform Bill		1832
Specimens of the great auk – thought to be extinct – are discovered in Iceland		1844
War breaks out between Mexico and the USA		1845
Battle of Magenta: in the Italian Independence wars, the French army under Louis–Napoleon defeats the Austrians		1859
The Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, via the First Transcontinental Railroad – only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York		1876
By a secret agreement known as the Cyprus Convention, the Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the UK, in exchange for its support during the Congress of Berlin		1878
Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first petrol–powered vehicle, and gives it a successful test run		1896
Massachusetts becomes the first US state to set a minimum wage		1912
Suffragette Emily Davison throws herself under the King's horse in the Derby; she would die four days later, having never regained consciousness		1913
The Order of the British Empire is instituted		1917
The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded		1917
Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, guaranteeing suffrage to women, and sends it to the states for ratification		1919
The Treaty of Trianon, under which Hungary would lose loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population (see 26 July) is signed in Paris, formally ending its part against the Allies in World War I; the principal beneficiaries are Romania, the Czechoslovak Republic, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the First Austrian Republic		1920
The Ryder Cup is contested for the first time – the Americans win easily		1927
Zhang Zuolin, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), is assassinated by Japanese agents		1928
The first supermarket trolley appears in Oklahoma		1937
The MS St. Louis, a German ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida (having already being turned away from Cuba)		1939
As the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk is completed, Winston Churchill makes his "We shall fight on the beaches ... " speech to the House of Commons		1940
Kaiser Bill (Wilhelm II) dies in Holland		1941
Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Atoll (the only island in the Hawaiian archipelago that is not part of the state of Hawaii)		1942
Allied troops liberate Rome		1944
Juan Peron elected President of Argentina		1946
Charles de Gaulle tells French colonists in Algeria that they must integrate with the indigenous population or leave		1959
Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev threatens to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany, and end American, British and French access to East Berlin – sparking a crisis that would lead to the construction of the Berlin Wall		1961
Seventy–two lives are lost when a Canadair C–4 Argonaut, owned by British Midland Airways and returning holidaymakers from Majorca, crashes at Stockport on its final approach to Manchester Airport		1967
Tonga (the Friendly Islands) gains independence from the UK		1970
Five British plane–spotters, imprisoned in Greece for spying, are released after ten weeks in jail, after an appeal court in Athens reduced their original sentence from ten months' imprisonment to six, and allowed them to exchange the balance of their jail terms for fines		1977
Scotland winger Willie Johnston is sent home from the World Cup finals in Argentina, after failing a routine drugs test		1978
Flt–Lt Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown		1979
Sir Douglas Nicholls, Governor of South Australia – the first aborigine to govern a state or receive a knighthood – dies		1988
Several hundred civilians are shot dead by the Chinese army during a bloody military operation to crush a democratic protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square		1989
575 lives are lost when a gas explosion wrecks two trains near Moscow		1989
Solidarity's victory in the first free(–ish) elections in post–war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti–communist revolutions in Eastern Europe		1989
Albania's first non–Communist government since World War II takes office		1991
Defence Secretary Tom King confirms that Britain will reduce the amount it spends on the army by more than a quarter over the next five years		1991
The first test flight of the European Space Agency's Ariane–5 rocket self–destructs due to a software error, 37 seconds after launch in French Guiana		1996
The maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is launched from Cape Canaveral		2010

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On This Day: 4 June