June 7th

It is the Feast Day of St. Robert of Newminster, a Priest and Abbot of Newminster Abbey in Morpeth, Northumberland in the 12th Century.

555 Pope Vigilius died on a journey at Syracuse. He is considered the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy.

 

 

 1779 William Warburton, English bishop and master breadmaker died in Gloucester on this day. He was sandwiched between two carts, a passing Doctor Foster tried to save him but declared him 'Brown Bread'. Crumbs! What a way for a member of the upper crust to go! Out for a walk then Toast!

1909 16yo Mary Pickford makes her screen debut.

1917 American singer, actor, and producer Dean Martin is born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, U.S.A.

1931 English actress and author Virginia McKenna is born in Marylebone, London.

1944 At the Ardenne Abbey, a Premonstratensian monastery in Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe, near Caen, France. In June 1944, 20 Canadian soldiers were illegally executed at the abbey by members of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend.Both the method by which the killings were carried out and upon whom the blame rests remain points of contention. Some basic facts, however, are certain. During the evening of 7 June, 11 Canadian prisoners of war, soldiers from the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment), were shot in the back of the head. This was a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention (of which Germany was a signatory) and therefore these actions constituted a war crime.

1952 Irish-American actor Liam Neeson is born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

1954 English mathematician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist Alan Mathison Turing died today.Turing is widely considered as the "Father of Theoretical Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence.

 

Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952, when such acts were still criminalised in the UK. He accepted treatment with estrogen injections (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined his death a suicide; his mother and some others believed it was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated." The Queen granted him a posthumous pardon on 24 December 2013.

1965 American actress and singer Judy Holliday died from breast cancer aged 43yo in New York City.

1967 Six Day War: Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem.

1974 English adventurer, author, and television host Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls is born in Donaghadee in County Down, Northern Ireland. He appeared in a five-part web series that demonstrates urban survival techniques and features Grylls going from hotel to hotel with only Tesco to forage in nearby and Domino's Pizza delivering his suppers.

1975 The inaugural Cricket World Cup began in England.

2013 English athlete Donna Hartley died while sunbathing in her back garden aged 58yo.

Sport- Tennis: After his humiliating straight sets defeat to Rafa Nadal yesterday, Andy Murray is set to step up his search for a new coach, " Obviously I need someone to tell me what to do", groaned the Wimbledon Champion. Let me see...I'll coach you young Murray! My answer? Give up you soft Scottish pillock or take up darts or some other real man's sport!