It happened today – this day in history – June 9

68AD: Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.

1534: Jacques Cartier sails into the mouth of the St Lawrence River.

1660: Louis XIV of France marries Maria Theresa of Spain.

1672: Tsar Peter The Great (Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov) is born in Moscow.

1752:The French army surrenders to the British in Trichinopoly, India.

1822: Charles Graham patents porcelain false teeth in New York.

1856: 500 Mormons leave Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts.

1870: Author Charles Dickens dies from a stroke aged 58.

1873: Alexandra Palace burns down after being open for only 16 days.

1891: French painter Paul Gauguin arrives in Papeete, Tahiti.

1898: China leases Hong Kong’s new territories to the UK for 99 years.

1899: James J Jeffries KOs defending champion Bob Fitzsimmons of England in the 11th round in Brooklyn, New York to win the lineal World Heavyweight title.

1908: Edward VII visits Tsar Nicholas II at Reval, Russia, where the two discuss the growing power of Germany and British plans for reform in Macedonia.

1930: Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by the Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 gambling debt owed to Al Capone.

1934: The first appearance of Donald Duck in the cartoon “The Wise Little Hen”.

1940: Gen Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill meet for the first time.

1942: Nazis kill all inhabitants of Lidice, which had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, controller of Bohemia and Moravia.

1946: Bhumibol Adulyadej becomes King of Thailand after the death of his brother King Ananda Mahidol. On the same day, Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in Round 8 for the heavyweight boxing title.

1958: The Queen opens the newly extended Gatwick Airport. On the dame day, actor Robert Donat dies aged 53.

1964: Bob Dylan records Mr. Tambourine Man at Columbia Recording Studios in New York.

1968: Ken Rosewall beats Rod Laver 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 to win the French Open tennis title, the first Grand Slam tournament of the open era , allowing professional players to compete.

1970: King Hussein of Jordan escapes an assassination attempt after gunmen open fire on his motorcade near his summer palace.

1972: Bruce Springsteen signs with Columbia Records and starts to assemble the E Street Band from various Asbury Park ex-bandmates.

1974: Singles chart:

1. The Streak – Ray Stevens
2. Hey Rock n Roll – Showaddywaddy
3. There’s A Ghost In My House – R Dean Taylor
4. This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us – Sparks
5. Always Yours – Gary Glitter
6. Sugar Baby Love – The Rubettes
7. Judy Teen – Cockney Rebel
8. The Jarrow Song – Alan Price
9. A Touch Too Much – Arrows
10. I See A Star – Mouth and MacNeil

Album chart:

1. Diamond Dogs – David Bowie
2. The Singles 1969-1973 – The Carpenters
3. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth – Rick Wakeman
4. Easy Easy – Scotland World Cup Squad
5. Kimono My House – Sparks
6. Quo – Status Quo
7. Band On The Run – Wings
8. Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield
9. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John
10. Bad Company – Bad Company

1975: The first live transmission from the House of Commons is broadcast by BBC Radio and commercial stations.

1978: Larry Holmes beats Ken Norton in 15 for the heavyweight boxing title.

1980: Comedian Richard Pryor suffers severe burns from freebasing cocaine.

1983: Margaret Thatcher leads the Conservatives to a landslide second election victory.

1984: Martina Navratilova defeats Chris Evert 6-3, 6-1, becoming the second woman in the open era to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once.

1985: American Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped and held hostage in Lebanon. On the same day, the USSR’s Vega 1 deposits a lander on the surface of Venus.

1990: Monica Seles wins her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open, beating Steffi Graf 7-6, 6-4.

1991: Bruce Springsteen marries E Street Band backup singer Patti Scialfa.

1994: After an argument, TLC singer Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes sets fire to her boyfriend’s Atlanta mansion, worth $2 million, burning it to the ground.

1995: Andrew Richards is imprisoned for life for the attempted rape of another man in the first case of its kind in Britain.

1997: Britain’s lease on the New Territories in Hong Kong expires.

1998: Oasis singer Liam Gallagher and Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall are involved in a brawl at The Metropolitan Hotel, London.

2013: Edward Snowden publicly makes his identity known as the leaker of NSA documents.

2014: Comedian/actor Rik Mayall dies aged 56.

2015: Bandleader James Last dies aged 86.

2017: 1960s Batman actor Adam West dies aged 88.

2019: Over 1 million people protest in Hong Kong over proposed new extradition laws to China in one of largest-ever protests in the city.

2020: Former UFO guitarist Paul Chapman dies on his 66th birthday.

BIRTHDAYS: Jackie Mason, comedian, 90; Francis Monkman, musician/composer (Curved Air/Sky), 72; Patricia Cornwell, novelist, 65; Michael J Fox, actor, 60; Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter, 60; Eddie Lundon, guitarist (China Crisis) 59; Johnny Depp, actor, 58; Gloria Reuben, actress, 57; Eddie Marsan, actor, 53; Ed Simons, keyboards, (The Chemical Brothers), 51; Matthew Bellamy, singer/guitarist/pianist/songwriter (Muse) 43; Miroslav Klose, German footballer, 43; Natalie Portman (Hershlag), actress, 40; Anoushka Shankar, musician, 40; Wesley Sneijder, Dutch footballer, 37.