June 11 birthdays & history

Famous people born on June 11

• 1899Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate
• 1910Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung
• 1933Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1864Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor
• 1969Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer
• 1986Shia LaBeouf, American actor
• 1572Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic
• 1959Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter
• 1776John Constable, English painter and academic
• 1988Claire Holt, Australian actress

What happened on June 11

• 1509Catherine of Aragon married King Henry VIII of England, becoming the first of his six wives.
• 1594Philip II of Spain recognized the sovereign rights of the principalía, local Philippine nobles and chieftains who had converted to Catholicism.
• 1724J. S. Bach led his cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, in Leipzig on the first Sunday after Trinity, beginning his chorale cantata cycle.
• 1895Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the "first motor race", takes place.
• 1898The Hundred Days' Reform, a planned movement to reform social, political, and educational institutions in China, is started by the Guangxu Emperor, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. (The failed reform led to the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905.)
• 1901The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands.
• 1919Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
• 1920During their national convention in Chicago, Republican Party leaders gathered in negotiations at The Blackstone Hotel to select their presidential candidate, leading to the phrase "smoke-filled room".
• 1936Inventor Edwin Armstrong demonstrates FM broadcasting to an audience of engineers at the FCC in Washington, DC.
• 1936The London International Surrealist Exhibition opens.
• 1968Lloyd J. Old identifies the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types.
• 2008Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper apologised to the First Nations for past governments' policies of forced assimilation.

Also observed on June 11

• Davis Day (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada)
• King Kamehameha I Day (Hawaii, United States)
• Student Day (Honduras)