Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

The following is your daily snapshot of what happened on this day in history, June 2nd. On this day in history, June 2, 1953, London came to a standstill for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Princess Elizabeth was in Kenya when her father, King George VI, died on February 6, 1952. She flew home immediately and was proclaimed Queen shortly afterward.

BORN JUNE 2ND:
June 2, 926 – Murakami, Emperor of Japan (d. 967)
June 2, 1535 – Pope Leo XI (d. 1605)
June 2, 1731 – Martha Washington, First American first lady (d. 1802)
June 2, 1740 – Marquis de Sade, French author (d. 1814)
June 2, 1743 – Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, Sicilian Occultist (d. 1795)
June 2, 1773 – John Randolph, U.S. Senator from Virginia (d. 1833)
June 2, 1774 – William Lawson, explorer of New South Wales, Australia (d. 1850)
June 2, 1815 – Philip Kearny, American general (d. 1862)
June 2, 1823 – Gédéon Ouimet, French Canadian politician (d. 1905)
June 2, 1835 – Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
June 2, 1838 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna (d. 1900)
June 2, 1840 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (d. 1928)
June 2, 1857 – Edward Elgar, English composer (d. 1934)
June 2, 1857 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
June 2, 1863 – Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (d. 1942)
June 2, 1865 – George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901)
June 2, 1869 – Jack O’Connor, American baseball player (d. 1937)
June 2, 1875 – Charles Stewart Mott, automotive industrialist and mayor (d. 1973)
June 2, 1887 – Howard Johnson, American songwriter (d. 1941)
June 2, 1891 – Thurman Arnold, American attorney and jurist (d. 1969)
June 2, 1891 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese WWII figure (d. 1945)
June 2, 1899 – Lotte Reiniger, German film director (d. 1981)
June 2, 1904 – Frank Runacres, English artist (d. 1974)
June 2, 1904 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
June 2, 1907 – Dorothy West, American writer (d. 1998)
June 2, 1907 – John Lehmann, English poet, editor, and publisher (d. 1987)
June 2, 1913 – Walter Andreas Schwarz, German singer and author (d. 1992)
June 2, 1913 – Barbara Pym, English novelist (d. 1980)
June 2, 1915 – Walter Tetley, American voice actor (d. 1975)
June 2, 1915 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian communist (d. 1992)
June 2, 1917 – Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and filmmaker (d. 2006)
June 2, 1918 – Ruth Atkinson, American cartoonist (d. 1997)
June 2, 1918 – Kathryn Tucker Windham, American writer and storyteller
June 2, 1919 – Nat Mayer Shapiro, American painter (d. 2005)
June 2, 1920 – Frank G. Clement, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
June 2, 1920 – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-born critic
June 2, 1920 – Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (d. 2003)
June 2, 1920 – Johnny Speight, British television writer (d. 1998)
June 2, 1921 – Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer (d. 2009)
June 2, 1922 – Charlie Sifford, American golfer
June 2, 1922 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
June 2, 1924 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist and activist (d. 2007)
June 2, 1926 – Milo O’Shea, Irish actor
June 2, 1926 – Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 41st Yokozuna (d. 1977)
June 2, 1927 – W. Watts Biggers, American novelist and animator
June 2, 1929 – Norton Juster, American author and architect
June 2, 1929 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (d. 2007)
June 2, 1930 – Pete Conrad, American astronaut (d. 1999)
June 2, 1930 – Bob Lillis, baseball player
June 2, 1931 – Larry Jackson, baseball player (d. 1990)
June 2, 1931 – William Donaldson, American businessman and politician
June 2, 1932 – Sammy Turner, American singer
June 2, 1934 – Johnny Carter, American doo wop singer (d. 2009)
June 2, 1935 – Carol Shields, American-born novelist (d. 2003)
June 2, 1935 – Roger Brierley, English actor (d. 2005)
June 2, 1935 – Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek turkologist
June 2, 1937 – Sally Kellerman, American actress
June 2, 1937 – Jimmy Jones, American singer and songwriter
June 2, 1937 – Robert Paul, Canadian figure skater
June 2, 1938 – Kevin Brownlow, English film historian and author
June 2, 1940 – King Constantine II of Greece
June 2, 1941 – Stacy Keach, American actor
June 2, 1941 – Charlie Watts, English musician (The Rolling Stones)
June 2, 1941 – William Guest, American singer (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
June 2, 1941 – Jeff Winkless, American voice actor (d. 2006)
June 2, 1942 – Maree Cheatham, American actress
June 2, 1943 – Charles Haid, American actor
June 2, 1943 – Ilaiyaraaja, Indian composer
June 2, 1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and musician
June 2, 1945 – Jane Bonnie Newman, American politician
June 2, 1945 – Jon Peters, American film producer and hairdresser
June 2, 1946 – Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer
June 2, 1946 – Lasse Hallström, Swedish film director
June 2, 1946 – Song Dae Kwan, Korean singer
June 2, 1947 – Mark Elder, British opera and symphony conductor
June 2, 1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor
June 2, 1949 – Heather Couper, British astronomer
June 2, 1949 – Frank Rich, American theater critic and columnist
June 2, 1950 – Joanna Gleason, Canadian actress and singer

June 2, 1951 – Larry Robinson, Canadian hockey player
June 2, 1952 – Gary Bettman, American National Hockey League commissioner
June 2, 1953 – Keith Allen, Welsh comedian, actor, singer and writer
June 2, 1953 – Craig Stadler, American golfer
June 2, 1953 – Cornel West, American civil rights activist
June 2, 1954 – Dennis Haysbert, American actor
June 2, 1955 – Michael Steele, American musician (The Bangles)
June 2, 1955 – Chantal Hochuli, Swiss-born socialite
June 2, 1955 – Dana Carvey, American actor
June 2, 1956 – Mani Ratnam, Indian director
June 2, 1956 – Malcolm Garrett, English graphic designer
June 2, 1957 – Mark Lawrenson, English football commentator
June 2, 1957 – Jonathan Stack, American documentary filmmaker
June 2, 1958 – Lawrence Pfohl, American professional wrestler
June 2, 1959 – Charlie Huddy, Canadian hockey player
June 2, 1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer
June 2, 1960 – Kyle Petty, American race car driver
June 2, 1960 – Tony Hadley, English singer (Spandau Ballet)
June 2, 1961 – Dez Cadena, American musician (Black Flag)
June 2, 1963 – Jim Burns, American entrepreneur
June 2, 1964 – Caroline Link, German film director and screenwriter
June 2, 1965 – Jim Knipfel, American autobiographer and journalist
June 2, 1965 – Mark Waugh Australian cricketer
June 2, 1965 – Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
June 2, 1966 – Pedro Guerra, Spanish songwriter and singer
June 2, 1967 – Mike Stanton, American baseball player
June 2, 1968 – Beetlejuice, American radio personality
June 2, 1968 – Jon Culshaw, British comedian
June 2, 1969 – Cy Chadwick, English actor
June 2, 1970 – Andy McCollum, American football player
June 2, 1970 – B-Real, American rapper (Cypress Hill)
June 2, 1971 – Anthony Montgomery, American actor
June 2, 1971 – Kateřina Jacques, Czech politician
June 2, 1971 – Jo Koy, Filipino-American comedian
June 2, 1972 – Wayne Brady, American actor and comedian
June 2, 1972 – Raúl Ibáñez, American baseball player
June 2, 1972 – Wentworth Miller, American actor
June 2, 1972 – Simon Staho, Danish film director
June 2, 1973 – Neifi Perez, Dominican baseball player
June 2, 1974 – Matt Serra, American mixed martial artist
June 2, 1974 – Gata Kamsky, American chess player
June 2, 1976 – Earl Boykins, American basketball player
June 2, 1976 – Tim Rice-Oxley, English musician (Keane)
June 2, 1976 – Martin Čech, Czech ice hockey player (d. 2007)
June 2, 1976 – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brazilian mixed martial artist
June 2, 1976 – Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho
June 2, 1977 – Zachary Quinto, American actor
June 2, 1978 – Dominic Cooper, English actor
June 2, 1978 – Nikki Cox, American actress
June 2, 1978 – Justin Long, American actor
June 2, 1978 – A.J. Styles, American professional wrestler
June 2, 1979 – Morena Baccarin, Brazilian-born American actress
June 2, 1980 – Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian-born rock drummer (The Strokes)
June 2, 1980 – Bobby Simmons, American basketball player
June 2, 1980 – Abby Wambach, American soccer player
June 2, 1981 – Nikolay Davydenko, Russian professional tennis player
June 2, 1981 – Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player
June 2, 1982 – Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
June 2, 1982 – Abdulkadir Kocak, Turkish boxer
June 2, 1983 – Christopher Higgins, American ice hockey player
June 2, 1983 – Brooke White, American singer
June 2, 1983 – Leela James, American singer-songwriter
June 2, 1984 – Max Boyer, Canadian professional wrestler
June 2, 1985 – Ana Cristina, American singer, composer, and actress
June 2, 1987 – Darin Zanyar, Swedish singer
June 2, 1988 – Sergio Agüero, Argentinian footballer
June 2, 1988 – Patrik Berglund, Swedish ice hockey player
June 2, 1989 – Freddy Adu, Ghanaian-American footballer
June 2, 1989 – Steven Smith, Australian international cricketer
June 2, 1990 – Brittany Curran, American actress
June 2, 1994 – Jemma McKenzie-Brown, British actress

DIED JUNE 2ND:
June 2, 829 – Saint Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 758)
June 2, 910 – Richilde of Provence, Queen of Western Francia (b. 845)
June 2, 1418 – Katherine of Lancaster, wife of Henry III of Castile (b. 1373)
June 2, 1567 – Shane O’Neill, Irish chieftain (b. 1530)
June 2, 1581 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, regent of Scotland (b. 1525)
June 2, 1693 – John Wildman, English soldier and politician (b. 1621)
June 2, 1701 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French writer (b. 1607)
June 2, 1716 – Ogata Korin, Japanese painter (b. 1658)
June 2, 1720 – Jeremiah Shepard, American minister (b. 1648)
June 2, 1754 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish religious dissenter (b. 1680)
June 2, 1761 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (b. 1685)
June 2, 1785 – Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician (b. 1713)
June 2, 1806 – William Tate, English painter (b. 1747)
June 2, 1833 – Simon Byrne, Irish bare-knuckle prize fighter (b. 1806)
June 2, 1853 – Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, British peer and soldier (b. 1777)
June 2, 1865 – Ner Alexander Middleswarth, American politician (b. 1783)
June 2, 1875 – Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (b. 1806)
June 2, 1876 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1848)
June 2, 1881 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer (b. 1801)
June 2, 1882 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian revolutionarist (b. 1807)
June 2, 1901 – George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary (b. 1844)
June 2, 1933 – Frank Jarvis, American athlete (b. 1878)
June 2, 1937 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (b. 1870)
June 2, 1941 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)
June 2, 1942 – Bunny Berigan, American jazz musician (b. 1908)
June 2, 1948 – Viktor Brack, German physician (b. 1904)
June 2, 1948 – Karl Brandt, personal physician of Adolf Hitler (b. 1904)
June 2, 1948 – Karl Gebhardt, German doctor (b. 1897)
June 2, 1948 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (b. 1903)
June 2, 1948 – Wolfram Sievers, German SS officer (b. 1905)
June 2, 1956 – Jean Hersholt, Danish actor and humanitarian (b. 1886)
June 2, 1961 – George S. Kaufman, American playwright (b. 1889)
June 2, 1962 – Vita Sackville-West, English writer, and gardener (b. 1892)
June 2, 1967 – Benno Ohnesorg, German student (b. 1940)
June 2, 1968 – André Mathieu, Quebec pianist and composer (b. 1929)
June 2, 1969 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (b. 1917)
June 2, 1970 – Albert Lamorisse, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
June 2, 1970 – Bruce McLaren, New Zealand car racer and designer (b. 1937)
June 2, 1970 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian poet (b. 1888)
June 2, 1974 – Hiroshi Kazato, Japanese racing driver (b. 1949)
June 2, 1976 – Kenneth Mason, British geographer (b. 1887)
June 2, 1976 – Juan José Torres, former President of Bolivia (b. 1920)
June 2, 1977 – Albert Bittlmayer, German footballer (b. 1952)
June 2, 1977 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish actor (b. 1931)
June 2, 1979 – Jim Hutton, American actor (b. 1934)
June 2, 1982 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (b. 1904)
June 2, 1983 – Stan Rogers, Canadian musician (b. 1949)
June 2, 1984 – Georgios Kasassoglou, Greek musician (b. 1908)
June 2, 1986 – Aurèle Joliat, Canadian hockey player (b. 1901)
June 2, 1987 – Anthony de Mello, Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist (b. 1931)
June 2, 1987 – Sammy Kaye, American bandleader (b. 1910)
June 2, 1987 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
June 2, 1988 – Raj Kapoor, Indian film actor, producer and director (b. 1924)
June 2, 1989 – Ted a’Beckett, Australian cricketer (b. 1907)
June 2, 1990 – Jack Gilford, American actor (b. 1908)
June 2, 1990 – Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)
June 2, 1992 – Phillip Dunne, American film director (b. 1908)
June 2, 1993 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player (b. 1913)
June 2, 1994 – David Stove, Australian philosopher (b. 1927)
June 2, 1996 – John Alton, American cinematographer (b. 1901)
June 2, 1996 – Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian (b. 1956)
June 2, 1996 – Leon Garfield, English children’s author (b. 1921)
June 2, 1996 – Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (b. 1937)
June 2, 1997 – Doc Cheatham, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1905)
June 2, 1998 – Sylvester Ritter, American wrestler (b. 1952)
June 2, 1999 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican musician (The Wailers) (b. 1949)
June 2, 2000 – Svyatoslav Fyodorov, Russian ophthalmologist (b. 1927)
June 2, 2000 – Gerald Whitrow, British mathematician (b. 1912)
June 2, 2001 – Imogene Coca, American actress (b. 1908)
June 2, 2001 – Frank Stagg, Baptist theologian (b. 1911)
June 2, 2001 – Joey Maxim, American boxer (b. 1922)
June 2, 2003 – Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (b. 1918)
June 2, 2004 – Loyd Sigmon, American amateur radio broadcaster (b. 1909)
June 2, 2005 – Gunder Gundersen, Norwegian skier and sports official (b. 1930)
June 2, 2005 – Chloe Jones, Model and pornographic actress (b. 1975)
June 2, 2005 – Samir Kassir, Lebanese journalist and teacher (b. 1950)
June 2, 2005 – Melita Norwood, British spy (b. 1912)
June 2, 2006 – Keith Smith, English rugby player (b. 1952)
June 2, 2006 – Vince Welnick, musician, keyboardist (The Grateful Dead) (b. 1951)
June 2, 2007 – Huang Ju, Chinese Vice-Premier (b. 1938)
June 2, 2007 – Kentarō Haneda, Japanese composer (b. 1949)
June 2, 2008 – Bo Diddley, American musician (b. 1928)
June 2, 2008 – Mel Ferrer, American actor, film director and film producer (b. 1917)
June 2, 2009 – David Eddings, American fantasy writer (b. 1931)

JUNE 2ND MEMORABLE EVENTS:
June 2, 455 – Sack of Rome: The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks
June 2, 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city. The second siege would later start on June 7.
June 2, 1615 – First Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
June 2, 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Found guilty, she is hanged on June 10.
June 2, 1763 – Pontiac’s Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison’s attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
June 2, 1774 – Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
June 2, 1793 – Jean-Paul Marat recites the names of 29 people to the French National Convention. Almost all of these people are guillotined, followed by 17,000 more over the course of the next year during the Reign of Terror.
June 2, 1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States.
June 2, 1848 – The Slavic congress in Prague begins.
June 2, 1855 – The Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine.
June 2, 1876 – Hristo Botev, a national revolutionary of Bulgaria, is killed in Stara Planina
June 2, 1886 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.
June 2, 1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his newest invention: the radio.
June 2, 1909 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
June 2, 1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
June 2, 1925 – Because of a lineup revision by Miller Huggins, Wally Pipp is replaced by Lou Gehrig at first base for the New York Yankees, beginning a streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, topped only by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995. Exactly 16 years later to the day, in 1941, Gehrig dies from Amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
June 2, 1941 – World War II: German paratoopers murder Greek civilians in the village of Kondomari.
June 2, 1946 – Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum the king of Italy Umberto II di Savoia is exiled.
June 2, 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to be televised.
June 2, 1955 – The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between both countries, discontinued since 1948.
June 2, 1966 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on another world.
June 2, 1967 – Luis Monge is executed in Colorado’s gas chamber, in the last pre-Furman execution in the United States.
June 2, 1967 – Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
June 2, 1979 – Pope John Paul II first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
June 2, 1984 – Operation Bluestar, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for the Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6 with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
June 2, 1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12. Petersburg, Indiana, is the hardest-hit town in the outbreak, with 6 deaths.
June 2, 1995 – United States Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady’s F-16 is shot down over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone.
June 2, 1997 – In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
June 2, 1999 – The Bhutan Broadcasting Service brings television transmissions to the Kingdom for the first time.
June 2, 2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
June 2, 2004 – Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!

MEMORABLE QUOTE:
“The British Constitution has always been puzzling and always will be.” (Queen Elizabeth II)