On this day: First Tarzan film shot in jungle starts

1950: Lex Barker and Virginia Huston shoot Tarzans Peril in Uganda, the first of the series to be staged in a real jungle.

National day of Luxembourg.

1543: England’s King Henry VIII issued ultimatum to France, serving as declaration of war.

1585: Star Chamber ordered closure of all provincial offices.

1611: Henry Hudson, navigator and searcher for Northwest Passage, was cast adrift in small boat to die, with his son and others, when his crew mutinied.

1683: William Penn, the Englishman who founded Pennsylvania, signed a peace treaty with the American Indians.

1757: The Battle of Plassey took place in Bengal, with victory for the British, under Robert Clive, over the Indian forces – so laying the foundations of the British Empire in India.

1823: George and Robert Stephenson opened their locomotive foundry in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne.

1848: “June Days” insurrection began in France when Gen Louis Cavaignac suppressed Paris workmen in effort to close workshops and killed thousands; Adolphe Sax was awarded a patent for the saxophone.

1872: The first practical typewriter was patented by Christopher Sholes in Milwaukee, United States.

1912: Niagara Falls bridge collapsed, killing 47.

1914: The Royal Naval Air Service was formed.

1941: Germany invaded Soviet Union.

1950: In the previous 23 years, 20 films starring Tarzan had been made, not one in a real jungle until Tarzan’s Peril started shooting in Uganda.

1951: British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to the Soviet Union.

1972: Irish Republican Army’s provisional wing announced conditional ceasefire in Northern Ireland conflict.

1973: The first graduates of the Open University received their degrees.

1973: Skylab 1 astronauts returned safely to Earth after record 28 days aboard first US orbiting space station.

1974: United States assured Israel it had no plans to sell weapons to either Egypt or Syria.

1988: Chocolate makers Rowntree accepted Nestlé’s £2,550million bid to buy out the company.

1990: Hoverspeed Great Britain, the world’s biggest catamaran, crossed the Atlantic in a record three days, seven hours and 54 minutes to claim the Blue Riband Trophy.

1991: Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, a leading anti-apartheid activist, returned to South Africa for the first time in 35 years.

1992: The American Mafia boss John Gotti was jailed for life for a variety of offences.

1993: Nigeria’s military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, declared void a presidential poll held on 12 June.

1994: It was announced that the royal yacht Britannia would be decommissioned in 1997 and possibly not replaced.

2006: Sir Sean Connery pulled out of an appearance at the Scottish Parliament after it was revealed that the presiding officer would ask him for his views on violence towards women.

2009: The Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports went into administration after failing to make a number of payments to sporting organisations. About 200 employees involved with the British operations were to be made redundant.

BIRTHDAYS

KT (Kate) Tunstall, St Andrews-born singer and songwriter, 40; Bryan Brown, Australian actor, 68; Nicholas Cleobury, British conductor, 65; Duffy, Welsh singer, 31; Lord Irvine of Lairg, QC, Lord Chancellor 1997-2003, 75; Frances McDormand, American actress, 58; Colin Montgomerie OBE, Scottish golfer, 52; Maggie Philbin, British TV presenter, 60; Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, astrophysicist, Astronomer Royal, 73; Ted Shackelford, US actor, 69; Anthony Thwaite OBE, British poet, 85; Patrick Vieira, French footballer, 39; Zinedine Zidane, French World Cup-winning footballer, 43; Jamie Borthwick, English actor (EastEnders), 21.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1763 Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon; 1889 Anna Akhmatova, poet; 1894 Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII); 1894 Alfred Charles Kinsey, zoologist; 1912 Alan Turing OBE, British mathematical genius and codebreaker; 1915 John Prebble, historian, novelist and playwright; 1916 Irene Worth, actress; 1925 Miriam Karlin OBE, British actress; 1927 Bob Fosse, choreographer-director; 1940 Adam Faith, singer and actor.

Deaths: 1832 Sir James Hall, Edinburgh-born geologist and chemist; 1836 James Mill, philosopher; 1839 Lady Hester Stanhope, traveller and eccentric; 1854 Patrick Chalmers, antiquarian; 1867 Horatio MacCulloch, painter; 1980 Olivia Manning, novelist; 2011 Peter Falk, actor; 2013 Bobby “Blue” Bland, American R&B singer.