Once Upon A Time – June 18 – 1815 – Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon Bonaparte, France Defeated By British Forces

618 Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty’s rule over China

1812 War of 1812 begins as US declares war against Britain
‘Wellington at Waterloo’, by Robert Alexander Hillingford, depicting Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, during the final confrontation against Napoleon
Battle of Waterloo

1815 Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon Bonaparte and France defeated by British forces under Duke of Wellington and Prussian troops under Field Marshall von Blücher

1928 American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the 1st woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, landing at Burry Port, Wales

1940 Winston Churchill gives his “this was their finest hour” speech to the House of Commons urging perseverance in the war after the Dunkirk evacuation and the fall of France

Historical Events Today Events in 2023
Today in Film & TV
1969 “The Wild Bunch”, directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, is released

Today in Music
1991 “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” single released by Bryan Adams (Billboard Song of the Year, 1991)

Today in Sport
1995 All Black Jonah Lomu scores the try of the Rugby World Cup, running over Mike Catt in New Zealand’s 45-29 defeat of England

More FACTS….
1583 Richard Martin of London takes out first life insurance policy, on William Gibbons; premium was £383

1959 Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long is committed to a state mental hospital; he responds by having the hospital’s director fired and replaced with a crony who proceeds to proclaim him perfectly sane

Famous Weddings
1839 Dutch prince Willem Alexander (later William III) weds cousin Princess Sophia

1858 Norwegian modernist playwright “The Doll’s House” Henrik Ibsen (30) marries Suzannah Thoresen (21) in Oslo

1953 Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. (24) weds fellow activist and singer Coretta Scott (26) on the lawn of her parent’s home in Marion, Alabama; ceremony officiated by his father