It happened today - this day in history - June 10

323BC: Death of Alexander the Great aged 32.

1190: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa drowns while crossing the Saleph River (modern Turkey) in the Third Crusade.

1540: Thomas Cromwell is arrested in Westminster.

1692: The first victim of the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop, is hanged for witchcraft in the colony of Massachusetts.

1752: Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning conductor with his kite-flying experiment.

1793: The first public zoo opens in Paris.

1829: The first Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race takes place.

1845: Former US President Andrew Jackson’s African Grey parrot “Poll” is removed from his funeral for swearing.

1865: Richard Wagner’s opera “Tristan und Isolde” premieres in Munich.

1898: US Marines land in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

1900: In China, a relief column of 2,000 men set out from Tientsin to relieve foreigners trapped in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion.

1915: British and French troops conquer the German colony of Cameroon.

1931: Norway occupies East Greenland.

1932: Gene Sarazen wins the British Open Men’s Golf tournament.

1933: John Dillinger robs his first bank in Ohio, making off with $10,600. On the same day, Bonnie and Clyde flip their car into a ravine in north Texas. Parker suffers third degree burns to her legs.

1934: Italy beat Czechoslovakia 2-1 in Rome to win the World Cup. On the same day, composer Frederick Delius dies aged 72.

1940: Italy declares war on France and Britain as part of its Axis alliance with Nazi Germany. On the same day, Canada declares war against Italy and Norway surrenders to Germany.

1943: Heinrich Himmler orders the final liquidation of the Lodz ghetto in occupied Poland.

1944: Nazi forces carry out a massacre of 642 civilians in the French village Oradour-sur-Glane. Also, in Distomo, Greece, 218 men, women and children are massacred by German troops.

1946: Boxer Jack Johnson dies in a car accident aged 68.

1947: Saab produces its first car.

1965: The Battle of Dong Xoai begins, a major engagement between the Viet Cong and South Vietnamese forces.

1966: Steve Marriott of The Small Faces collapses while performing with the band on TV show Ready Steady Go.

1967: Israeli forces stop their advance into Syria and comply with a UN ceasefire bringing an end to six days of fighting on three fronts.

1968: Australia beats France 20-2 in the Rugby League World Cup. On the same day, Italy wins the European Championships in a replay in Rome, beating Yugoslavia 2-0.

1975: The Rockefeller panel reports on 300,000 illegal CIA files on Americans.

1977: Martin Luther King’s killer James Earl Ray escapes from prison. On the same day, Joe Strummer and Topper Headon are each fined £5 by a London court for spray-painting “The Clash” on a wall.

1979: Chris Evert beats Wendy Turnbull of Australia 6-2, 6-0 for her third French singles crown.

Singles chart:

1. Ring My Bell – Anita Ward
2. Sunday Girl – Blondie
3. Dance Away – Roxy Music
4. Boogie Wonderland – Earth Wind and Fire with The Emotions
5. Ain’t No Stopping Us Now – McFadden and Whirehead
6. Shine A Little Love – ELO
7. Are Friends Electric? – Tubeway Army
8. We Are Family – Sister Sledge
9. Theme From The Deer Hunter (Cavatina) – The Shadows
10. H.A.P.P.Y Radio – Edwin Starr

Album chart:

1. Discovery – ELO
2. Voulez Vous – ABBA
3. Do It Yourself – Ian Dury and the Blockheads
4. The Lodger – David Bowie
5. Parallel Lines – Blondie
6. This Is It – Various Artists
7. Manifesto – Roxy Music
8. Last The Whole Night – James Last
9. Bob Dylan At Budokan – Bob Dylan
10. Sky – Sky

1980: Eight Provisional IRA prisoners escape from Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast using handguns smuggled into prison.

1981: The IRA’s Joseph Doherty escapes from Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast. On the same day, Sebastian Coe sets a world 800m record (1:41.73) in Florence.

1982: Addie Harris from The Shirelles dies of a heart attack after a show in Atlanta. On the same day, film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder dies of a drug overdose aged 37.

1984: John Barnes scores a wonder goal as England beat Brazil 2-0. It may only have been a friendly game, but it was Brazil’s first loss at the Maracana Stadium in 27 years. On the same day, Ivan Lendl wins his first grand slam title at the french Open, beating John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.

1985: Claus von Bulow is acquitted on charges he tried to murder his wife.

1986: Patrick Magee is found guilty of planting the bomb at the Brighton Grand Hotel in 1984 which killed five people and nearly wiped out most of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet.

1989: Arantxa Sánchez Vicario of Spain wins her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open, beating Steffi Graf 7-6, 3-6, 7-5.

1991: Temptations member Eddie Kendricks is arrested while attending the funeral of former Temps singer David Ruffin in Detroit on charges of owing $26,000 in child support.

1993: Singer Sinead O’Connor takes out a full-page ad in the Irish Times asking the public to “stop hurting me please.”

1995: Steffi Graf beats Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 7-5, 4-6, 6-0 to win her fourth French Open title.

1996: Intel releases the releases the 200 mhz pentium chip.

1997: Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defence chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen’s family members before fleeing his northern stronghold.

1999: NATO suspends its aerial assault on Kosovo as Serb troops begin to withdraw.

2000: London’s new Millennium Bridge is closed for safety checks after crowds cause it to sway violently. On the same day, France’s Mary Pierce beats Conchita Martinez of Spain 6-2, 7-5 to win the French Open. and Syrian President General Hafez al-Hassad dies from a heart attack aged 69.

2003: The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission.

2004: Singing legend Ray Charles dies aged 73.

2012: Maria Sharapova wins her first French Open title, beating Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 6-2.

2016: Rod Stewart is knighted in the Queen’s birthday honours list.

2019: Former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is arrested on corruption charges.

2020: Swedish prosecutors close the case on the murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme after 34 years, saying the probable killer is dead.

BIRTHDAYS: Gordon Burns, TV presenter/broadcaster, 80; Sir Phil Redmond, TV writer, 73; Rich Hall, comedian, 68; Lindsay Hoyle MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, 65; Carlo Ancelotti, football manager, 63; Kim Deal, bassist/guitarist/singer (Pixies/The Breeders), 61; Kelley Deal, guitarist/singer (The Breeders) 61; Maxi Priest (Max Elliott), singer, 61; Gina Gershon, actress, 60; Jeanne Tripplehorn, actress, 59; Stuart McCall, footballer, 58; Joey Santiago, guitarist (Pixies), 57; Elizabeth Hurley, actress/model, 57; David Platt, footballer, 56; Bill Burr, comedian/actor, 54; Jane Hill, newsreader, 53; Chris Coleman, football manager, 52; Faith Evans, singer-songwriter, 49; Benjamin Millepied, choreographer, 45; Leelee (Liliane) Sobieski, actress, 39; Tinchy Stryder, (Kwasi Danquah) rapper, 35; Kate Upton, actress/model, 30.