Today in history

On June 29, 1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”

On this date:

In 1520, Montezuma II, the ninth and last emperor of the Aztecs, died in Tenochtitlan (tay-nohch-TEET’-lahn) under unclear circumstances (some say he was killed by his own subjects; others, by the Spanish).

In 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties — except for tea.)

In 1776, the Virginia state constitution was adopted, and Patrick Henry was made governor.

In 1927, the first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Lester J. Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii aboard the Bird of Paradise, an Atlantic-Fokker C-2, after flying 2,400 miles from Oakland, California, in 25 hours, 50 minutes.

In 1946, authorities in British-ruled Palestine arrested more than 2,700 Jews in an attempt to stamp out extremists.

In 1967, Jerusalem was reunified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.

In 1970, the United States ended a two-month military offensive into Cambodia.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a trio of death sentences, saying the way they had been imposed constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (The ruling prompted states to effectively impose a moratorium on executions until their capital punishment laws could be revised.)

In 1978, actor Bob Crane of “Hogan’s Heroes” fame was found bludgeoned to death in an apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was appearing in a play; he was 49.

In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-3, that President George W. Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.

In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff received a 150-year sentence for his multibillion-dollar fraud. (Madoff died in prison in April 2021.)

In 2018, the Annapolis Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland kept its promise to put out the day’s paper, despite the shooting deaths of five people in its newsroom a day earlier.

Ten years ago: A day after the House voted to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department said Holder’s decision to withhold information about a bungled gun-tracking operation from Congress did not constitute a crime. The younger brother and business partner of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to charges of doctoring documents, but Peter Madoff insisted he knew nothing about his brother’s massive Ponzi scheme. (Peter Madoff was later sentenced to 10 years in prison; he was released from home confinement in August 2020.) The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed formal charges against Lance Armstrong, accusing the seven-time Tour de France winner of using performance-enhancing drugs throughout the best years of his career. (The USADA ended up stripping Armstrong of all his Tour de France titles and issued a lifetime ban from cycling.)

Five years ago: A scaled-back version of President Donald Trump’s travel ban took effect, stripped of provisions that brought protests and chaos at airports worldwide; the new rules tightened already-tough visa policies affecting citizens from six Muslim-majority countries.

One year ago: Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld died at the age of 88 in New Mexico; he had been Pentagon chief during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime following the 9/11 attacks, and also at the start of the long and costly Iraq war in 2003. Former South African President Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear for questions about allegations of corruption; his jailing would spark violent rioting in which more than 330 people died.

Today’s Birthdays: Songwriter L. Russell Brown is 82. Singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys is 79. Actor Gary Busey is 78. Comedian Richard Lewis is 75. Actor-turned-politican-turned-radio personality Fred Grandy is 74. Rock musician Ian Paice (Deep Purple) is 74. Singer Don Dokken (Dokken) is 69. Rock singer Colin Hay (Men At Work) is 69. Actor Maria Conchita Alonso is 67. Actor Kimberlin Brown (TV: “The Bold and the Beautiful”) is 61. Actor Sharon Lawrence is 61. Actor Amanda Donohoe is 60. Actor Judith Hoag is 59. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is 59. R&B singer Stedman Pearson (Five Star) is 58. Actor Kathleen Wilhoite is 58. Producer-writer Matthew Weiner is 57. Actor Melora Hardin is 55. Actor Brian D’Arcy James is 54. Actor Christina Chang is 51. Rap DJ and record producer DJ Shadow is 50. Actor Lance Barber is 49. Actor-dancer Will Kemp is 45. Actor Zuleikha Robinson is 45. Rock musician Sam Farrar is 44. Actor Luke Kirby is 44. Singer Nicole Scherzinger is 44. Comedian-writer Colin Jost (johst) is 40. Actor Lily Rabe is 40. R&B singer Aundrea Fimbres is 39. NBA forward Kawhi Leonard is 31. Actor Camila Mendes (TV: “Riverdale”) is 28.

Tuesday, June 28, the 179th day of 2022. There are 186 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History:

On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY’) was signed in France, ending the First World War.

On this date:

In 1838, Britain’s Queen Victoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. George G. Meade the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, following the resignation of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death in Sarajevo (sah-ruh-YAY’-voh) by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip (gavh-REE’-loh PREEN’-seep) — an act that sparked World War I.

In 1939, Pan American Airways began regular trans-Atlantic air service with a flight that departed New York for Marseilles (mar-SAY’), France.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Alien Registration Act, also known as the Smith Act, which required adult foreigners residing in the U.S. to be registered and fingerprinted.

In 1950, North Korean forces captured Seoul (sohl), the capital of South Korea.

In 1978, the Supreme Court ordered the University of California-Davis Medical School to admit Allan Bakke (BAH’-kee), a white man who argued he’d been a victim of reverse racial discrimination.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton became the first chief executive in U.S. history to set up a personal legal defense fund and ask Americans to contribute to it.

In 2000, seven months after he was cast adrift in the Florida Straits, Elian Gonzalez was returned to his native Cuba.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that Americans had the right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they lived.

In 2013, the four plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban tied the knot, just hours after a federal appeals court freed gay couples to obtain marriage licenses in the state for the first time in 4 1/2 years.

In 2019, avowed white supremacist James Alex Fields, who deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a young woman and injuring dozens, apologized to his victims before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges.

Ten years ago: The Affordable Care Act narrowly survived, 5-4, an election-year battle at the U.S. Supreme Court with the improbable help of conservative Chief Justice John Roberts. Attorney General Eric Holder became the first sitting Cabinet member held in contempt of Congress, a rebuke pushed by Republicans seeking to unearth the facts behind a bungled gun-tracking operation known as Fast and Furious. (The vote was 255-67, with more than 100 Democrats boycotting.) Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise after five years of marriage.

Five years ago: Republican donors paid $35,000 apiece to hear a familiar message from President Donald Trump: that the media, particularly CNN, kept trying to take him down, and yet Republicans just kept on winning elections. ABC and a South Dakota meat producer announced a settlement in a $1.9 billion lawsuit against the network over its reports on a beef product that critics dubbed “pink slime.”

One year ago: Temperatures in parts of the Pacific Northwest wiped out records that had been set the day before, with Seattle reaching 108 degrees by evening; meteorologists said the record-breaking heat was caused by a dome of high pressure, and worsened by human-caused climate change. Big-wave surfer Greg “Da Bull” Noll died at 84; he’d become a surfing legend by combining an outsized personality with the courage and skill to ride bigger, more powerful waves than anyone had attempted before.

Today’s Birthdays: Comedian-movie director Mel Brooks is 96. Comedian-impressionist John Byner is 85. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is 84. Rock musician Dave Knights (Procul Harum) is 77. Actor Bruce Davison is 76. Actor Kathy Bates is 74. Actor Alice Krige is 68. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway is 62. Jazz singer Tierney Sutton is 59. Actor Jessica Hecht is 57. Rock musician Saul Davies (James) is 57. Actor Mary Stuart Masterson is 56. Actor John Cusack is 56. Actor Gil Bellows is 55. Actor-singer Danielle Brisebois is 53. Actor Tichina Arnold is 53. Actor Steve Burton is 52. Entrepreneur Elon Musk is 51. Actor Alessandro Nivola (nih-VOH’-luh) is 50. Actor Camille Guaty is 46. Rock musician Tim Nordwind (OK Go) is 46. Rock musician Mark Stoermer (The Killers) is 45. Country singer Big Vinny Hickerson (Trailer Choir) is 39. Country singer Kellie Pickler is 36. Jamaican Olympic track star Elaine Thompson-Herah is 30.