On This Day: Wednesday June 28, 2006

This is the 179th day of the year, with 186 days remaining in 2006.

Fact of the Day: Happy Birthday

Mildred J. Hill, a schoolteacher born in Louisville, Kentucky, composed the melody "Happy Birthday to You." Her younger sister, Patty Smith Hill, wrote the lyrics. The song was first published in 1893 as "Good Morning to All," a classroom greeting, in the book Song Stories for Sunday School. Mildred Hill died in 1916 without knowing that her melody would become the world's most popular song, but her sister Patty did not die until 1946. The lyrics were amended in 1924 to include a stanza beginning, "Happy Birthday to You." It is now sung somewhere in the world every minute of every day. Though its writers earned very little from the song, its copyright owner earns about $1 million a year. The song is expected to enter the public domain upon expiration of the copyright in 2010.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Austell, Saints Potamiaena and Basilides, St. Irenaeus, St. Heimrad, St. John Southworth, Saints Sergius and Germanus of Valaam, and St. Paul, pope.

Events

1519 - Charles I of Spain was elected Holy Roman Emperor. He was crowned as Emperor Charles V.
1635 - The French colony of Guadeloupe was established in the Caribbean.
1778 - Molly Pitcher (Mary Hays), wife of an American artilleryman, carried water to the soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth.
1894 - Labor Day was established as a holiday for federal employees on the first Monday of September.
1905 - Sailors on the Russian battleship Potemkin mutinied as unrest spread through the Russian navy.
1914 - Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia, were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist; it was the event which triggered World War I.
1919 - The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending World War I.
1939 - Pan American Airways began regular trans-Atlantic air service.
1950 - North Korean forces captured Seoul, South Korea.
1951 - "Amos 'N' Andy" premiered on TV, the first series to have an all-black cast.
1969 - A police raid of the Stonewall Inn--a gay club located on New York City's Christopher Street--turned violent. This incident is regarded as the spark for the gay liberation movement.
1976 - Women entered the Air Force Academy for the first time.
2000 - The Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts can bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders.

Births

1491 - Henry VIII, King of England (1509-1547), founder of the Church of England.
1577 - Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter.
1712 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher.
1902 - Richard Rodgers, American award-winning composer with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein.
1926 - Mel Brooks (Kaminsky), American writer, director, actor.

Deaths

1836 - James Madison, 4th President of the United States of America.

Reference for Today