GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, June 24, the 175th day of 2015 with 190 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 5:07 and sunset is @ 8:25. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Neptune & Uranus. The evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1314 – The forces of Scotland’s King Robert I defeated the English in the Battle of Bannockburn.
1497 – The first recorded sighting of North America by a European took place; explorer John Cabot spotted land in Canada somewhere between Halifax and southern Labrador.
1509 – Henry VIII was crowned king of England.
1664 – The colony of New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, was founded.
1675 – King Philip’s War began when a band of Wampanoag warriors raided the Swansee, MA, and massacred the English colonists.
1793 – The first republican constitution in France was adopted.
1812 – French Emperor Napoleon ordered his Grande Armée of 500,000 soldiers, the largest European military force ever assembled to that date, into Russia.
1916 – The most lucrative movie contract to the time was signed by actress, Mary Pickford, the first seven-figure Hollywood deal. Pickford would get $250,000 per film with a guaranteed minimum of $10,000 a week against half of the profits, including bonuses and the right of approval of all creative aspects of her films.
1922 – The American Professional Football Association changed its name to the National Football League.
1932 – A coup ended Siam’s absolute monarchy during the reign of King Prajadhipok of theChakri dynasty.
1940 – France signed an armistice with Italy.
1948 – Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the western allies to organize the massive Berlin Airlift.
1953 – John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier announced their engagement.
1964 – The Federal Trade Commission announced that, starting in 1965, cigarette makers must include warning labels about the harmful effects of smoking.
1997 – The U.S. Air Force released a report on the so-called “Roswell Incident,” saying the alien bodies witnesses reported seeing in 1947 were probably life-sized dummies.