Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, editors and producers love them, they’re easy to research, and you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, films, TV/radio/theatre shows, and more.
Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in June 2022 (so you have time to write about them!)
We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023 and 2024 editions are also available if you work further ahead.
1 Jun 1872 – 150 years ago
Death of James Gordon Bennett Sr., American newspaper publisher. Founder of the New York Herald.
2 Jun 1962 – 60 years ago
The pop song The Loco-Motion by Little Eva was released.
3 Jun 1972 – 50 years ago
Sally Priesand was ordained as the first female rabbi in the USA.
4 to 7 Jun 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Battle of Midway. The USA defeated Japan in the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign.
5 Jun 1947 – 75 years ago
The Marshall Plan: U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a self-help programme for Europe that would enable countries to rebuild democratic societies and resist communism after WWII.
6 Jun 1932 – 90 years ago
Great Depression: taxes were raised substantially in the USA in an attempt to balance the federal budget. The first federal gasoline (petrol) tax was also introduced: 1 cent per gallon.
7 Jun 1897 – 125 years ago
The world’s first car dealership was opened by William E. Metzger in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
8 Jun 1982 – 40 years ago
Falklands War – the Battle of Bluff Cove. Argentina launched an air attack on two British supply ships, RFA Sir Tristram and RFA Sir Galahad. 48 British servicemen were killed and over 100 injured. Some suffered severe burns, including Simon Weston whose story and subsequent recovery was covered by the British media.
9 Jun 1772 – 250 years ago
American Revolutionary War – the Gaspee Affair, Rhode Island, (now USA). The British customs ship HMS Gaspee ran aground and was attacked, boarded and burnt. It was the first act of violence against British authority in the North American colonies.
10 Jun 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Judy Garland, American actress and singer. Best known for the films The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me in St. Louis. Mother of the actress and singer Liza Minnelli. (Died 1969.)
11 Jun 1962 – 60 years ago
Escape from Alcatraz. Frank Morris and John & Clarence Anglin escaped from the federal prison on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, California, USA. Their fate remains unknown. The film Escape from Alcatraz is based on their story.
12 Jun 1942 – 80 years ago
Anne Frank received her famous diary for her 13th birthday. She used it to document her life over the next two years as her family hid from the Nazis.
13 Jun 1922 – 100 years ago
Charlie Osborne of Iowa, USA started hiccupping. He continued hiccupping non-stop until 5th June 1990 – almost 68 years. During that time he hiccupped over 435 million times.
14 Jun 1822 – 200 years ago
British mathematician and engineer Charles Babbage announced that he had invented the Difference Engine – a mechanical computer. Although his design would have worked, metalworking techniques of that era were not sufficiently accurate, and it was never completed. The Science Museum in London completed the first working Difference Engine, based on Babbage’s original designs, in 1991.
15 Jun 1992 – 30 years ago
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that suspects could be forcibly abducted in foreign countries and brought back for trial in the USA if they had broken U.S. criminal laws. (United States vs. Alvarez-Machain.)
16 Jun 1972 – 50 years ago
David Bowie’s album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was released.
17 Jun 1972 – 50 years ago
The Watergate Scandal began when five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex, Washington D.C., USA.
18 Jun 1972 – 50 years ago
Staines Air Disaster, near London, England. 118 people were killed when a passenger jet stalled and crashed after taking off from Heathrow Airport. It remains Britain’s worst air disaster.
19 Jun 1942 – 80 years ago
Marilyn Monroe (then Norma Jeane Baker) married sheet-metal worker James Dougherty to avoid being sent to an orphanage.
(They divorced in 1946, shortly after he returned from WWII service in the Pacific.)
20 Jun 1947 – 75 years ago
Death of Bugsy Siegel, American mobster. The driving force behind the Las Vegas Strip, he helped finance some of the original casinos and completed the Flamingo Hotel when the developer ran out of funds. (Shot dead by an unknown assailant, aged 41.)
21 Jun 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: a Japanese submarine surfaced near Fort Stevens in Oregon, USA and fired 17 shells. It was the only military installation in the continental USA to be attacked during WWII. The fort was not damaged.
22 to 24 Jun 1622 – 400 years ago
Dutch–Portuguese War – the Battle of Macau. Portuguese victory.
23 Jun 1972 – 50 years ago
Britain’s pound was allowed to float against the U.S. dollar to curb rising inflation. 45 countries whose currencies were linked to the pound also allowed theirs to float freely.
24 Jun 1922 – 100 years ago
The American Professional Football Association was renamed the National Football League (NFL).
25 Jun 1942 – 80 years ago
Holocaust: Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper published the first official account of the mass murder of Polish Jews. It said it was ‘the greatest massacre in history’. But rather than being front page news, it was printed on page 5, largely ignored, and was not picked up by other newspapers.
26 Jun 1997 – 25 years ago
J. K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the UK. (USA: September 1998 as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.)
27 Jun 1957 – 65 years ago
Britain’s Medical Research Council reported that there was a cause-and-effect relationship between smoking and lung cancer.
28 Jun 1922 to May 1923 – 100 years ago
Irish Civil War.
Pro-Treaty victory leading to confirmation of the Irish Free State.
29 Jun 2007 – 15 years ago
Apple released the first iPhone.
30 Jun 1972 – 50 years ago
The first leap second was added to our clocks. The adjustment accounts for the difference between precise time measured by atomic clocks and imprecise solar time. 27 leap seconds were added to clocks between 1972 and 2016. There are calls for the adjustment to be abolished because it disrupts essential technology such as satellite navigation systems.
More anniversaries:
You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2022. The 2023 and 2024 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2025 edition will be released in December 2021, with the 2026 and 2027 editions coming in early 2022. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.