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The Tunguska Event, or Tunguska explosion, was a massive explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia on June 30, 1908. The explosion was most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of five to ten kilometers above Earth’s surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates for the object’s size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of meters across.

Although, the meteor or comet burst in the air rather than directly hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range are from five megatons to as high as 30 megatons or TNT, with 10-15 megatons the most likely – about 1000 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and about one third the power of Tsar Bomba.

The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers. It is estimated that the earthquake from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. The Tunguska Event is believed to be the largest impact event on land in Earth’s recent history.

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Born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford Connecticut, Katharine Hepburn was an iconic American actress of film, television and stage. She was educated at the Kingswood-Oxford School before going onto to attend Bryn Mawr College. She received a degree in history and philosophy in 1928, the same year she had her debut on Broadway after landing a big part in Night Hostess.

Hepburn got her start in small speaking parts on Broadway and participated in summer stock companies until she received good notices for her performance in The Warrior’s Husband. She became the talk of New York City and began to get noticed in Hollywood. An RKO scout was so impressed with her physicality in the role that he asked her to do a screen test. Her film career was launched alongside legendary actor John Barrymore and director George Cukor.

In 1933, Hepburn won her first of four Academy Awards for Best Actress in Morning Glory and in the same year appeared in a screen adaptation of Little Women, which broke box office records. By 1938, she was a bona fide star and appeared in critically acclaimed comedies Bringing Up Baby and Stage Door. In 1940, she had one of her biggest hits, The Philadelphia Story, directed by Cukor and co-starring Cary Grant and James Stewart. On June 29, 2003, Hepburn died of natural causes in old Saybrook, Connecticut. She was 96 years old.

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The Battle of Berestechko was fought between rebellious Zaporozhian Cossack, Ukrainian peasant forces, and their Crimean Tatar allies led by Hetman Bohdan Kmhelnytsky, and a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army under King John II casimir. It took place in Volhynia and lasted from June 28 to June 30, 1651. The number of Polish troops is uncertain. One of the Polish commanders wrote that the Polish army had 80,000 soldiers. Modern historians estimate their numbers to be 60,000 to 63,000 soldiers. It was the biggest battle in the 17th century.

The Cossacks had around 100,000 plus 40,000 Crimean Tatar cavalry and a few thousand Turks and Vlachs. Fighting was close with the core of Cossack infantry making up for the weakness of their cavalry. Much of the decisive fighting was by the infantry and dismounted dragoons of each side. On the first day of the battle, 2000 Polish cavalry supported by six pancerni cavalry companies and winged hussars repulsed the Tatars, who suffered heavy losses. On the second day, the Poles, encouraged by their victory, deployed all available cavalry but with no support from the infantry or artillery. The Tatar cavalry won. On the third and final day, 18 Polish cavalry companies attacked the Cossack-Tatar Army with the help of the artillery and were victorious.

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Raul Gonzalez Blanco was born in Madrid, Spain and is a Spanish professional football forward. He has been playing for Read Madrid at the senior level since 1994 and has been the team captain since 2003. He was also a member of the Spanish national team and is its all-time leading scorer with 44 goals. He represented Spain in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2004, and 2006 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

With Read Madrid, Raul has won the UEFA Champions League three times and is the all-time leading scorer of that competition with 61 goals. He is currently the seventh highest scorer in the history of Spain’s top flight with 205 goals in 483 games. All of these goals were with Read Madrid, making him the club’s second highest goal scorer of all time.

Raul is also called The Seven, Madrid’s Angel and The Captain by fans and pundits. When playing, he wears the number 7 jersey for both club and country. His current contract with Real Madrid runs until 2011 and will be extended for a year each as long as he plays at least 30 official games in his last year of a contract. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest Spanish footballers of all time.

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The Coney Island Cyclone is a well known roller coaster in Coney Island, New York City. After seeing the success of 1925’s Thunderbolt and 1926’s Tornado, Jack and Irving Rosenthal bought the land at the intersection of Surf Avenue and West 10^th Street. A coaster called the Giant Racer was already on the site, but the Rosenthals had it torn down. With a $100,000 investment, they hired Vernon Keenan to design a new coaster. The final cost has been reported as both $146,000 and $175,000. When the Cyclone opened on June 26, 1927, a single ride cost 25 cents (35 on Sundays). Lines were down the street and hours long.

By the 1960s, attendance at Coney Island had dropped off. By 1968, the Cyclone was deteriorating and it was shut down in 1969. In 1971, it was bought by the city of New York for one million dollars. Lack of riders hurt profits and the ride was condemned. In 1972, it was nearly destroyed because the Coney Island Aquarium wanted to expand. A “Save the Cyclone” campaign ensued and the coaster was leased to the Astroland park for $57,000 per year and they still own it to this day. The owners had the ride refurbished and it reopened on July 3, 1975. In the 1980s, events like the Mermaid Parade and Sideshows by the Seashore brought visitors back to Coney Island and the Cyclone.

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Also known as Custer’s Last Stand, the Battle of the Little Bighorn was an armed engagement between a Lakota-Cheyenne combined force and the Seventh Calvary of the United States Army that occurred between June 25 and 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in the eastern Montana Territory. The battle was the most famous action of the Indian Wars, and was a remarkable victory for the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne, led by Sitting Bull. The U.S. Seventh Calvary, of which a column of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, was defeated; five of the Seventh’s companies were annihilated and Custer himself was killed.

In 1876, military officials planned a summer campaign to corral thousands of Indians who had slipped away from their reservations and force them back using both infantry and calvary. This plan went awry at the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876. Custer’s initial plan was to surprise an Indian village near Bighorn but their trail had been discovered and he ignored scouts’ warnings of the size of the village. The Custer fight lasted less than one half-hour with 1,800 Indians against 600 U.S. Calvary. The Seventh Calvary suffered 52% casualties: 16 officers and 242 troopers were killed.

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The United Grand Lodge of England is the main governing body of the Freemasonry within England and Wales. It is the oldest Grand Lodge in the world. Together with the Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Grand Lodge of Scotland, they are often referred to, by their members, as “the home Grand Lodges” or “the Home Constitutions.”

On June 24, 1717, four London lodges came together at the Goose and Gridiron Ale House; St. Paul’s Churchyard and formed themselves into a Grand Lodge for the purposes of an annual dinner. Anthony Sayer was the elected as the first Grand Master. In 1721, under the Duke of Montagu as Grand Master, the Grand Lodge established itself as a regulatory body over the craft of England and began meeting on a quarterly basis.

The City of London Corporation has erected a Blue Plaque near the location of the original inn. The creation of Lodges followed the development of the Empire with the three home Grand Lodges warranting Lodges around the world. The aristocratic nature of the London Grand Lodges and its members alienated other Masons of the city causing them to identify with unaffiliated Lodges.

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Born near East Bend, North Carolina, Ernest Grady Shore was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox during some of their best years in the 1910s. Along with Babe Ruth, he was sold by the Baltimore Orioles to the Red Sox, and like Ruth after him, was dispatched to the New York Yankees, where he closed out his career.

Shore’s best year with the Red Sox was 1915 when he won 18 games, lost eight, and compiled a 1.64 earned run average. His most famous game occurred on June 23, 1917, against the Washington Senators in the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park. Ruth started the game and walked the first batter. According to the newspaper accounts of the time, Ruth engaged in a heated argument with the equally short-fused home plate umpire Brick Owens. Owens tossed Ruth out of the game and in response, Ruth punched the ump before being taken off the field. Shore was recruited to pitch and came in with very few warm-up pitches. He then proceeded to retire the remaining 26 Senators without surrendering a hit, earning the Red Sox a 4-0 win.

In the 1950s, he led an effort to build a minor league baseball park in Winston-Salem, a park that was ultimately named for him.

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Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a 1966 film adaptation of the play of the same name by Edward Albee. It was the first film directed by Mike Nichols and stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton with George Segal and Sandy Dennis. The film’s title is a play on the title of the once popular song, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” from Walt Disney’s The Three Little Pigs.

The film version differs slightly from the play which features only four characters, while in the film there are two other minor characters. Despite minor variations, the film is extremely faithful to the play. The filmmakers used the original play as the screenplay and, aside from toning down some of the profanity slightly, virtually all of the original dialogue remains intact.

The casting choice of Elizabeth Taylor – at the time regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world – to play the frumpy, fifty-ish Martha surprised many and she gained 30 pounds for the role. She was praised for her performance. The film was considered groundbreaking for having a level of profanity and sexual implication unheard of at the time. The film was the only one to be nominated in every eligible category at the Academy Awards. Taylor and Sandy Dennis won for Best Actress and Supporting Actress respectively.

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The Canadian city of Halifax is the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and the shire town of Halifax County. The town of Halifax was founded by the British government under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations under the command of Governor Edward Cornwallis. After a protracted struggle between residents and the Governor, the city of Halifax was incorporated in 1841.

The Mi’kmaq called the area Jipugtug (anglicized as “Chebucto”), which means “the biggest harbor” in reference to present-day Halifax Harbour. The territory passed from French to English to even Scottish hands several times. In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, it was relinquished to England. Between this treaty of 1713 and 1749, no serious attempts were made by Great Britain to colonize Nova Scotia.

British General Edward Cornwallis was dispatched by the Lords of Trade and Plantations to establish a city at Chebucto, on behalf of and at the expense of the Crown. Cornwallis sailed in command of 13 transports, a sloop of war, 1,176 settlers and their families. The outpost was named in honor of George Montague-Dunk, 2^nd Earl of Halifax, who was the President of the British Board of Trade.

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