1178 Five monks at Canterbury report something exploding on the moon shortly after sunset (only known observation)
1264 The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.
On June 18, 1429, during the Hundred Years’ War, French forces led by Joan of Arc achieved a decisive victory over the English at the Battle of Patay. This battle took place in the aftermath of the Siege of Orléans, where Joan had already distinguished herself as a formidable leader.
1542 Crown of Ireland Act 1542 passed by the Parliament of Ireland, gives English King Henry VIII the title "King of Ireland"
1767 Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights Tahiti; considered the first European to reach the island.
On this day U.S. President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain, initiating the War of 1812, which arose chiefly from U.S. grievances over oppressive maritime practices during the Napoleonic Wars.
1815 Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon Bonaparte and France are defeated by British forces under the Duke of Wellington and Prussian troops under Field Marshal von Blücher.
Some Welsh connections to The Battle of Waterloo- * The 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers were positioned on the crest behind Hougoumont, where they were ravaged by cannon balls and harassed by regular cavalry attacks, the whole day, knowing that they formed the cornerstone of the front line and that they must hold at all costs. Out of an initial force of 641 men, the 23rd lost 5 officers and 13 rank & file, with 6 officers and 80 rank and file wounded. * Sir Thomas Picton of Pembrokeshire was the highest ranking victim of the battle on the allied side
The first section of the South Wales Railway, operated by the Great Western Railway, between Chepstow and Swansea, was opened on 18th June 1850.
1928 The keel was laid, at Harland & Wolff - Belfast, for the biggest ship to date, the 1,000 foot, 60,000 ton Oceanic (III). She was never completed. Her keel was dismantled and the steel was used in two new, smaller ships, RMS Georgic and RMS Britannic. Both of these ships entered service in 1930 and were the last liners White Star ever built.
On this day 1928 when she landed in Burry Port, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Aviator Wilmer Stultz asked Amelia to join him on the flight from Newfoundland to Wales in the trinator plane 'F'riendship' and upon its landing at Burry Port she became the first woman ever on a transatlantic flight.
1947 Gene Roddenberry survives a plane crash in the Syrian Desert while working for Pan American World Airways.
1979 The SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) II treaty was signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
1984www.beautifulbritain.co.ukThe 'Battle of Orgreave'. It was the most violent day of the year-long miners' strike and one of the most violent clashes in British industrial history. The National Union of Mineworkers deployed 5,000 pickets from across the UK to stop lorry loads of coke leaving Orgreave coking plant for the British Steel Corporation's works in Scunthorpe. The number of police officers (6,000 from 18 different forces) was unprecedented in an industrial dispute, as was the use of dogs, horses and riot gear. 71 pickets were charged with riot and 24 with violent disorder. The trials collapsed when the evidence given by the police was deemed 'unreliable'. News footage of the confrontation was edited and broadcast out of chronological sequence, showing pickets throwing stones at the police and the police subsequently carrying out a mounted charge, when the reverse was true. ….
1966: 'Swinging' Radio England starts regular programmes from the radio-ship Olga Patricia anchored off Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex.
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18 Jun 1976 ABBA gave a special live performance in Stockholm for Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath on the eve of their wedding.
1978 Grace Slick takes the stage with Jefferson Starship at the Lorelei Festival in Hamburg, Germany and taunts the audience with comments about Nazis and World War II. The angry crowd reacts by destroying much of the band's equipment. Slick was later asked to resign from the band by guitarist Marty Balin. She did, but rejoined three years later, just in time for their 1981 album, "Modern Times".
