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George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland, from 1 August 1714 until his death. At the age of 54, he ascended the British throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although many bore closer blood-relationships to the childless Queen Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701, which prohibits Catholics from inheriting the throne, designated her cousin, Sophia of Hanover, as heiress to the throne. Sophia was Anne's closest living Protestant relative but died a matter of weeks before Anne leaving the Protestant succession to her son, George. In reaction, the Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed. During George's reign in Britain, the powers of the monarchy diminished and the modern system of Cabinet government led by a Prime Minister underwent development. Towards the end of his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Walpole. George died on a trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried. (more...)
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[edit] In the news
- IBM and Los Alamos National Laboratory break a processing speed record with the world's first petaflop computer, Roadrunner (pictured).
- Following a coal mine collapse in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, 24 miners are rescued with 12 still missing and one reported dead.
- Seven people are killed and ten injured in a stabbing spree in Tokyo, Japan.
- The government of Southern Sudan withdraws its mediation efforts at the Juba talks between Uganda and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
- In tennis, Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanović win the singles titles in the 2008 French Open.
- The Diet of Japan recognizes the Ainu as an indigenous people for the first time.
- Israeli minister Shaul Mofaz threatens an attack on Iran's nuclear program.
[edit] Selected anniversaries
June 11: Kamehameha Day in Hawaii
- 1770 – English explorer James Cook ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef (pictured).
- 1892 – The Salvation Army's Limelight Department, one of the world's earliest film studios, was officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
- 1937 – Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky and several senior officers of the Red Army were convicted in the Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization, a secret trial during the Great Purge in the Soviet Union.
- 1963 – Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death in Saigon to protest the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration.
- 1963 – The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor of Alabama George Wallace stepped aside after a stand in the schoolhouse door.
More events: June 10 – June 11 – June 12
[edit] Did you know...
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- ... that the Horse Grenadier Guards were a unit of the British Household Cavalry until 1788, originally serving as mounted infantry to reinforce the Horse Guards Regiment?
- ... that Manabendra Narayan Larma was a major political leader of the Chakma people and other tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and founder of the Shanti Bahini militia?
- ... that writer Robert W. Peterson, whose seminal 1970 book Only the Ball was White called attention to the overlooked history of Negro league baseball, was also a prolific writer of magazine articles for the Boy Scouts of America?
- ... that the original owner of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Washington, D.C. building died during the sinking of the RMS Titanic?
- ... that 13 separate churches served the German population of Louisville in the 19th century?
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