Moments in Time: First Viking Attack
The History Channel
On June 8, 793, in the first recorded Viking attack in Europe, Norse invaders launched a raid of looting and murder on England's Lindisfarne monastery, with contemporary accounts describing "dreadful forewarnings" that included "fiery dragons flying in the sky."
On June 9, 1893, the interior of Ford's Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, collapsed, killing 22 people. An investigation revealed that a pier had given way during excavation in the basement for an electric-light plant.
On June 10, 1881, "War and Peace" author LEO Tolstoy, conflicted by his wealthy landlord responsibilities and a desire to give up his property and wander the land as an ascetic, disguised himself as a peasant and began a pilgrimage to a monastery. He had started giving away his possessions and announced that the public owned his works, but his wife, understandably concerned for their children's financial stability, gained control of the copyrights for all his work published prior to 1880.
On June 11, 1919, 3-year-old racehorse Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Derby in a single season, making him the first horse to earn what would become known as the American Triple Crown -- a particularly impressive feat since he had never achieved a career win until that year's Kentucky Derby.
On June 12, 1974, Little League Baseball Inc. announced its intention to "defer to the changing social climate" by permitting girls to play ball. The decision came after the organization lost a series of lawsuits in New Jersey and was faced with increasing legal challenges in other states as well.
On June 13, 1962, Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's famously controversial novel "Lolita" premiered in New York. Even its advertising posters posed a query that was no doubt on a lot of people's minds: "How did they ever make a movie of 'Lolita'?" The answer was "with extensive changes" -- to Kubrick's admitted chagrin.
On June 14, 2017, James Hodgkinson walked onto a baseball field at Eugene Simpson Park in Alexandria, Virginia, and opened fire on politicians, wounding House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and four others, after asking a passing congressman whether Republicans or Democrats were practicing.
(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc.