This day in history

[June 10, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Wednesday, June 10, the 161st day of 2009. There are 204 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On June 10, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio.

On this date:

In 1865, the Richard Wagner opera "Tristan und Isolde" premiered in Munich.

In 1907, 11 men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris. (Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the French capital two months later.)

In 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain; Canada declared war on Italy.

In 1942, the Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of a Nazi official.

In 1964, the Senate voted to limit further debate on a proposed civil rights bill, shutting off a filibuster by Southern senators.

In 1967, the Middle East War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a U.N.-mediated cease-fire.

In 1977, James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee with six others; he was recaptured June 13.

In 1978, Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes and with it, horse racing's Triple Crown.

In 1982, the play "Torch Song Trilogy," by Harvey Fierstein, opened on Broadway.

In 1985, socialite Claus von Bulow was acquitted by a jury in Providence, R.I., at his retrial on charges he'd tried to murder his heiress wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow.

Ten years ago: Yugoslav troops departed Kosovo, prompting NATO to suspend its punishing 11-week air war. The Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that Chicago went too far in its fight against street gangs by ordering police to break up groups of loiterers.

Five years ago: Singer-musician Ray Charles, known for such hits as "What'd I Say," "Georgia on My Mind" and "I Can't Stop Loving You," died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 73.

One year ago: A Sudanese jetliner skidded off a runway and crashed into airport lights after landing in Khartoum, killing 30 people.

Today's birthdays: Britain's Prince Philip is 88. Columnist Nat Hentoff is 84. Actor-director Lionel Jeffries is 83. Author Maurice Sendak is 81. Attorney F. Lee Bailey is 76. Actress Alexandra Stewart is 70. Singer Shirley Alston Reeves (The Shirelles) is 68. Actor Jurgen Prochnow is 68. Media commentator Jeff Greenfield is 66. Country singer-songwriter Thom Schuyler is 57. Former Sen. John Edwards is 56. Actor Andrew Stevens is 54. Singer Barrington Henderson is 53. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is 50. Rock musician Kim Deal is 48. Singer Maxi Priest is 48. Actress Gina Gershon is 47. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn is 46. Rock musician Jimmy Chamberlin is 45. Actress Kate Flannery is 45. Model-actress Elizabeth Hurley is 44. Rock musician Joey Santiago is 44. Actor Doug McKeon is 43. Rock musician Emma Anderson is 42. Country musician Brian Hofeldt (The Derailers) is 42. Rapper The D.O.C. is 41. Rock singer Mike Doughty is 39. R&B singer JoJo is 38. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is 38. R&B singer Faith Evans is 36. Actor Hugh Dancy is 34. R&B singer Lemisha Grinstead (702) is 31. Actor DJ Qualls is 31. Actor Shane West is 31. Singer Hoku is 28. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 27. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tara Lipinski is 27. Dallas Cowboys running back Marion Barber is 26.

Thought for today: "I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool." -- Katharine Whitehorn, British newspaper columnist

[Associated Press]

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