This day in history

[June 11, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, June 11, the 162nd day of 2009. There are 203 days left in the year.

Today's highlights in history:

On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain.

On this date:

In 1509, England's King Henry VIII married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

In 1770, Capt. James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovered the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it.

In 1919, Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner.

In 1947, the government announced the end of household and institutional sugar rationing, to take effect the next day.

In 1959, the Saunders-Roe Nautical 1, the first operational hovercraft, was publicly demonstrated off the southern coast of England.

In 1963, a Buddhist monk (Thich Quang Duc) set himself afire on a Saigon street to protest the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.

In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown.

In 1979, actor John Wayne died in Los Angeles at age 72.

In 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan, the comatose patient whose case prompted a historic right-to-die court decision, died in Morris Plains, N.J., at age 31.

In 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed by injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

Ten years ago: The FBI was seeking the creator of ExploreZip, a file-destroying computer virus which had hit some of the nation's biggest corporations. Actor DeForest Kelley of "Star Trek" fame died in Woodland Hills, Calif., at age 79.

Five years ago: The nation bade a lingering goodbye to former President Ronald Reagan at a stately funeral service in Washington followed hours later by a hilltop burial ceremony in his beloved California. Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols was again spared the death penalty when jurors who'd convicted him of 161 murder counts deadlocked over his sentence. "Prince of high fashion" Egon von Furstenberg died in Rome at age 57.

One year ago: President George W. Bush, during a visit to Germany, raised the possibility of a military strike to thwart Tehran's presumed nuclear weapons ambitions; Chancellor Angela Merkel joined Bush in urging further sanctions against Iran if it failed to suspend its nuclear enrichment program. For his part, Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Bush a "wicked man." Four Boy Scouts were killed when a tornado hit the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near Blencoe, Iowa.

Today's birthdays: Opera singer Rise Stevens is 96. Actor-producer Richard Todd is 90. Actor Gene Wilder is 76. Actor Chad Everett is 72. Comedian Johnny Brown is 72. Former auto racer Jackie Stewart is 70. Singer Joey Dee is 69. Actress Adrienne Barbeau is 64. Rock musician Frank Beard (ZZ Top) is 60. Animal rights activist and PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk is 60. Rock singer Donnie Van Zant is 57. Actor Peter Bergman is 56. Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana is 53. Actor Hugh Laurie ("House, M.D.") is 50. Singer Gioia Bruno (Expose) is 46. Country singer-songwriter Bruce Robison is 43. Actor Peter Dinklage is 40. Country musician Smilin' Jay McDowell is 40. Rock musician Dan Lavery (Tonic) is 40. Rock musician Tai Anderson (Third Day) is 33. Actor Joshua Jackson is 31. Christian rock musician Ryan Shrout is 29. Actor Shia LaBeouf is 23.

Thought for today: "It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument." -- William Gibbs McAdoo, American government official (1863-1941)

[Associated Press]

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