Nicosia, Cyprus. Several major political, historical and cultural events are recorded as having taken place on June 11 across different years. They include assassinations, resignations, arrests, executions and the deaths of prominent public figures.
1903 coup in Serbia
King Alexander I and Queen Draga of Serbia were murdered in a coup in 1903.
1955 Le Mans disaster
Eighty people were killed in 1955 when three cars crashed on the Le Mans racetrack in France and ploughed into the spectators’ grandstand.
1963 resignation in Greece
Greek Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis resigned in 1963.
1970 death of Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky, the moderate leader of Russia’s February 1917 revolution, died in 1970. After being deposed by the Bolsheviks after a few months, he fled to France and then to the United States.
1979 death of John Wayne
American film star John Wayne died in 1979 at the age of 72. A major box office draw, he won one Oscar for best actor in “True Grit”.
2000 arrest of Lino Oviedo
Paraguay’s fugitive coup leader Lino Oviedo was arrested in Brazil in 2000 after a six-month manhunt. He was later extradited to Paraguay.
2001 execution of Timothy McVeigh
Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001, six years after detonating a truck bomb outside a U.S. federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people.
2005 death of Vasco Goncalves
General Vasco Goncalves, who headed four Portuguese provisional governments after a left-wing revolution in 1974, died in 2005 at the age of 83.
2008 death of Vo Van Kiet
Former Vietnam Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, a major force behind economic reforms launched in the late 1980s, died in 2008.