On This Day (June 17th) Multiple Choice

1. 653 – Pope Martin I is arrested in the Lateran Palace before being taken to Constantinople and tried for what crime ?

2. 1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II forcing him to retreat from which region ?

3. 1579 – Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion for England. What is Nova Albion called today ?

4. 1767 – Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights and is considered the first European to reach which island ?

5. 1795 – The burghers of which South African town expel the Dutch East India Company magistrate and declare a republic ?

6. 1839 – In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives which religion the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands ?

7. 1885 – Which future landmark arrives in New York Harbor ?

8. 1922 – Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral complete the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic. They flew from Lisbon to where ?

9. 1939 – Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed outside the Saint-Pierre prison in which city ?

10. 1944 – Iceland declares independence from which country and becomes a republic ?

11. 1953 – East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into which city to quell a rebellion ?

12. 1963 – The United States Supreme Court rules against requiring what in public schools ?

13. 1967 – Nuclear weapons testing: Which country announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon ?

14. 1943 – Barry Alan Pincus , American singer-songwriter and producer is born in New York. By what name is he better known ?

15. 1957 – Philip Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist is also born on this day. He is best known as the guitarist for which Irish band ?