Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 June 19

The 2005 United States Grand Prix was the ninth race and only American race of the 2005 Formula One season. Held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it was won by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (pictured). In the days before the race, several Michelin tyres suffered failures on the speedway's resurfaced track. Michelin advised its seven customer teams (representing 14 cars in the race) that without a reduction in speed in the last turn of the speedway, the tyres provided for the race would only be safe for 10 laps—but Formula One rules in 2005 prohibited tyre changes during the race. Unable to come to a compromise with the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the Michelin teams decided not to participate. They completed the parade lap to avoid sanctions, but retired to the pits before the race started; only the six cars from teams using Bridgestone tyres (Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi) competed. The race generated negative publicity for the sport, especially in the US, a market in which Formula One had struggled to establish itself over the preceding 20 years. (Full article...)

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• Pope Francis (pictured) releases the encyclical Laudato si', in which he calls for action on environmental degradation and climate change.
• At least nine people, including a state senator, are killed in a mass shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
• In basketball, the Golden State Warriors defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA Finals.
• In ice hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup.
• Flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, kills at least nineteen people and releases zoo animals into the streets.
• In motorsport, Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Nico Hülkenberg, driving a Porsche 919 Hybrid, win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

• Ongoing events:
  • FIFA Women's World Cup
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June 19: Day of the Independent Hungary; Juneteenth in some parts of the United States

• 1269 – Louis IX of France imposed a fine of ten livres of silver on Jews found in public without a yellow badge.
• 1816 – The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, rival fur-trading companies, engaged in a violent confrontation in present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
• 1944 – World War II: The navies of the United States and Imperial Japan engaged each other off the Mariana Islands in the Philippine Sea.
• 1987 – Basque separatist group ETA detonated a car bomb at the Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45 others.
• 2010 – The royal wedding between Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling (both pictured) took place in Stockholm Cathedral.

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  • June 20

U.S. Open champions are crowned annually in a golf competition conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA). The tournament was established in 1895, when Horace Rawlins won the inaugural championship. The U.S. Open is the second of the four major championships to be played each year. The champion receives a gold champion's medal, and the U.S. Open Championship Cup, which the winner is allowed to keep for a year. Willie Anderson, Bobby Jones (pictured), Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus hold the record for the most U.S. Open victories, with four victories each. Anderson holds the record for most consecutive wins with three (1903–05). Hale Irwin is the oldest winner of the U.S. Open: he was 45 years 15 days old when he won the 1990 Open. The youngest winner of the U.S. Open is John McDermott who was 19 years 315 days old when he won in 1911. Rory McIlroy holds the record for both the lowest aggregate score and score under par in 2011 at 268 and 16-under. (Full list...)

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