TODAY IN HISTORY – 12th Jun, 2026 – Africa World News
By Valentine Uchechukwu Ndukwu.
Ben Kingston, the Grand Commander of FILM TRICKS who has dug his hills in cinematography and has become a reference point in Pamtech Group, owing to his far reaching videography and editing engaged me yesterday on this history series. This is what he had to say, he said, “history represents past but well documented series of events that keep reoccurring for educational purposes.”
It is on that premise that we have outlined a series of events that took place on this day in the distant past.
On this day in 1665, Thomas Willett is appointed the first mayor of New York City.
Still on this day in 1817, the earliest form of bicycle, the dandy horse, is driven by Karl von Drais.
According to Today in History, on this day in 1830, the world witnessed the beginning of the Invasion of Algiers. Thirty-four thousand French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch.
It was on this day in 1963 that the film Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, is released in US theaters. It was the most expensive film made at the time.
Sadly on this day in 1964, Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa
Interestingly, on this day in 1981 that the first of the Indiana Jones film franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is released in theaters.
In 1987, obviously on this day, the Central African Republic’s former emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule
Today in History reveals that on this day in 1993, an election takes place in Nigeria and is won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. Its results are later annulled by the military government of Ibrahim Babangida.
Regrettably on this day in 2014, between 1,095 and 1,700 Shia Iraqi people are killed in an attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. It is the second deadliest act of terrorism in history, only behind 9/11.
Again, in 2016 of course on this day, forty-nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police.
Today in history makes a return with fresh revelations from the past.
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