What happened on this day in history: William Shakespeare is born in 1564, Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for assassinating Robert F. Kennedy, and more.
1016: King Aethelred II Dies
King Aethelred II dies in London, England, around the age of 50. The king of England from 978 to 1013 then again from 1014 until he died in 1016, Aethelred was dubbed Aethelred “The Unready” because of his perceived mismanagement of the Danish invasion of England. His nickname roughly means “bad counsel,” a nod to Aethelred’s name meaning “good counsel.”
1564: William Shakespeare Is Born
Stock Montage/Getty ImagesWilliam Shakespeare is considered by some the greatest playwright of all time.
William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. A renowned playwright widely considered the greatest dramatist in history, Shakespeare’s plays include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and more. His work is studied and performed to this day, though many mysteries remain about Shakespeare’s life.
1661: Charles II Of England Is Crowned
Charles II of England is coronated at Westminster Abbey. The son of King Charles I, Charles II was forced to flee the country amid the English Civil Wars after his father’s 1649 execution. Though Oliver Cromwell took power in his stead, Cromwell’s death in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy and Charles’s return from years of exile.
1969: Sirhan Sirhan Receives The Death Penalty
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesPolice portraits of Sirhan Sirhan from the night he assassinated Robert Kennedy.
Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death after being found guilty of assassinating Senator Robert Kennedy, a sentence later commuted to life in prison.
In June 1968, Kennedy had crossed paths with Sirhan in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles following his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. Sirhan shot and killed Kennedy with a .22 caliber revolver and said that he’d assassinated the senator because of his support for Israel, but later claimed that he was actually innocent.
2006: Jasmine Richardson Murders Her Parents
Jasmine Richardson and her boyfriend, Jeremey Steinke, murder her parents in Medicine Hat, Canada. Before Richardson met Steinke, friends and family knew her as a happy girl. At just 12-years-old, Richardson’s personality shifted, and she became more interested in the “goth lifestyle.” Her and 23-year-old Steinke met at a punk rock concert, and the two became inseparable. Obviously unhappy with her relationship, Jasmine’s parents forbid her from seeing him. This sparked the beginning of a crime that would shock Canada to its core.
