June 4

• June 4, 1070
  Roquefort cheese is accidentally discovered in a cave near Roquefort, France, when a shepherd finds a lunch he has forgotten several days before
• June 4, 1717
  The Freemasons, who begun in the 13th century as a guild of masons, establish their Grand Lodge in London, the oldest Grand Lodge in the world
• June 4, 1745
  Prussians defeat Austrians at Hohenfriedeberg
• June 4, 1783
  The Montgolfier brothers launched their first unmanned hot-air balloon in a 10-minute flight over Annonay, France
• June 4, 1792
  Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain after landing into the San Francisco Bay on his ship Discovery
• June 4, 1794
  Robespierre is unanimously elected president of the Convention in the French Revolution
• June 4, 1805
  The US signs a Treaty of Peace and Amity at Tripoli by which agrees to pay Tripoli $60,000 in war reparations and is in turn absolved of tribute demands
• June 4, 1859
  The French army under Napoleon III takes Magenta from the Austrian army after a bloody battle in northern Italy
• June 4, 1878
  Cyprus is ceded by Turkey to Britain for administrative purposes
• June 4, 1896
  Henry Ford makes a successful pre-dawn test run of his horseless carriage, called a quadricycle, through the streets of Detroit
• June 4, 1936
  Socialist Léon Blum leads the first Popular Front ministry composed of socialists and radical socialists, which passed important legislation, such as the 40-hour week and paid holidays for the workers
• June 4, 1940
  German forces enter Paris, France
• June 4, 1944
  In Italy, American forces take Rome
• June 4, 1970
  Tonga gains independence from Britain
• June 4, 1989
  A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia kills 645 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline
• June 4, 2002
  Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh ride in the gold state coach from Buckingham Palace to Saint Paul's Cathedral for a special service marking the Queen's 50 years on the throne