June 18, 1815 British and Prussian troops under the Duke of Wellington defeat Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium. Napoleon lost over 40,000 men at Waterloo; the British and Belgians lost 15,000; the Prussians lost 7,000.

June 19, 1978 America’s favorite lasagna-loving cat, Garfield, created by Jim Davis, first appears in newspapers as a comic strip.

June 20, 1837 Queen Victoria ascends the British thron