Ireland

Frank Patterson, tenor, is born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

The, 80,000-ton liner Queen Elizabeth, then the largest passenger ship ever built, launched at John Browns shipyard, Clydebank.

John Smith, politician and leader of the Labour Party, born at Dalmally, Argyll.

Beano comic, 1st published

First edition of the long-running Beano comic was published

Dr. Douglas Hyde inaugurated as first President of Ireland

Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated as the first President of Ireland on June 25, 1938, at St. Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle. A respected scholar, Irish language revivalist, and founder of the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge), Hyde’s selection marked a unifying and non-partisan start to the presidency of the newly established Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na hÉireann).

Robert and Edward Kennedy, open the children’s zoo in Regent’s Park

On this date, Robert and Edward Kennedy, the youngest sons of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., then U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, opened the Children’s Zoo in Regent’s Park, London.

The Marquess of Bute sold half of the city of Cardiff for £20 million, at that time the biggest-ever British property deal

Ten young men, potato-pickers from Achill Island, die when a bothy catches fire on a farm at Kirkintilloch, Scotland

The first traffic lights in the Free State are installed at the junction of Merrion Square and Clare Street

Birth of Donald Dewar, former Secretary of State for Scotland and First Minister in the new Scottish Parliament.