June 13, 2012

2012Sam Beddingfield, American pilot and engineer (born 1933)^[†]

Samuel T. Beddingfield was an American test pilot and a pioneering aerospace engineer and who had a long career with NASA during its crewed space programs.

2012Graeme Bell, Australian pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1914)^[†]

Graeme Emerson Bell, AO, MBE was an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader. According to The Age, his "band's music was hailed for its distinctive Australian edge, which he describes as 'nice larrikinism' and 'a happy Aussie outdoor feel'".

2012Roger Garaudy, French philosopher and author (born 1913)^[†]

Roger Garaudy was a French philosopher, French resistance fighter and a communist author. He converted to Islam in 1982. In 1998, he was convicted for several years and fined for Holocaust denial under French law for claiming that the mass slaughter of six million Jews was a "myth".

2012Jože Humer, Slovenian composer and translator (born 1934)^[†]

Jože Humer was a Slovenian composer, choirmaster, lyricist, translator, and cultural organiser. He was born in Maribor, attended a local classical gymnasium, and then studied and graduated from law. He established the Ljubljana Madrigalists Chamber Choir and led the Tone Tomšič Academic Choir and the Gallus Octet in Ljubljana. He was president of the Ljubljana Musical Youth, the renovator of the Ljubljana Musical Society, and president of the Association of Cultural Organisations of Slovenia. He wrote and translated hundreds of librettos and other lyrics for children, choirs, and soloists. In 1999, he received the Golden Medal of the Slovenian Public Fund of Cultural Activities for his work. He was also a judge, a secretary of the Supreme Court of Slovenia, and involved in the legal and organisational arrangements in the field of culture in the 1980s and during Slovenian secession from Yugoslavia. Later, he collaborated as an expert with the Slovenian Constitutional Court. In March 2012, he was decorated by Slovenian President Danilo Türk with the Order for Merits of Slovenia, with a rationale that described him as an "above-average deserving personality of the Slovenian cultural life."

2012Mehdi Hassan, Pakistani ghazal singer and playback singer for Lollywood (born 1927)^[†]

Mehdi Hassan Khan, known as Mehdi Hassan, was a Pakistani ghazal singer and playback singer of great renown. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of ghazal singing, Hassan is referred to as the Shahenshah-e-Ghazal. Known for his "haunting" baritone voice, Hassan is credited with bringing ghazal singing to a worldwide audience. He is unique for his melodic patterns and maintaining integrity of the ragas in an innovative way.

2012A series of bombings across Iraq, including Baghdad, Hillah and Kirkuk, kills at least 93 people and wounds over 300 others.^[†]

The 13 June 2012 Iraq attacks were a series of simultaneous bombings and shootings that killed 93 people and wounded over 300 others. The attacks were carried out in seven different locations throughout Iraq.