Stuff Digital Edition

Today in History

632 – The prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam, dies in Medina. 1809 – Thomas Paine, English political journalist and a founding father of American independence, dies in New York.

1869 – Suction vacuum cleaner patented by Chicago’s Ives Mcgaffey.

1949 – A hand-built aluminum prototype labelled No 1 becomes first vehicle to bear Porsche name. 1953 – US Supreme Court rules that restaurants in the District of Columbia (also known as Washington DC) cannot refuse to serve black people.

1968 – James Earl Ray, suspected killer of US civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, is arrested. Convicted of murder, he dies in prison in 1998. 1969 – Spain closes border with Gibraltar after Britain refuses to cede the colony.

1970 – Coup in Argentina unseats President Juan Carlos Ongania. 1983 – World’s first test-tube triplets are born in Adelaide.

1987 – The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act is passed into law. 1990 – Czechoslovakia holds first free elections in 44 years. Vaclav Havel is elected president.

2009 – UN hosts first World Oceans Day.

2017 – UK elections result in ruling Conservatives losing their majority; they enter a confidence and supply agreement with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Ulster Unionists.

2018 – American chef Anthony

Giovanni Cassini, Italian astronomer (1625-1712); Frank Lloyd Wright, US architect (1867-1959); Francis Crick, UK scientist (1916-2004); Joan Rivers, US comedian (1933-2014); Sir Graham Henry, NZ rugby coach (1946-); Bonnie Tyler, UK singer (1951-); Mike Chunn, Uk-born NZ musician (1952-); Tim Berners-lee, UK computer scientist (1955-); Kanye West, US rapper (1977-); James Rolleston, NZ actor (1997-).

Obituaries

en-nz

2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281809993293106

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