Today in History

1547 – England’s King Henry VIII dies, and is succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward VI. 1689 – Britain’s Parliament declares that James II has abdicated.

1807 – Pall Mall, in London, becomes the first street lit by gaslight.

1813 – Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, right, is published.

1827 – French explorer Jules Sebastien Cesar Dumont d’Urville sails through the narrow French Pass into the Marlborough Sounds. 1871 – Paris falls following a four-month siege during the Franco-German War.

1881 – Russian novelist and short-story writer

Fyodor Dostoyevsky dies in St. Petersburg, aged 59.

1887 – England are all out for 45 against Australia in Sydney - still England’s lowest test score.

1901 – William Hardham, of Wellington, rescues a comrade under heavy fire during the Boer War, for which he later wins the Victoria Cross.

1909 – US control in Cuba is ended.

1932 – Japanese troops occupy Shanghai in China.

1939 – Irish poet-dramatist William Butler Yeats dies in Menton, France. 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on national television, in the Dorsey Bros Stage Show.

1958 – Godtfred Kirk Christiansen files for a patent for a toy building block, Lego, that becomes hugely popular around the world. 1973 – Ceasefire comes into effect in the Vietnam War.

1980 – Six US diplomats who avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran are flown out of Iran with the help of the CIA and Canadian diplomats.

1985 – The charity supergroup USA for Africa records the Michael Jackson-Lionel

Richie song We Are the World in Los Angeles. 1986 – Space shuttle Challenger explodes moments after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing all seven crew members. 1997 – Former South African security officers confess to killing anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who was found dead in his jail cell in 1977.

2011 – Chaos engulfs Egypt as protesters seize the streets of Cairo, battling police, burning down the ruling party’s headquarters and defying a military curfew. 2018 – Roger Federer wins the Australian Open, his 20th and final Grand Slam title.

Birthdays

Henry VII, king of England (1457-1509); Howard Kippenberger, NZ general (1897-1957); Jackson Pollock, US artist (1912-56); Alan Alda, US actor (1936-); Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, Ma¯ori weaver/author (1941-2006); Dame Malvina Major, NZ opera singer (1943-); Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian/ US dancer/choreographer (1948-); Mike Moore, NZ politician (1949-2020); Nicolas Sarkozy, French politician (1955-); Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer/songwriter (1968-); Elijah Wood, US actor (1981-); Jessica Ennis-Hill, UK athlete (1986-).