Today in History

1535 – Francisco Pizarro founds the city of Lima in Peru.

1778 – James Cook becomes the first European to visit Hawaii.

1788 – HMS Supply, first of Britain’s First Fleet to Australia, reaches Botany Bay.

1886 – Hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.

1912 – British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and four members of his expedition reach the South Pole, only to find Roald Amundsen had preceded them by a month.

1919 – The World War I Peace Congress opens in Versailles, France; composer Jan Paderewski becomes Polish prime minister.

1936 – Author Rudyard Kipling dies in England.

1977 – Australia’s worst rail crash, at Granville, Sydney, kills 83 when a train hits a concrete bridge.

1980 – Upper Hutt’s Jon Stevens, left, achieves back-to-back No 1 singles as Montego Bay bumps Jezebel from top of the NZ charts.

1995 – Pope John Paul II begins a visit to Australia.

1996 – Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson files for divorce from Michael Jackson.

2015 – A record six million people attend a mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the Philippines capital Manila; AB de Villiers, of South Africa, makes the fastest century in ODI cricket, from 31 balls, against the West Indies.

2016 – The world’s 62 richest people are now as wealthy as half the world’s population, according to a report published by Oxfam.

Birthdays

A A Milne, UK author (1882-1956); Oliver Hardy, US actor (1892-1957); Cary Grant, UK-born actor (1904-86); Sir Eddie Durie, NZ judge (1940-); Paul Keating, Australian politician (1944-); Kevin Costner, US actor (1955-); Pep Guardiola, Spanish football coach (1971-); Bernice Mene, NZ netball player (1975-); Angelique Kerber, German tennis player (1988-).