TODAY IN HISTORY

138

The Roman Emperor Hadrian dies aged 62 in his villa at Baiae in Naples. He is known for building a wall in Britain.

1553

Lady Jane Grey, 15, a Protestant, is proclaimed Queen Jane of England as Edward VI dies. She reigns for nine days before Mary I replaces her. Jane is beheaded in 1554 for treason.

1858

Four people are killed in Australia’s first rail crash, a derailment at Lidcombe. Three carriages and a horse box fall down an embankment.

1911

The Royal Australian Navy, formerly the Commonwealth Naval Forces, is established.

1940

The 114-day Battle of Britain starts as Nazi forces begin attacking southern England by air.

1947

Twenty-one-year-old Princess Elizabeth becomes engaged to Greek naval lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.

1962

Telstar 1, the first commercial satellite to handle live television and telecommunications messages, is launched from Florida. It works for seven months.

1985

French agents bomb the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, killing a photographer. The ship was being prepared for use in protests against French nuclear tests in the Pacific.

2001

Sef Gonzales murders his father, mother and sister at their North Ryde home.

2018

The last of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a local Thai football team are rescued from a cave system in Thailand after an international effort that involved Australian cave diving experts and resulted in the death of a Thai navy seal.