TODAY IN HISTORY

1087

William the Conqueror dies at Rouen, France, five weeks after a battle injury. In 1066, the ruler of Normandy had invaded England and taken the throne as William I.

1513

Scotland’s King James IV is killed at the battle of Flodden fighting the English

1886

Mary Jane Hicks, 16, orphan and servant, is pack-raped in Moore Park, after accepting a ride in a hansom cab. Police arrest 15 men, of whom four are finally hanged.

1946

The federal government launches its own domestic airline, TAA (Trans-Australia Airlines), with a DC-3 service between Sydney and Melbourne, to compete with privately-owned Australian National Airlines.

1971

Jail inmates at Attica, New York, take 30 guards hostage in a revolt over prison conditions. Forty-three prisoners and guards die in the revolt, which is violently suppressed four days later.

1981

Former premier of NSW Bob Askin dies at 72.

2001

Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt runs down Pete Sampras to earn his first Grand Slam title, 7-6 6-1 6-1 at the US Open.

2004

A suicide bomber blows up his truck in

the driveway of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, killing 10.

2005

Granny killer John Wayne Glover hangs

himself at 72 in Lithgow Jail. He had been serving life for the murder of six elderly women on Sydney’s North Shore.

2018

Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka defeats America Serena Williams in the US Open, to become the first Japanese tennis player ever to win a grand slam tournament.