ON THIS DAY

1521:

Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan is killed in the Philippines. Death of Sir Henry Parkes, Australia’s “Father of Federation”, aged 80. Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies introduces a bill to outlaw the Communist Party. US Apollo 16 spacecraft lands safely in the Pacific after a journey to the moon. First Vietnamese refugees arrive by boat in Darwin. The trial of John Hinckley Jr, who tried to assassinate US President Ronald Reagan, begins. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s pushes Greece to the brink of a financial abyss. NASA space shuttle Enterprise sails on top of a modified jumbo jet on its final flight. US inventor Samuel Morse (17911872); US president Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885); Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios (1995-).

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