ON THIS DAY

1485: England’s King Richard III is killed at the Battle of Bosworth, ending War of the Roses.

1784: Vincent Lunardi, accompanied by a cat and dog, makes England’s first hot-air balloon flight.

1788: British found settlement in Sierra Leone, Africa, as asylum for freed slaves.

1851: The schooner America beats the Aurora off the English coast to win a trophy that became known as the America’s Cup.

1958: US President Dwight Eisenhower offers to halt US nuclear tests for a year on condition that the Soviet Union refrains from further testing.

2007: Fourteen US soldiers are killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashes during a night mission in northern Iraq.

Birthdays: French composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918); Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997); US author Ray Bradbury (19202012); US actress Kristen Wiig (1973-).