ON THIS DAY

1534: Pope Clement VII declares valid the marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon.

1743: George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah has its London premiere.

1887: More than 80 miners die in gas explosion in colliery at Bulli, NSW.

1919: Benito Mussolini founds fascist movement in Italy.

1970: South Africa is banned from the Davis Cup because of its apartheid policies.

1998: The film Titanic wins 11 Oscars, equalling the record set by Ben-Hur in 1959.

2015: Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore who turned the city state into a wealthy nation, dies at the age of 91.

Birthdays: Joan Crawford, US actress (19081977); Amanda Plummer, British actress (1957-); Princess Eugenie of York (1990-).