ON THIS DAY

1581: Francis Drake arrives back in England after circumnavigating the globe and is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I on board his ship.

1929: Fourteen die when a dam on the Cascade River, Tasmania, bursts and floods the town of Derby.

1964: The Beatles set a record by having all of the top five US singles at the same time.

1968: US civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

2003: US forces seize control of Baghdad’s Saddam International Airport and rename it Baghdad International.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Max Dupain, Australian photographer (1911-1992); Muddy Waters, US blues musician (1913-1983); Hugo Weaving, Australian actor (1960-); Sam Moran, Australian children’s entertainer (1978-); Heath Ledger, Australian actor (1979-2008).