Timetrip

1791: Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute premieres in Vienna, Austria.

1846: American dentist William Morton uses ether as an anaesthetic for the first time on a patient in his Boston office.

1939: Britain sends a 150,000-man force to France after the start of WWII.

1955: Actor James Dean is killed in a twocar collision near Cholame, California.

1966: German war criminals Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach are freed at midnight from Spandau prison after serving 20 years.

1980: Israel takes a step back to biblical times with the introduction of the shekel as its currency, replacing the pound.

1982: The Brisbane Commonwealth Games is officially opened by HRH Prince Phillip.

1996: In Tasmania, Martin Bryant pleads not guilty to 72 charges arising from the Port Arthur massacre.

BIRTHDAYS: Fran Drescher, US actress (1957-); Stan Grant, Australian journalist and indigenous activist (1963-); Marion Cotillard (above), French actress (1975-);