ON THIS DAY
1785
Prussia’s Frederick the Great forms Die Furstenbund (League of German Princes).
1875
Death of Isaac Merritt Singer, US inventor who in 1851 developed the first practical sewing machine, which was the first to use continuous and curved stitching.
1879
Alexander Forrest discovers and names Ord River in Western Australia.
1888
Scottish vet-turned-inventor John Boyd Dunlop applies to patent the pneumatic tyre. He devised it to put on his son’s tricycle. It is accepted as patent 10607.
1907
Norman Brookes, with Anthony Wilding, wins the Davis Cup for Australasia. Earlier in the year he was the first Australian to win the Wimbledon Singles Championship.
1909
Speaker Frederick Holder dies after an unruly late-night sitting of the House of Representatives.
1914
The Austro-Hungarian government issues an ultimatum to Serbia after the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, an event that leads to World War I.
1916
Death of William Ramsay, Scottish chemist, Nobel prize winner and discoverer of helium, argon and other inert gases.
1952
Gamal Abdel Nasser leads an almost bloodless military coup which deposes King Farouk of Egypt.
1974
Greece’s military regime resigns after seven years in power, over a crisis in Cyprus and former prime minister Constantine Karamanlis is invited to return to the post from exile in Paris.
1986
Prince Andrew marries Sarah Ferguson (pictured).
1995
minister Former prime Bob Hawke and his biographer, Blanche d’alpuget, marry before a gathering of celebrities in a Double Bay hotel.