Today in history
1306 – Robert de Bruce is crowned king of Scotland.
1634 – British colonists under Lord Baltimore reach Maryland in North America.
1807 – Britain abolishes the slave trade.
1821 – Greek patriots begin revolt against domination of Ottoman Empire, an uprising that lasts 12 years and wins Greek independence.
1847 – Dr Isaac Featherston, the editor of the Wellington Independent, and Colonel William Wakefield of the New Zealand Company duel over a disputed editorial written by Featherston. Both men survive unscathed.
1911 – In a tragedy that galvanised America’s labour movement, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co factory in New York kills 146 female workers.
1941 – Yugoslavia joins Romeberlin-tokyo Alliance in World War II.
1956 – US boxer Sugar Ray Robinson wins a 15-round split decision over Carmen Basilio to win the middleweight title for a record fifth time.
1975 – Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal is assassinated in Riyadh by a nephew with history of mental illness.
1991 – South African President FW de Klerk meets with delegates of the International Olympic Committee in hopes of ending his country’s exclusion from the Olympics.
1992 – Returning from a 10-month stay in space, Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev is given smelling salts when he learns that the Soviet Union has disappeared while he was away.
1996 – The European Union moves to ban British beef, five days after the British government alerts the public to the danger of eating meat from cows with mad cow disease.
1997 – The Australian Senate votes to overturn the Northern Territory’s Rights of the Terminally Ill law, the world’s only law allowing terminally ill patients to commit suicide with a doctor’s help.
1999 – Forty people are killed in a fire that traps 30 vehicles in the tunnel under Mont Blanc, western Europe’s highest mountain.
2001 – At the 73rd Academy Awards, Gladiator wins for best picture. Its star, Russell Crowe, wins best actor.
2002 – An earthquake and several aftershocks in northern Afghanistan kill as many as 2000 people and injure more than 4000.
2011 – New Zealand’s Labour Party is left in turmoil after one of its rising stars, Darren Hughes, is forced to resign following suggestions of inappropriate behaviour towards a young man.
Today’s birthdays: Anne Bronte, English novelist (1820-1849); Burt Munro, NZ motor cycle racer (1899-1978); Aretha Franklin, US singer (1942-); Elton John, English entertainer- songwriter (1947-).