Today in history
1535 — A month after the Pope made him a cardinal, John Fisher is executed at Tower Hill in London after refusing to recognise King Henry VIII as supreme head of the English Church.
1815 — Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates for the second and last time after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
1911 — Britain’s King George V is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1940 — After being overrun in a few weeks, France signs an armistice with Germany at Compiegne, in the same railway car used for the German armistice of 1918.
1941 — Germany invades Soviet Union in World War II. More than 150 German army divisions invade along a 3000-kilometre front between the Baltic and the Black Sea.
1969 — Death of Judy Garland, United States film star and singer.
1970 — President Richard Nixon signs a measure lowering the US voting age to 18.
1977 — John Mitchell becomes the first former US Attorney General to go to jail as he begins a sentence for his role in the Watergate coverup; he was released after 19 months.
1981 — Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to killing rock star John Lennon in New York City.
1987 — Death of Fred Astaire, US actor, dancer and singer.
2001 — The British government announces that Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were 10 years old when they kidnapped and killed toddler James Bulger, have been granted parole.
2002 — Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad shocks Malaysia with the sudden announcement of his resignation after 21 years in office. He would step down on October 25, 2003.
2006 — Pluto’s two newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra.
2010 — Twenty-first century laser technology opens a window into the early days of the Catholic Church, guiding researchers through the dank, musty catacombs beneath Rome to a startling find: the first known icons of the apostles Peter and Paul.
2011 — President Barack Obama announces the withdrawal of more than 30,000 troops from Afghanistan in a year’s time, hastening the end of the long conflict launched in response to the 2001 terror attacks on the US. Today’s Birthdays: George Vancouver, British explorer (1757-1798); Kris Kristofferson, US singer-actor (1936-); Meryl Streep, US actor (1949-); Todd Hunter, Nz-born musician of Dragon fame (1951-); Cyndi Lauper, US singer (1953-); Erin Brockovich, American legal clerk (1960-); Dan Brown, US author (1964-); Lara Bingle, Australian model (1987-).