Today in history
1521 – Pope Leo X ex-communicates German reformer Martin Luther.
1643 – Dutch mariner Abel Tasman discovers Tonga in the Pacific.
1793 – France’s King Louis XVI is beheaded.
1936 – Edward VIII is proclaimed Britain’s king following the death of his father, George V.
1942 – German forces launch new offensive in western African desert in World War II.
1944 – New Zealand and Australia sign the Canberra Pact, an undertaking to co-operate on international matters, especially in the Pacific.
1950 – Death of George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), British author who wrote Animal Farm and 1984.
1954 – First atomic submarine, USS Nautilus, is launched in United States.
1959 – Death of Cecil B De Mille, US film director renowned for his vast spectaculars such as The Ten Commandments.
1965 – Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansur of Persia is assassinated.
1968 – Thirty-one North Korean commandos attempt to attack South Korea’s presidential palace. All but one die in gunfights; 34 South Koreans are killed.
1980 – An Iran Air Boeing 727 flying from Mashad to Tehran crashes on a mountainside in fog, killing all 128 on board.
1994 – A US court finds Lorena Bobbitt innocent by reason of insanity of feloniously cutting off her husband’s penis, after she testified to years of brutal treatment.
1996 – Yasser Arafat emerges from the first Palestinian election with a mandate to lead his people to independence.
1997 – Death of ‘‘Colonel’’ Tom Parker, the manager who helped guide Elvis
1998 – US President Bill Clinton denies reports of an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
2004 – The World Health Organisation says it is seeking a vaccine for the bird flu that has killed five people in Vietnam and millions of chickens across Asia.
2010 – South Korean commandos storm a hijacked freighter in the Arabian sea at dawn and free all 21 hostages after a five-hour gun battle that included covering fire from a destroyer and a helicopter. Eight pirates are killed, five are captured.
Today’s Birthdays:christian Dior, French fashion designer (1905-1957); Paul Scofield, British actor (1922-2008); Telly Savalas, US actor (1924-1994); Benny Hill, English comedian (1925-1992); Clive Churchill, Australian rugby league footballer (1927-1985); Jack Nicklaus, US golfer (1940-); Placido Domingo, Spanish tenor (1941-); Rove Mcmanus, Australian television host and comedian (1974-)