Today in History

64– Great fire of Rome begins.

1536 – The pope’s authority is declared void in England.

1817 – English novelist Jane Austen, right, dies, aged 41.

1855 – New Zealand’s first postage stamps, featuring an image of Queen Victoria, go on sale.

1872 – Britain introduces voting by secret ballot.

1925 – Volume I of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf is published.

1940 – Franklin Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented third term as United States president.

1969 – US Senator Edward Kennedy drives a car off a wooden bridge into a pond. He escapes the submerged car, but his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, does not.

1994 – Terrorists bomb a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85. 1995 – Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance ,a memoir by Barack Obama when he was a law professor, is published.

2012 – Kim Jong Un is given the title marshal of the North Korean army, tightening his grip on power.

2013 – Alexei Navalny, a charismatic Russian opposition leader who fought corruption and mocked the Kremlin, is jailed for five years on charges of embezzlement.

Birthdays

William Makepeace Thackeray, English novelist (1811-1863); Nelson Mandela, South African president (1918-2013); John Glenn, US astronaut (1921-2016); Hunter S Thompson, US journalist (1937-2005); Dennis Lillee, Australian cricketer (1949-); Richard Branson, English businessman (1950-); Glenn Hughes, US singer (Village People) (1950-2001); Nick Faldo, English golfer (1957-); Don Mcglashan, New Zealand singer (1959-); Elizabeth Mcgovern, US actress (1961-); Vin Diesel, US actor (1967-); Sarah Mcleod, NZ actress (1971-); Kristen Bell, US actress (1980-).