Today in History

1333 – The Scots are routed in battle of Halidon Hill, a significant setback in their fight for independence from England.

1545 – Henry VIII’S flagship Mary Rose sinks at Portsmouth; 73 people die.

1553 – Lady Jane Grey, 15, right, is deposed after nine days as English monarch and is later executed.

1870 – France declares war on Prussia.

1907 – The Emperor of Korea abdicates in favour of his son under Japanese pressure.

1943 – Allied air force stages its first raid on Rome in World War II.

1969 – Apollo 11 and its astronauts travel into orbit around the Moon.

1979 – Nicaragua’s Sandinistas claim revolutionary victory, two days after President Anastasio Somoza flees the country.

1980 – The Summer Olympics in Moscow begin, minus dozens of nations boycotting the Games because of the Soviet Union’s military intervention in Afghanistan.

1991 – Boxer Mike Tyson rapes a contestant in the Miss Black America pageant. He was later jailed for six years.

2011 – An autopsy confirms Chilean President Salvador Allende committed suicide during 1973 coup that toppled his socialist government.

2015 – Australian surfer Mick Fanning punches a shark that surfaces by his board during the finals of the J-bay Open at Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.

Birthdays

Samuel Colt, US inventor (1814-1862); Sofia Muratova, Russian gymnast (1929-2006); Brian May, British guitarist, rock group Queen (1947-); Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish National Party leader (1970-); Benedict Cumberbatch, British actor (1976-).

Winston Churchill was still officially British prime minister when the Potsdam conference began (Today in History, July 17). Clement Attlee replaced him during it.