Today in History
1888 – The revolving door is patented by Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia.
1904 – A train derails on a bridge in Eden, Colorado, during a flash flood, killing 97 people.
1908 – The first train to travel the length of the North Island main trunk line, the Parliament Special, leaves Wellington.
1947 – Kon-tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 101-day journey from Peru to Raroia near Tahiti.
1974 – French stuntman Philippe Petit walks a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Centre. 1989 – New Zealand Prime Minister
David Lange, left, resigns. 1990 – US President George HW Bush orders Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
1991 – Comedian Billy T James, 43, dies of heart failure.
1998 – Truck bombs explode outside US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people.
2003 – Muslim terrorist Amrozi is sentenced to death in Indonesia for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
2004 – Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera is shut for 30 days in Baghdad after the Iraq government accuses the network of inciting violence.
2005 – England sneak a two-run win at Edgbaston in the second Ashes cricket test against Australia. Birthdays Mata Hari, Dutch dancer-spy (1876-1917); Joy Cowley, New Zealand author (1936-); Robert Mueller, FBI director who went on to investigate Russian meddling in US election (1944-); Greg Chappell, Australian cricketer (1948-); David Duchovny, US actor (1960-); Dominic Cork, English cricketer (1971-); Charlize Theron, South African actress (1975-); Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player (1987-); Demar Derozan, US basketball player (1989-).