Today in History

1429 – Henry VI is crowned king of England, aged 7.

1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States.

1861 – Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1893 – Death of Russian composer

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, right.

1908 – New Zealand Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward opens the North Island Main Trunk Line by driving home a final rail spike at Manganuioteao, between National Park and Ohakune.

1917 – After three months of horrific fighting, the Third Battle of Ypres ends as Canadians take Belgian village of Passchendaele.

1928 – Jacob Schick obtains a patent for his ‘‘shaving implement’’, the first electric razor.

1968 – Richard Nixon is elected US president, defeating Hubert Humphrey.

1971 – World Synod of Catholic Bishops ends stormy meeting at Vatican, deeply divided on question of whether married men may become priests.

2000 – Surgeons in London begin to separate conjoined twin girls in a long and complex operation that will kill one baby to give her sister a chance for a long life.

2000 – Hillary Clinton becomes the only US first lady to win public office, winning a US Senate seat for New York.

2016 – Indian government declares levels of air pollution in Delhi an emergency situation, closing schools and construction sites.

Birthdays

Adolphe Sax, Belgian inventor of the saxophone (1814-94); James A Naismith, Canadian credited with inventing basketball (1861-1939); Sally Field, US actress (1946-); Brian Mckechnie, New Zealand cricketer (1953-); Mike Brewer, NZ rugby player (1964-); Cory Bernardi, Australian politician (1969-); Emma Stone, US actress (1988-); Conchita Wurst, Austrian Eurovision Song Contest winner (1988-).