Today in history
66– Death of Edward the Confessor, king of England and later Saint Edward.
1928 – First state pensions awarded to people over 65 in Britain.
1929 – King Alexander I suppresses Yugoslav Constitution and establishes dictatorship.
1971 – Australia beat England in cricket’s first one-day international in Melbourne.
1981 – English truck driver Peter Sutcliffe, arrested over the Yorkshire Ripper murders of 13 women, makes his first appearance in court. He is later convicted of the murders.
1990 – An American container ship and Panamanian tanker collide in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a devastating fuel leak.
1991 – Cuba and the Soviet Union sign agreement ending trade at easy terms and artificially low prices.
1994 – Easing fears of a nuclear arms race in north-east Asia, America’s Bill Clinton administration says North Korea has agreed to allow renewed international inspection of seven nuclear sites.
1996 – Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan is no-balled for throwing in a one-day match against the West Indies, just days after the same thing happened in a test against Australia.
2000 – US authorities decide Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy embroiled in an international custody battle, should be returned to his father in Cuba.
2007 – Death aged 96 of Japan’s ‘‘Cup Noodle’’ king Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant noodles; Australian cricketers complete 5-0 Ashes whitewash of England after losing the urn in 2005.
2014 – Another Ashes cricket whitewash for Australia over England.
2015 – Actress Cameron Diaz marries Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden in California.
2016 – Electronics retailer Dick Smith goes into receivership after being unable to secure funding to keep the debt-laden business going; West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle is fined A$10,000 by the Melbourne Renegades for telling Australian television journalist Mel Mclaughlin the two of them ‘‘should go out for a drink’’.
Today’s birthdays:
Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor who had Taj Mahal built in India for his queen (1592-1666); Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani prime minister (1928-1979); Robert Duvall, US actor (1931-); Umberto Eco, Italian writer (1932-2016); King Juan Carlos I of Spain (1938-); The Nawab of Pataudi, Indian cricketer (1941-2011), Bob Cunis, New Zealand cricketer (1941-2008), Diane Keaton, US actress (1946-); Marilyn Manson, US rock singer (1969-).