Today in History

1173 – Pope Alexander III canonises the late Thomas Becket, murdered archbishop of Canterbury.

1431 – Joan of Arc’s first day of interrogation at her heresy trial.

1613 – Michael Romanov is elected tsar of Russia, founding the Romanov dynasty.

1746 – British surrender Inverness Castle to Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite forces.

1804 – Richard Trevithick’s steam locomotive makes the first locomotive-hauled railway journey, at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

1838 – Samuel Morse gives the first public demonstration of the telegram in New York.

1848 – Karl Marx, left, and Friedrich Engels publish The

Communist Manifesto in London. 1879 – Explosion at the Kaitangata coalmine in Otago kills 34 miners.

1916 – Battle of Verdun begins in World War I, leading to an estimated 1 million casualties.

1965 – Former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X is shot and killed by Black Muslims as he is about to address a rally in New York City.

1972 – US President Richard Nixon arrives in Beijing on the first visit by a US leader to China.

1980 – Liechtenstein becomes the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion as Hanni Wenzel wins the women’s giant slalom at Lake Placid Games.

2002 – US and Pakistani officials confirm Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl, kidnapped a month earlier in Karachi, has been killed by his captors.

Birthdays

Anais Nin, French writer (1903-77); WH Auden, UK poet (1907-73); Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean politician (1924-); Nina Simone, US singer (1933-2003); Jim Mclay, NZ politician (1945-); Alan Rickman, UK actor (1946-2016); Kelsey Grammer, US actor (1955-); Greg Turner, NZ golfer (1963-); Michael Mcintyre, UK comedian (1976-); Jennifer Love Hewitt, US actress (1979-).