Today in History

1714 – Monarch Georg Ludwig becomes King George I of England.

1774 – Joseph Priestley, British chemist, identifies a gas that he calls ‘‘dephlogisticated air’’, later known as oxygen.

1834 – Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire.

1914 – Germany declares war on Russia at the start of World War I.

1932 – The first Mars bar, made in England, goes on sale. It is named after its maker, Forrest Mars.

1936 – The Olympic Games open in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.

1944 – The people of Warsaw rise against Nazis. The city is almost destroyed in two months of fighting; Anne Frank, left, makes her last diary entry – 3 days later she is arrested.

1953 – Fidel Castro is arrested in Cuba for his part in the attack on the Moncada Barracks.

1960 – Aretha Franklin, 18, has her first recording session and Chubby Checker releases The Twist.

1971 – A severe flood of the Red River in North Vietnam kills an estimated 100,000 people. 1981 – MTV does its first broadcast. Video Killed the Radio Star, by The Buggles, is the first song played. 1987 – Te reo Ma¯ori becomes an official language of New Zealand. 1992 – British athlete Linford Christie, 32, becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic 100m gold; Lorraine Moller, 37, wins bronze for New Zealand in the marathon.

2004 – A fire sweeps through a supermarket in Asuncion, Paraguay, killing up to 400 people.

Birthdays

Colin Mccahon, NZ artist (1919-1987); Frank Worrell, West Indies cricketer (1924-1967); Yves St Laurent, French fashion designer (1936-2008); Jerry Garcia, US rock musician (1942-1995); John Britten, NZ mechanical engineer (1950-1995); Andrew Nicholson, NZ equestrian (1961-); Graham Thorpe, English cricketer (1969-); Samantha Warriner, NZ triathlete (1971-).