Today in History

1272 – Death of Henry III of England, who had ruled since 1216. 1840 – New Zealand officially becomes a separate colony of Britain; the North, South and Stewart Islands are to be known respectively as the provinces of New Ulster, New Munster and New Leinster.

1869 – Ma¯ori rebel Hamiora Pere is hanged in Wellington, becoming the first and only New Zealander executed for treason.

1907 – Oklahoma becomes the 46th state of the United States.

1959 – Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music premieres in New York.

1970 – Pakistani officials say death toll in typhoon and tidal wave that struck Bay of Bengal may reach 500,000.

1989 – South African President FW

de Klerk, left, announces the scrapping of the Separate Amenities Act, opening up the country’s beaches to all races.

2006 – Death of Milton Friedman, economist who championed free markets, and won the 1976 Nobel Prize for economics.

2006 – The Tongan capital of Nuku’alofa is in ruins after prodemocracy rioters attack buildings and businesses linked to the royal family and Chinese immigrants.

2007 – A Sydney coroner declares that five Australia-based journalists, including Kiwi Gary Cunningham – the ‘‘Balibo Five’’ – were murdered by Indonesian soldiers during the 1975 invasion of East Timor, to prevent them from exposing the role of the Indonesian military in the takeover.

Birthdays:

Roman Emperor Tiberius (42BC37AD); Chinua Achebe, Nigerian writer (1930-2013); Chris Laidlaw, All Black and politician (1943-); Griff Rhys Jones, Welsh actor (1953-); Frank Bruno, British boxer (1961-); Diana Krall, Canadian jazz singer (1964-); Waqar Younis, Pakistani cricketer (1971-); Paul Scholes, English footballer (1974-).