Today in History

1298 – William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance against English rule, uses extra-long spears against mounted soldiers at the Battle of Falkirk.

1620 – Exiled British Pilgrims set out from Holland for the New World on their ship Speedwell, which leaks so badly they return to England and transfer to the Mayflower, right.

1793 – Scottish fur trader and explorer Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Canadian Pacific coast, becoming the first to cross the North American continent north of Mexico.

1933 – US aviator Wiley Post completes the first solo airplane flight around the world in seven days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.

1962 – Algeria declares independence after a protracted war of secession from France.

1976 – Japan completes its World War II reparations payments with a final payment to the Philippines.

1981 – The first match is played in the Springbok Tour. The South Africans beat Poverty Bay 24-6.

1987 — Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev accepts a ban on intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1991 – Cannibal and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is caught in Milwaukee.

2001 – Divers begin preparations for raising the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank in August 2000 during a training exercise in the Barents Sea off northern Russia, killing all 118 crew members.

2011 – Twin terror attacks rock Norway – a bomb blast targeting government buildings in central Oslo and a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utoya.

Birthdays

Sir Anand Satyanand, former NZ governor-general (1944-); Danny Glover, US actor (1946-); Willem Dafoe, US actor (1955-); Rena Owen, NZ actress (1962-); Rufus Wainwright, US-Canadian rock singer (1973-); Scott Dixon, NZ motor racer (1980-); Trent Boult, NZ cricketer (1989-); Prince George, third in line to British throne (2013-).