Today in History

1888 – The revolving door is patented by Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia.

1904 – A train derails on a bridge in Eden, Colorado, during a flash flood, killing 97 people.

1908 – The first train to travel the length of the North Island main trunk line, the Parliament Special, leaves Wellington.

1947 – Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 101-day journey from Peru to Raroia, near Tahiti. 1974 – French stuntman Philippe Petit, left, walks a tightrope strung between the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Centre.

1989 – New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange resigns.

1990 – US President George H W Bush orders Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

1991 – Comedian Billy T James, 43, dies of heart failure.

1998 – Truck bombs explode outside US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people.

2003 – Muslim terrorist Amrozi is sentenced to death in Indonesia for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

2004 – Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera is shut for 30 days in Baghdad after Iraq’s government accuses it of inciting violence.

2005 – England sneak a two-run win at Edgbaston in the second Ashes cricket test against Australia.

2015 – US presidential hopeful Donald Trump says in an interview that news anchor Megyn Kelly had ‘‘blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever’’.

Birthdays

Mata Hari, Dutch dancer-spy (1876-1917); Joy Cowley, NZ author (1936-); Robert Mueller, FBI director who went on to investigate Russian meddling in US election (1944-); Greg Chappell, Australian cricketer (1948-); David Duchovny, US actor (1960-); Charlize Theron, South African actress (1975-).