Today in History

1536 – Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, and her brother are tried and found guilty of adultery and incest. 1916 – Sykes-Picot deal between Britain and France carves up Arab regions of former Ottoman empire. 1920 – Charles Mackay, the mayor of Whanganui for the past 11 years, shoots poet Richard D’Arcy Cresswell in his office, after a homosexual advance.

1901 – Nicholas Oates is convicted for driving at more than 4mph in

Lincoln Rd, Christchurch.

1928 – The Royal Flying Doctor Service is inaugurated in Cloncurry, Queensland.

1940 – The Netherlands surrenders to Germany in World War II; nylon stockings go on general sale for the first time in the United States; first McDonald’s opens in San Bernardino, California.

1948 – The state of Israel, one day old, is attacked by Egyptian planes and invaded by troops from Lebanon and Transjordan.

1957 – Britain explodes its first thermonuclear bomb in Pacific.

1988 – USSR begins withdrawing 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.

1994 – Aid officials report that the death toll may have reached 200,000 in Rwanda, where Hutus are on a campaign of genocide against minority Tutsis since April 6.

1998 – India declares itself a nuclear nation after five bomb tests the same week.

2010 – Jessica Watson, left, at 16, becomes youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world.

2019 – Five big tech companies pledge to tackle extremist material at The Christchurch Call initiative in Paris, hosted by Jacinda Ardern and Emmanuel Macron.

Birthdays

Pierre Curie, French scientist (1859-1906); James Mason, UK-born actor (1909-84); Anne Anituatua Delamere, founder member of Ma¯ori Women’s Welfare League (1921-2006); Barry Crump, NZ writer (1935-96); Trini Lopez, US singer (1937-); Madeleine Albright, US secretary of state (1937-); Brian Eno, UK musician (1948-); Andy Murray, UK tennis player (1987-).