Today in History
1619 – The first representative assembly in America is convened in Jamestown, Virginia. 1792 – French national anthem La Marseillaise is first sung in Paris.
1898 – Otto von Bismarck, who unified Germany, founded the German Empire and served as its first chancellor, dies, aged 83. 1921 – Insulin is first isolated as a pancreatic extract by Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best.
1928 – Colour motion pictures are exhibited by George Eastman, right, with the first film showing goldfish, peacocks, flowers, fashion models and butterflies.
1930 – Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in the first Fifa World Cup final.
1935 – The first 10 Penguin paperback titles are published.
1956 – The phrase ‘‘In God we trust’’ legally becomes the national motto of the United States.
1971 – A Japanese Boeing 727 collides with a jet fighter, killing 162 people. The fighter pilot, who parachuted to safety, was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter.
1974 – US President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings as the Watergate scandal intensifies.
1975 – Former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappears in Michigan, under mysterious circumstances.
1976 – American Bruce Jenner, right, later Caitlyn Jenner, wins gold in the men’s decathlon at the Montreal Olympics.
1979 – Carless days are introduced in New Zealand to combat the second oil shock of the 1970s. They were scrapped in May 1980.
1980 – The Knesset passes a law reaffirming all of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
1997 – Eighteen people die in the New South Wales snowfields when a landslide sweeps one ski lodge on to another at Thredbo.
2003 – The last of the uniquely shaped ‘‘old style’’ Volkswagen Beetles rolls off the assembly line in Mexico.
2007 – Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman dies, aged 89.
2017 – Russian President Vladimir Putin says the US will have to cut embassy and consulate staff, three days after Congress approves sanctions for Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.