Today in History

1531 – Pope Clement VII introduces the Inquisition to Portugal.

1773 – Ten men serving on the Adventure, sister ship to James Cook’s Resolution, are killed in Wharehunga Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, at the hands of Nga¯ti Kuia and Rangita¯ne.

1777 – France formally recognises the United States.

1845 – Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, right, arrives in Australia’s Northern Territory from Brisbane.

1889 – A wooden replica of the Eiffel Tower opens in Dunedin, as part of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, which attracts 625,000 visitors over the summer.

1903 – Wilbur and Orville Wright make the first successful flight in a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It stayed aloft for 12 seconds.

1939 – German battleship Graf Spee is scuttled off Uruguay to prevent it from falling into British hands in World War II.

1967 – Australian prime minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming at Victoria’s Cheviot Beach. His body is never found.

1980 – Turkish consul-general and bodyguard are shot dead by two terrorists in Sydney.

1982 – Random breath-testing introduced on NSW roads.

1986 – Davina Thompson makes medical history by having the first heart, lung and liver transplant, at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England.

1994 – Chechen separatists refuse to comply with a Russian ultimatum to lay down their arms, or face an attack; two US pilots are captured and interrogated by North Korea after their helicopter crash-lands there.

2005 – Death of Jack Anderson, US journalist who tackled powerful figures like J Edgar Hoover and won a Pulitzer prize for reporting on the Nixon administration.

2011 – Kim Jong Il, dictator of North Korea, dies, to be succeeded by his youngest son, Kim Jong Un.

2014 – Sony Pictures cancels the release of the film The Interview ,a comedy about a fictional plot to kill Kim Jong Un. News of the movie caused outrage in North Korea and triggered threats from hackers.

2015 – Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released and within days shatters box office records around the world.

Birthdays

Sir Humphry Davy, British inventor of miners’ safety lamp (1778-1829); Pope Francis (1936-); Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (1937-2005); Peter Snell, NZ athlete (1938-); Julie Anne Genter, US-born Green MP (1979-); Dynamo (Steven Frayne), UK magician (1982-); Chelsea Manning, US whistleblower (1987-).