Today in History

1483 – Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, is beheaded for treason against King Richard III.

1785 – The first lifeboat is patented by London coach builder Lionel Lukin. 1868 – New Zealand becomes the first to adopt a standard time throughout the country, with all clocks set 111⁄2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. 1930 – Haile Selassie, right, is crowned emperor of Ethiopia. 1942 – New Zealand 2nd Division leads a breakthrough at the Battle of El Alamein. 1947 – Billionaire aviator Howard Hughes pilots his huge wooden airplane known as Spruce Goose on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach, California.

1948 – Despite polls pointing to the contrary, US President Harry S Truman retains office, beating Republican Thomas E Dewey.

1950 – Death of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.

1953 – Pakistan’s parliament declares the country the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

1960 – The Lady Chatterley’s Lover obscenity trial ends, with Penguin Books being acquitted at the Old Bailey in London.

1962 – US President John F Kennedy announces an end to the Cuban missile crisis, saying the Soviet Union has been dismantling bases in Cuba.

1966 – The Cuban Adjustment Act allows 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the US.

1976 – Jimmy Carter is elected 39th US president, defeating Gerald Ford.

1982 – A Soviet military truck explodes in a tunnel in Afghanistan, killing about 3000 people, mostly soldiers travelling to Kabul.

2003 – The Rev Canon V Gene Robinson is consecrated as the first openly gay bishop of the US Episcopal Church, in a move that threatens to tear apart the worldwide Anglican community.

2004 – Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh is murdered after making a movie criticising the treatment of Muslim women; George W Bush is re-elected US president, defeating John Kerry.

2005 – Chinese scientists say they have gathered evidence showing a giant object in the centre of our galaxy is a super-massive black hole.

2015 – Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull scraps knights and dames from the country’s honours system.

Birthdays

Daniel Boone, US pioneer (1734-1820); Marie Antoinette, queen of France (1755-93); James Polk, US president (1795-1848); Warren Harding, US president (1865-1923); Luchino Visconti, Italian film director (1906-76); Burt Lancaster, US actor (1913-94); Douglas Lilburn, NZ composer (1915-2001); Ken Rosewall, Australian tennis player (1934-); Alan Jones, Australian racing driver (1946-); kd lang, Canadian singer (1961-); David Schwimmer, US actor (1966-); Nelly, US actor/ musician (1974-); Mitchell Johnson, Australian cricketer (1981-).