Today in History

1682 – William Penn leaves England to sail to the New World.

1918 – Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, right, is shot twice by Fanya Kaplan, a member of the Social Revolutionary party. Lenin was seriously wounded but survived.

1903 – Guide Joseph Warbrick and three tourists die when a Rotorua geyser erupts unexpectedly.

1928 – Jawaharlal Nehru founds the Independence of India League.

1963 – John F Kennedy becomes first US president to have a direct phone line to the Kremlin in Moscow.

1974 – A train derails at a station in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, killing 153.

1991 – The Soviet republic of Azerbaijan declares independence.

1999 – East Timor votes 99 per cent in favour of independence after a nationwide referendum.

2001 – Papua New Guinea and Bougainville island rebels sign a peace deal ending the South Pacific’s longest-running conflict.

2003 – Charles Bronson, best known for his tough-guy film roles, dies at the age of 81.

2007 – Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan release the final seven of 23 South Korean captives, ending a six-week hostage drama in which they killed two men.

2015 – Bart Cummings, who trained 12 Melbourne Cup winners, dies aged 87; British neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks, acclaimed for his sympathetic case histories of patients with unusual neurological disorders, dies aged 82.

Birthdays

Mary Shelley, UK novelist (Frankenstein) (1797-1851); Ernest Rutherford, NZ scientist (1871-1937); Aunt Daisy, UK/NZ broadcaster (1879-1963); Nancy Wake, NZ/ Australian secret agent (1912-2011); Warren Buffett, US businessman (1930-); Bruce Mclaren, NZ racing driver (1937-70); Alex Wylie, NZ rugby player, coach (1944-); Lance Revill, NZ boxer, referee (1953-); Barbara Kendall, NZ board sailor (1967-); Cameron Diaz, US actor (1972-).