Today in History

1896 – A gold rush starts in Canada’s Yukon Territory when nuggets are found in a creek bed.

1920 – Cleveland Indians batter Ray Chapman is struck in the temple in a major league baseball game. He dies 12 hours later.

1948 – Baseball legend Babe Ruth, right, dies, aged 53.

1949 – Death of Margaret Mitchell, United States journalist and author of Gone with the Wind.

1964 – Major General Nguyen Khan takes over presidency of South Vietnam, ousting Major General Duong van Minh.

1972 – Morocco’s King Hassan II escapes an assassination attempt by Moroccan Air Force jets in a military coup attempt.

1974 – The Ramones play their first public gig in downtown Manhattan.

1977 – Elvis Presley, the ‘‘king of rock’n’roll’’, dies, aged 42. Doctors said he died of a heart attack, likely brought on by his addiction to prescription drugs.

1987 – A plane crash in Michigan kills 156 people. A 4-year-old girl is the sole survivor.

2001 – Paul Burrell, butler to Princess Diana for many years, is charged with the theft of hundreds of royal family items. A subsequent trial was abandoned.

2005 – A chartered jet filled with tourists returning home to the French Caribbean island of Martinique crashes in western Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board. 2008 – New Zealand twins Caroline and Georgina EversSwindell defend their double sculls Olympic title, claiming gold in a tight finish at Beijing.

Birthdays

Jean de la Bruyere, French essayist-novelist (1645-1696); Ann Blyth, US actress (1928-); Jeff Thomson, Australian cricketer (1950-); James Cameron, Canadian film director (1954-); Madonna, US singer (1958-); Steve Carell, American actor and comedian (1962-); Taika Waititi, New Zealand film director (1975-).