Today in History

1792 – France declares war on Austria, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.

1841 – Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Murders in the Rue Morgue, widely considered the first detective story, appears in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine.

1887 – The first motor race is scheduled in Paris. It results in a walkover for Georges Bouton, the only competitor.

1902 – Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, pioneers in their field, isolate the radioactive element radium.

1943 – The massacre of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto begins.

1945 – Soviet forces penetrate Berlin defences and allies take control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

1949 – Scientists at the Mayo Clinic announce they have synthesised a hormone, forming a substance called cortisone.

1981 – Allison Roe, left, becomes the first New Zealander to win the Boston Marathon, in a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes and 46 seconds.

1984 - Britain announces its administration of Hong Kong will cease in 1997, after 156 years.

1999 – Two US teenage pupils go on a rampage at Columbine High School in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, shooting 13 dead before taking their own lives.

2010 – An explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico kills 11 people and triggers the largest offshore oil spill in American history.

2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland changes its name to eSwatini, or ‘‘land of the Swati’’.

Birthdays

Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon III), French king (1808-73); Adolf Hitler, German politician (1889-1945); Sebastian Faulks, UK novelist (1953-); Andy Serkis, UK actor/director (1964-); Miranda Kerr, Australian model (1983-); Hayden Paddon, NZ rally driver (1987-); Damian McKenzie, All Black (1995-).