Today in History

1170 – Archbishop Thomas Becket is slain at the altar in Cathedral of Canterbury, England.

1721 – French occupy Mauritius and rename it Ile de France.

1880 – Tuhiata (known as Tuhi) is hanged in Wellington for the murder of artistMary Dobie at Te Namu Bay, Opunake.

1890 – US troopsmassacre 200 Siouxmen, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. 1965 – Independence is announced for Bechuanaland (now Botswana). 1989 – Czechoslovak dissident playwright Vaclav Havel is elected president by parliament.

1996 – Guatemalan government and guerrilla leaders sign an accord ending 36 years of civil conflict, bringing Central America’s last and longest civil war to an official close. 1998 – In Yemen, troops fire on Islamic extremists holding 16 tourists hostage. Six hostages killed.

2001 – Fireworks explosions spark massive fire in downtown Lima, the capital of Peru, killing 291 people. 2004 – Paramedics spray Indian beaches with bleach and vaccinate tsunami survivors, as Indonesian authorities bulldoze mass graves for thousands of corpses lining the streets and lawns of Banda Aceh. 2011 – Turkish warplanesmistakenly kill 35 smugglers and other villagers while targeting Kurdish rebels in Iraq. 2014 – Ferry carrying 478 people catches fire off Corfu, killing 12.

2015 – Suicide bomber kills at least 23 people at a government office in Pakistan and wounds more than 70.

Birthdays

Jeanne d’Etoiles, Marquise de

Pompadour, mistress of France’s King Louis XV (1721-1764); Andrew Johnson, US president (1808-1875); William Gladstone, British PM (1809-1898); Mary Tyler Moore, US actor (1936-2017); Ian Lawrence, Wellington mayor (1937-2019); Jon Voight, US actor (1938-); Earle Kirton, All Black (1940-); Marianne Faithfull, left, UK singer (1946-); Ted Danson, US actor (1947-); David Boon, Australian cricketer (1960-); Wynton Rufer, NZ footballer (1962-); Steve Williams, NZ caddie (1963-); Jude Law, UK actor (1972-); Kei Nishikori, Japanese tennis player (1989-).