Today in History

1669 – Death of Rembrandt van Rijn, right, Dutch painter of portraits, religious works and landscapes.

1830 – Belgium becomes an independent state, having been part of the Netherlands since 1815. 1895 – The first United States Open golf tournament is held, in Rhode Island, and is won by English professional Horace Rawlins. 1927 – Sculpting begins at Mt Rushmore, creating images of four US presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. It took 12 years to complete.

1952 – The first pacemaker to control the body’s heartbeat, developed by Dr Paul Zoll of Harvard University, is fitted externally to David Schwartz.

1957 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. In New Zealand, businessman Morris Yock trademarks the jandal. 1970 – US rock and blues singer Janis Joplin dies from an accidental heroin overdose, aged 27. 1990 – Teen TV drama Beverly Hills 90210 debuts on Fox.

1992 – A plane crashes into an apartment building in Amsterdam. Four people on the plane and about 100 in the building are killed. 2001 – A Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile brings down a Russian airliner over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people on board.

2015 – The North Queensland Cowboys beat the Brisbane Broncos 17-16 in the first NRL golden-point grand final.

Birthdays

Buster Keaton, US actor

(1895-1966); Charlton Heston, US actor (1923-2008); Ivan Mauger, New Zealand speedway rider

(1939-2018); Jackie Collins, English novelist (1941-2015); Susan Sarandon, US actress (1946-); Christoph Waltz, German-Austrian actor (1956-); Alicia Silverstone, US actress (1976-); Dakota Johnson, US actress (1989-).