Today in History

455 – A Roman mob tears Emperor Maximus Petronius limb from limb when he tries to escape an approaching Vandal fleet.

1043 – According to legend Lady Godiva rides naked through the market square in Coventry, England.

1859 – The Big Ben bell rings out over Britain’s Houses of Parliament for the first time.

1902 – Signing of the Peace of Vereeniging treaty ends Boer War.

1911 – The Titanic is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912.

1925 – Rātana Church, founded in 1918 by Tahupō tiki Wiremu Rātana, right, is formally established.

1941 – Nazi Germany completes its conquest of Crete.

1962 – Former Gestapo chief Adolf Eichmann is executed in Israel.

1970 – An earthquake in Peru kills approximately 70,000 people.

1975 – 18-year-old Mona Blades disappears while hitch-hiking from Hamilton to Hastings.

1976 – East Timor declared the 27th province of Indonesia.

2002 – All 15 European Union nations ratify the Kyoto protocol against global warming, and use the occasion to criticise Washington for failing to do its part.

2005 – The Washington Post reveals "Deep Throat", the source who leaked Watergate secrets to its reporters, was former FBI deputy director Mark Felt.

2011 – Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic is detained by the UN to await trial on genocide charges, for the killing of 8000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia 16 years earlier.

Birthdays

Walt Whitman, US writer (1819-92); Prince Rainier of Monaco (1923-2005); Clint Eastwood, US actor (1930-); Jim Bolger, NZ prime minister (1935-); Brooke Shields, US actor (1965-); Colin Farrell, Irish actor (1976-); Brodie Retallick, NZ All Black (1991-).