Today in History

1814 – George Stephenson, of England, tests his first steam locomotive.

1871 – William Schneider, of Iowa, invents the merry-go-round.

1943 – Benito Mussolini, right, is forced to resign as prime minister of Italy during World War II.

1956 – Italian liner Andrea Doria and Swedish ship Stockholm collide off US coast, and 50 lives are lost. 1959 – The hovercraft makes its

first crossing of the English Channel from Dover to Calais.

1966 – The Supremes release You Can’t Hurry Love.

1978 – World’s first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown, is born in Lancashire, England.

1981 – Protesters invade Hamilton’s Rugby Park, forcing the abandonment of the Springboks’ game against Waikato.

1984 – Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space.

1985 – Hollywood star Rock

Hudson announces he has the Aids virus.

2000 – An Air France Concorde travelling to New York crashes into a hotel outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing 113 people.

2013 – A Spanish train hurtles off the rails and smashes into a security wall as it rounds a bend, killing 80 people and maiming dozens more.

Birthdays

Rosalind Franklin, English chemist (1920-1958); Estelle Getty, US actress (1923-2008); Bruce Woodley, Australian guitarist of The Seekers fame (1942-); Iman Abdulmajid, Somali model-actress (1955-); Daryl Halligan, New Zealand rugby and league player (1966-); Matt LeBlanc, US actor (1967-).

Correction: Leonard Manning was not the first New Zealander to die in combat since the Vietnam War (Today in History, July 24). Private Richard Absolon, fighting for Britain in the Falklands War, was killed in 1982.