Today in History

1260 – Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.

1646 – Charles I surrenders to the Scots in the English Civil War.

1821 – Napoleon Bonaparte dies in exile on the island of St Helena.

1833 – James Busby arrives in the Bay of Islands as British Resident – the first step on a path to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi seven years later.

1921 – Coco Chanel, left, launches the perfume Chanel No 5.

1925 – John Scopes is arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution.

1930 – Amy Johnson begins the first solo flight by a woman between England and Australia.

1955 – West Germany becomes a sovereign state as US, France and UK end their military occupation.

1965 – First large United States military units arrive in Vietnam.

1980 – SAS troops storm the Iranian embassy in London, killing four of the five gunmen who had seized hostages in the building.

1981 – Bobby Sands becomes first of 10 IRA hunger strikers to die in the Maze prison, Northern Ireland.

1999 – Indonesia and Portugal sign an agreement allowing East Timor to vote on whether to remain part of Indonesia or seek independence.

2004 – Picasso’s Boy With A Pipe sets a world record for the most expensive painting sold at auction when it fetches US$104,168,000 at Sotheby’s in New York.

2015 – Prince William and

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, announce the name of daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

Birthdays

Karl Marx, German philosopher (1818-1883); Nellie Bly, US journalist (1867-1922); Spencer Tracy, US actor (1900-1967); Tammy Wynette, US singer (1942-1998); Michael Palin, British actor/writer (1943-); John Rhys-Davies, UK actor (1944-); Cardinal John Dew, NZ cleric (1948-); Richard E Grant, Swazi-born actor (1957-); Adele, UK singer (1988-).