Today in History

1772 – Captain James Cook begins second voyage to the South Pacific to search for Terra Australis.

1793 – French revolutionary JeanPaul Marat is murdered in his bath by royalist Charlotte Corday. She is subsequently executed.

1832 – Henry Rowe Schoolcraft identifies the source of the Mississippi River as Lake Itasca in Minnesota.

1836 – King William IV approves the naming of the city of Adelaide after his queen.

1916 – Vivian Walsh obtains New Zealand’s first pilot’s certificate.

1923 – Hollywood sign erected for first time in Los Angeles.

1930 – First World Cup football competition begins, in Uruguay.

1934 – New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard dies.

1939 – Frank Sinatra cuts his first single with the Harry James Band, From the Bottom of my Heart.

1943 – Russia defeats Germany in Battle of Kursk, history’s largest tank battle, involving 6000 tanks.

1960 – John F Kennedy chosen as Democrats’ presidential nominee.

1985 – Live Aid concert watched by 1.5 billion around the world raises $100m for African famine relief.

2000 – Fiji’s coup leaders free last 18 captives, ending a two-monthold parliamentary hostage crisis.

2013 – Hashtag #BlackLivesMatter first appears.

2016 – Theresa May, left, becomes the second woman prime minister of the United Kingdom, replacing David Cameron.

Birthdays

Garfield Todd, NZ-born PM of Southern Rhodesia (1908-2002); Bob Crane, US actor, Hogan’s Heroes (1928-78); Wole Soyinka, Nigerian author (1934-); Patrick Stewart, UK actor (1940-); Harrison Ford, US actor (1942-); Roger McGuinn, US musician, The Byrds (1942-); Erno Rubik, Hungarian inventor (1944-); Rod Dixon, NZ athlete (1950-); Xavier Rush, All Black (1977-); Ladyhawke, NZ singer-songwriter (1979-); Kieran Foran, NZ league player (1990-).