Today in History

1793 – Louis XVI of France is beheaded in Paris.

1889 – A US circus performer calling himself ‘‘Professor’’ Thomas Baldwin makes his first parachute jump from a balloon about 300 metres above Dunedin. He lands safely in a paddock.

1924 – Death of Soviet leader Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov), aged 54.

1944 – New Zealand and Australia sign the Canberra Pact, agreeing to co-operate on international matters, especially in the Pacific. 1950 – Death of author George Orwell (Eric Blair), left, aged 46.

1954 – First atomic submarine, USS Nautilus, is launched.

1968 – Thirty-one North Korean commandos attempt to attack South Korea’s presidential palace. All but one die in gunfights; 34 South Koreans are killed.

1976 – The first Concorde flights with commercial passengers take off from Paris and London.

1977 – US President Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

1990 – John McEnroe becomes the first player disqualified from the Australian Open, for misconduct.

1994 – Lorena Bobbitt is acquitted by reason of temporary insanity of cutting off her husband’s penis, after years of brutal treatment.

1997 – Death of ‘‘Colonel’’ Tom Parker, Elvis Presley’s manager.

1998 – US President Bill Clinton denies the first newspaper reports of an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 2018 – Dictator Yahya Jammeh finally concedes office and leaves Gambia, two months after losing the presidential election.