Today in History

1333 – The Scots are routed in the Battle of Halidon Hill, a significant setback in their fight for independence from England.

1545 – Henry VIII’s flagship Mary Rose sinks at Portsmouth; 73 people die.

1553 – Lady Jane Grey is deposed after nine days as English monarch and later executed.

1843 – Steamship SS Great Britain, designed by Isambard Kingdom

Brunel, is launched, the first oceangoing craft with an iron hull.

1870 – France declares war on Prussia.

1903 – French cyclist Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.

1969 – Apollo 11 and its astronauts travel into orbit around the Moon.

1979 – Nicaragua’s Sandinistas claim revolutionary victory, two days after President Anastasio Somoza flees the country.

1980 – The Summer Olympics in Moscow begin, minus dozens of nations boycotting the Games because of the Soviet Union’s military intervention in Afghanistan.

1982 – The Privy Council grants New Zealand citizenship to Western Samoans born since 1924, but the NZ government rushes through an act granting citizenship only to those living in New Zealand on September 14, 1982.

2007 – Television drama Mad Men debuts in US.

2011 – An autopsy confirms that Chilean President Salvador Allende committed suicide during the 1973 coup that toppled his socialist government.

2015 – Australian surfer Mick Fanning, left, punches a shark that surfaces by his board during the J-Bay Open in South Africa.

Birthdays

Samuel Colt, US inventor (1814-1862); Edgar Degas, French painter (1834-1917); John Grenell; NZ country singer (1944-); Brian May, UK guitarist (Queen) (1947-); Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish National Party leader (1970-); Benedict Cumberbatch, UK actor (1976-).