Today in History

1562 - About 1200 French Huguenots are slain at Massacre of Vassy, provoking first War of Religion in France.

1767 - King Charles III expels Roman Catholic Jesuits from Spain.

1810 - Sweden becomes the first country to appoint an ombudsman, Lars August Mannerheim.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte lands in France, forcing King Louis XVIII to flee.

1872 - United States Congress authorises creation of Yellowstone National Park.

1932 - The baby son of US aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped from New Jersey home. He is later found murdered. 1943 - Britain’s Royal Air Force begins systematic bombing of European railway systems in World War II. 1949 - World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis retires after defending his title a record 25 times.

1950 - In Britain, Dr Klaus Fuchs is convicted for giving British and American atomic secrets to the Soviet government.

1974 - Grand jury issues indictments against US President Richard Nixon’s top aides, including John Ehrlichman, in the Watergate case.

1992 - Muslims and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina vote for independence from Yugoslavia, enraging Serb nationalists. 2001 - Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, defying international protests, begins destroying all statues in the country.

2003 - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described planner and organiser of the September 11 attacks, is captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

2007 - Japan’s nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denies Tokyo’s military forced women into sexual slavery during WWII, backtracking from a past government apology.

Birthdays

Frederic Chopin, Polish romantic pianist and composer (1810-1849); Glenn Miller, US bandleader (1904-1944); David Niven, British actor (1910-1983); Yitzhak Rabin, former Israeli prime minister (1922-1995); Harry Belafonte, US singer (1927-2023); Roger Daltrey, singer (1944-); Ron Howard, US actordirector (1954-); Ke$ha, American singer (1987-); Justin Bieber, Canadian singer (1994-).