Today in History

1774 – Joseph Priestley, British chemist, identifies a gas that he calls ‘‘dephlogisticated air’’, later known as oxygen.

1834 – Slavery is abolished throughout the British Empire, freeding an estimated 770,280.

1914 – Germany declares war on Russia at the start of World War I.

1932 – The first Mars bar, made in England, goes on sale.

1936 – The Olympic Games open in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.

1944 – The people of Warsaw rise against the Nazis. The city is largely destroyed in two months of fighting.

1960 – Singer Aretha Franklin, left, has her first recording session, aged 18, and Chubby Checker releases The Twist.

1971 – A severe flood of the Red River in North Vietnam kills an estimated 100,000 people.

1981 – MTV makes its first broadcast. Video Killed the Radio

Star, by The Buggles, was the first song played.

1987 – Te reo Ma¯ori becomes an official language of New Zealand.

1992 – British athlete Linford Christie, 32, becomes the oldest man to win an Olympic 100m gold. Lorraine Moller, 37, wins bronze for New Zealand in the marathon.

2004 – A fire sweeps through a supermarket in Asuncion, Paraguay, killing up to 400 people.