Today in History

1741 – George Handel finishes his composition Messiah.

1812 – Napoleon Bonaparte enters Moscow and Russians set fires throughout the city.

1814 – Francis Scott Key writes a poem that becomes the national anthem for the United States, The Star-Spangled Banner.

1901 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes US president after William McKinley is killed by an assassin.

1918 – Austria-Hungary makes peace offer to the Allies in World War I.

1927 – US dancer Isadora

Duncan, left, is killed when her scarf is caught in the wheels and axle of a car.

1938 – New Zealand’s Labour government passes the landmark Social Security Act, introducing revised pensions and extended benefits for families, invalids and the unemployed.

1959 – The Soviet space probe Luna 2 becomes the first manmade object to reach the Moon.

1982 – Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly actress Grace Kelly, dies at 52 of injuries from a car crash.

1999 – Chinese President Jiang Zemin keeps 350 guests waiting more than 90 minutes at a state dinner in New Zealand, to avoid a group of demonstrators.

2009 – Three British Muslims are imprisoned for at least 30 years each for a plot to blow up airliners with liquid explosives hidden in soda bottles. A fourth man gets a sentence of at least 22 years.

Birthdays

Alice Stone Blackwell, US suffragist (1857-1950); Margaret Sanger, US birth control activist (1879-1966); Martin Tyler, English sports broadcaster (1945-); Sam Neill, New Zealand actor (1947-); Kepler Wessels, South African and Australian cricketer (1957-); Jeff Crowe, NZ cricketer (1958-); Amy Winehouse, English singersongwriter (1983-2011); Nicola Browne, NZ cricketer (1983-); Jessica Brown Findlay, English actress (Downton Abbey) (1989-).