Today in History

1606 – Guy Fawkes, about to be hanged, drawn and quartered for his part in trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament, jumps to his death from the scaffold in London.

1788 – Bonnie Prince Charlie, leader of a failed Jacobite rebellion against the English, dies in Rome.

1865 – US Congress passes the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.

1876 – US government orders all Native Americans to move to reservations or be declared hostile.

1921 – New Zealand’s first regular air mail service begins, carrying letters from Christchurch to Ashburton and Timaru.

1929 – Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Union.

1943 – German troops at Stalingrad surrender in World War II.

1950 – US President Harry Truman says he has ordered the development of the hydrogen bomb.

1956 – Death of AA Milne, British author of stories about Winniethe-Pooh, left.

1966 – Soviets launch Luna 9, which makes the first successful soft landing on the moon.

1968 – Nauru, jointly administered by Britain, Australia and New Zealand, becomes independent.

1985 – South African President P W Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence.

2000 – British GP Harold Shipman is jailed for life for murdering 15 of his patients. It is estimated he actually killed about 250.

2015 – Lydia Ko becomes the youngest in men’s or women’s golf to be ranked No 1 in the world, aged 17.

Birthdays

Franz Schubert, German composer

(1797-1828); Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (1881-1931); Paddy Costello, NZ linguist/diplomat (1912-64); Mario Lanza, US singer (1921-59); Norman Mailer, US writer (19232007); Derek Quigley, NZ politician

(1932-); Beatrix, ex-queen of the Netherlands (1938-); John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), UK singer (1956-); Justin Timberlake, US singer (1981-).