Today in History

1471 – England’s King Henry VI is murdered on orders from the future Edward IV.

1541 – Spaniards on gold-seeking expedition, led by Hernando de Soto, become the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River.

1542 – De Soto dies while searching for gold along the Mississippi.

1792 – Mt Unzen in Japan erupts, creating a tsunami and killing about 15,000 people.

1840 – William Hobson declares British sovereignty over New Zealand.

1927 – US aviator Charles Lindbergh lands in Paris, completing the first solo aircraft flight across Atlantic Ocean.

1932 – Amelia Earhart repeats Lindbergh’s feat, landing in Ireland.

1945 – Lauren Bacall, left, and Humphrey Bogart are married.

1956 – First hydrogen bomb is exploded by the US over Bikini Atoll.

1981 – Francois Mitterrand takes office as the first leftist president of France’s fifth republic.

1989 – Students occupying Tiananmen Square in Beijing reject government ultimatum to leave.

1991 – Rajiv Gandhi, candidate for prime minister of India, is assassinated by Sri Lankan separatists in a suicide bomb attack.

1998 – After weeks of protests and riots, Indonesian president Suharto resigns, ending a 32-year reign.

2009 – The Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers who have served in the British military for two centuries, win automatic right to settle in Britain, after years of lobbying.

Birthdays

Albrecht Duerer, German artist (1471-1528); Alexander Pope, UK poet (1686-1744); Henri Rousseau, French painter (1844-1910); Andrey Sakharov, Russian physicist (192189); Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician (1930-2015); Leo Sayer, UK singer (1948-); Mr T, US actor (1952-); Anika Moa, NZ musician (1980-); Ma’a Nonu, All Black (1982-).