Today in History

1284 - Disappearance of 130 children in the German city of Hamelin, which led to the legend of the Pied Piper.

1498 - The toothbrush is invented in China, using boar bristles.

1541 - Francisco Pizarro, governor of Peru and conqueror of the Incas, is assassinated by Spanish rivals.

1807 - Lightning hits a gunpowder factory in Luxembourg, killing more than 300 people.

1918 - Australian steamer Wimmera is sunk by a mine off the northern North Island by a German raider, killing 26 of 151 passengers and crew.

1945 – UN Charter signed.

1948 – US begins the Berlin airlift after a Soviet blockade of the city.

1959 - The St Lawrence Seaway, connecting North America’s Great Lakes with the Atlantic, is opened.

1977 – Elvis Presley, left, performs his final concert at Indianapolis. He dies two months later.

1987 – Kiwi AJ Hackett bungyjumps from the Eiffel Tower. He later opens the world’s first commercial bungy, near

Queenstown.

1993 – President Bill Clinton announces the US has launched missiles against Iraq because of ‘‘compelling evidence’’ it plotted to assassinate former president George HW Bush.

1995 – Gunmen ambush Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who escapes unharmed.

1997 – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first in JK Rowling’s series, is published.

2016 – The Panama Canal’ s third set of locks opens for commercial traffic, doubling its capacity.

2017 – Emirates Team NZ defeat Oracle Team USA 7-1 in the America’s Cup in Bermuda.

Birthdays

William Thomson Kelvin, UK physicist (1824-1907); Ernst Plischke, Austrian-NZ architect

(1903-1992); Dr Margaret Sparrow, reproductive rights advocate

(1935-); Mick Jones, UK musician in The Clash (1955-); Chris Isaak, US singer (1956-); Greg LeMond, US cyclist (1961-); Ariana Grande, US singer and actress (1993-); Chlo¨e Swarbrick, NZ politician (1994-).