Today in History

1540 – Marriage of King Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves is annulled.

1762 – Empress Catherine of Russia, right, forces her husband, Peter, to abdicate, and takes the throne, later becoming known as Catherine the Great.

1816 – The United Provinces of the Rio de La Plata – now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and part of Bolivia – declare themselves independent from Spain. 1877 – First Wimbledon tennis championships held.

1900 – The Commonwealth of Australia is established by an act of the British Parliament.

1941 – British cryptologists break the Germans’ Enigma code.

1947 – The engagement of Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten is announced.

1966 – By winning the British Open, Jack Nicklaus becomes the fourth man to win all four golf majors.

1986 – New Zealand’s Parliament votes to decriminalise consensual homosexual practices between men.

1990 – Richard Hadlee takes 5-53 v England at Edgbaston to end his test career with 431 wickets.

1993 – The remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family are positively identified after being excavated from a mass grave.

2006 – Italy beats France on penalties to win the Fifa World Cup.

2011 – South Sudan becomes the world’s newest nation.

2018 – Boris Johnson resigns as British foreign secretary.

Birthdays

Elias Howe, US inventor of sewing machine (1819-1867); Dame Barbara Cartland, UK novelist (1901-2000); Sir Edward Heath, UK politician (1916-2005); Donald Rumsfeld, US politician (1932-); Dover Samuels, NZ politician (1939-); OJ Simpson, US athlete (1947-); Tom Hanks, US actor (1956-); Courtney Love, US musician (1964-); Jack White, US musician (1975-); Bradley-John (BJ) Watling, South African-born NZ cricketer (1985-); Earl Bamber, NZ racing driver (1990-).