TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, JUNE 29, the 180th day of 2018. There are 185 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1927, the first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Lester J. Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii aboard the Bird of Paradise, an Atlantic-Fokker C-2, after flying 2,400 miles from Oakland, Calif., in 25 hours, 50 minutes.
In 1520, Montezuma II, the ninth and last emperor of the Aztecs, died in Tenochtitlan under unclear circumstances (some say he was killed by his own subjects; others, by the Spanish).
In 1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”
In 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties — except for tea.)
In 1880, France annexed Tahiti, which became a French colony on Dec. 30, 1880. In 1978, actor Bob Crane of “Hogan’s Heroes” fame was found bludgeoned
to death in an apartment in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he was appearing in a play; he was 49.
In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station linked in orbit, beginning a historic five-day voyage as a single ship. A department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing at least 500 people. Actress Lana Turner died in Century City, Calif., at age 74.
In 2003, actress Katharine Hepburn died in Old Saybrook, Conn., at age 96.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Movie producer Robert Evans is 88. Songwriter L. Russell Brown is 78. Singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys is 75. Actor Gary Busey is 74. Comedian Richard Lewis is 71. Rock musician Ian Paice (Deep Purple) is 70. Singer Don Dokken (Dokken) and rock singer Colin Hay (Men At Work) are 65. Actress Maria Conchita Alonso is 63. Actress Amanda Donohoe is 56. Actress Judith Hoag and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter are 55. Rhythm and blues singer Stedman Pearson (Five Star) and actress Kathleen Wilhoite are 54. Musician Dale Baker is 52. Actress Christina Chang is 47. Rap DJ Shadow is 46. Country musician Todd Sansom (Marshall Dyllon) and singer Nicole Scherzinger are 40. Comedian-writer Colin Jost and actress Lily Rabe are 36. Rhythm and blues singer Aundrea Fimbres is 35.