ON THIS DAY
1429 Joan of Arc, 17, and her troops enter the besieged city of Orleans during the Hundred Years War to defeat the English.
1587 Francis Drake, in command of about 30 English ships, starts his raid on the Spanish port of Cadiz, destroying many vessels and stores for an armada being prepared to invade England.
1770 Captain Cook sails into Botany Bay, originally Stingray Bay. He fires his musket at Aborigines on the shore.
1841 Explorer Edward Eyre’s overseer, John Baxter, is murdered by two Aboriginal assistants travelling with them on the first recorded east-to-west crossing of Australia.
1913 Swedish American Canadian Gideon Sundback receives US patent 1060378 for the modern hookless zipper; it improves on the clasp locker.
1933 Soccer players are numbered for the first time during the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. Everton defeat Manchester City 3-0.
1945 US soldiers fighting in Germany during World War II free 32,000 victims from the horrific conditions of the concentration camp at Dachau.
1957 The Commonwealth Arbitration Commission increases the basic wage by 10 shillings a week and institutes annual reviews.
1965 US marines dispatched by president Lyndon Johnson land in the Dominican Republic to protect US citizens in heavy fighting after a junta takes over.
1980 US film director Alfred Hitchcock dies at 80.
1992 A Los Angeles jury acquits four white police officers who beat black motorist Rodney King; at least 53 then die in protest riots.
2011 Prince William marries Catherine Middleton (pictured).