TODAY IN HISTORY

330

Constantinople (now Istanbul) is dedicated as the new capital of the Roman Empire. It is named after the Emperor Constantine. 1618

Haevik Claeszoon van Hillegom, captain of the Dutch ship Zeewolf, records the sighting of the Australian coast. Unable to land, he sails on to Java. 1812

British prime minister Spencer Perceval is shot dead at 49 by a deranged bankrupt broker, John Bellingham, in the lobby of the House of Commons. 1958

Lake Eucumbene, Australia’s largest man-made lake, is completed in the Snowy Mountains. 1981

Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley, 36 (pictured), dies of cancer in a Miami hospital.

1985

Fire engulfs a wooden stand at England’s Bradford City soccer ground, killing 56 and injuring hundreds. Rubbish had piled up under seats.

1987

The ABC television program Four Corners exposes entrenched police corruption in Queensland.

1988

Britain’s most famous double agent, former intelligence officer turned traitor Kim Philby, dies in Moscow aged 76. 1997

IBM’s chess-playing computer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of a six-game match to claim a 3.5–2.5 victory (it won two games and had three draws); it marked the first time a current world champion had lost a match to a computer under tournament conditions.

2001 A python squeezes the neck of its drunken owner in a Byron Bay street until he passes out. Police later release snake and owner.