ON THIS day

1964

1510

Italian artist Sandro Botticelli, one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance, dies.

1521

Edward Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham, a rival in power to England’s King Henry VIII, is executed on Tower Hill, London, for treason.

1536

London: Diplomat George Boleyn is beheaded on flimsy evidence of incest with his sister Anne, wife of King Henry VIII. Four other courtiers are executed for unlikely acts of adultery with Anne.

1792

Meeting in a coffee house on what is now Wall Street in New York City, 24 businessmen take initial steps to form the New York Stock Exchange.

1804

Sydney: assistant surgeon John Savage conducts the first successful smallpox inoculation in Australia. On May 7, the Coromandel, carrying 200 convicts, reached Port Jackson with a batch of vaccine.

1900

L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is first published. It becomes a classic of children’s literature.

1917

The second Battle of Bullecourt ends with the Allies capturing the village, at a cost, including 7482 casualties for the Australian Imperial Force.

1964

Bernard “Midget’’ Farrelly, 19, wins the first officially recognised world surf competition, held on Manly Beach, before a crowd of about 60,000. Fellow Australian Phyllis O’Donnell, 27, wins the inaugural women’s championship (above).

1997

An attempt by Ivan Milat and George Savvas to escape from Maitland jail by climbing the wall is thwarted. Savvas hangs himself the next day.

2004

Massachusetts becomes the first US state to legalise same-sex marriage and begins issuing marriage licences to gay couples.

2006

Beatle Paul McCartney and wife Heather Mills McCartney announce their separation.