ON THIS DAY

1844: Samuel Morse transmits the message, “What hath God wrought!” from Washington DC to Baltimore as he formally opens America’s first telegraph line.

1883: The Brooklyn Bridge is opened in New York, linking Manhattan to Brooklyn.

1949: The Federal Republic of Germany comes into being.

1976: Britain and France open trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington DC.

1999: The remains of 11 bodies decomposing in an old bank vault in Snowtown and a backyard near Adelaide are recovered by South Australian police in the nation’s worst serial killing.

2014: US rapper Kanye West and celebrity Kim Kardashian marry in Florence.

Birthdays: Queen Victoria (1819-1901); Bob Dylan, US singer (1941-); Eric Cantona, French footballer (1966-).