ON THIS DAY
1368 Zhu Chongba ascends the throne in Nanjing as Chinese emperor, founding the Ming dynasty. The former peasant introduced new torture methods to control public servants.
1542 King Henry VIII takes title of King of Ireland.
1845 US Congress decides all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
1920 The Dutch government refuses to surrender the former German kaiser to Allies for punishment as a WWI criminal.
1933 England’s cricket administrators, the Marylebone Cricket Club committee, dismiss a complaint from Australia’s Cricket Board of Control about bodyline bowling and “deplore the claim that it is unsportsmanlike”.
1937 Seventeen communist leaders go on trial in the Soviet Union. They confess they conspired with Leon Trotsky to undermine Joseph Stalin’s regime; 13 are sentenced to death.
1942 Japanese invade Rabaul. The
1400 Australian troops withdraw after eight hours fighting. About 400 survive.
1970
Oscar 5, Australia’s first amateur radio satellite, built by Melbourne University students, is launched on a NASA rocket in California.
1977 Roots, based on the Alex Haley novel about an African-American family’s heritage, begins airing on ABC television. It becomes one of the most-watched shows in US history.
2002
A previously unknown militant group kidnaps Daniel Pearl (pictured), a reporter for the US Wall Street Journal, in Karachi, Pakistan. Pearl is later killed.
2007 Millionaire Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull joins federal cabinet as environment and water resources minister.
2021 American talk-show host Larry King dies at age 87.