Today in history
1298 – William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance against English rule, uses extra-long spears against mounted soldiers at the Battle of Falkirk. The new fighting tactic is depicted in the 1995 movie Braveheart.
1587 – A second English colony, which later vanishes under mysterious circumstances, is established on Roanoke Island off Virginia.
1620 – Exiled British Pilgrims set out from Holland for the New World on their ship Speedwell, which leaks so badly they return to England and transfer to the Mayflower.
1793 – Scottish fur trader and explorer Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Canadian Pacific coast, becoming the first to cross the North American continent north of Mexico.
1933 – US aviator Wiley Post completes first solo airplane flight around the world in seven days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
1950 – King Leopold III returns to Belgium after six years of exile, but abdicates in August. His actions during World War II as commander in chief of the Belgian Army during the German conquest aroused opposition.
1962 – Algeria declares independence following protracted war of secession from France.
1968 – Israeli airliner bound for Israel from Rome with 48 people aboard is hijacked and diverted to Algeria.
1971 – Last US infantry units pull out of South Vietnam’s northern border area.
1973 – Soviet space probe begins six-month journey toward Mars.
1976 – Japan completes its World War II reparations payments with a final payment to the Philippines.
1981 – The first match is played in the Springbok Tour of New Zealand, the most divisive sporting event in the country’s history. The South Africans beat Poverty Bay 24-6.
1999 – Japan’s first deadly hijacking occurs when a man stabs the pilot to death and seizes the controls. The flight lands 49 minutes later in Tokyo, 516 others on board are uninjured. The hijacker says he wanted to fly a real plane.
2001 – Divers begin preparations for raising Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, which sank in August 2000 during a training exercise in the Barents Sea off northern Russia, killing all 118 crew members.
2012 – The top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, says this year’s pullout of 23,000 US troops is at the halfway mark. Today’s Birthdays: Danny Glover, US actor (1947– ); Willem Dafoe, US actor (1955– ); Rena Owen, NZ actress (1962-);; Rufus Wainwright, Us-canadian rock singer (1973– ); Scott Dixon, NZ motor racer (1980-).