Today in history
1795 - Artillery commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte shoots down rebels marching against the National Convention in Paris, saving the republic. He is soon appointed commander of the army of the interior.
1796 - Spain declares war on Britain.
1866 - The Maungatapu Murderers - three criminals who robbed and killed travellers on a track near Nelson - are hanged for their crimes.
1947 - In the first televised White House address, US President Harry Truman asks Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays and poultry on Thursdays to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.
1962 - The Beatles’ first hit, Love Me Do, is released in Britain.
1978 - US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance travels to South Africa to promote transition to black rule in Namibia.
1983 - Lech Walesa, leader of Poland’s Solidarity labor movement, is named winner of Nobel Peace Prize.
1987 - South Africa’s President PW Botha says his government plans to permit some multiracial neighbourhoods.
1989 - The Dalai Lama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1993 - China breaks moratorium on nuclear testing.
1998 - A committee of the US Congress votes to recommend an impeachment inquiry of President Bill Clinton’s actions in the case involving White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
1998 - New Zealand bungyjumping pioneer AJ Hackett becomes the first man to bungy jump from Auckland’s Sky Tower, setting a world record in the process.
1999 - Two packed commuter trains collide near London’s Paddington Station during the height of the morning rush hour, killing 31 people and injuring 244.
2005 - Powerful warlords, a former Taliban commander and women’s rights activists are among the front-runners after ballot counting ends in Afghanistan’s landmark parliamentary elections.
2008 - Germany becomes the latest country to move to allay fears about the financial meltdown, enhancing a rescue plan for Hypo Real Estate AG and guaranteeing private bank accounts as European governments scramble.
2010 - Ex-trader French Jerome Kerviel is convicted on all counts in history’s biggest rogue trading scandal, sentenced to at least three years in prison and ordered to pay his former employer damages of €4.9 billion ($6.7 billion).
Today’s Birthdays:
Bob Geldof, British singer (1954-); David Kirk, All Blacks captain (1961-); Kate Winslet, British actress (1975-).