Today in history
1776 – George Washington’s retreating army crosses the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
1794 – Girondists who survived the guillotine in the French Revolution are admitted to the French National Convention.
1854 – Pope Pius IX promulgates the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
1925 – Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf is published.
1941 – The United States, Britain and Australia declare war on Japan; Japan invades Thailand and Malaya.
1966 – Greek ferry sinks near island of Melos, killing 234.
1974 – Greece votes decisively to become a republic and eliminate the monarchy, which dated back to 1832.
1980 – John Lennon, former member of the Beatles, is shot dead in New York by Mark David Chapman.
1990 – Thailand’s prime minister Chatichai Choonhavan resigns, but is reappointed within 24 hours.
1992 – An avalanche of mud buries a gold mining camp in the remote foothills of the Andes in Bolivia, killing at least 50 miners.
1997 – A United Nations team finally arrives in Mbandaka, Congo to investigate alleged massacres of refugees. The team was delayed in Kinshasa for months while negotiating the terms and scope of the investigation with the government.
1998 – Japanese scientists report that they have cloned eight calves from the same dead cow.
1999 – A jury hearing a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Rev Martin Luther King Jr’s family finds that the civil rights leader was the victim of a vast murder conspiracy, not a lone assassin.
2005 – Norway adopts a law requiring large Norwegian companies to ensure that by 2008 at least 40 per cent of board members are women or face possible closure, the first legislation of its kind in the world.
2012 – Premier Mario Monti, an unelected economist who pulled Italy back from the brink of financial disaster, tells the country’s president he is resigning soon, saying he can no longer govern after controversial figure Silvio Berlusconi withdrew crucial support.
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587); Horace, Latin poet (65BC-8BC); Sammy Davis Jr, US singer and actor (1925-1990); Jim Morrison, lead singer of US rock group The Doors (1943-1971); Bill
Bryson, American author (1951-); Kim Basinger, US actress (1953-); Teri Hatcher, US actress (1964-); Sinead O’connor, Irish pop singer (1966-); Nicki Minaj, US rapper and singersongwriter (1982-).