Today in History

1742 – Death of English astronomer Edmond Halley, discoverer of the comet named after him.

1784 – United States ratifies peace treaty with Britain, formally ending American War of Independence. 1878 – Britain’s first private connection by telephone is made on the Isle of Wight when Queen Victoria speaks to her private secretary, Thomas Biddulph.

1891 – New Zealander Bob

Fitzsimmons, left, wins the world middleweight boxing title, in New Orleans. He went on to win the world heavyweight title in 1897.

1898 – Death of Lewis Carroll, British author of Alice in

Wonderland, from pneumonia. 1943 – US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill open a wartime conference in Casablanca.

1948 – 14-year-old Nelson boy Malcolm Simpson unearths the oldest fossils yet found in New Zealand, in Cobb Valley, Motueka.

The trilobites were from the Paleozoic era, 542–251 million years ago.

1954 – Actress Marilyn Monroe marries baseball star Joe Dimaggio in San Francisco.

1998 – An international treaty comes into effect protecting the entire continent of Antarctica as a global wilderness preserve.

2009 – A French court acquits six doctors and pharmacists in the deaths of at least 114 people who contracted a brain-destroying disease after being treated with tainted human growth hormones.

Birthdays

Benedict Arnold, US general (1741-1801); Thomas Hocken, NZ collector/bibliographer (1836-1910); Sir Cecil Beaton, UK photographer/ stage designer (1904-80); Faye Dunaway, US actress (1941-); Rob Hall, NZ mountaineer (1961-96); Steven Soderbergh, US film director (1963-); Emily Watson, UK actor (1967-); LL Cool J, US rapper-actor (1968-); Dave Grohl, US musician (1969-).