Today in History

1879 – United States president Rutherford B Hayes signs a bill allowing female lawyers to argue cases before the Supreme Court.

1882 – First shipment of frozen mutton leaves New Zealand for England, arriving on May 25.

1942 – Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces in World War II.

1944 – US troops complete reconquest of Solomon Islands in Pacific Ocean in WWII; nearly 1000 British bombers pound Berlin; monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy bombed by Allied aircraft.

1961 – Entire 18-member US figure skating team, en route to world championships in Prague, among 72 killed in a plane crash in Bergkampenhout, Belgium.

1971 – Britain changes over to decimal currency.

1978 – With Richard Hadlee, left, taking six for 26, New Zealand cricket team beats England in a test for the first time, after 48 years of trying, ushering in joyous scenes at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.

1988 – Austrian president Kurt Waldheim, accused of having a Nazi past, flatly rejects widespread calls for his resignation.

1990 – Britain and Argentina restore diplomatic relations, broken off during the 1982 Falkland Islands War. 2011 – Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi ordered to stand trial on charges he paid a 17-year-old Moroccan girl for sex and used his influence to cover it up.

2012 – Fire started by inmate tears through overcrowded prison in Honduras, killing as many as 300 people.

Birthdays

Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer (1564-1642); Louis XV, king of France (1710-74); Ernest Shackleton, Irish polar explorer (1874-1922); Jane Seymour, Uk-born actress (1951-); Matt Groening, US cartoonist, creator of The Simpsons (1954-); Jock Hobbs, chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union and 21 test All Black (1960-2012).