Today in History

64 – Great fire of Rome begins.

1536 – The Pope’s authority is declared void in England.

1855 – New Zealand’s first postage stamps, featuring an image of Queen Victoria, go on sale.

1872 – Britain introduces voting by secret ballot.

1925 – Volume I of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf is published.

1940 – Franklin Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented third term as US president.

1969 – US Senator Edward Kennedy drives a car off a wooden bridge into a pond. He escapes the submerged car, but his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, does not.

1980 – Billy Joel, left, tops the US charts with Glass Houses , featuring It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.

1994 – Terrorists bomb a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85.

1995 – Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance ,a memoir by Barack Obama when he was a law professor, is published.

2012 – Kim Jong Un is appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea and given the rank of army marshal, tightening his grip on power.

2018 – Elon Musk apologises for calling British caver-diver in Thai cave rescue ‘‘pedo guy’’ after widespread criticism and fall in Tesla stock price.

Birthdays

William Makepeace Thackeray, English novelist (1811-1863); Nelson Mandela, South African president (1918-2013); John Glenn, US astronaut (1921-2016); Hunter S Thompson, US journalist (1937-2005); Dennis Lillee, Australian cricketer (1949-); Richard Branson, English businessman (1950-); Nick Faldo, English golfer (1957-); Don Mcglashan, NZ singer (1959-); Elizabeth Mcgovern, US actress (1961-); Vin Diesel, US actor (1967-); Mathangi ‘‘Maya’’ Arulpragasam, or M.I.A., English singer, recording artist (1975-); Kristen Bell, US actress (1980-).