Today in History

1297 – Scottish independence fighters under William Wallace defeat a larger English force at Stirling Bridge.

1880 – Four children are killed and 13 adults injured when two rail carriages are blown off the tracks on the Remutaka incline between Wellington and Wairarapa.

1921 – Silent film star Fatty Arbuckle is arrested in San Francisco for the rape and murder of aspiring actress Virginia Rappe. He was later acquitted by a jury, but the scandal essentially ended his career.

1928 – The first successful transtasman flight touches down in Christchurch. Southern Cross, piloted by Australians Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm, left Sydney the previous evening. 1942 – Enid Blyton, left, publishes

Five on a Treasure Island, the first of her Famous Five novels. 1971 – Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev dies of a heart attack.

1973 – Chilean President Salvador Allende dies in a Us-backed coup. Military officials say he committed suicide rather than surrender.

1985 – Sri Lanka secure their first test cricket victory, beating India.

1997 – Scots vote to create their own parliament after 290 years of union with England.

1998 – Independent counsel Kenneth Starr tells the US Congress there are 11 grounds for impeaching President Bill Clinton.

2001 – Two hijacked planes crash into New York’s World Trade Center towers, causing both to collapse. Another hijacked plane crashes into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashes in a Pennsylvania field. Almost 3000 people die in the attacks.

Birthdays

DH Lawrence, UK writer (1885-1930); Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines president (1917-89); Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer (1945-); Bashar al-assad, Syrian president (1965-); Moby, US musician (1965-); Harry Connick Jr, US singer (1967-).