Today in History

1642 – Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, holds its first commencement ceremony. 1846 – The planet Neptune is discovered by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.

1875 – Billy the Kid, right, is arrested for the first time after stealing laundry. He later broke out of jail and roamed the American West, earning a reputation as an outlaw and murderer. 1887 – The mountains of Tongariro in the central North Island are gifted to the Crown by Nga¯ti Tu¯wharetoa, forming the nucleus of the Tongariro National Park.

1889 – Nintendo Karuta, forerunner of the video game company, is founded in Japan to make playing cards.

1932 – Abdulaziz Ibn Saud merges the kingdoms of Nejd and Hejaz into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

1957 – US President Dwight Eisenhower orders US troops to support the integration of nine black students at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas.

1973 – Juan Peron is elected for his third and final presidential term in Argentina.

2005 – Simonwiesenthal, who tracked down Nazis hiding around the world, is laid to rest in Israel.

2010 – The US delegation walks out of the UN speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he refers to speculation that Americans were behind the September 11 terror attacks, staged to assure Israel’s survival. 2018 – Indian Prime Minister Narendramodi launches the world’s biggest healthcare plan, catering for 500million people.

Birthdays

Augustus Caesar, Roman emperor (63BC-14AD); ‘‘Typhoid Mary’’ Mallon, Irish/us cook (1869-1938); Haile Selassie I, Ethiopian emperor (1892-1975); Ray Charles, US musician (1932-2004); Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer (1943-); Bruce Springsteen, US musician (1949-); Ryan Crotty, All Black (1988-).