Today in History

1789 – The United States Constitution goes into effect as the first Federal Congress meets.

1855 – Legendary South Island sheep rustler Jamesmckenzie is caught. He escapes, is recaptured, sentenced to hard labour and twice escapes again, before being pardoned in 1856.

1877 – Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake is first performed, at the Bolshoi Theatre inmoscow. 1890 – The Forth rail bridge, then the longest bridge in Britain, is opened by the Prince ofwales, later King Edward VII.

1918 – The first cases of an influenza pandemic, later known as ‘‘Spanish flu’’, are reported at a US Army base in Kansas.

1966 – John Lennon sparks outrage in the US after publication of his comment that the Beatles are ‘‘more popular than Jesus now’’. 1968 – Tennis officials agree to admit professionals towimbledon later that year.

1989 – The Louvre Pyramid, left, designed by I.M. Pei, is inaugurated by French President Francois Mitterrand.

1994 – Four Muslim extremists are convicted of the 1993World Trade Center bombing in New York.

2012 – Vladimir Putin claims victory in Russia’s presidential election, despite fraud claims.

2018 – Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury, England. It is later established they were poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok.

Birthdays

Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese patron of explorers (1394-1460); Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer (1678-1741); Jim Clark, UK racing driver (1936-68); Brian Turner, NZ poet (1944-); Lindy Chamberlain-creighton, wrongly convicted Nz-born Australian mother (1948-); Manu Vatuvei, NZ rugby league player (1986-); Jack Tame, NZ broadcaster (1987-).