Today in History

43BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator and politician, is assassinated.

1787 – Delaware becomes first state to ratify US Constitution. 1941 – Japanese planes attack the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, precipitating the US declaration of war on Japan. 1949 – Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, fleeing the Communist takeover of mainland

China, establishes its seat of government in Taiwan.

1963 – Frederick Walker and Kevin Speight are found dead in a house in Auckland. Ron Jorgensen and John Gillies are later jailed for what became known as the Bassett Rd machine-gun murders.

1975 – Indonesia invades East Timor.

1984 – A concert at Auckland’s Aotea Centre, headlined by DD Smash, turns into a riot, in which shop windows in Queen St were smashed and cars overturned. 1992 – The Indian Government bans fundamentalist groups after more than 200 Muslim and Hindus are killed and a Muslim shrine in Ayodhya is demolished.

1996 – After nearly 18 days aloft, Columbia and its astronauts return to Earth, ending the longest space shuttle flight.

2004 – Hamid Karzai, left, is sworn in as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president.

2017 – Australia’s parliament passes legislation allowing samesex marriage. 2020 – American aviator Chuck Yeager, the first person to exceed the speed of sound in flight, dies, aged 97.

Birthdays

Willa Cather, US writer (1873-1947); Noam Chomsky, US linguist (1928-); Robin Dudding, NZ editor (1935-2008); Ian McGibbon, NZ historian (1947-); Tom Waits, US musician (1949-); Te Ururoa Flavell, NZ politician (1955-); Larry Bird, US basketballer (1956-); Chris Wood, NZ footballer (1991-).