Today in History
1522 – Juan Sebastian Del Cano (or Elcano) completes the first circumnavigation of the world. His was the only one of Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships to make it back to Spain.
1901 – United States President William Mckinley is shot in Buffalo, New York, by an anarchist. He dies eight days later.
1915 – A prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line in England.
1916 – A Piggly Wiggly store opens in Memphis, Tennessee, as the first true self-service grocery, offering many features that became common to supermarkets.
1948 – New Zealand citizenship is established. The British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act gives citizenship to all current residents who had been either born British subjects or later naturalised.
1966 – South African Prime
Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, who oversaw the introduction and application of apartheid laws, is stabbed to death.
1994 – Irish prime minister Albert Reynolds and Gerry Adams, leader of the Ira-allied Sinn Fein, commit to peaceful settlement in Northern Ireland.
1997 – Some 2.5 billion people watch global television broadcasts of Princess Diana’s funeral.
2017 – Catalonia’s parliament passes a law to allow a referendum on independence from Spain.
2019 – Robert Mugabe, right, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, first as prime minister, then as president, dies at age 95.
Birthdays
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French revolutionary general (1757-1834); Catharine Beecher, US educationist (1800-78); Joseph Kennedy, US diplomat (1888-1969); Roger Waters, UK musician, Pink Floyd (1943-), Carly Fiorina, US businesswoman (1954-); Macy Gray, US singer (1967-); Idris Elba, UK actor (1972-); Tim Henman, UK tennis player (1974-).