Today in History
1254 – The British Parliament first convenes.
1531 – Henry VIII is recognised as Supreme Head of the Church in England.
1858 – Bernadette Soubirous, right, first claims to have seen the Virgin Mary in a grotto near Lourdes, in southwest France. 1864 – Charles Heaphy rescues a soldier under fire at Wairari, Waikato, for which he is later awarded a Victoria Cross. It was the only VC awarded to a member of New Zealand’s colonial forces.
1929 – Italy signs the Lateran Treaty establishing an independent Vatican City.
1945 – US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin sign the Yalta Agreement during World War II.
1956 – Soviet spies Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, who disappeared from Britain in 1951, resurface in Moscow.
1975 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female head of the British Conservative Party.
1979 – Followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seize power in Iran.
1990 – African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela is released from 27 years in prison.
2008 – Rebels shoot and critically wound East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta and open fire on Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who is unhurt, in a failed coup attempt.
2013 – Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation, the first pope to do so since 1415.
Birthdays
Thomas Edison, US inventor (1847-1931); Sir Keith Holyoake, NZ prime minister (1904-83); Sidney Sheldon, US author (1917-2007); Burt Reynolds, US actor (1936-2018); Sheryl Crow, US musician (1962-); Sarah Palin, US politician (1964-); Eric Rush, NZ rugby sevens player (1965-); Jennifer Aniston, US actress (1969-).