Today in History

1513 – Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon first sights Florida.

1625 – Charles I becomes king of England and Scotland on the death of his father, James I.

1703 – Russian Tsar Peter the Great founds St Petersburg.

1836 – The first Mormon temple is dedicated, in Kirtland, Ohio.

1854 – In the Crimean War, France declares war on Russia.

1883 – First Salvation Army officers – George Pollard and Edward Wright – arrive at Port Chalmers to establish a New Zealand branch of the movement.

1899 – The first international radio transmission is made as Guglielmo Marconi sends a wireless message from England to France.

1958 – Nikita Krushchev becomes premier of the Soviet Union. 1968 – Soviet cosmonaut Yuri

Gagarin, left, the first man in space, is killed in the crash of a training plane.

1970 – Severe earthquake in western Turkey kills at least 1087 and leaves 90,000 homeless.

1973 – Marlon Brando declines a best actor Oscar for The Godfather, in protest at Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans.

1977 – World’s worst aviation disaster as two Boeing 747s collide on a runway in Tenerife, Spain, killing 583 people.

1984 – A bomb hidden in a suitcase explodes at Trades’ Hall, Wellington, killing caretaker and unionist Ernie Abbott.

1998 – US Food and Drug Administration approves use of the drug Viagra to treat impotence.

Birthdays

Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, city planner of Paris (1809-91); John Ballance, NZ premier (1839-93); Frederick Henry Royce, UK auto engineer (1863-1933); Quentin Tarantino, US film director (1963-); Mariah Carey, US singer (1970-); David Coulthard, UK racing driver (1971-); David Bain, acquitted NZ murder accused (1972-); Kimbra, NZ singer (1990-).