Today in History

1657 – Death of William Harvey, English physician who discovered the nature of the circulation of blood.

1869 – New Zealand’s first university, Otago University is established.

1924 – Czech writer Franz Kafka dies of tuberculosis, aged 40.

1937 – Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, marries US divorcee Wallis Simpson.

1940 – Allied evacuation from Dunkirk, France, is completed; The German air force bombs Paris, killing 254 people, most of them civilians. 1941 – First women enter police training in New Zealand. 1956 – City authorities in Santa Cruz, California announce a total ban on rock and roll at public gatherings, calling the music ‘‘Detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community.’’

1959 – Singapore becomes self- governing, but the British colonial administration still controls external relations and shares control of several key policies such as internal security.

1965 – Ed White emerges from the orbital spacecraft Gemini 4 becoming the first American astronaut to walk in space.

1968 – Artist Andy Warhol is shot in his New York film studio by feminist actor Valerie

Solanas. He has to wear a surgical corset for the rest of his life to hold his damaged organs in place.

1989 – Chinese troops begin clearing prodemocracy demonstrators from Tiananmen Square in Beijing, killing hundreds; Shi’i cleric Ruhollah Khomeini who led the revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran, dies in Tehran. 1998 – A high-speed train derails in Eschede, Germany, killing 101.

2006 – Montenegro declares independence, severing 88 years of union with Serbia.

2008 – Barack Obama claims the Democratic presidential nomination. 2011 – Physician-assisted suicide advocate Dr Jack Kevorkian dies in a Michigan hospital, aged 83.

2013 – Royals, the debut single by NZ singer Lorde, is released.

2016 – The bodies of at least 104 asylum seekers are found washed up on a beach in western Libya; boxer Muhammad Ali dies, aged 74.

2017 – Three terrorists in a van mow down pedestrians on London Bridge. Eight people are killed.

2020 – Charges against the US police officer who killed George Floyd are upgraded to murder. Three other officers are charged in connection with the killing.

Birthdays

George V, UK monarch (1865-1936); Josephine Baker, US dancer (1906-75); Tony Curtis, US actor (1925-2010); Allen Ginsberg, US poet (1926-97); John R. Reid, NZ cricketer (1928-2020); Raul Castro, Cuban politician (1931-); Colin Meads, All Black (1936-2017); Suzi Quatro, US musician (1950-); Jill Biden, US first lady (1951-); Wasim Akram, Pakistani cricketer (1966-); Anderson Cooper, US journalist (1967-); Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player (1986-).