Today in History

1669 - Mt Etna, in Sicily, begins rumbling. Eruptions in the next weeks kill more than 20,000.

1702 - Queen Anne ascends British throne after the death of William III.

1817 - New York Stock Exchange is formally created.

1865 - A canal is begun in the Netherlands to connect Amsterdam with the North Sea.

1917 - Riots and strikes in St Petersburg mark the start of the Russian Revolution.

1929 - Moviegoers flock to see Street Angel, a silent picture with a recorded musical soundtrack, at Wellington’s Paramount Theatre. Recorded soundtracks were rare.

1942 - Japanese forces capture Rangoon,

Burma, in World War II.

1948 - US Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the constitution.

1966 - Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin is destroyed by an IRA bomb.

1979 - Technology firm Philips demonstrates a prototype compact disc player in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

2001 - Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet, dies in London, aged 102.

2006 - European Union agrees to end a 10-year ban on British beef, imposed at the height of the 1990s mad cow disease crisis.

2014 - Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappears while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people on board.

2016 - Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ producer who guided the band’s transformation from rowdy club act to musical and cultural revolutionaries, dies at age 90.

Birthdays

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, US jurist (18411935); Kenneth Grahame, UK author (18591932); Otto Hahn, German chemist (18791968); Cyd Charisse, US actress (1922-2008);

Prince Tui Teka, NZ musician (1937-85); Lynn Redgrave, English/US actress (19432010) Gary Numan, UK musician (1958-), Ross Taylor, NZ cricketer (1984-).