Today in History

456 - St Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop.

1355 - Charles IV is crowned in Rome as Holy Roman Emperor.

1614 - Pocahontas, daughter of a Native American chief, marries settler John Rolfe in Virginia.

1794 - French revolutionaries Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins executed by guillotine.

1871 - In New Zealand’s first diplomatic posting, doctor and politician Isaac Featherston is appointed its agent-general in London.

1895 - Oscar Wilde loses his libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices. 1904 - First international rugby league match between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh and Scottish players) in Wigan, UK.

1932 - Champion racehorse Phar Lap dies mysteriously in California.

1955 - Sir Winston Churchill resigns as British prime minister, and is succeeded by Sir Anthony Eden.

1974 - West Indies star Garry Sobers plays his final day of test cricket.

1984 - Death of Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris, chief of British Bomber Command during World War II.

1976 - Aviator and film producer Howard Hughes dies, aged 70.

1994 - Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain commits suicide in Seattle.

2007 - Eritrea bans female circumcision, a life-threatening tradition in the Horn of Africa. 2016 - Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns after the Panama Papers show a conflict of interest.

Birthdays

Joseph Lister, UK pioneer surgeon (18271912); Spencer Tracy, US actor (1900-67); Bette Davis, US actress (1908-89); Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (1908-89); Gregory Peck, US actor (1916-2003); Colin Powell, US soldier/statesman (1937-2021); Agnetha Faltskog, Swedish singer (Abba) (1950-); Dave McArtney, NZ musician (19512013).