Today in History

1297 – Scottish rebels under William Wallace slaughter a larger English force at Stirling Bridge.

1880 – Four children are killed and 13 adults injured when two rail carriages are blown off the tracks by severe winds on part of the Remutaka incline railway between Wellington and Wairarapa.

1928 – The first successful transTasman flight touches down in Christchurch. Piloted by Australians Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm, The Southern Cross left Sydney the previous evening. 1971 – Former Soviet leader Nikita

Khrushchev, left, dies of a heart attack, aged 77.

1973 – Chile’s President Salvador Allende dies in a United States-supported military coup, and military officials say he committed suicide rather than surrender.

1985 – Sri Lanka secure their first test cricket victory, beating India by 149 runs. 1987 – Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, premieres.

1997 – Scots vote to create their own parliament after 290 years of union with England.

1998 – Independent counsel Kenneth Starr tells the US Congress there are 11 grounds for impeaching President Bill Clinton.

2001 – Two passenger planes hijacked by terrorists crash into New York’s World Trade Towers, causing both to collapse. A hijacked passenger plane crashes into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashes in a Pennsylvania field. Almost 3000 people die in the attacks.

Birthdays

DH Lawrence, English writer

(1885-1930); Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines president (1917-1989); Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (1945-); Kathy Watt, Australian cyclist

(1964-); Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president (1965-); Moby, US musician (1965-); Harry Connick Jr, US singer (1967-); Ariana Richards, US actress (1979-)