Today in History

1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer, right, tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.

1421 – The sea breaks through dikes at Dort, in the Netherlands, drowning more than 100,000.

1524 – Giovanni da Verrazano discovers present-day New York Harbour.

1941 – The Yugoslav army and government surrender to the Germans in Belgrade.

1946 – Last French troops leave Syria, which becomes independent.

1961 – About 1400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles land at the Bay of Pigs in a failed invasion attemptt.

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is found guilty of the murder of US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in June 1968, and sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison.

1970 – The crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft lands safely in the Pacific Ocean after six-day mission.

1975 – Khmer Rouge guerrillas seize Phnom Penh, in Cambodia.

1986 – British journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut; he is not released until August 1991.

1993 – A jury in Los Angeles convicts two former police officers of violating the civil rights of beaten black motorist Rodney King; two other officers are acquitted.

2002 – Xanana Gusmao is declared the landslide winner of East Timor’s first presidential election.

2009 – Helen Clark becomes administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

2013 – Same-sex marriage is legalised in New Zealand.

Birthdays

JP Morgan, US banker (1837-1913); Nick Hornby, UK novelist (1957-); Sean Bean, UK actor (1959-); Ian Jones, All Black (1967-); Roger Twose, NZ cricketer (1968-); Jennifer Garner, US actor (1972-); Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer (1972-); Victoria Beckham, UK singer/designer (1974-); JoWilfried Tsonga, French tennis player (1985-).