Today in History

1014 – Irish king Brian Boru is killed, possibly by retreating Vikings after his forces defeated them at the Battle of Clontaf.

1915 – Poet-soldier Rupert Brooke dies in Greece.

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for assassinating Robert F Kennedy. The sentence is later reduced to life imprisonment.

1975 – South Vietnam’s cabinet resigns as panic grips Saigon and US President Gerald Ford declares the Vietnam War is over.

1979 – New Zealander Blair Peach, a special-needs teacher and member of the Anti-Nazi League, dies during a clash with police at an anti-fascism rally in London.

1983 – Prince William, left, is photographed with a buzzy bee toy during a royal tour of New Zealand.

1984 – The Aids virus is identified as HTLV-III.

1992 – South African President FW de Klerk proposes holding a multiracial election.

1998 – Death of James Earl Ray, who confessed to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr in 1968 and later insisted he was framed.

2003 – Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of an outbreak of the Sars virus.

2013 – West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle smashes the fastest century in history, off 30 balls.

2018 – A van is deliberately driven into pedestrians in Toronto, Canada, killing 10 and injuring 13.

2020 – US President Donald Trump suggests at a White House briefing that Covid-19 might be treated by injecting disinfectant, or UV lights.

Birthdays

William Shakespeare, English playwright (1564-1616); JMW Turner, UK painter (1775-1851); Ngaio Marsh, NZ writer (1895-1982); Shirley Temple Black, US diplomat/ film star (1928-2014); Roy Orbison, US musician (1936-88); Michael Moore, US director (1954-); Brendan Cole, NZ dancer (1976-); Dev Patel, UK actor (1990-).