Today in History

1859 – Jean-Francois Gravelet becomes the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

1894 – London’s Tower Bridge is officially opened.

1900 – Four German boats burn at the docks in New Jersey, killing more than 300 people.

1934 – In Germany’s Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his political party.

1936 – Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel Gone with the Wind, left, is published.

1939 – First issue of the New Zealand Listener published.

1965 – Ceasefire signed between India and Pakistan.

1971 – Three Soviet cosmonauts who served as the first crew of the world’s first space station die when their spacecraft depressurises on re-entry.

1997 – The British lease on Hong Kong’s New Territories expires on the eve of the handover to China.

2000 – Fans rush the stage during a concert at one of Europe’s largest rock festivals, Roskilde, in Denmark, crushing nine people to death.

2003 – Hans Blix ends his threeyear quest for Iraq’s chemical, biological and ballistic missiles.

2012 – Yitzhak Shamir, two-time prime minister of Israel, dies near Tel Aviv, aged 96.

2013 – Nineteen firefighters die in a wildfire in Arizona.

2014 – Australian entertainer Rolf Harris is found guilty in London of indecent assault charges and later sentenced to five years nine months in prison. 2019 – Donald Trump becomes the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea.

Birthdays

Elsdon Best, NZ historian (1856-1931); Susan Hayward, US actress (1917-75); Rupert Graves, UK actor (1963-); Mike Tyson, US boxer (1966-); Marton Csokas, NZ actor (1966-); Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lankan cricketer (1969-); Michael Phelps, US Olympic swimmer (1985-); Grace Prendergast, NZ rower (1992-); Emma Dyke, NZ rower (1995-).