Today in History

1519 - Artist Leonardo da Vinci dies at Cloux, France.

1536 - England’s Queen Anne Boleyn is sent to the Tower of London, where she is eventually beheaded.

1895 - British South Africa Company territory south of Zambezi is organised as Rhodesia.

1957 - Death of controversial US Senator Joseph McCarthy.

1964 - New Zealand’s last electric tram trip is made in Wellington, driven by Mayor Frank Kitts between Thorndon and the Wellington Zoo. Large crowds watched on.

1965 - The first satellite television programme links nine countries and more than 300 million viewers.

1969 - Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth II sails on maiden voyage.

1982 - Argentine cruiser General Belgrano is sunk by a British submarine, killing 368 Argentine sailors, in the war over possession of the Falkland Islands.

1994 - Nelson Mandela and the ANC claim victory in the first democratic election in South Africa.

1997 - Tony Blair becomes Britain’s youngest prime minister in 185 years after his Labour Party crushes John Major’s Conservatives in a landslide.

2011 - Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 terror attacks, is killed in his hideout in Pakistan in a firefight with US forces.

2015 - The Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William’s wife, gives birth to the couple’s second child, Princess Charlotte.

Birthdays

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia (1729-1796); Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer (1955-); Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock), US actor and former wrestler (1972-); David Beckham, English footballer (1975-).