Today in History

1880 – Australian bushranger Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne, aged 25, for the murder of a policeman. 1918 – World War I ends at 11am as an armistice between Germany and the Allies comes into effect. New Zealand celebrates the next day. 1942 – The troopship Awatea, formerly a Union Steam Ship Company trans-Tasman liner, is attacked by German and Italian aircraft off Algeria, and holed. All on board escape safely.

1951 – First video recorder is demonstrated by inventors John Mullin and Wayne Johnson in Beverly Hills, California.

1966 – Launch of Gemini 12, the first spacecraft to make an automatically controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

1975 – Australian PM Gough Whitlam is removed from office by Governor-General Sir John Kerr. 1978 – Andy Haden, left, dives from a lineout to gain a matchwinning penalty for the All Blacks against Wales in Cardiff.

1992 – Church of England votes to allow the ordination of women.

1994 – A 72-page manuscript of Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific diagrams and notes is sold in New York for a record US$30.8 million.

2000 – A cable car crammed with skiers and snowboarders catches fire in Austria, killing 155 people.

2002 – Microsoft’s Bill Gates pledges US$100m to the Indian government to fight HIV/Aids.

2004 – Death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, at the age of 75. 2018 – Democratic Republic of Congo announces its worst outbreak of Ebola with 198 deaths.

Birthdays

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian author (1821-81); George Patton, US general (1885-1945); Sonja Davies, NZ politician (1923-2005); Daniel Ortega, Nicaraguan politician (1945-); Stanley Tucci, US actor (1960-); Demi Moore, US actor (1962-); Norm Hewitt, All Black (1968-); Leonardo DiCaprio, US actor (1974-).