Today in History

1074 – Pope Gregory VII declares all married Roman Catholic priests to be excommunicated.

1776 – Philosopher Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is first published.

1942 – Japanese troops complete conquest of Dutch island of Java in Indonesia during World War II.

1945 – More than 330 United States bombers attack Tokyo with 120,000 firebombs.

1956 – A dolphin nicknamed Opo, left, famous for entertaining thousands of beachgoers with its antics near the Hokianga settlement of Opononi, is found dead, caught between rocks near the shore.

1959 – The Barbie doll makes its first appearance at a toy fair in New York.

1961 – The first Golden Shears contests opens in Masterton.

1990 – East and West Germany begin reunification talks. 1991 – Yugoslavia deploys tanks in the capital Belgrade after bloody clashes between riot police and anti-communist protesters.

2000 – Fire in a locked dormitory at a high school in Tuvalu kills 18 teenage girls and their supervisor.

2002 – Mont Blanc Alpine tunnel reopens to car traffic after a fire in 1999 that killed 39 people.

2006 – Death of John Profumo, the former government minister at the centre of one of Britain’s biggest political scandals, aged 91.

2007 – Survivors and bereaved family members of the 1945 US firebombing of Tokyo sue the Japanese government for US$10.3 million, alleging it did not assist victims in the aftermath.

2020 – Italy announces a nationwide lockdown after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Birthdays

Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut (1934-68); Bobby Fischer, US chess player (1943-2008); Keri Hulme, NZ writer (1947-); Chris Lewis, NZ tennis player (1957-).