Today in History

1805 – British fleet under Lord Nelson, right, defeats Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, off Spain. Nelson is fatally wounded.

1854 – Florence Nightingale is sent to Crimean War, with a staff of 38 nurses.

1918 – Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for 1 minute.

1944 – US troops capture Aachen, the first big German city to fall to the Allies.

1950 – Chinese forces begin occupation of Tibet.

1959 – Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City.

1964 – Kiwi Peter Snell wins the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics, to go with his earlier gold in the 800m.

1966 – Landslide of coal waste crashes onto Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults.

1988 – Federal grand jury in New York indicts ex-Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos and wife Imelda on charges of fraud and racketeering.

1993 – Burundi President Melchior Ndadaye is assassinated in a failed coup that ultimately sparked a decade-long civil war, in which up to 100,000 civilians may have died.

2005 – The body of a defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein’s mass murder trial is found with two bullet wounds in the head.

2008 – Ninety-six medals, including nine Victoria Crosses, two George Crosses and an Albert Medal, stolen from the Waiouru army museum in 2007, are returned.

2014 – Gough Whitlam, Australian prime minister 1972-75, dies at 98.

Birthdays

Samuel Coleridge, UK poet (1772-1834); Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor (1833-96); George Troup, Kiwi rail station architect (1863-1941); Dizzy Gillespie, US jazz trumpeter (1917-1993); Hone Tu¯ whare, NZ poet (1922-2008); Manfred Mann, South African/UK musician (1940-); Sir Geoffrey Boycott, UK cricketer (1940-); Judith Sheindlin (Judge Judy), US lawyer (1942-); Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli politician (1949-); Carrie Fisher, US actor (1956-2016); Kim Kardashian, US reality TV star (1980-).