Today in History
1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands on the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec, Canada, claiming the territory for France.
1567 – At barely a year old, James VI becomes king of Scotland, after the forced abdication of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. He later becomes James I of England.
1824 – The Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper publishes what is generally considered the first opinion poll of voters, on the US presidential election due in November between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. Respondents indicate a big majority for Jackson, but Adams wins the presidency.
1847 – Brigham Young and the first Mormons arrive at Great Salt Lake in presentday Utah, 17 months after they left Iowa.
1911 – Yale University archaeology professor Hiram Bingham is shown the ‘‘hidden’’ Inca city Machu Picchu, left, in Peru. His book about the site sparked hordes of Western tourists to follow in his footsteps.
1915 – The steamer Eastland overturns in the Chicago River, drowning between 800 and 850 of its passengers, who were heading to a picnic.
1917 – Dutch dancer Mata Hari goes on trial in Paris for allegedly spying for Germany.
1943 – In the first night-time bombing raid on Nazi Germany, British aircraft drop 2300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg, killing more than 1500 civilians.
1967 – St Christopher’s Hospice, the world’s first purpose-built palliative care hospital, is officially opened in south London.
1969 – Apollo 11, carrying the first astronauts to land on the Moon, splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1980 – Comic actor Peter Sellers dies of a heart attack, aged 54.
1982 – Eye of the Tiger, from the soundtrack of the film Rocky III, tops the US charts.
1985 – French secret agents Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart are arrested while trying to leave New Zealand after planting two limpet mines that sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Waitemata¯ Harbour. They later pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of photographer Fernando Pereira, who was killed in the second explosion.
2000 – New Zealand soldier Private Leonard Manning is killed in East Timor.
2005 – US cyclist Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France. He later admits to doping and is stripped of his titles.
2011 – Cadel Evans becomes the first Australian to win the Tour de France.
2019 – Facebook agrees to pay a US$5 billion fine, for violating customers’ privacy, in a deal with the US Federal Trade Commission.
Birthdays
Simon Bolivar, South American independence leader (1783-1830); Alexandre Dumas, French writer (1802-70); Robert Graves, UK writer (1895-1985); Amelia Earhart, US aviator (1898-1937); Jennifer Lopez, US actor (1969-); Elisabeth Moss, US actor (1982-); Anna Paquin, NZ actor (1982-); Danny Lee, NZ golfer (1990-).