On this day

180 Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (in modern-day Tunisia) are executed for being Christians – the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world. 1453 End of the 100 Years War between England and France (it actually lasted 116 years). 1674 The bones of two boys, presumed to be the lost successors to the throne of Edward IV, are found in the Tower of London. 1836 The Doncaster is wrecked west of Cape Agulhas. All on board are lost. 1917 King George V orders the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames. Saxe-Coburg becomes Windsor and Battenberg becomes Mountbatten. 1918 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, his family and retainers are executed by Bolshevik Chekists in Yekaterinburg, Russia. 1944 Two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320. 1945 The main leaders of the Allied nations – Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin – meet in Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany. 1950 The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) introduces its first national news service. 1955 Disneyland is opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California. 1959 Palaeontologist Mary Leakey discovers Australopithecus boisei, one of the oldest hominid skulls in Tanzania (1.75 million years old). 1968 The Minister of Health, Dr Albert Hertzog, says there can be no exception to the government’s policy of different salaries for the various race groups. 1989 First flight of the ultra-secret B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber. 1996 A Boeing 747 explodes off Long Island, New York, killing all 230 on board. 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake triggers a tsunami that kills 2 700 people. 2007 An Airbus A320 crashes into a warehouse after landing too fast in Brazil, killing 199 people. 2014 A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 is shot down near the border of Ukraine and Russia. All 298 people on board are killed.