Today in History
1861 - US President Abraham Lincoln prohibits Union states from trading with the Confederacy.
1896 - A gold rush starts in Canada’s Yukon Territory when nuggets are found in a creek bed.
1946 - Rioting in what was then called Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state; more than 4000 die.
1948 - American baseball legend Babe Ruth dies, at the age of 53.
1949 - Margaret Mitchell, US journalist and author of Gone with the Wind, dies aged 48.
1972 - Morocco’s King Hassan II escapes assassination by Moroccan Air Force jets in a military coup attempt.
1977 - Elvis Presley dies in Memphis, aged 42, of a heart attack brought on by his addiction to prescription drugs.
1981 - New Zealand set a then Fifa record for the biggest winning margin in a World Cup qualifying match, beating Fiji 13-0.
2001 - Paul Burrell, butler to Princess Diana for many years, is charged with the theft of hundreds of royal family items. A subsequent trial is abandoned.
2005 - A chartered jet returning to the French Caribbean island of Martinique crashes in western Venezuela, killing all 160 on board.
2008 - NZ twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell successfully defend their double sculls Olympic title, in Beijing. 2012 - Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador.
2018 - US singer Aretha Franklin known as the Queen of Soul, dies aged 76.
Birthdays
TE Lawrence, UK archaeologist/soldier (1888-1935); Jeff Thomson, Australian cricketer (1950-); James Cameron, Canadian film director (1954-); Madonna, US singer (1958-); Steve Carell, US actor (1962-); Taika Waititi, NZ director (1975-).