Today in history

In Hong Kong

1958: Carmen 'Chuchay' Tuason, Miss Philippines 1958, arrived from Manila. She was en route to Belgium to represent the country at the Brussels International Fair.

1961: Dr Wang Cheng-ting, a veteran Chinese diplomat, patriot and reformer, died in Hong Kong, aged 79. Known to his friends as 'CT', he held such positions as China's foreign minister, ambassador to Washington and spokesmen at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919.

1964: Cheung Tsai, a 19-year-old fish-stall operator, snared his biggest fish ever when he helped pull Sir Chau Tsun-nin out of the harbour. The 70-year-old chairman of the Canton Trust and Commercial Bank slipped and fell into the water while walking to his car at the Vehicular Ferry Pier. He later offered his rescuer a trainee job with the bank.

1970: Government and 'state-aided' housing had become the housing of one in three of Hong Kong's four million people, said Paul KC Tsui, the deputy secretary for Home Affairs.

Around the world

1471: King Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London during England's Wars of the Roses. Edward IV resumed the throne.

1502: The Portuguese discovered the uninhabited island of St Helena in the South Atlantic.

1840: Captain William Hobson claimed British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand, even though negotiations were not complete. It did not become a British colony until 1841.

1904: Football's international governing body FIFA was established in Paris.

1916: Daylight saving was introduced in England when the clocks went forward one hour.

1927: American Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to fly the Atlantic solo.

1932: Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo.

1935: Hugo de Vries, Dutch geneticist and botanist who introduced the study of organic evolution, died.

1961: A military cabinet in South Korea was formed under army chief of staff Lieutenant-General Chang Do-yung.

1969: Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death by a US court for the 1968 murder of Robert Kennedy. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

1981: Francois Mitterrand was installed as French president and set up a caretaker government under prime minister Pierre Mauroy.

1989: One million people demonstrated in support of rebellious students in Beijing after authorities introduced martial law.

1991: Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers while campaigning for elections in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

1996: In east Africa's worst marine disaster, a Tanzanian ferry capsized on Lake Victoria near the western town of Mwanza, killing 896.

2000: Former Syrian prime minister Mahmoud Zu'bi committed suicide a week after his properties and assets were frozen pending the outcome of his trial on corruption charges.