Today in history

1651 - The newly completed Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi [Fountain of the Four Rivers] by Gian Lorenzo Bernini is unveiled in Rome.

1701 - Act of Settlement gives English crown to Sophia, Princess of Hanover. 1772 - Marion du Fresne is killed at Tacoury’s Cove, Bay of Islands, by Maori.

1792 - Captain George Vancouver discovers site of Vancouver, British Columbia. 1867 - Austro-hungarian Empire forms.

1917 - US Secret Service extends protection of the President to include

his family.

1918 - First aerial bombing raid by an American unit, France.

1937 - After a one-day show trial, eight Soviet generals are sentenced to death and executed by the NKVD.

1942 - First US troops arrive in Auckland. Over the next two years, about 100,000 American servicemen would spend time in New Zealand, which became a rear base for the Allies’ counter-offensive against Japan; Hitler orders enslavement of Slavic peoples.

1944 - First V-1 rocket assault on London; British 12th airborne battalion and the 13th and 18th Hussars attack and capture Breville; Churchill/marshall/arnold visit Montgomery’s HQ in Chateau de Creully; US troop march into Carentan/ Caumont, Normandy.

2004 - A 1.3kg chondritetype meteorite strikes a house in Ellerslie, causing serious damage but no injuries.