The oldest book; the first cycling record; killer mountain claims lives; and record price for a Picasso.
330 Byzantium becomes the new capital of the Roman Empire. Renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, it is referred to as Constantinople. Today it is called Istanbul.
868 The Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest-known, printed book.
1310 Philip IV of France has 54 of the Knights Templar burned at the stake for heresy.
1891 Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia (later Nicholas II) is wounded in the head during a sword attack by an assassin.
1893 Tour de France founder Henri Desgrange sets the first bicycle world record, 35km/h.
1903 General Louis Botha lays the cornerstone of the Dutch Reformed Church in Bosman street, Pretoria.
1915 General Louis Botha, leading the South African troops, enters Windhoek, the capital of German South West Africa, and marches north in pursuit of the retreating German forces.
1927 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, home of the Oscars, is founded.
1943 US troops invade the Aleutian Islands in a bid to expel Japanese forces.
1960 War criminal Adolf Eichmann is captured in Buenos Aires by Israeli secret agents.
1996 Eight climbers die on Mount Everest.
2012 Chinese scientists transfer photons 97km using quantum teleportation.
2015 Picasso’s The Women of Algiers sells for a record $179.3 million at Christie’s, New York.
2022 Trail-blazing Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is shot dead by Israeli forces in Jenin, in the West Bank, leading to global condemnation and protests. A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists found there is ‘a pattern of the killings of journalists by Israel Defence Forces, after which no accountability is taken’. The press advocacy group said it had documented at least 20 journalists killed by Israeli military fire since 2001 – 18 of them Palestinian. ‘No one has ever been charged or held accountable for these deaths,’ it said. Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and a blue protective vest marked ‘Press’ when shot. The report found at least 13 of the 20 journalists killed ‘were clearly identified as members of the media or were inside vehicles with press insignia at the time of their deaths.