1940 The London Blitz began when the German Luftwaffe bombed the East End docklands, killing over 400 people.
1966 Hendrik Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa and the architect of apartheid, was fatally stabbed by Dimitri Tsafendas during a parliamentary meeting.
1948 At a press conference in Ottawa, Taoiseach John A. Costello announced that he intended to repeal the External Relations Act (1936), taking Ireland out of the British Commonwealth.
1948 At a press conference in Ottawa, Canada, Taoiseach John A. Costello announced that his inter-party government intended to repeal the External Relations Act (1936) and declare a republic.
1910 James ‘Skin-the-Goat’ Fitzharris, a member of the Invincibles who was convicted as an accessory to the Phoenix Park Murders (1882), died at the South Dublin Union Infirmary.
1812 The Battle of Borodino, the largest and bloodiest single-day action of Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign, involving over 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties.
