1983 - David Niven, the veteran British actor and one of the screen’s most durable leading men, has died in a Swiss hospital after a long illness. He was 73. Niven, who suffered for more than a year from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a debilitating neuromuscular disorder, died, said Jane Sylvester of Cowan Bellew publicity agents. Trim and debonair with a pencil-thin mustache, Niven starred in nearly 100 films over a period of more than 40 years. His most notable successes included Separate Tables, for which he won the best actor Academy Award in 1959. The Moon is Blue, Around the World in 80 days, The Guns of Navarone, Death on the Nile and three Pink Panther movies.
Other important events
1821 - Peru declares independence from Spain.
1904 - Russia’s Minister of Interior, Viacheslav Plehve, is assassinated.
1914 - First World War begins as Austria and Hungary declare war on Serbia.
1935 - First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
1937 - Japanese seize Beijing.
1976 - An earthquake in northern China kills at least 242,000 people.
1988 - Indian badminton champion Syed Modi is shot dead.
1990 - Alberto Fujimori takes over as Peru’s president.
1995 - At least 25 people are killed when a five-story apartment building collapses in southern Kolkata.
2002 - At least 78 people are killed when a Ukrainian Airforce jet smashes into crowds watching an air show in Lviv, Ukraine.
2008 - Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim is found dead in her Dubai Marina apartment.
2012 - Saudi Arabian and Qatari women participate for the first time in the Olympics in London.
2017 - Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualifies Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
