Today in history
Today is Friday, June 9, the 160th day of 2017. There are 205 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1549 — The Church of England adopts
The Book of Common Prayer, compiled by
Thomas Cranmer.
1815 — Representatives from 200 European states, governorships, cities and corporations meeting in Vienna adopt the Congress Act to rearrange Europe. Among its provisions, Belgium and Luxembourg unite with Holland to form the Netherlands and East Poland is ceded to Russia and its western provinces to Prussia. 1898 — An agreement is signed under which
Hong Kong is leased to Britain from China for a period of 99 years.
1902 — The Automat Restaurant, the first restaurant with foodvending machines, opens in Philadelphia.
1904 — The London Symphony Orchestra presents its inaugural concert.
1905 — John Prouse becomes the first known New Zealander to record music for commercial purposes when the baritone sings 12 songs for the Gramophone and Typewriter Co in Britain.
1916 — Rua Kenana and a number of his followers go on trial in Auckland charged with sedition, resisting arrest and a number of other offences. The trial, which lasts for 47 days (at the time one of the longest in British legal history), finds Rua guilty of ‘‘moral’’ resistance to police.
1928 — Charles KingsfordSmith and Charles Ulm become the first people to fly across the Pacific when they complete their flight from California to Brisbane.
1942 — Eleven United States servicemen die when their Flying Fortress crashes soon after a midnight takeoff from Whenuapai.
1953 — The Otago Daily Times reports on a plague of rats invading city buildings.
1959 — The first submarine with Polaris missiles, the USS George Washington, is launched by the US.
1967 — Gamal Abdel Nasser resigns as president of Egypt after his country is defeated in war with Israel.
1975 — The first live broadcast from the British House of Commons takes place.
1978 — In what became known as ‘‘Bloody Friday’’, Southland farmers herd 1300 ewes through downtown Invercargill and proceed to slaughter them in protest at the industrial chaos within the meat industry, exacerbated by the worst drought in the area since 1956.
1979 — Seven people die in a ghosttrain fire at Sydney’s Luna Park.
1983 — In British elections, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government is returned to power for a second term, with a majority of 144 seats.
1991 — The Philippines volcano Mount Pinatubo erupts after being dormant for 600 years, forcing the evacuation of US troops from the nearby Clark Air Base.
1992 — More than 700 known Mafiosi are arrested in a crackdown in southern Italy.
1995 — An Ansett New Zealand Dash8 crashes into ranges east of Palmerston North, killing four.
1998 — Argentine police arrest 1976 military coup leader Jorge Videla for allegedly stealing children during the 197683 dictatorship; three white supremacists are charged in Jasper, Texas, with the dragging death of black man James Byrd.
2001 — A Pakistani court sentences former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to three years in prison for her failure to appear on corruption charges.
2011 — Staff at Dunedin’s Hillside railway workshops are dismayed by the news more than 25% of the workforce will be made redundant. With contracts being won by overseas companies,many believe it spells the beginning of the end for the city’s large engineering business.
Today’s birthdays: Peter I (the Great) of Russia (16721725); George Stephenson, English locomotive designer (17811848); Cole Porter, US songwriter (18931964); Joe Santos, actor (19312016); Jackie Mason, US comedian (1931); Patricia Cornwell, American author (1956); Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor (1961); Johnny Depp, US actor (1963); Natalie Portman, US actress (1981); Richard Kahui, All Black (1985).
Thought for today: Be the inferior of no man, nor of any be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man’s guilt is not yours, nor is any man’s innocence a thing apart. — William Saroyan, American playwright (19081981).
ODT and agencies