Today in history
Today is Friday, April 20, the 110th day of 2018. There are 255 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1534 — Elizabeth Barton, the Maid of Kent, is executed in England for criticising the matrimonial practices of Henry VIII.
1653 — Oliver Cromwell expels the Long Parliament in England for trying to pass the Perpetuation Bill, which would have kept Parliament in the hands of a few members only.
1657 — Jews in New Amsterdam (now New York City) are granted the rights and privileges of citizens; in the EnglishSpanish Wars, the English navy under Admiral Robert Blake destroys all 16 ships of the Spanish fleet in Santa Cruz harbour, Tenerife, and then razes the city.
1689 — The siege of Derry begins when
supporters of James II attack the Irish city.
1792 — France declares war on Austria, marking
the start of the French Revolutionary Wars.
1841 — The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allan Poe, thought to be the first detective story, is published in Graham’s magazine in
Philadelphia.
1898 — The Dunedin Orphans Club is formed at a meeting in the Occidental Rooms in Manse St. In 1999, the club changed its name to the Dunedin Entertainers Club.
1902 — Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the
radioactive element radium.
1910 — Many Dunedin residents take advantage of perfect atmospheric conditions to view the appearance of Halley’s comet. 1916 — British diplomat and supporter of Irish republicanism, lands in Ireland to incite rebellion against the British; he was captured within hours and hanged for high treason on August 3.
1943 — The massacre of Jews in the Warsaw
Ghetto begins.
1949 — Scientists at the Mayo Clinic announce they have synthesised a hormone, forming a substance called cortisone.
1958 — The first Mormon temple in the southern hemisphere is dedicated by the world president of the church, David McKay,at Tuhikaramea, near Hamilton.
1968 — Pierre Elliott Trudeau is sworn in as prime
minister of Canada.
1974 — A gala performance of Oliver! by the Dunedin Operatic Society launches the first stage of the Regent Theatre development by the Otago Theatre Trust.
1979 — Dunedin signwriter Eric Watson is
appointed All Black coach.
— Maori activist is arrested for baring his buttocks to Prince Charles and Princess Diana as they leave Wellington Airport.
— A giant irrigation reservoir bursts and floods a Sri Lankan town, leaving at least 100 people dead and 20,000 families homeless.
1992 — More than 4000 Thais protest in the streets of Bangkok against the naming of a general, Suchinda Kraprayoon, as prime minister.
1998 — An Ecuadorean jet slams into a mountainside in Colombia, killing all 53 people aboard.
2007 — South Africa’s veterinary association announces that 30 dogs in the country have been killed in the past two weeks because of pet food laced with melamine, an industrial chemical traced to China.
2010 — Europe’s busiest airports reopen as air traffic across the Continent lurches back to life. But the gridlock created by Iceland’s volcanic ash plume is far from over; BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explodes and later sinks, killing 11 people and releasing about 800million of litres of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in what turns out to be the worst spill in United States history.
Today’s birthdays:
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon III), French statesman (18081873); Adolf Hitler, German Nazi leader (18891945); Harold Lloyd, US comedian (18931971); Alphonsus (Fonse) Carroll, New Zealand rugby union and rugby league international (18951974); George Takei ,US actor (1937); Ryan O’Neal, US actor (1941); George Baloghy, New Zealand artist (1950); Julian (Joe) Bennett, New Zealand writer/columnist (1957); Clint Howard, US actor (1959); Tom Willis, All Black (1979); Cameron Duncan, New Zealand writer/director (19862003); Hayden Paddon, New Zealand rally driver (1987).
Thought for today:
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid. — Soeren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (18131855).
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