Today in history
Today is Monday, May 21, the 141st day of 2018. There are 224 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1471 — King Henry VI of England is murdered in the
Tower of London. Edward IV takes the throne. 1813 — The indecisive Battle of Bautzen, Germany, between the army of France’s Napoleon Bonaparte and those of Prussia and Russia, ends with heavy losses on both sides.
1840 — LieutenantGovernor William Hobson claims sovereignty over the North Island for Queen Victoria by virtue of the Treaty of
Waitangi, despite the collection of signatures to it not having been completed. He also claims sovereignty over the South Island by virtue of discovery.
1859 — The New Zealand Insurance Company is established, with eight Auckland businessmen promising their savings to the venture.
1883 — Auckland University College is officially opened by the Governor, LieutenantGeneral Sir William Jervois.
1904 — Football’s international body, Fifa, is
established in Paris.
1909 — Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau Te Wherowhero resumes his role as Maori king after serving on the Legislative Council.
1924 — The New Zealand Association of Basketball is established in Wellington. The organisation later became the National Netball Association.
1964 — A volunteer force of 20 police officers from New Zealand arrives in Cyprus for peacekeeping duties with the United Nations.
— Organised by the Hamilton Car Club, New Zealand’s first motor rally, the Rally of the Pines, is held. It is won by club member Bill Purvis in a rebuilt 1951 Morris Minor; more than 300 people die in a department store fire in Brussels.
1968 — The nuclearpowered United States submarine USS Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, is last heard from. Its remains were later found on the ocean bed 644km southwest of the Azores.
1969 — Sirhan B. Sirhan is sentenced to death for the murder of US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
1980 — A coal train derails at Otira after a 50m section of track was washed away during stormy weather. The driver was trapped and drowned.
1982 — British troops attack the Argentineheld Falkland Islands, and the British military says a beachhead has been established at Port San Carlos.
1983 — During a threeday storm that hits Wellington, winds over 74kmh continue to batter the region for 32 consecutive hours (the longest recorded gale to strike New Zealand).
1989 — Students occupying Tiananmen Square in China reject a government ultimatum to leave the square, as several million people march in cities throughout the world to show support for the prodemocracy demonstrators.
1991 — Rajiv Gandhi, candidate for prime minister of India, is assassinated in a bomb attack in the state of Madras.
1993 — The Venezuelan Senate suspends President Carlos Andres Perez because of embezzlement allegations.
1994 — Bakili Muluzi is sworn in as Malawi’s first
democratically elected president.
1996 — A ferry strikes a rock and sinks in Lake Victoria, Tanzania, drowning more than 500 people.
1998 — After weeks of protests and riots in Indonesia, President Suharto resigns, ending a 32year reign. 2003 — The 192 member countries of the World Health Organisation adopt the world’s first antismoking treaty, aimed at breaking a habit that kills nearly five million people every year; an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale strikes northern Algeria, killing more than 2250 and injuring more than 10,000.
Today’s birthdays:
Paul Verschaffelt, third New Zealand public service commissioner (18871959); Harold Robbins, US novelist (19161997); Keith Davis, All Black (1930); Ron Isley, US singer (1941); Leo Sayer, British singer (1948); Carol Potter, US actress (1948); Mister T, US actor (1952); Judge Reinhold, US actor (1957); Anika Moa, New Zealand pop recording artist (1980); Ma’a Nonu, All Black (1982); Emily Robins, New Zealand actress (1989).
Quote from history:
‘‘I was astonished at the effect my successful landing in France had on the nations of the world. To me, it was like a match lighting a bonfire.’’ — US aviator Charles Lindbergh. On May 21, 1927, Lindbergh became the first pilot to fly the Atlantic solo, from Long Island, New York, to Paris.