Today in history
Today is Wednesday, May 30, the 150th day of 2018. There are 215 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1431 — After being handed over by the Church, who judged her a heretic, Joan of Arc is burnt at the stake at Rouen, France, by the English and their French collaborators.
1588 — The Spanish Armada under Alonso Perez de Guzman, the seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia, sails from Lisbon for England.
1814 — The first Treaty of Paris is signed between European countries and France, ending the Napoleonic Wars until the return of Napoleon from exile on Elba.
1842 — George Selwyn arrives at Auckland to take up the post of Anglican bishop of New Zealand; John Francis attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria as she rides in her carriage down Constitution Hill in London.
1883 — Some 12 people are trampled to death when a rumour that the recently opened
Brooklyn Bridge is in imminent danger of collapsing leads to a stampede.
1901 — New Zealand prime minister Richard Seddon’s fierce opposition to federation with Australia is supported in the recommendation of the royal commission investigating the idea.
1925 — Joseph Gordon Coates (Reform) takes over from Sir Francis Dillon Bell as New Zealand prime minister; British police kill 13 demonstrators in Shanghai, provoking months of demonstrations and boycotts against British goods in China. The incident gives rise to the Communist Party.
1941 — While evacuating Allied troops from Crete, in World War 2, HMAS Perth is bombed, damaging its ‘‘A’’ boiler room. Four of her sailors and nine of the 1188 embarked soldiers were killed. The ship continues with the evacuation, assisting more than 16,000 troops to successfully leave the island over four nights.
1954 — Sir Edmund Hillary’s New Zealand expedition climbs the 23,800ft (7129m) Baruntse peak in the Himalayas.
1958 — The Buller Hotel, Westport, is destroyed by
fire.
1959 — GovernorGeneral Viscount Cobham
officially opens the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
1964 — The Marsden Point oil refinery is officially
opened and begins production.
1967 — Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Jordan’s King Hussein sign a mutual defence treaty, prompting Israel to strike preemptively a week later, starting the SixDay War.
1977 — The first Waitangi Tribunal case is heard.
Joe Hawke’s claim of a right to gather shellfish irrespective of the method, is not supported by the tribunal.
1980 — Pope John Paul II arrives in France on the first visit by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since the early 19th century.
1992 — The All Blacks escape with a fortuitous 2421 victory over Ireland at Carisbrook.
2005 — Iranian climbers Farkhondeh Sadegh and Labeh Keshavarz become the first Muslim women to reach the top of the world’s highest peak, Mt Everest.
2006 — Prime Minister Helen Clark presents a cheque for $3.7 million to complete the fundraising for Dunedin’s Chinese Garden.
2007 — Mountaineering officials confirm that retired schoolteacher Katsusuke Yanagisawa became the oldest person to climb Mt Everest, being 71 years, 2 months and 2 days old when he reached the summit of the 8850m peak on May 22.
2010 — Coastal Otago residents begin a massive
cleanup following a week of torrential rain that caused widespread flooding in most areas. North of Dunedin, Palmerston endured 326.7mm, while south of the city, areas of the Taieri Plain and Milton were worst affected.
Today’s birthdays:
Vernon Cracknell, New Zealand politician (19121989); Norman Eugene ‘‘Clint’’ Walker, US actor (1927); Mel Cooke, New Zealand rugby league international (19342013); Ruta Lee, Canadian actress and dancer (1936); Michael J. Pollard, US actor (1939); Ross (Mike) Parkinson, All Black (19482009); Bob Willis, English cricketer (1949); Allison Roe, New Zealand marathon runner (1956); Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer (1958); Todd Rippon, New Zealand actor (1964); Wynonna Judd, US country singer (1964); Tony Iro, New Zealand rugby league international (1967); Tony Rampton, New Zealand basketball international (1976).
Quote from history:
‘‘The writer is the Faust of modern society, the only surviving individualist in a mass age. To his orthodox contemporaries he seems a semimadman.’’ — Boris Pasternak, Russian novelist and poet famed for Doctor Zhivago, who died in Moscow on May 30, 1960.