Today in history
Today is Saturday, June 16, the 167th day of 2018. There are 198 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1487 — The Battle of Stoke Field, the last great battle fought on English soil, brings an end to the War of the Roses between the houses of York and Lancaster.
1567 — Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned in
Lochleven Castle in Scotland.
1779 — Spain declares war on Britain, and the
siege of Gibraltar begins.
1901 — The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later King George V and Queen Mary) visit Wellington.
1903 — Ford Motor Co is incorporated in the United
States.
1904 — James Joyce’s famous novel Ulysses is set on this day. It is now celebrated internationally as Bloomsday after the novel’s main character, Leopold Bloom.
1907 — The Reactionary Party in Russia forces
Tsar Nicholas II to dissolve the Second Duma.
1917 — The first AllRussian Congress of the
Soviets is convened.
1920 — The Council of the League of Nations holds its first public meeting, at St James’s Palace in London.
1940 — France’s Maginot Line is abandoned to the
Germans in World War 2.
1941 — President Franklin Roosevelt orders the
closure of all German consulates in the US.
1948 — The first aeroplanehijacking occurs when
Chinese bandits attempt to take over a flight from Macao to Hong Kong, causing the plane to crash; the bandits’ leader is the sole survivor.
1955 — Pope Pius XII excommunicates Argentine president Juan Peron, a ban that was lifted eight years later.
1958 — The kakapo, thought by many to be
extinct, is discovered in the Milford Sound area.
1961 — Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet.
1963 — The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, is launched into orbit from a base in the Soviet Union; modern Israel’s founding father, David BenGurion, resigns as prime minister.
1970 — New Zealand’s Minister of Defence, D.S. Thomson, announces the scrapping of school cadet training.
1971 — The US Senate votes against a plan calling for total American troop withdrawal from Vietnam by the end of the year.
1976 — Thousands of Soweto schoolchildren revolt
against the South African Government’s plans to enforce Afrikaans as the language for instruction in black schools, setting off months of unrest in which 600 black people die.
1990 — Before a crowd of 32,000, the All Blacks, captained by the popular Buck Shelford, defeat Scotland 3116 at Carisbrook. First fiveeighth and goalkicker Grant Fox scores his first and only try for the All Blacks in test rugby.
1991 — Tens of thousands of Filipinos flee the eruption of Mt Pinatubo along ashclogged roads, while the US begins evacuating 20,000 of its citizens from Clark Air Base and Sudic Bay Naval Base.
1999 — In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki is sworn in
as president, succeeding Nelson Mandela.
2013 — Heavy rain causes widespread disruption, with flooding and slips throughout the South Island. A 63yearold woman is killed when her house is engulfed by huge landslip at Marahau, near Nelson.
2016 — Finance Minister Bill English vetoes
changes to extend paid parental leave to 26 weeks from the current 18 weeks, after the Bill passed its second reading 6160 two weeks previously. This was the first time a financial veto had been used in New Zealand politics.
Today’s birthdays:
Geronimo, Apache Indian leader (18291909); Stan Laurel, British comedian (18901965); Jean Peugeot, French carmanufacturer (18961966); Dame Catherine (Kate) Harcourt, New Zealand actress (1927); Trevor Redmond, New Zealand speedway rider (19271997); James Bolam, English actor (1935); Robin Morrison, New Zealand photographer (19441993); Roberto Duran, Panamanian boxing champion (1951); Phil Mickelson, American golfer (1970); Henry Perenara, New Zealand rugby league international player/referee (1980);
Olivia Hack, US actress (1983).