Today in history
Today is Tuesday, June 26, the 177th day of 2018. There are 188 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1284 — Despite the earliest reference to this event being an entry in the Hamelin town chronicles in 1384 (which stated: ‘‘It is 100 years since our children left’’), and the fact that rats were not added to the story until 1559, many claim this to be the day the Pied Piper lured 130 children from Hamelin, never to be seen again.
1483 — Richard III of England begins his rule after
deposing his nephew, Edward V.
1843 — Hong Kong is proclaimed a British Crown Colony, with Sir Henry Pottinger as its first governor.
1906 — The first Grand Prix motor race is held, at Le Mans, France. Lasting for more than 12 hours, the race was won by Ferenc Szisz, driving for the Renault team, with Felice Nazzaro (Fiat) second. Albert Clement was third in a Clement-Bayard.
1917 — Conscription in New Zealand is extended to include Maori. However, it is selectively imposed, with only Waikato Maori being forced to enlist, as punishment for the separatism of the region’s Kingitanga movement.
1918 — The SS Wimmera strikes a mine laid a year earlier by a German raider, and sinks near North Cape, with the loss of 26 lives.
1945 — A charter establishing the United Nations
is signed in San Francisco by 50 nations.
1958 — Arnold Nordmeyer, the Labour government’s minister of finance, delivers his ‘‘Black Budget’’. It reduces imports, increases sales taxes on beer, tobacco and petrol, and is widely viewed as an overreaction to a balance-of payments deficit.
1959 — The St Lawrence Seaway, connecting North America’s Great Lakes with the Atlantic, is opened by Queen Elizabeth II and United States president Dwight Eisenhower.
1963 — US president John F. Kennedy visits West Berlin, where he makes his famous declaration: ‘‘Ich bin ein Berliner’’ (I am a Berliner).
1964 — More than 2000 screaming fans break police cordons and barricades outside the City Hotel in an effort to get a closer look at their idols when The Beatles arrive in Dunedin.
1970 — Alexander Dubcek, who as Czechoslovakia’s leader from 196769 loosened authoritarian reins, is expelled from the Communist Party.
1971 — Before a crowd of 45,000, and captained by Colin Meads, the All Blacks lose the first of a fourtest series against the Lions at Carisbrook 93. 1977 — Elvis Presley performs his final concert at Indianapolis. He died less than two months later; after 117 years of French rule, the East African state of Djibouti becomes independent.
1978 — South Yemeni president Salim Rubai Ali is overthrown and executed.
1987 — A.J. Hackett bungyjumps from the Eiffel Tower.
1988 — More than $5.5 million is raised in a 24hour telethon featuring many ‘‘athon’’type events, one of which was a group of Dunedin firefighters who broke the world record for the longest walk wearing breathing apparatus. The event also triggered an offscreen romance between US television host Leeza Gibbons and Coronation Street star Christopher Quinten.
1990 — Parliament instructs Hungary’s first postcommunist government to negotiate the country’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact.
1998 — An aircraft carrying the UN special envoy to Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, crashes shortly before it was due to land at Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
(Ivory Coast), killing all eight on board.
2000 — Proclaiming an ‘‘historic point in the 100,000year record of humanity,’’ scientists announce that the human genetic code essentially has been deciphered.
2012 — The Government passes its controversial Mixed Ownership Model Bill, allowing for a 49% public share float of Mighty River Power, Genesis Energy, Meridian and Solid Energy as well as a partial selldown of its Air New Zealand stake.
Today’s birthdays:
Wilhelm Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer (18981978);
Eleanor Parker, US actress
(19222013); Georgie Fame, English singermusician (1943); Pamela
Bellwood, US actress (1951); Tony
Hill, New Zealand international cricket umpire (1951); Mick Jones, British singer/guitarist (1955); David White, New Zealand cricket international (1961); Scott Anderson, New Zealand hockey international (1968); Jason Schwartzman, US actor (1980); Jacob (Jake) Gleeson, New Zealand football international (1990).
Thought for today
When a diplomat says yes, he means perhaps; when he says perhaps, he means no; when he says no, he is no diplomat. — Anonymous.