Today in history
Today is Monday, July 9, the 190th day of 2018. There are175 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1540 — The sixmonth marriage of England’s King
Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves is annulled.
1816 — The United Provinces of La Plata, now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and part of Bolivia, declare themselves independent from Spain.
1850 —The 12th president of the United States, Zachary Taylor, a soldier famous for his battles against the Mexicans, dies after serving just 16 months in office.
1863 — Governor George Grey orders all Maori living between Auckland and the Waikato to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown or retreat south of the Mangatawhiri River.
1877 — The first Wimbledon tennis championships
are held.
1887 — The first paper napkins are introduced at a dinner at a British hotel by John Dickenson, a stationery manufacturer.
1890 — A forerunner to the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind, the Jubilee Institute for the Blind, is formed in Auckland.
1893 — Physician Daniel Hale Williams performs the world’s first successful closure of a heart wound in a Chicago hospital.
1947 — The engagement of England’s Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten is announced.
1963 — An agreement is signed to create the Federation of Malaysia, uniting Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo.
— A Pan Am Boeing 727 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 people aboard and eight people on the ground.
1986 — The Homosexual Law Reform Bill passes a third reading in Parliament. When enacted in August, it will no longer be against the law to indulge in consensual male homosexual practices in New Zealand.
1987 — At least 50 passengers are killed when a wall of water washes two train carriages into a monsoonswollen river in India’s Andhra Pradesh state.
1989 — Carlos Menem is sworn in, the first time in 60 years that a civilian president succeeds another in Argentina.
1991 — The International Olympic Committee
readmits South Africa after three decades.
1993 — British scientists using DNA geneticfingerprinting tests, identify the bones of Russian Tsar Nicholas II and other family members.
1994 — Fullback Shane Howarth kicks five penalty
goals and a conversion to snap a threegame losing streak when the All Blacks beat South Africa 2214 at Carisbrook, before a crowd of 41,000.
1997 — The Nevada Athletic Commission revokes
Mike Tyson’s boxing licence and fines him $US3 million for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear in a title match.
2000 — Police fire tear gas at unruly fans during a World Cup qualifying football game between Zimbabwe and South Africa, setting off a stampede that kills 12 people.
2002 — The African Union (AU), Africa’s new political union, is launched by at least 40 of the continent’s 53 presidents and monarchs. It replaces the Organisation of African Unity.
2005 — The British and Irish Lions suffer their first series whitewash in 22 years when beaten 3819 by the All Blacks in the third test at Auckland. In the other matches of the series, the All Blacks won 213 in Christchurch and 4818 in Wellington.
2006 — A Russian commercial plane careens into garages as it lands in a fiery crash at Irkutsk, killing at least 125 people, in the country’s second major commercial airline disaster in two months.
Today’s birthdays
Elias Howe, US inventor of the sewing machine (181967); Brian Dennehy, US actor (1938); Peter Land, New Zealand actor (1953); Tom Hanks, US actor (1956); Marc Almond, British singer (1956); Kelly McGillis, US actress (1957); Denise Roche, New Zealand politician (1963); Aaron Whittaker, New Zealand rugby league international (1968); Scott Grimes, US actor (1971); Jack White, US singersongwriter (1975); BradleyJohn (BJ) Watling, New Zealand cricket international (1985); Earl Bamber, New Zealand motorracing driver and commentator (1990).
Quote from history
‘‘How can a guy climb trees, say ‘Me, Tarzan, you, Jane’, and make a million? The public forgives my acting because they know I was an athlete. They know I wasn’t make believe.’’ — Johnny Weissmuller, swimmer and film actor, on his role as Tarzan in 20 films. On July 9, 1922, Weissmuller became the first man to swim 100m in under a minute, clocking 58.6sec.