Today in history
Today is Saturday, September 15, the 258th day of 2018. There are 107 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1590 — Giovanni Battista, son of the Elector Palatine, signs a treaty with French Huguenots to bring an army of 156,000 German and Swiss mercenaries into France.
1776 — During the American Revolution, British forces under General William Howe capture New York.
1830 — British statesman William Huskisson is fatally injured at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
1840 — The 310ton barque Anna Watson arrives in Waitemata Harbour from the Bay of Islands, loaded with materials and staff representing Governor William Hobson, looking to establish a new settlement that Hobson had resolved to call ‘‘Auckland’’.
1867 — Fertilised trout ova brought in from Tasmania are placed in a breeding box in the Water of Leith.
1868 — Located in the Exchange, Otago Museum opens. It opened on its present site in August 1877.
1916 — The Battle of FlersCourcelette, the third and final general offensive mounted by the British in the Battle of the Somme, begins with New Zealand suffering heavy casualties at Flers. The battle marked the first involvement at the Somme for the Canadian Corps, New Zealand Division and tanks of the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps. 1917 — Russia is proclaimed a republic by
Alexander Kerensky, head of a provisional government.
1935 — Nuremberg laws outlaw Jews and make
the swastika the official flag of Germany.
1938 — British prime minister Neville Chamberlain visits Germany’s Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden, where Hitler states his determination to annex Sudetenland on the principle of selfdetermination.
1940 — During the Battle of Britain in World War 2, the tide turns as the Luftwaffe sustains heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force.
1969 — New Zealand Steel begins production at Glenbrook, Waiuku. It first smelts scrap iron in electric arc furnaces. Ironsand is not used until later in the year.
1972 — Two former White House aides, Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy, are added to the five men already facing charges related to the breakin at the Watergate building.
1982 — As the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act comes into force, Western Samoans lose their automatic right to New Zealand citizenship. However, all Western Samoans in the country were granted the right to citizenship.
1988 — The convictions of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain over the death of their baby, Azaria, at Ayers Rock are quashed.
1998 — United States president Bill Clinton ends a fiveday visit to New Zealand on a high note, declaring an end to the blanket ban on military exercises between the two countries imposed over New Zealand’s antinuclear stance.
2012 — The All Blacks defeat South Africa 2111 in a somewhat dour match marking the first international rugby test played at Dunedin’s new covered stadium. Of nine kicks at goal, South Africa could convert only two. Another talking point was All Black captain Richie McCaw being hit by a flying elbow on the edge of a ruck by Springbok prop Dean Greyling; State Highway 6 between Haast and Hawea is closed to night traffic due to two major slips in the area following a period of heavy rain, and a shallow 5.2magnitude earthquake in the area 10 days previously.
2015 — An explosion at a hazardous materials recycling business in Auckland kills one man and injures four others.
Today’s birthdays:
Agatha Christie, British author (18901976); Jean Batten, New Zealand aviatrix (19091982); Phil Lamason, pilot in Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War 2 (19182012); Lincoln Hurring, New Zealand Olympic swimmer (19311993); Oliver Stone, US filmmaker (1946); Tommy Lee Jones, US actor (1946); Richard Webb, New Zealand cricketer (1952); Greg Hallett, New Zealand writer (1961); Nathan Astle, New Zealand cricketer (1971); Reece Young, New Zealand cricketer (1979); Prince Harry of the United Kingdom (1984); Kris (Chetan) Ramlu, New Zealand musician (1989); David Ambler, New Zealand sprinter (1989).
Thought for today:
In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play. — Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (18441900).