Today in history
Today is Tuesday, September 25, the 268th day of 2018. There are 97 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1066 — Harold II, king of England, defeats the Norwegians under King Harald the Ruthless at the battle of Stamford Bridge, near York, but falls against the Normans three weeks later.
1493 — Christopher Columbus sets sails from Cadiz,
Spain, on his second voyage to the New World.
1513 — Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa becomes the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Isthmus of Panama.
1555 — The Peace of Augsburg is declared by the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, granting the first permanent legal basis for the existence of Lutheranism as well as Catholicism in Germany.
1818 — The first transfusion using human blood
takes place at Guy’s Hospital in London.
1819 — The first grapevines to be grown in New
Zealand are planted at Kerikeri.
1844 — The New Zealand Gazette, the first newspaper published in New Zealand, ceases publication.
1852 — Prominent Dunedin businessman and founder of Dunedin suburbs Forbury and Caversham William Valpy dies, aged 59. He is remembered in the name of Valpy St, St Clair.
1883 — Harry Albert Atkinson takes office as New Zealand premier for a second term, which lasts until August 1884.
1918 — The Anzac Mounted Division captures Amman during the final days of fighting in Palestine.
1940 — The Nazi collaborationist Quisling Government is established in Norway during
World War 2.
1946 — The air force stores at Rongotai are destroyed by fire, with heavy losses of equipment and wool stored in the Centennial Exhibition buildings.
1951 — The Maori Women’s Welfare League is established in Wellington. Led by Whina Cooper, the league will tackle a number of health and social issues among Maori.
1956 — The first transatlantic telephone cable is put into service, from Oban, Scotland, to Clarenville, Newfoundland.
1957 — United States National Guardsmen escort nine black children into Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas, as whites protest outside.
1962 — Sonny Liston wins the world heavyweight boxing title after knocking out fellow American Floyd Patterson in the first round in Chicago.
1966 — Two typhoons hit Japan, leaving more than
300 people dead or missing. 1970 — Jordan’s King Hussein and Palestinian guerrilla leaders agree on a ceasefire to end the weeklong Black September civil war in Jordan, which leaves thousands dead.
1972 — Japan’s Premier Kakuei Tanaka arrives in Beijing, becoming the first Japanese premier to set foot in China since World War 2.
1976 — Constable Peter Murphy is fatally shot while attending a breakin at an Invercargill sports shop; Prime Minister Ian Smith accepts a proposal for eventual black rule in Rhodesia in a broadcast to the nation.
1977 — South African black civilrights leader Steve Biko is buried in King William’s Town after dying in police custody.
1978 — Onehundredandfortyfour people are killed when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collide over San Diego.
1981 — Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first
female justice of the US Supreme Court.
1983 — Thirtyeight prisoners, most of them Irish Republican Army members, escape from the high security Maze prison in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1996 — Ireland’s last Magdalene laundry closes. Begun as asylums to rehabilitate ‘‘fallen women’’, they increasingly took on prisonlike qualities.
1997 — The British Thrust supersonic car sets a land
speed record in Nevada of 1149.1kmh.
2002 — Recent publicity surrounding leaky homes prompts a flurry of calls to the Dunedin City Council. It is estimated more than 4600 Otago homes may be affected.
Today’s birthdays:
Herbert Dudley Purves, New Zealand scientist (19081993); Sir Robert Muldoon, 31st New Zealand prime minister (19211992); Barbara Walters, US TV commentator (1929); Peter Petherick, New Zealand cricketer (1942); Michael Douglas, US actorproducer (1944); Felicity Kendall, British actress (1946); Anson Williams, US actordirector (1949); Heather Locklear, US actress (1961); Catherine ZetaJones, Welshborn actress (1969); Gerard Davis, New
Zealand football international (1977).