Today in history
Today is Thursday, October 4, the 277th day of
2018. There are 88 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1209 — Otto IV is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1539 — The marriage treaty is signed for England’s King Henry VIII to wed Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife.
1582 — Last day of the Julian calendar in the Papal States, Spain and Portugal. Pope Gregory’s Gregorian calendar took effect the next day, which became October 15 to allow for the 10day error which the Julian system had accumulated.
1824 — The Republic of Mexico is proclaimed.
1830 — Belgium becomes an independent state,
having been part of the Netherlands since 1815.
1852 — Gold is discovered near Coromandel town.
1862 — Goldmining begins in the Arrow River in
Central Otago.
1895 — The first United States Open golf tournament is held, at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. It is won by English professional
Horace Rawlins with 173 for 36 holes.
1910 — Portugal’s King Manuel II flees to England on the outbreak of revolution in Lisbon. A republic is declared the next day.
1916 — The New Zealand Division is retired from the front line at the Somme. It had sustained more than 7000 casualties.
1917 — The New Zealand Division mounts its first attack at Passchendaele. While achieving its objective of capturing Gravenstafel Spur, it came at a cost of 320 New Zealand lives, including that of former All Black captain Dave Gallaher.
1921 — George Bolt makes the first oneday flight from Auckland to Wellington.
1930 — Former Reform presidential candidate Getulio Vargas leads a revolt in Brazil and later becomes president.
1931 — The American comic strip Dick Tracy,
created by Chester Gould, makes its debut.
1940 — Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and their foreign ministers hold a summit meeting on an armoured train at the Brenner Pass during World War 2.
1949 — At a conference of South Island local bodies in Queenstown, John Bennetts of Roxburgh receives congratulations for 50 years as a member of the Tuapeka County Council. First elected in 1899, he had been reelected on 17 consecutive occasions unopposed.
1952 — The first pacemaker to control the body’s heartbeat, developed by Dr Paul Zoll of Harvard University, is fitted externally to David Schwartz.
1957 — New Zealander Morris Yock trademarks the
Jandal; the Soviet Union puts its first Sputnik spacecraft into orbit around Earth, heralding the start of the space age.
1958 — The first transatlantic passenger jetliner service is begun by British Overseas Airways Corporation, with flights between London and New York.
1980 — The new $56 million Dunedin Hospital ward block becomes operational. It will lead to the closure of Parkside Hospital and the recommissioning of Wakari Hospital as a geriatric hospital.
1988 — Brazil enacts a new constitution, completing a longawaited ‘‘transition to democracy’’.
1996 — New Zealand racing driver Denny Hulme dies after suffering a heart attack at Bathhurst. He was 56. Hulme was the 1967 World Formula 1 drivers’ champion and drove in 112 Grand Prix for eight victories.
1997 — Two people die and residents are evacuated from riverside areas in Lower Hutt during torrential downpours. 1999 — Dinko Sakic (78), the last known living World War 2 concentration camp commander, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for war crimes committed more than 50 years earlier while running Croatia’s infamous Jasenovac camp. 2001 — A Ukrainian antiaircraft missile brings down a Russian airliner over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people on board.
2002 — Nepal’s King Gyanendra dismisses Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and takes over the reins of power, throwing the Himalayan kingdom into political turmoil.
Today’s birthdays
David (Dave) Evans, All Black and New Zealand rugby league international (18861940); Buster Keaton, US actorcomedian (18951966); Charlton Heston, US actor (19232008), Jackie Collins, British novelist (19372015); Ivan Mauger, New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider (19392018); Iain Hewitson, New Zealandborn chef (1948); Tim Chadwick, New Zealand artist and author (19622010); Liev Schreiber, American actor (1967); Alicia Silverstone, US actress (1976).
Thought for today:
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. — Lord Acton, English historian (18341902).