Today in history
Today is Saturday, October 27, the 300th day of 2018. There are 65 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
625 — Honorius I begins his reign as Pope.
939 — Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of
England.
1795 — The cargo ship Endeavour strikes rocks and is later abandoned in Facile Harbour, Dusky Sound. It is the first recorded shipwreck in New Zealand waters; the United States and Spain sign the Treaty of San Lorenzo (also known as Pinckney’s Treaty), providing free navigation of the Mississippi River.
1871 — Britain annexes the diamond fields of
Kimberley, South Africa.
1900 — After four years of work, the first section
of the New York subway is opened.
1901 — The first known use of a getaway car occurs in Paris when thieves drive off after holding up a shop.
1918 — Kaiser Wilhelm II accepts the resignation of General Erich Ludendorff after the failure of the German offensive on the Western Front.
1922 — The Italian Government resigns under increasing pressure from the fascist movement of Benito Mussolini.
1934 — The official opening of the Waitaki Dam by GovernorGeneral Lord Bledisloe. The generators had not been completed and could not produce electricity, so when Lord Bledisloe symbolically switched on the lights, they were powered by electricity from Lake Coleridge. 1938 — Du Pont announces a name for its new
synthetic yarn: nylon.
1954 — Walt Disney’s first television programme, titled Disneyland after his yettobecompleted theme park, premieres on the US ABC network.
1966 — The UN General Assembly votes to end South Africa’s mandate over South West Africa, now Namibia.
1971 — The Government of Congo announces the country will change its name to the Republic of Zaire.
1978 — Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1979 — Otago Press and Produce completes the takeover of Allied Press, publisher of the Otago Daily Times and Evening Star.
1986 — The Big Bang takes place on the London Stock Exchange with the introduction of computerised dealing and deregulation of many controls.
1990 — New Zealand’s voters oust the Labour Party of Mike Moore, giving the National Party under
Jim Bolger the biggest election victory in more than 50 years.
1993 — Bushfires in Southern California destroy at least 800 homes.
1997 — The Dow Jones index fell 554.26 points, its largest oneday decline in points terms; the decline of 7.18% was the biggest since the drop of 23% in 1987.
1999 — The dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to sing Happy Birthday, Mr President to President John F. Kennedy is sold for $US1,267,500, a record for an item of clothing at auction.
2000 — Stormy seas prevent divers from entering the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, after naval officials reveal evidence that more than 23 seamen had survived the initial explosions that sank the vessel
2002 — Kate Cameron (21), of Kurow, wins the inaugural ‘‘Perfect Woman’’ contest. She said that she had only entered because her father promised her a Valiant Charger if she won; Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wins Brazil’s presidential runoff election, becoming the nation’s first leftist and workingclass president. 2004 — Pleading they cannot properly defend an unwilling client, Slobodan Milosevic’s courtappointed lawyers ask to quit, leaving the UN tribunal in a dilemma over how to conclude the most important war crimes trial in half a century in a way history will judge as fair.
Today’s birthdays
Isaac Singer, US inventor and manufacturer (18111878);
Josiah Firth, New Zealand businessman and politician
(18261897); John Cleese,
English actorcomedian
(1939); Peter Firth, English actor (1953); John Eden, New Zealandborn paralympian (1955); Simon Le Bon, English singer (1958); Peter Renner, New Zealand international steeplechase and marathon runner (1959);
John Steel, New Zealand international swimmer (1972); VanessaMae, Singaporean violinist (1978); Kelly Osbourne, British actresssinger (1984).
Thought for today:
Happiness is a way station between too much and too little. — Channing Pollock, American author and dramatist (18801946).