Today in history
Today is Thursday, November 1, the 305th day of 2018. There are 60 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1512 — Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of
the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel are first exhibited.
1700 — Charles II of Spain dies and is succeeded by Philip V, marking the start of the War of Spanish Succession.
1791 — A group of 20 male convicts and one pregnant female convict escape from the jail at Parramatta, New South Wales, in an attempt to reach China overland. Whilst some were recaptured, many simply died in the unfamiliar bushland of New South Wales. Many convicts believed that China lay beyond the Blue Mountains.
1858 — Hawkes Bay separates from the Wellington
region to become a province.
1859 — Marlborough separates from the Nelson
region.
1876 — The central Government becomes the only legislative body in New Zealand with the cessation of the provinces’ former role.
1892 — The first lobsters are released at Taiaroa
Head by the Otago Acclimatisation Society.
1898 — Despite being rejected on two previous occasions by Parliament, New Zealand’s Oldage Pensions Act becomes law. It is the first law of its kind in the world, allowing a meanstested pension to be paid to destitute older people, providing they are of good character.
1904 — Christchurch Cathedral is consecrated by
Bishop Newall. Construction began 40 years earlier on the project, which suffered a number of delays due to a lack of funding.
1906 — The New Zealand International Exhibition
opens in Hagley Park, Christchurch.
1919 — The New Zealand Expeditionary Force is disbanded. During the war, more than 100,000 New Zealand men served, of which more than 18,000 died.
1928 — Turkey adopts the Latin alphabet to replace Arabic script as part of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s westernisation reforms.
1941 — Free visits to doctors by beneficiaries begin
in New Zealand.
1944 — More than 700 children, the first wartime refugees from Poland, arrive in Wellington. Over the next six years, more than 5000 wartime refugees will arrive here.
1945 — The Bank of New Zealand is nationalised.
1952 — The US detonates its first hydrogen bomb,
at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
1955 — A bright ‘‘flying light’’ was seen travelling
alongside a National Airways DC3 passenger aircraft for approximately five minutes on the last flight of the day from Wellington to Auckland.
1961 — The death penalty for murder is abolished in
New Zealand.
1963 — President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in
an army coup in South Vietnam.
1971 — A dancehall fire in SaintLaurentduPont,
France, claims 142 lives.
1972 — Dunedin’s Jean McLean is the first woman since 1871 to be appointed to the executive of the Otago Chamber of Commerce.
1973 — After 111 years, The Southland Times discontinues frontpage advertising in favour of editorial content.
1990 — Sir Geoffrey Howe resigns as Britain’s deputy prime minister amid differences with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over Europe.
2000 — The New Zealand Warriors No19 jersey is retired and presented to Peter Leitch (the Mad Butcher).
2015 — The All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup,
defeating Australia 3417 at Twickenham Stadium, London. They become the first team to win the trophy three times and the first to win it twice in succession.
2016 — Southern District Health Board reveals that 30 people were losing their sight while waiting for treatment within its region.
Today’s birthdays:
Henry (Harry) Albert Atkinson, fourtime New Zealand prime minister (183192); Sir William Walkley, New Zealand oil company executive (18961976); Charlie Oliver, All Black and New Zealand cricket representative (190577); Les Mills, New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games representative and politician (1934); Barbara Bosson, US actress (1939);
Larry Flynt, US magazine publisher (1942);
Jeannie Berlin, US actress (1949); Anne Audain, New Zealand international runner (1955); Murray Pierce,
All Black (1957); Lyle Lovett, US singer (1957); Patricia (Hekia) Parata, New Zealand politician (1958); Anthony Kiedis, US singer (1962); Rick Allen, English drummer (1963); Emily McColl, New Zealand football international (1985).
Thought for today:
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them. — Eric Hoffer, American author and philosopher (19021983).
ODT