Today in history
Today is Thursday, November 8, the 312th day of 2018. There are 53 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1520 — The bloodbath of Stockholm occurs when Swedes loyal to Denmark’s King Christian II execute more than 80 political opponents in a central square.
1576 — Under the Pacification of Ghent, all 17 provinces of the Netherlands are united against Spain in the Dutch War of Liberation.
1620 — The Catholic League under Count Tilly defeats the army of Frederick of Bohemia at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague.
1793 — The Louvre Museum in Paris opens to the public.
1841 — Auckland’s Chronicle newspaper begins publication.
1859 — Gold is discovered in the Buller River byJohn Rochfort.
1861 — The first taxi appears on Dunedin streets.
1868 — The Poverty Bay massacre begins when Ringatu forces loyal to Te Kooti attack Matawhero and other settlements.
1892 — Grover Cleveland is elected 24th president of the United States.
1895 — Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, German
physicist, discovers Xrays.
1917 — People’s Commissars give authority to Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin during the October Revolution.
1923 — Adolf Hitler stages an unsuccessful coup in Munich that becomes known as the BeerHall Putsch.
1932 — Franklin Roosevelt is elected 32nd US president.
1933 — Nadir Shah, ruler of Afghanistan, is
assassinated while visiting a high school in Kabul.
1935 — Australian aviators Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Tommy Pethybridge, aboard Lady Southern Cross, are reported missing over the Bay of Bengal.
1937 — Queen Mary Maternity Home is officially opened.
1939 — The New Zealand Centennial Exhibition is opened in Wellington; seven people are killed when a bomb explodes at Buerger braukeller, Munich, just after Hitler delivers a speech on the anniversary of the abortive 1923 putsch.
1943 — Three people are killed when a train is derailed in Hutt Valley. A further 19 are injured.
1950 — The first battle occurs between jet planes as US fighters are attacked by North Korean MIGs near Yalu River in the Korean conflict.
1959 — Phyllis Guthardt is ordained into the
Methodist ministry, in Wellington. She is the first woman to be ordained a minister in any mainstream religion in New Zealand; the United Arab Republic (a political union of Egypt and Syria) and Sudan sign an agreement on sharing Nile waters after construction of the Aswan Dam.
1960 — John F. Kennedy is elected US president.
1972 — West and East Germany end 23 years of Cold War antagonism by initialling a goodneighbour treaty pledging mutual respect for each other.
1988 — Nearly 9000 foreign tourists are evacuated from Sri Lankan beach resorts after Sinhalese extremists threaten to attack south coast hotels.
1993 — The Stari Most, a 16thcentury Ottoman bridge at Mostar, in southwestern Bosnia, which had endured wars and invading armies for over four centuries, collapses into the Neretva River after being shelled during the Bosnian War.
1997 — Chinese engineers divert the Yangtze River from its natural course, clearing the way for the construction of the enormous Three Gorges Dam.
2008 — The liberal centreleft New Zealand Labour Government of Helen Clark is ousted in the general election. John Key (National) becomes prime minister. Although holding a slender majority, he forms a coalition with Act and the Maori Party.
Today’s birthdays:
Edmund Halley, English astronomer (16561742); Bram Stoker, British author (18471912); Ike Robin, New Zealand professional wrestler (18861968); Margaret Mitchell, US author (190049); John Hunter, New Zealand Olympic rower (1943); Bonnie Raitt, US singer (1949); Christie Hefner, former Playboy Enterprises chairwoman and CEO (1952); Alfre Woodard, US actress (1953); Rickie Lee Jones US singer (1954); Richard Curtis, New Zealandborn screenwriter (1956); Leif Garrett, US singer, actor and television personality (1961); Jennifer WardLealand, New Zealand actress (1962); Courtney ThorneSmith, US actress (1967); Diana King, US singer (1970); Gretchen Mol, US actress (1972); Tara Reid, US actress (1975).