Today in history
Today is Tuesday, November 20, the 324th day of 2018. There are 41 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1497 — Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama becomes the first to sail around the Cape of Good Hope.
1818 — Simon Bolivar formally declares Venezuela
independent of Spain.
1863 — British troops and Maori defenders clash at the pa at Rangiriri,with losses on both sides. The British troops overrun the pa the next day.
1901 — The second HayPauncefoot Treaty provides for the construction of the Panama Canal by the United States.
1902 — Henri Desgrange, director of the sports daily L’Auto, and staff journalist G´eo Lef`evre decide to organise a bicycle race around France in an attempt to crush rival paper Le V´elo. The event is set down for July 1, 1903, and becomes known as the Tour de France.
1910 — A revolution breaks out in Mexico, led by
Francisco I.
1920 — New Zealander Pat Hannan wins the world single sculls championship on the Wairau River, near Blenheim.
1929 — Spanish artist Salvador Dali has his first
oneman show.
1945 — Accused Nazi World War 2 criminals go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany; the Allied Control Commission approves the transfer of sixmillion Germans from Austria, Hungary and Poland back to West Germany.
1947 — Britain’s future queen, Princess Elizabeth, marries Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in London’s Westminster Abbey.
1948 — photographs and captures a takahe near Te Anau. Long thought extinct, it was the first time in 50 years the flightless bird had been seen.
1957 — The Clutha River breaks its banks, flooding Inch Clutha. Stirling and parts of Kaitangata are later evacuated. Frantic sandbagging around the Balclutha Railway Station took place to protect the town.
1962 — Barrie Devenport becomes the first person in modern history to complete a swim across Cook Strait. Devenport made his crossing from Ohau Point to Wellington Head; President John F. Kennedy agrees to lift the American blockade of Cuba, ending the Cuban missile crisis.
1969 — The Nixon administration announces a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phaseout in the US.
1977 — Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat becomes
the first Arab leader to speak before the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), telling it that Egypt seeks peace with justice.
— In China, Jiang Qing, widow of Mao Tsetung, goes on trial on charges of treason.
— The Most Rev Sir Paul Reeves takes office as GovernorGeneral. He is the first clergyman and the first of Maori descent to be appointed to the role.
1992 — Fire sweeps through Queen Elizabeth’s residence at Windsor Castle, causing extensive damage to its ancient fabric; 20 paintings by Adolf Hitler are unsold at an auction after they fail to attract a single bid.
1993 — Eve van Grafhorst, the girl who captured the hearts of New Zealanders after fleeing community hostility in Australia when she contracted Aids, dies peacefully in her mother’s arms, aged 11.
1995 — BBC Television broadcasts an interview with Princess Diana, who admits being unfaithful to Prince Charles.
1998 — The new Land Transport Bill passes through its final stages in Parliament, making photographs mandatory on driver’s licences. Motorists also have to carry licences at all times while driving. A raft of other measures includes a crackdown on disqualified drivers and the immediate confiscation of cars.
— Hamilton Zoo curator Samantha Kudeweh is fatally attacked by a Sumatran tiger.
Today’s birthdays:
Estelle Parsons, US actress (1927); Phil Gard, All Black (19471990); Bo Derek, US actress (1956); Graeme Miller, New Zealand international road cyclist (1960); Chris Harris, New Zealand cricket international (1969); Callie Thorne, US actress (1969); Sabrina Lloyd, US actress (1970); Dion Nash, New Zealand cricket international (1971); Gina Crawford (n´ee Ferguson), New Zealand professional triathlete (1980); Neil Broom, New Zealand cricket international (1983); Vicky Rodewyk, New Zealand actress (1988); Abby Erceg, New Zealand football international (1989); Lara Custance, New Zealand actress (1992).
Thought for today:
No man remains quite what he was when he recognises himself. — Thomas Mann, German author (18751955).