Today in history
Today is Wednesday, November 21, the 325th day of 2018. There are 40 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1759 — The Prussian army of Friedrich von Finck
capitulates at Maxen, Germany.
1783 — The first successful flight is made in a hotair balloon when Frenchmen JeanFrancois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent, the Marquis d’Arlandes, fly for 25 minutes above Paris.
1806 — France’s Napoleon Bonaparte issues the
Berlin Decrees, declaring a blockade of Britain.
1855 — Sweden joins Britain, France and Turkey in
an alliance against Russia.
1877 — Thomas Edison announces the invention of
the phonograph in the United States.
1916 — Death of the ruler of the AustroHungarian Empire since 1848, Emperor Franz Josef. His attack on Serbia helped precipitate World War 1.
1920 — The Irish Republican Army shoots dead 14 British agents in what becomes known as the country’s first Bloody Sunday.
1953 — The British Museum publishes a scientific report proving the Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni) discovery by Charles Dawson in 1912 was a hoax.
1956 — The UN General Assembly censures the
Soviet Union for invading Hungary.
1959 — In a referendum, Dunedin voters reject fluoridation of the city’s water supply by a wide margin.
1961 — A passenger aircraft crashes on Mt
Ruapehu, killing the pilot and five passengers. 1963 — The Roman Catholic Vatican Council authorises the use of vernacular instead of Latin in the sacraments.
1967 — The New Zealand dollar is devalued by almost 20% to make exports more affordable and to gain parity with Australia.
1968 — Roundtheworld solo yachtsman
Robin KnoxJohnston runs aground off the heads of Otago Harbour. He completed his journey at Falmouth on April 22, 1969, becoming the first to circumnavigate the earth solo, taking 312 days.
1973 — US president Richard Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, reveals the existence of an 181⁄2minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings relating to Watergate.
1975 — The Vietnamese governments in Hanoi and Saigon agree that a speedy merger is key to unification of the nation under communist rule. 1977 — God Defend New Zealand becomes New Zealand’s national anthem, holding equal status with God Save the Queen; an estimated 3000 people are believed to have perished in a cyclone that strikes southeastern India, and entire villages are submerged by tsunamis.
— Eightyseven people die in a fire at the MGM Grand HotelCasino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
— Dunedin’s new public library in Moray Pl opens.
— Former US Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested and accused of spying for Israel.
1995 — The jury in the third trial of John Barlow finds him guilty of the murders of Gene and Eugene Thomas.
1999 — China successfully completes an unmanned spacecraft test, a breakthrough that could make it the third country to put humans into space. The US and the former Soviet Union/ Russia are the other two.
2003 — US president George W. Bush ends his threeday state visit to Britain, sealing the UKUS alliance with fish and chips at Prime Minister Tony Blair’s neighbourhood pub. 2012 — Mt Tongariro erupts for the second time in just over three months, sending a thick grey plume of smoke and ash 4km into the sky from the Te Maari vent. The eruption was followed by 15min of volcanic activity. Scientists predicted another eruption in the coming weeks but did not expect it to escalate.
2015 — An Alpine Adventures sevenseater Squirrel helicopter crashes into Fox Glacier, killing all six passengers and the local pilot.
Today’s birthdays
Natalia Makarova, Russian ballerina (1940); Goldie Hawn, US actress (1945); Joe Karam, All Black (1951); Lorna Luft, US actresssinger (1952); Nicollette Sheridan, US actress (1963); Jamie Joseph, All Black (1969); Gordon Slater, All Black (1971); David Tua, New Zealand professional boxer (1972); Chris Moneymaker, US professional poker player (1975); Paul Urlovic, New Zealand football international (1978); Jason Stewart, New Zealand international 800m runner (1981); Aaron Smith, All Black (1988).
Thought for today
Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise. — The fourth Earl of Chesterfield, English author (16941773).
ODT