Today in history
Today is Saturday, February 9, the 40th day of 2019. There are 325 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
474 — Zeno the Isaurian is crowned as coemperor of the Byzantine Empire together with his son Leo II.
1554 — Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger’s forces
are defeated in their attempt to take London.
1667 — The Peace of Andrusovo ends the Thirteen Years’ War between Russia and Poland.
1788 — Austria’s Joseph II declares war on Turkey.
1801 — The Peace of Luneville between Austria and France marks the virtual destruction of the Holy Roman Empire.
1849 — Rome is proclaimed a republic under Giuseppe Mazzini.
1857 — The first gold from diggings in the Nelson area is put up for auction. The ensuing goldrush to the area brings about a name change, from Massacre Bay to Golden Bay.
1878 — A visiting British steamer mistaken for a hostile Russian raider causes panic in Wellington. The country is in the midst of the first Russian scare, prompting the Government to apply to Great Britain for heavy guns to increase coastal defences; the foundation stone for the University of Otago is laid in Castle St.
1886 — United States president Grover Cleveland declares a state of emergency in Seattle due to antiChinese violence.
1908 — Dunedin’s world champion walker, Joe Scott, dies, aged 48.
1923 — Dobrolet, the Soviet state airline, is formed. It was renamed Aeroflot in 1932.
1942 — The French passenger liner Normandie, which had just been renamed USS Lafayette, catches fire while being converted into a troopship and sinks at its pier in New York.
1943 — The Battle of Guadalcanal, codenamed Operation Watchtower by US forces, ends with victory over the Japanese.
1949 — Mt Ngauruhoe erupts violently, discharging debris 100m skyward. Eruptions last for more than a week.
1951 — The beginning of industrial action on New Zealand’s waterfront that will divide the country and last for 151 days.
1962 — Jamaica becomes an independent nation within the British Commonwealth.
1964 — The Beatles make their first live American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
1969 — The first test flight of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet occurs.
1971 — An earthquake in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles kills at least 64 people.
1981 — Death of Bill Haley, US rock’n’roll pioneer and band leader.
1983 — The 1981 English Derby winner Shergar, is stolen from his stable in Ireland.
1988 — Dunedin’s inaugural Baldwin St Gut Buster race is held. The run up and down the world’s steepest street attracted 60 competitors and a large crowd of spectators. The fastest runtime was achieved by Brendon Downs, who recorded 2min 36sec, and Dunedin jeweller Iain Clark set a world record when he rollerskated to the top.
2001 — A United States navy submarine collides with a Japanese fishing boat off the Hawaiian coast, killing nine of those aboard the boat.
2003 — Pope John Paul II appeals for world prayer to avert war before the USled invasion of Iraq.
2006 — Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez calls President George W. Bush a ‘‘madman’’ and accuses the US and Britain of planning to invade Iran, Venezuela’s closest ally in the Middle East.
2007 — Australian kayaker Andrew McAuley is lost at sea while attempting a transtasman crossing. His kayak is believed to have capsized 65km from New Zealand’s Milford Sound.