Today in history
Today is Friday, March 22, the 81st day of 2019. There are 284 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date.
1349 — The townspeople of Fulda, Germany, massacre Jews, blaming them for the black death.
1765 — The Stamp Act, the first direct British tax on American colonists, authored by prime minister George Grenville, is passed into law.
1790 — Thomas Jefferson becomes the first US Secretary of State under President
Washington.
1794 — The United States Congress passes a law prohibiting American ships from supplying slaves to other countries.
1824 — The British Parliament votes to purchase
38 paintings to establish a national art gallery.
1832 — The British Parliament, led by prime minister Charles Grey, passes the Reform Act, introducing wideranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales, and increasing the electorate from about 500,000 voters to 813,000.
1848 — After an insurrection, the Venetian Republic declares its independence from Austria.
1882 — The US Congress outlaws polygamy.
1888 — A meeting is held at Anderton’s Hotel, London, aimed at setting up the English
Football League.
1895 — Auguste and Louis Lumiere show their
first movie to an invited audience in Paris. 1904 — The first colour picture appears in a newspaper, the Daily Illustrated Mirror, in New York.
1909 — The New Zealand Government offers the dreadnought HMS New Zealand to the British Government as a contribution towards empire defence.
1913 — Developed by George Julius, the world’s first electrically operated totalisator begins operating at the Auckland Racing Club’s Easter meeting at Ellerslie.
1917 — The US becomes the first nation to recognise the new provisional government in Russia following the collapse of the monarchy.
1919 — The world’s first international airline service is launched, a weekly flight between Paris and Brussels.
1945 — The Arab League is formed in Cairo by
Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
1960 — Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes
patent the laser.
1964 — AntiMuslim violence breaks out in India.
1978 — Karl Wallenda, the 73yearold patriarch of The Flying Wallendas highwire act, falls to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotels in Puerto Rico.
1979 — Sir Richard Sykes, Britain’s ambassador to the Netherlands, is shot dead by Irish terrorists in The Hague.
1989 — Delegates from 105 countries, meeting in Switzerland, adopt a draft UN treaty to control international transport of dangerous wastes.
1994 — Anna Paquin (best supporting actress) and Jane Campion (original screenplay) win New Zealand’s first Oscars, for The Piano. Holly Hunter is named best actress for her role in the movie, while Tom Hanks is named best actor (Philadelphia) and the blackandwhite factbasedfilm Schindler’s List wins best picture; a Russian Airbus A310 crashes in Siberia en route to Hong Kong, killing all 75 people aboard.
1997 — Tara Lipinski, at age 14 years and 10 months, becomes the youngest women’s world figureskating champion. 2001 — Dunedin’s millennium cross is installed at
Queens Gardens.
2005 — The only man to challenge Hosni Mubarak for the presidency is charged with forging signatures to win approval for his party, an escalation in the Government’s confrontation with Ayman Nour, the most prominent figure in Egypt’s fledgling reform movement.
Today’s birthdays:
Ron Scarlett, New Zealand palaeozoologist (19112002); William Shatner, Canadianborn actor (1931); Roger Whittaker, British singersongwriter (1936); George Benson, US singerguitarist (1943); Rosie Scott, New Zealandborn novelist (1948); Andrew Lloyd Webber, British composer (1948); Kent Lambert, All Black (1952); Lena Olin, Swedish actress (1955); Matthew Modine, US actor (1959); Reese Witherspoon, US actress (1976).
Thought for today:
Although human life is priceless, we always act as if something had an even greater price than life
. . . but what is that something? —
Antoine de SaintExupery, French author (19001944).