Today in history
Today is Friday, September 13, the 256th day of 2019. There are 109 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1536 — Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abandons the siege of Marseilles after a disastrous campaign and sails from Genoa to Barcelona.
1586 — Anthony Babington and fellow conspirators go on trial for attempting to seize the throne of England for Mary, Queen of Scots, by a plot to murder Elizabeth I.
1759 — British troops under General James Wolfe defeat French troops and Canadian militia under General LouisJoseph, Marquis de Montcalm, in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (also known as the Battle of Quebec). Both generals were mortally wounded during the battle. The victory sealed British supremacy in Canada.
1788 — New York is declared the first federal
capital of the United States.
1882 — The British defeat the Egyptians at Tel el Kebir, Lower Egypt, and proceed to occupy Egypt and the Sudan.
1899 — At 74th St and Central Park West in New York City, pedestrian Henry Bliss (68) becomes the first person killed by a car in the western hemisphere.
1913 — With the best New Zealand players on a tour to North America, a secondstring All Black side defeats Australia 2513 before a crowd of 15,000 at Carisbrook. Fullback and captain Joe O’Leary (Auckland) starred, kicking three conversions and a dropped goal.
1922 — The world’s highestrecorded shade temperature, 58degC, occurs at Al Aziziyah, Libya.
1924 — The All Blacks begin a fivemonth tour of Great Britain, winning against Devon. The team will not lose a match and became known as the Invincibles.
1933 — Elizabeth McCombs is elected New Zealand’s first female member of Parliament in a Lyttelton byelection.
1943 — Chiang Kaishek becomes president of
China.
1964 — Egypt and Saudi Arabia announce the peaceful settlement of the twoyearold Yemeni civil war.
1982 — Lindy and Michael Chamberlain go on trial for allegedly murdering their baby, Azaria, who they say was killed by a dingo at Ayers Rock (Uluru).
1989 — Archbishop Desmond Tutu leads huge crowds of singing and dancing people through central Cape Town in the biggest antiapartheid protest march in South Africa for 30 years.
1995 — A military transport aircraft crashes into the sea off the coast of western Sri Lanka; all 75 people on board are killed.
2000 — Chase Manhattan, the numberthree US bank holding company, announces it will buy commercial and investment bank JP Morgan for about $US35 billion in stock.
2001 — President George W. Bush calls the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington the first war of the 21st century, promising that the US will wage allout retaliation against those responsible and any regime that protects them. Jetliners return to the nation’s skies for the first time in two days, carrying nervous passengers, who face strict new security measures.
2002 — Two US pilots are charged with involuntary manslaughter and assault for mistakenly bombing Canadian forces near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan in April.
2005 — US president George W. Bush says he takes responsibility for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and says the disaster raised broader questions about the Government’s ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terrorist attacks.
2006 — Billionaire financier George Soros pledges $US50 million to help the United Nations tackle extreme poverty and Aids in subSaharan Africa.
Today’s birthdays:
John Joseph Pershing, US general (18601948); William (Massa) Johnston, original All Black and New Zealand rugby league international (18811951); Roald Dahl, Welshborn author (191690); Jacqueline Bisset, Englishborn actress (1944); Annette King, New Zealand politician (1947); Michael Johnson, US Olympic champion athlete (1967); Shane Warne,
Australian cricketer (1969); Stella McCartney, British fashion designer (1971); Goran Ivanisevic, Croatian tennis player (1971); Craig McMillan, New Zealand cricketer (1976); Andrew Hore, All Black (1978); Ben Savage, US actor (1980).
Quote from history:
‘‘Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.’’ — US secretary of state Colin Powell. On September 13, 2001, he confirmed for the first time that Osama bin Laden, believed to be in Afghanistan, was a suspect in the September 11 attacks against the US.
ODT and agencies