Today in history
Today is Saturday, September 14, the 257th day of 2019. There are 108 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1741 — Germanborn English composer George Frederick Handel finishes his Messiah oratorio, after working on it for 23 days.
1752 — Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1812 — Napoleon Bonaparte enters Moscow and
Russians set fires throughout the city
1814 — Francis Scott Key writes America’s national
anthem, The StarSpangled Banner.
1868 — Golf’s first recorded holeinone is scored by Scotsman Young Tom Morris at Prestwick’s 166yard 8th hole during the British Open Championships in Scotland, which he won. His victory was the first of four successive British Open titles and, aged 17, he is still golf’s youngest winner of a major championship. His father, Old Tom Morris, finished second.
1894 — Mahuta Tawhiao becomes the third Maori
king.
1901 — United States president William McKinley dies from his wounds after being shot by an assassin on September 6. He was succeeded in office by Theodore Roosevelt.
1911 — Russian premier Pyotr Stolypin is fatally wounded by an assassin in Kiev. He dies four days later.
1927 — Modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan dies in Nice, France, when her scarf becomes entangled in a wheel of her sports car.
1938 — The Social Security Act passes into law. It
is designed to provide a welfare programme for New Zealanders ‘‘from the cradle to the grave’’. It was devised by Otago men Dr David Gervan McMillan and the Rev Arnold Nordmeyer.
1939 — The first helicopter, Igor Sikorsky’s VS300,
makes its first successful flight.
1941 — The grandstand at Dunedin’s Logan Park is destoyed by fire. An incinerated body is later discovered and valuable plant and equipment are lost in the blaze.
1946 — Fred Allen (Auckland) captains the All Blacks to a 318 victory over Australia at Carisbrook, before a crowd of 30,000. It is an allnew All Black side playing its first test in eight years. Allen went on to be an undefeated coach of the All Blacks.
1960 — Teal’s remaining Solent flying boat, RMA Aranui, completes its final journey when it lands at Mechanics Bay, Auckland. The Coral Route service was the last scheduled international flyingboat service in the world.
1968 — New Zealand pacer Cardigan Bay wins
$US7500 in a race in the US, becoming the first horse in the history of trotting to win
$US1 million. The racehorse is retired to New Zealand shortly after.
1969 — Although not opened for a further two years, the first water flows through the
Manapouri power station.
1975 — The Maori land march Te Roopu o te Matakite, led by Whina Cooper, sets out from Te Hapua in Northland.
1976 — The Lyttelton to Wellington interisland ferry Rangatira begins its final voyage. On board are 267 passengers as well as an unknown number of nonfarepaying extras who party the night away.
1982 — Lebanon’s presidentelect, Bashir Gemayel, is killed by a bomb that shatters his party headquarters in east Beirut; Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly actress Grace Kelly, dies aged 52 of injuries from a car crash the day before.
1990 — The first gene therapy is carried out by W. French Anderson at Bethesda, Maryland, on a 4yearold girl who had inherited a genetic deficiency. 2001 — Ansett, Australia’s secondbiggest airline, collapses, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and placing 60,000 jobs in jeopardy. 2006 — Germany ordains its first rabbis since World War 2, an event hailed as a milestone in the rebirth of Jewish life in the nation.
2015 — At 18 years and 142 days, New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko becomes the youngest winner of a women’s major championship when she wins the Evian Championship in France.
Today’s birthdays:
Paul Little, All Black (193493); Nicol Williamson, British actor (19362011); Joey Heatherton , US actress (1944); Sam Neill, New Zealand actor (1947); Jeff Crowe, New Zealand cricket international (1958); Brendon Bracewell, New Zealand cricket international (1959); Mary Crosby, US actress (1959); Faith Ford, US actress (1964); Dmitry Medvedev, Russian prime minister and president (1965); Angela Mitchell, New Zealand netball international (1977); Rebecca Sowden, New Zealand football international (1981); Amy Winehouse, British singer (19832011).
Thought for today:
Keep your mouth shut, your eyes open. — Japanese proverb.