Today in history
Today is Friday, September 27, the 270th day of 2019. There are 95 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1540 — Pope Paul III approves the first outline of
the Jesuit Order’s organisation.
1825 — George Stephenson drives the steam locomotive he designed on the opening run of the first passenger railway, from Stockton to Darlington, England.
1839 — Te Wharepouri, Te Puni and a number of other chiefs agree to sell land in Hutt Valley to William Wakefield on behalf of the New Zealand Company in exchange for a variety of goods, including muskets.
1854 — While on passage to New York from Liverpool, the steamship SS Arctic sinks after colliding in fog with the French steamer Vesta off the coast of Newfoundland. Arctic’s lifeboat capacity was around 180, enough for fewer than half those on board; the boats were launched in an atmosphere of panic and disorder, and the principle of ‘‘women and children first’’ was ignored. From around 400 on board (250 passengers, 150 crew), 24 male passengers and 61 crew survived; all the women and children died. No one was called to account for the disaster, and no official inquiry was held.
1878 — The Clutha district is hit by heavy flooding.
1882 — A public meeting is held in St George’s Hall, Milton, to consider the establishment of a woollen mill.
1884 — The New Zealand Commercial Travellers and Warehousemen’s Association is founded at a meeting in Dunedin’s Grand Hotel.
1888 — Rarotonga and the southern Cook Islands become a British protectorate, after chiefs become concerned by the French presence in the area.
1913 — The steamer Tyrone is wrecked at Wahine
Point, near the Otago Heads.
1920 — Viscount Jellicoe takes office as
GovernorGeneral, serving until November 1924.
1922 — King Constantine I of Greece abdicates.
1939 — Warsaw surrenders to Germany after
19 days of resistance in World War 2.
1940 — Germany, Italy and Japan sign 10year military and economic pacts, setting up the BerlinRomeTokyo Axis.
1945 — Dominion Industries’ linseed oil factory in
Dunedin is destroyed by fire.
1948 — Meatrationing in New Zealand is
abolished.
1957 — The first Alexandra Blossom Festival is
held. 1962 — The army stages a coup in Yemen, and
Colonel Abdulla elSallah becomes premier.
1964 — The Warren Commission issues a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating United States president
John F. Kennedy.
1968 — France bars Britain’s entry into the European Common Market; Antonio Salazar retires as prime minister of Portugal after suffering a stroke. He had been dictator since 1932.
1970 — Jordan’s King Hussein and Al Fatah guerrilla leader Yasser Arafat meet in Cairo with 10 Arab chiefs of state and sign a 14point agreement ending the civil war in Jordan.
1972 — Sir (Edward) Denis Blundell assumes office
as GovernorGeneral, serving until October 1977.
1974 — Former secretary of industries and commerce in New Zealand Dr W.B. (Bill) Sutch is accused of spying.
1979 — Gracie Fields, popular English musichall
entertainer, dies at 81.
1993 — Eight people are arrested and several taken to hospital when police in riot gear are called to disperse more than 500 students who were protesting against large tuition fee increases at the University of Otago while a meeting of the university council was taking place inside the registry building.
— Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang completes China’s first spacewalk.
Today’s birthdays:
Charles Chilton, New Zealand zoologist (18601929); Te Uruhina McGarveyTiakiwai, prominent Maori leader (19272015); Wilford Brimley, US actor (1934); Mike Nock, New Zealand jazz pianist (1940); Meat Loaf, US singer (1947); Anne Smith, New Zealand football international (1951); Monty Betham, New Zealand professional boxer (1952); Shaun Cassidy, US singer (1958); Mark Inglis, New Zealand mountaineer (1959); Gavin Larsen, New Zealand cricketer (1962); Gwyneth Paltrow, US actress (1972);
Brendon McCullum, New Zealand cricket captain (1981); Avril Lavigne, Canadian singer (1984).
Thought for today:
Sanity is a madness put to good uses. —
George Santayana, SpanishAmerican philosopher (18631952).