Today in history
Today is Saturday, May 2, the 123rd day of 2020. There are 243 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1839 — The first prospectus of the New Zealand Company is published in London. It is the vision of the company to profit by settling British people in New Zealand, as proposed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
1858 — Potatau Te Wherowhero is crowned Potatau, the first Maori king. He had been chosen, because of his ancestry and mana, at a meeting at Pukawa in November 1856.
1868 — The clipper Celestial Queen arrives at Port Chalmers with the first live shipment of salmon and trout ova from England. These fish were intended to provide sport for the settlers, but none survived.
1889 — The Earl of Onslow assumes office as New Zealand governor. Remaining in office until February 1892, he is best remembered for his disputes with Premier John Ballance.
1907 — The first use of Waipori electricity is for
lighting in Dunedin.
1929 — New Zealand snooker player Edward James (Murt) O’Donoghue becomes the first player to clear the table from a break in competition, while playing in a tournament in Auckland.
1935 — New Zealand’s first ‘‘talkie’’ feature film, Down on the Farm, premieres at the Empire De Luxe Theatre (later the St James and now the Rialto) in Moray Pl, Dunedin.
1940 — In World War 2, the second echelon of 2NZEF, including 28 (Maori) Battalion, departs from Wellington.
1945 — More than a million German soldiers officially surrender to the Western Allies in Italy and Austria, and the Battle of Berlin ends as the Soviet army takes Berlin and General Weidling surrenders, signalling the end of WW2 in Europe.
1951 — A procession in Wellington of striking waterside workers clashes with police, who use their batons when strikers attempt to break through a police cordon at the corner of Cuba and Dixon sts.
1953 — Jordan’s King Hussein ascends the throne,
by the Islamic calendar, on his 18th birthday.
1964 — The last scheduled tram service in New Zealand takes place in Wellington on the Thorndon to Newtown route. Tram No 252, displaying the message ‘‘end of the line’’ was driven by Wellington Mayor Frank Kitts.
1965 — The first satellite television programme
links nine countries and over 300 million viewers. 1974 — Former US vicepresident Spiro Agnew is disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals, effectively preventing him from practising law anywhere in the United States.
1982 — The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano is sunk by a British submarine, killing 368 Argentine sailors. It is the worst single death toll of the 10week war over possession of the Falkland Islands.
1990 — The African National Congress and the South African Government open three days of negotiations in Cape Town on gradually ending white rule in South Africa.
1996 — Prime Minister Jim Bolger announces details of a New Zealandbased honours system, replacing the traditional British orders.
1997 — Tony Blair becomes Britain’s youngest prime minister in 185 years after his Labour Party crushes John Major’s longreigning Conservatives in a landslide.
1999 — Yugoslav authorities hand over to the
Rev Jesse Jackson three American prisoners of war, who had been held for a month; Mireya
Moscoso becomes the first woman to win Panama’s presidential election.
2011 —Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man, is killed by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Today’s birthdays:
Sir George Maurice O’Rorke, New Zealand politician (18301916); Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), World War 1 German fighter ace (18921918); Engelbert Humperdinck, British singer (1936); Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan actress and socialite (1945); Christine Baranski, US actress/producer (1952); Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer (1955); Brian Lara, West Indies cricketer (1969); Murray Burdan, New Zealand swimmer (1975); David Beckham, English footballer (1975); Emily Hart, American actress (1986); Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (2015).
Quote of the day:
‘‘I’m always asked: ‘What’s the secret to success?’ But there are no secrets. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.’’ — Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), USCanadian actor/ producer, and former professional wrestler, who was born on this day in 1972.