Today in history
Today is Saturday, May 9, the 130th day of 2020. There are 236 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1386 — The Treaty of Windsor is signed between Portugal and England, at Windsor, and sealed by the marriage of King John I of Portugal to Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, first Duke of Lancaster. It remains the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in force.
1502 — Christopher Columbus sets out from Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and last voyage to the western hemisphere.
1671 — Thomas Blood, the Irish adventurer better known as Captain Blood, steals the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.
1785 — British inventor Joseph Bramah patents the
beerpump handle.
1832 — The foundations are laid for the stone store at Kerikeri. The building, which is New Zealand’s oldest commercial building, was completed in 1836.
1863 — New Zealand’s first gas streetlights are lit in Dunedin by the Dunedin Gas Light and Coke Company.
1865 — President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end; this is the commonly accepted end date of the American Civil War.
1898 — The Bava Beccaris massacre occurs.
Named after the Italian General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris, who was overseeing the suppression of widespread food riots in Milan. At least 80 demonstrators were killed, as well as two soldiers, and 450 were wounded. The overreaction of the military led to the demise of the Di Rudini government two months later, and created a constitutional crisis.
1907 — Initiated by the inspectorgeneral of schools,
George Hogben, the a quarterly publication for school pupils aged 713, is first published as a free magazine containing information on history, geography and general knowledge. The School Journal continues to be published to this day, with approximately 750,000 copies published annually in four editions.
1915 — Turkish forces are repulsed in an attack on Anzacs at Gallipoli at a cost of 7000 men. The Anzacs lose 500. New Zealand’s fourtime Wimbledon singles champion, Anthony Wilding, is killed in action during the Battle of Aubers Ridge at Neuve Chapelle in northern France. He was 31.
1921 — George Bolt makes a flight in an Avro float plane to begin New Zealand’s first airmail service. The sixdaysaweek service between Auckland and Whangarei soon became uneconomic and
ended.
1926 — Americans Richard E. Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett claim a successful flight over the North Pole, the first, in a Fokker FVII Trimotor called the Josephine Ford.
1940 — The British begin nighttime bombing raids
on German cities.
1945 — Germany had surrendered on May 7, and the definitive Act of Military Surrender in World War 2 had been signed just before midnight on May 8 by Germany’s Field Marshal Keitel, but Acting Prime Minister Walter Nash insisted that celebrations wait until after British prime minister Winston Churchill had officially announced peace at 1am New Zealand time on this day. An estimated 7000 people assemble in Dunedin’s Octagon and surrounding streets to take part in a civic thanksgiving service to mark the end of the war in Europe.
1946 — King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates
and the monarchy is replaced by a republic.
1960 — The US becomes the first country to legalise
Today’s birthdays:
John Brown, US slavery abolitionist (180059); Frederick Weld, former New Zealand premier (182391); Sir James Barrie, English dramatist (18601937); Albert Finney, English actor (19362019); Glenda Jackson, English actress turned politician (1936); Sonny Curtis, US musician and songwriter (1937); James L. Brooks, US film producer/director (1940); Candice Bergen, US actress (1946);
Marilyn (Joy) Quigley, former New Zealand politician (1948); Billy Joel, US pop singer (1949);
Andrew Jones, New Zealand cricketer (1959); AnnaLouise Plowman (Stephens), New Zealandborn actress (1972); Shane van Gisbergen, New Zealand carracing driver (1989).
Quote of the day: