TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Thursday, July 16, the 198th day of 2020. There are 168 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
622 — This date is generally considered the start of the Islamic era, when Mohammed begins his flight from Mecca to Medina.
1048 — Benedict IX, known as the ‘‘Boy Pope’’, resigns from the papacy.
1661 — The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Bank of Stockholm.
1850 — The New Zealand Company is dissolved. 1867 — Reinforced concrete is first patented by Joseph Monier, of Paris; D.R. Averill, of Ohio, patents readymixed paint.
1886 — The popular longrunning page ‘‘Dot’s Little Folk’’ first appears in the Otago Daily Times.
1903 — The Wanganui Fire Brigade takes delivery of the first selfpropelled fire engine in New Zealand and Australia.
1918 — Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, is murdered together with his family and entourage by the Bolsheviks at Yekaterinburg.
1935 — The world’s first parking meters are installed in Oklahoma City.
1940 — New Zealand prime minister Peter Fraser unveils his war cabinet. It includes former prime minister Gordon Coates and Adam Hamilton as representatives from the Opposition; Adolf Hitler gives orders to prepare for the invasion of Britain (‘‘Operation Sealion‘‘).
1945 — The first atomic bomb is exploded over a desert in New Mexico in the United States, heralding the start of the atomic age.
1948 — The world’s first turbinepropeller airliner, the Vickers Viscount, makes its maiden flight.
1950 — The largest crowd to watch a football match, more than 199,000, sees Uruguay beat Brazil 21 in the World Cup final played at the Estadio do Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Alcides Ghiggia scored the winning goal for Uruguay with 11 minutes remaining, leading to one of the biggest upsets in football history. The term ‘‘the agony of Maracana’’ became synonymous with the match.
1957 — US Marine Major John Glenn sets a transcontinental speed record when he flies a jet from California to New York in 3hr 23min 8sec.
1966 — Ian ‘‘Spooky’’ Smith becomes one of just two North Otago players to play for the All Blacks when the Brian Lochore-captained side defeats the Lions at Carisbrook 203 before a crowd of 43,000.
1969 — The US Apollo 11 spacecraft is launched from the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, with the goal of landing the first men on the moon.
1994 — The first fragments from comet ShoemakerLevy 9 crash into Jupiter, creating a 1930kmwide fireball. Collisions continue until July 22.
1999 — A plane piloted by John F. Kennedy jun, son of the late president, and carrying his wife and sisterinlaw, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
2005 — Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince, the sixth volume of the Harry Potter saga, goes on sale. It sold more than 8.9 million copies in the first 24 hours in the United States and Britain, becoming the fastestselling book in history.
2007 — A 6.8magnitude earthquake strikes northwestern Japan, causing a fire and a radioactive water leak at the world’s largest nuclear plant, KashiwazakiKariwa Nuclear Power Plant. At least eight people are killed and hundreds injured.
2009 — The largest earthquake to hit New Zealand since the 1931 Napier jolt, strikes the Fiordland, Milford and South Westland area. Centred near Dusky Sound and only 12km deep, it measures 7.8 on the Richter scale. The biggest aftershock was of 6.1 magnitude, 20 minutes later.
2014 — Bashar alAssad is sworn in for a third term as
President of Syria.
Today’s birthdays:
Donald Reid, New Zealand farmer, landowner and businessman (18331919); Clara Cheeseman, New Zealand author (18521943); Sir JohnPearce Luke, New Zealand politician (18581931); Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer (18721928); Duncan McGregor, original All Black and rugby league international (18811947); Albert Oliphant Stewart, New Zealand tribal leader, law clerk, interpreter and politician (18841958); Laurie Knight, All Black (190173); Bill Carson, New Zealand rugby union and cricket international (191644); Air Marshal
Sir Richard Bruce Bolt, bomber pilot WW2, senior Royal New Zealand Air Force officer in the postwar years, Chief of Air Staff 197476 and Chief of Defence Staff from 197680 (19232014); J.B. Trapp, New Zealand academic (19252005); Rob Storey, New Zealand politician (1936); Peter Welsh, New Zealand 3000m steeplechase runner (1943); Paul Harris, New Zealand senior public servant (1946); Mike Harding, New Zealand folk musician (1952); Mark Peck, New Zealand politician (1953); Ross McEwan, New Zealand banker (1957); Michael Flatley, Irish dancer (1958); Murray Steele, New Zealand Olympic sprint cyclist (1961); Phoebe Cates, US actress (1963); Fatboy Slim, British musician (1963); Armand Marie Leroi, New Zealand author/broadcaster (1964); John Plumtree, New Zealand rugby union coach (1965); Will Ferrell, US actor (1967); Quentin Rew, New Zealand international racewalker (1984); Calum Gittins, New Zealand actor (1986); Sam Webster, New Zealand track cyclist (1991).
Quote of the day:
‘‘Making music has gotten easier; selling it has gotten harder. Making music has been democratised, but the market is in the hands of fascists.’’ — Stewart Copeland, US musician/ composer, former drummer of the Police, who was born on this day in 1952.