TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Tuesday, November 3, the 308th day of 2020. There are 58 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1838 — The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
1864 — Death of John McGlashan, one of the promoters of the settlement of Otago.
1886 — Henry Reynolds’ factory at Pukekura, in Waikato, begins producing butter under the Anchor brand. The brand name, allegedly inspired by a tattoo on the arm of one of his workers, becomes one of New Zealand bestknown trademarks; New Zealand Governor, Sir William Jervois, hammers home the ceremonial ‘‘last spike’’ at Otaihanga, between Paraparaumu and Waikanae, to open a railway line linking Wellington with Longburn, near Palmerston North. It later becomes part of the North Island Main Trunk Line.
1891 — Members of Dunedin’s Salvation Army gather in the Triangle to welcome its founder, General William Booth, to the city.
1911 — Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant found the Chevrolet Motor Car Company.
1933 — New Zealand’s Reserve Bank Bill becomes law.
1942 — In World War 2, German Afrika Korps and Italian forces under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel begin a retreat westward after a renewed campaign by the Allies under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
1945 — Sailors and marines from the British cruiser HMS Newfoundland parade through Dunedin’s central city streets in front of a large appreciative crowd.
1948 — The lower Clutha area is inundated by heavy flooding.
1955 — Bypassing the steep Rimutaka incline, the Rimutaka rail tunnel, between Wairarapa and Hutt Valley, is opened.
1956 — The Roxburgh Dam is commissioned; A new Hungarian government is formed, in which many members of banned nonCommunist parties participate. Meanwhile Janos Kadar and Ferenc Munnich form a countergovernment in Moscow as Soviet troops ready for the final assault.
1969 — Read by Dougal Stevenson, New Zealand’s first network news broadcast is screened simultaneously around the country.
1970 — Owned by E.C.S. Falconer, of Dunedin, Baghdad Note wins the Melbourne Cup. The horse was trained by Bob Heasley and ridden by Ernie (Midge) Didham.
1973 — Nasa launches
Mariner 10 on a journey towards Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach the planet.
1974 — Summer time is given another trial. Proving successful, daylight saving of one hour becomes permanent in New Zealand the following year.
1975 — The Queen opens an underwater pipeline to bring the first of Britain’s North Sea oil ashore.
1979 — Dunedin’s daily evening newspaper,
the Evening Star, prints its final edition. 1983 — South Africans vote by a large majority to allow Indians and Coloureds, but not Blacks, some limited powersharing in the Government.
1988 — An estimated 20,000 police stop South Korean students from carrying out a threat to seize and kill former leader Chun Doohwan.
2014 — One World Trade Centre officially opens. It is the replacement for the World Trade Centre Twin Towers, in New York City, after the towers were each destroyed during the September 11 attacks.
Today’s birthdays
William Yate, New Zealand missionary/writer (180277); Sir John Logan Campbell, New Zealand businessman/politician (18171912); John Ewing, New Zealand goldminer (18441922); Torpedo Billy Murphy, New Zealand boxer (18631939); Sir James Hight, New Zealand educational administrator/ historian (18701958); Monica Vitti, Italian actress (1931); Lulu, British singeractress (1948); Roseanne Barr, US comedienne-actress (1952); Kate Capshaw, US actress (1953); Dennis Miller, US comedian (1953); Kathy Kinney, US actress (1953); Adam Ant, British pop singer (1954); Chris Dickson, New Zealand sailor (1961); Ben Seresin, New Zealand cinematographer (1962); Mark Staufer, New Zealand screenwriter (1963); Toni Dunlop, New Zealand rower (1969); Mahal Pearce, New Zealand professional golfer (1977); Shushila Takao, New Zealand actress/model (1986); Jamie McDell, New Zealand singer/songwriter (1992).
Quote of the day:
‘‘Times were poor. I wore handmedowns. And because the kids just older than me in the family were girls, sometimes I had to wear my sisters' handmedowns’’. — Charles Bronson, US actor, who was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky, the 11th of 15 children, on this day in 1921. He died in 2003, aged 81.