TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Friday, January 22, the 22nd day of 2021. There are 343 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
613 — Eightmonthold Constantine is crowned as coemperor (Caesar) by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
1528 — England and France declare war on Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
1771 — Spain agrees to cede the Falkland Islands to Britain.
1840 — The New Zealand Company’s first settler ship, Aurora, arrives at Petone to found the settlement that will become Wellington.
1879 — A rail service between Christchurch and Invercargill begins.
1889 — The Otago Daily Times prints the first instalment of disclosures about sweating (payment of unfairly low piece rates to women in the clothing industry), after the issue was raised by the Rev Rutherford Waddell.
1905 — Bloody Sunday in Saint Petersburg, Russia, marks the beginning of the 1905 revolution.
1910 — Dunedin’s Elgin Rd cablecar extension line is closed. The grip tram was transferred to the Maryhill line, becoming DCCT No 106, and is now on display at the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum.
1924 — Ramsay MacDonald takes over from Conservative Stanley Baldwin as Britain’s first Labour prime minister.
1927 — English sports broadcaster Teddy Wakelam gives the first live radio commentary of a football match. The game was the 1all draw between Arsenal and Sheffield United, at Highbury.
1941 — British and Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Italian forces during Operation Compass, in World War 2.
1944 — Allied forces begin Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy, in World War 2.
1946 — In the US, the Central Intelligence Group is created. It is the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
1968 — Apollo 5 lifts off, carrying the first US unmanned Lunar module into space.
1970 — The first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 begins in New York and ends in London.
1972 — In Brussels, the Treaty of Accession to the EEC is signed by Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway.
1973 — In its Roe v Wade decision, the US Supreme Court legalises abortions.
1976 — Proposals to export woodchips from Port Chalmers to Japan are confirmed.
1980 — In the Soviet Union, dissident physicist Andrei Sakharov is arrested, stripped of his honours and exiled from Moscow.
1984 — The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularise the computer mouse and graphical user interface, is introduced in a Super Bowl TV commercial.
1992 — Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space when the space shuttle Discovery is launched.
1996 — The Galileo probe plunges into Jupiter’s atmosphere and discovers it windier and drier than expected, with less helium and less lightning.
1997 — The Russian Parliament votes, without legal force, to remove Boris Yeltsin as president because of his ill health; the US Senate confirms Madeleine Albright as the country’s first female secretary of state.
2006 — Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country’s first indigenous president.
2013 — A huge fire burns across Great Barrier Island, forcing the evacuation of homes, businesses and a medical centre; a fire started during live ammunition training destroys 350ha of scrub on training land around the Waiouru Military Camp in the central North Island.
2018 — Winds batter Otago, particularly Central Otago, where gusts of up to 65kmh are recorded. One topples a willow tree at the Shotover Jet site on to a group of people, injuring five, two critically.
2020 — China locks down the city of Wuhan and its 11 million people in an effort to control Covid19.
Today’s birthdays:
John Shand, one of the three foundation professors at the University of Otago (18341914); Alexander Don, New Zealand Presbyterian minister/missionary (18571934); John Beck, New Zealand child welfare reformer (18831962); Walter D’Arcy Cresswell, New Zealand serviceman WW1/writer (18961960); Ron McLean, New Zealand environmental campaigner (191480); Tom Burtt, New Zealand cricketer (191588); Mona Leydon, New Zealand swimmer (19152002); Ortvin Sarapu
(‘‘Mr Chess’’), Estonianborn New Zealand chess player (192499); Piper Laurie, US actress (1932); Graham Kerr, English cooking personality (1934); Don McIver, New Zealand military officer (19362016); Nyree Dawn Porter, New Zealandborn actress (19362001); Morgan Moffat, New Zealand lawn and indoor bowls player (1943); John McMillan, New Zealand economist (19512007); Geoff Old, All Black (1956); Ian Morris New Zealand musician/ record producer (19572010); John Drake, All Black (19592008); Ronnie van Hout, New Zealand artist (1962); Ewen Gilmour, New Zealand comedian (19632014); Peter Hunt, New Zealand darts player (1965); Jason Lowrie, New Zealand rugby league player/coach (1970); Lee Vertongen, New Zealand cyclist (1975); Shane Dobbin, New Zealand skater (1980); Hika Elliot, All Black (1986); Ryan Fox, New Zealander golfer (1987); Sika Manu, New Zealand rugby league player (1987).
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