TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Wednesday, February 24, the 55th day of 2021. There are 310 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1870 — The last detachment of imperial troops leaves New Zealand.
1875 — SS Gothenburg is wrecked during a cyclone on the Great Barrier Reef northwest of Holbourne Island. Survivors in one of the lifeboats were rescued two days later by SS Leichhardt, while the occupants of two other lifeboats managed to reach Holbourne Island and were rescued several days later. Twentytwo men survived, while between 98 and 112 others died, including a number of highprofile Australian civil servants and dignitaries.
1881 — The first cable tram service in the southern hemisphere begins in Rattray St, Dunedin; China and Russia sign the SinoRussian Ili Treaty.
1887 — The superintendent of the Otago Province, James Macandrew, dies; Paris and Brussels become the first two capital cities to be linked by telephone.
1902 — During the Second Boer War, 24 New Zealand servicemen are killed in the battle of Langverwacht Hill, a further 40 are wounded. New Zealand sent more than 6500 volunteers and 8000 horses to assist Britain in the South African War of 18991902. In all, 71 members of the 10 ‘‘contingents’’ were killed in action or died of wounds; 26 were accidentally killed, and 133 died of disease.
1912 — SS Earnslaw is launched on Lake Wakatipu. Affectionately known as the ‘‘Lady of the Lake’', the ship has been used for scenic cruises since the 1970s.
1917 — The American ambassador to Britain Walter Hines Page, reports to president Woodrow Wilson knowledge of the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas and Arizona to Mexico if it declares war on the United States.
1920 — The Nazi Party is founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall in Munich, Germany.
1948 — A Cavalcade of Progress procession is held in Dunedin.
1953 — The Ven A.H. Johnston is consecrated as Anglican Bishop of Dunedin.
1966 — A coup ousts the president of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah.
1981 — Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
1983 — The Dow Jones closes above the 1100 mark for the first time.
1989 — The cargo door of a United Airlines jumbo jet blows out on a flight from Honolulu to Auckland; nine passengers are killed.
1991 — Hours after lastminute Soviet diplomatic efforts fail, allied forces launch a ground offensive against Iraqi forces in Kuwait and Iraq.
1993 — With the lowest popularity rating in Canadian polling history, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney calls it quits after nine years in office.
1996 — Cuban Government fighter planes shoot down two small aircraft belonging to an exile group flying off the coast of Havana.
2000 — Beaten in a national election and forced to concede defeat, Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic is replaced by opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica.
2004 — A 6.5magnitude earthquake rocks a picturesque but impoverished region of northern Morocco, killing more than 550 people and rendering 30,000 homeless.
2007 — The Virginia General Assembly votes unanimously to express ‘‘profound regret’’ for the State’s role in slavery, becoming the first in the US to pass such a measure.
2008 — Fidel Castro retires as the president of Cuba due to ill health after almost 50 years.
2014 — Patient services are severely disrupted at Dunedin and Southland hospitals after the Southern District Health Board’s computer system collapses.
2020 — Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is found guilty of rape and a criminal sexual act in a landmark case that ignited the ‘‘MeToo movement’’; Malaysia's 94yearold prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns, only to be reinstated later in the day as interim prime minister.
Today’s birthdays:
William Mason, architect and first mayor of Dunedin (181097); Julius Vogel, twice prime minister of New Zealand and cofounder of the Otago Daily
Times (183599); William Murison, New Zealand politician/newspaper editor (183777); Charles John Ayton, New Zealand gold miner/rural labourer/ diarist (18461922); George Russell, New Zealand politician (18541937); Arthur Breckon, New Zealand photographer/photojournalist (18871965); Roderick Syme, New Zealand mountaineer/ conservationist/alpine sports administrator (190094); Murray Hudson, New Zealand military serviceman (193874); Martyn Sanderson, New Zealand actor (19382009); Joanie Sommers, US singer/actress (1941); Anne Hercus, New Zealand politician (1942); Rupert Holmes, Englishborn musician (1947); Dennis Waterman, English actor (1948); George Thorogood, US musician (1950); Judith Collins, New Zealand politician (1959); Kristin Davis, US actress (1965); Billy Zane, US actor (1966); Gabriel Reid, New Zealand actor/ director (1969); Floyd Mayweather, US boxer/ promoter (1977); Kim Cotton, New Zealand cricket umpire (1978); Ella Wilks, New Zealand actress (1985).
Quote for today:
‘‘The people who criticise you will not be the ones taking care of your legs when you are in your wheelchair. People who never drove a car in these conditions, they just don't know.’’ — Alain Prost,
French racing driver and a fourtime Formula One Drivers' Champion, who was born on this day in 1955.