Today in history
Today is Monday, March 13, the 72nd day of 2017. There are 293 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1639 — America’s famous Harvard University is named for clergyman John Harvard.
1899 — Built by the Dunedin Foundry and Engineering Company, the steamer Tawera (Morning Star) is launched on Lake Te Anau.
1852 — The now familiar symbol of the United States, Uncle Sam, makes his debut as a cartoon character in the New York Lantern.
1865 — During the US Civil War, the Confederate Congress under President Jefferson Davis signs a Bill allowing slaves to join the army in exchange for freedom.
1881 — Russia’s Tsar Alexander II is assassinated and is succeeded by Alexander III.
1910 — J.R. Denniston makes the first recorded ascent of Mitre Peak in Milford Sound.
1913 — The Union Steam Ship Company’s Kowhai strikes a mole opposite Harington Point; St Mary’s Orphanage, Mornington, is officially opened by the Primate, Rt Rev D. Neville.
1928 — More than 400 people die when the San Francisquito Valley in California is inundated after the St Francis Dam bursts.
1936 — Former New Zealand prime minister Sir Francis Dillon Bell dies aged 85. Born in Nelson he was the country’s first New Zealandborn prime minister.
1956 — New Zealand records its first international cricket victory when it defeats West Indies at Eden Park. The victory had taken 45 test matches, and confirmed New Zealand’s ability to foot it in international competition; power cuts in Dunedin bring the city to a virtual standstill. A diesel bus service was run for Mornington residents who were unable to use the cable car service.
1974 — Ken Wadsworth hits the winning runs for New Zealand to record its first victory over Australia in a cricket test. The match, played at Lancaster Park, Christchurch, was highlighted by centuries in each innings to Otago batsman Glenn Turner, who scored 101 in the first innings and 115 not out in the second.
1983 — During the second test against Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, New
Zealand opening batsman John Wright scores his 1000th run in test cricket in memorable fashion. After scoring his 999th Wright is led from the field after being hit by a bouncer. He returns five hours later, hits a four to bring up the milestone and is out shortly afterwards.
1984 — Dunedin’s Philip Rush becomes the first person to complete a double crossing of Cook Strait, completing the distance in 16hr 15min. He repeated the feat four years later in 19hr 2min.
1992 — Pravda, founded in 1912 by Lenin and the official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party, ceases publication due to lack of funds.
1995 — Death of Odette Hallowes, a World War 2 British heroine and the first woman to be awarded the George Cross for gallantry for her work as an agent in Germanoccupied France.
1996 — A gunman in Dunblane, Scotland, shoots 16 children and a teacher before shooting himself.
2001 — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban completes the destruction of two ancient statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan.
2012 — Former All Black captain, NZRFU chairman and the man credited with securing the hosting rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup and saving New Zealand rugby during the transition to the professional era in 1995, Jock Hobbs dies after a long battle with leukaemia, aged 52; the ACC issues an apology for an error that led to confidential and sensitive information relating to 9000 clients being mistakenly emailed to an unauthorised recipient. It is the largest breach of privacy in New Zealand’s history.