Today in history
Today is Thursday, June 8, the 159th day of 2017. There are 206 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1861 — Gabriel Read reports his gold discoveries in the Tuapeka and Waitahuna rivers to the superintendent of Otago; the United States state of Tennessee secedes from the Union.
1863 — New Zealand’s territorial boundaries are expanded to include the Auckland, Campbell, Antipodes and Bounty islands.
1869 — The suction vacuum cleaner is patented by Ives McGaffey of Chicago.
1891 — High seas and severe weather conditions around Dunedin cause extensive damage to the St Clair Esplanade.
1910 — Although acquitted on charges of murder and robbery under arms, New Zealand folklore hero Joseph Pawelka is sentenced to 21 years’ jail, convicted of theft, arson and escaping from custody.
1928 — Chiang Kaishek’s Nationalist army secures the surrender of Peking (Beijing) after two days.
1942 — Japanese submarines shell the New South Wales cities of Sydney and Newcastle during World War 2, but cause little damage.
1947 — Eva Peron, wife of President Juan Peron, is given a tumultuous reception in Madrid by General Francisco Franco.
1953 — New Zealand’s first parking meters are introduced in Auckland. More than 420 meters begin operation in the city, at a cost of threepence for 30 minutes; the US Supreme Court rules that restaurants in the District of Columbia cannot refuse to serve blacks.
1967 — Some 34 American servicemen are killed when Israeli forces raid the US navy ship
Liberty, stationed in the Mediterranean; Israel calls the attack a tragic mistake.
1968 — James Earl Ray, wanted for the assassination of Martin Luther King jun, is arrested in London.
1969 — Spain closes its border with Gibraltar after Britain refuses to hand over the colony.
1970 — In Argentina, an army coup unseats President Juan Carlos Ongania.
1973 — Spain’s General Francisco Franco relinquishes some of his power by naming Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco as prime minister.
1976 — A large force of Syrian troops moves into Lebanon, where civil war rages.
1978 — New Zealander Naomi James arrives at Dartmouth, England, to complete a 272day solo yacht voyage around the world, breaking the record by two days.
1983 — The world’s first testtube triplets are born at Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide.
1986 — Despite allegations he had been involved in Nazi wartime atrocities, Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
1987 — The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act passes into law, establishing the country as a nuclear and biological weaponfree zone.
1990 — Czechoslovakia holds its first free elections in 44 years; Vaclav Havel is elected president.
1991 — A speeding passenger train crashes into a parked freight train in Ghotki, Pakistan, killing at least 100 passengers and injuring 225.
1993 — Ren´e Bousquet, former head of police in Nazioccupied France, is shot and killed in his Paris apartment.
1996 — An American icebreaker churns through pack ice to deliver tonnes of food and supplies to 38 Russians marooned at an Antarctic research base.
1999 — A white New York City policeman is convicted of holding down Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in a stationhouse bathroom while another officer assaulted him with a broken broomstick. The case heightened racial tensions between police and minorities and touched off protests.
Today’s birthdays:
Robert Schumann, German composer (181056); T.N.J. Suharto, former Indonesian president (19212008); Joan Rivers, US comedienne (19332014); Millicent Martin, British actresssinger (1934); James Darren, US singeractor (1936); Nancy Sinatra, US singer (1940); Chuck Negron, US musician (1942); Boz Scaggs, US singer (1944); Bonnie Tyler, British singer (1951); Mick Hucknall, British singer (1960); Nick Rhodes, British musician (1962); Kanye West,
US rapper (1977); Adine Wilson, New Zealand netball player (1979).
Thought for today:
Happiness isn’t something you experience, it’s something you remember. — Oscar Levant, pianistcomposeractor (19061972).