Today in history
Today is Friday, April 6, the 96th day of 2018. There are 269 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1199 — King Richard I (the Lionheart) dies from wounds inflicted besieging the castle of Chalus in France. He is succeeded by his brother, John.
1593 — Henry Barrow, a Puritan, is executed on a
charge of slandering England’s Queen Elizabeth I. 1789 — George Washington is elected first
president of the United States.
1830 — The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latterday Saints (the Mormons) is founded by Joseph Smith at Fayette in New York state.
1861 — The Dunedin Fire Brigade is formed.
1863 — St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Dunedin’s
Octagon is consecrated.
1864 — Members of prophet Te Ua Haumene’s Pai Marire movement ambush a British patrol near Oakura, Taranaki. Captain Thomas Lloyd’s head is then carried from village to village in order to gain support for the religious movement, whose name means ‘‘good and peaceful’’.
1895 — Waltzing Matilda, one of Australia’s bestknown tunes, with words by
Banjo Paterson, is first publicly performed at a hotel in the remote northern town of Winton.
1896 — Athletic Park, Wellington, opens.
1908 — The foundation stone for Knox College in Dunedin is laid. It opened in 1909 as a Presbyterian residential college.
1909 — US explorer Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first men to reach the North Pole. 1928 — Italy’s fascist government bans handshaking
for being unhygienic.
1935 — A new traffic bridge across the Clutha River at Balclutha is opened. Celebrations include a ball in the Britannia Theatre.
1955 — Sir Winston Churchill is succeeded by
Sir Anthony Eden as British prime minister.
1965 — Early Bird I, the world’s first commercial communications satellite, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida.
1968 — Pierre Trudeau becomes Liberal prime
minister of Canada, succeeding Lester Pearson.
1991 — Iraq reluctantly accepts UN conditions for
ending the Gulf War.
1993 — A tank of radioactive waste explodes and burns at a weapons plant in the secret Siberian city of Tomsk7, contaminating a vast area.
1994 — The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi are killed in a plane crash in Rwanda, setting off the slaughter of between 500,000 and 1 million Rwandans, mostly minority Tutsis, over the next few months.
1995 — The first genocide trials begin in Kigali, Rwanda, against some of the 30,000 Hutus in detention accused of killing Tutsis.
2000 — Former Pakistani prime minister Awaz Sharif is sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of terrorism and hijacking.
2008 — Icepak management admits sprinkler systems could be installed in its coolstores after its Tamahere plant near Hamilton burns to the ground following an explosion, killing Hamilton firefighter Derek Lovell and leaving seven other firefighters badly injured. Thick black smoke from the scene could still be seen several kilometres away more than 24 hours after the explosion.
2011 — Otago fast bowler Neil Wagner captures the cricketing world’s attention when he takes five wickets in one sixball over, the first time such a feat had been achieved, when Otago played Wellington in a Plunket Shield match in Queenstown. Wellington went on to lose the match by an innings and 138 runs, losing 19 wickets in a single day. Wagner recorded figures
of 6/36 and 3/30.
2017 — Approximately 2000 residents from the Bay of Plenty town of Edgecumbe are evacuated from their homes when the Rangitaiki River bursts through a stopbank, sending water surging through hundreds of homes.
Today’s birthdays:
Richard Charles Travis, New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross in World War 1 (18841918); Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft designer (18901939); Ian Paisley, loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader (19262014); Joan Carlyle, British opera singer (1931); Merle Haggard, US singer (19372016); Billy Dee Williams, US actor (1937); Barry Levinson, US film director (1942); Ian MacRae, All Black (1943); Bruce Reihana, All Black (1976);
Louise Crome, New Zealand professional squash player (1978); Marilu Henner, US actress (1952); Richard Loe, All Black (1960); Frank Black, US singer/songwriter (1965).
Quote of the day:
‘‘Whatever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men.’’ — Harold Williams, New Zealand journalist and linguist, who was born on this day in 1876. He died in 1928, aged 52.