Today in history
Today is Wednesday, August 8, the 220th day of 2018. There are 145 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1217 — Coronation of the first Serbian king, Stefan
Nemanjic (Stefan the FirstCrowned).
1549 — France declares war on England.
1786 — The first ascent of the 4809mhigh Mont Blanc in France is completed by Dr Michel Gabriel Paccard and his porter, Jacques Balmat.
1815 — Napoleon Bonaparte sails for St Helena to
spend the remainder of his life in exile.
1863 — The Lady Barkly, New Zealand’s first steam locomotive, goes into service on the waterfront at Invercargill.
1871 — After considering a petition signed by 149 Dunedin women, the University of Otago decides to permit women to attend its classes and sit examinations, becoming the first university in the British Empire to do so.
1876 — In an early form of photocopying, Thomas Edison receives a patent for ‘‘Autographic Printing’’. He obtained a further patent in 1880 for his method of ‘‘Preparing Autographic Stencils for Printing’’, which covered the making of stencils using a file plate. But the word mimeograph was first used by Albert Blake Dick when he licensed Edison’s patents in 1887. In the 1960s, mimeographs, spirit duplicators, and hectographs were gradually replaced by photocopiers.
1900 — The first Davis Cup tennis competition begins at Brookline, Massachusetts, and is won by the United States two days later. 1908 — An Act imposing restrictions on immigration
comes into force in New Zealand.
1915 — The Wellington Battalion occupies Chunuk Bair, but two days later it will be overrun in a counterattack by Turkish forces.
1940 — Germany begins heavy bombing of Britain
in World War 2.
1945 — US president Harry Truman signs the United
Nations Charter.
1963 — Britain’s ‘‘Great Train Robbery’’ takes place,
as thieves make off with £2.6 million in banknotes.
1965 — The city of Singapore withdraws from the Federation of Malaysia and becomes an independent state.
1967 — The foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand sign a declaration leading to the formation of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).
1973 — US vicepresident Spiro Agnew brands reports that he took kickbacks while governor of Maryland as ‘‘damn lies’’ and vows not to resign. He retracts and resigns on October 10. 1974 — US president Richard Nixon announces on television that he is resigning because of his part in the Watergate scandal.
1975 — Dunedin’s historic Savoy Restaurant is saved from potential demise when purchased as a going concern by Dunedin businessman Stewart Clark.
1979 — After a period of wet weather, a massive landslip sweeps down a hillside in the Dunedin suburb of Abbotsford, destroying many homes. Fortunately there was no loss of life as some residents had been evacuated earlier.
1988 — UN secretarygeneral Javier Perez de Cuellar
announces a ceasefire between Iran and Iraq.
1989 — Geoffrey Palmer (Labour) assumes office as New Zealand prime minister, replacing David Lange, who had resigned after disagreeing with party policy and direction. In the reshuffle, Helen Clark becomes New Zealand’s first female deputy prime minister; 10 people are killed when a scenic flight from Wanaka to Milford Sound crashes into the side of a mountain in the Upper Dart Valley. 1992 — President Denis Sassou Nguesso loses in the Republic of the Congo’s first presidential election since 1963.
1997 — Iraq clears the last obstacle for a resumption of oil sales after a UN Security Council panel approves a formula for setting crude prices under an ‘‘oil for food’’ plan.
Today’s birthdays:
Alfred Shout, New Zealandborn soldier and Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross (18821915); Dustin Hoffman, US actor (1937); Connie Stevens, US actresssinger (1938); Jay David, US musician (1942); Larry Wilcox, US actor (1947); Sandra LeeVercoe, New Zealand politician (1952); The Edge (Dave Howell Evans), Irish guitarist of U2 (1961); Matthew Lane, New Zealand professional golfer (1968); Patricia Arquette, US actress (1968); Philippa Ballantine, New Zealand author (1971);
Ross Nicholson, New Zealand football international (1975); Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player (1981); Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary (1988);
Kane Williamson, New Zealand cricket captain (1990).