Today in history
Today is Thursday, August 9, the 221st day of 2018. There are 144 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
480BC — After three days’ resistance, 300 Spartans under King Leonidas and a Greek force of 1100 are finally beaten by the Persians led by Xerxes
I at the battle of Thermopylae.
378 — Visigoths annihilate a Roman army and kill the emperor at Adrianople, marking the beginning of serious barbarian inroads on Roman territory. 1483 — Opening of the Sistine Chapel in the
Vatican.
1529 — At the behest of Henry VIII, writs are issued in order to convene the Reformation Parliament, which Henry uses to pass laws stripping the Roman Catholic Church of its powers and possessions and hand them over to the English Crown.
1655 — Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11
districts, each with a majorgeneral as governor. 1790 — The Columbia returns to Boston Harbour after a threeyear voyage, becoming the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe.
1830 — Louis Philippe formally accepts the crown
of France following the abdication of Charles X.
1842 — The WebsterAshburton Treaty between the United States and Britain establishes the boundary between the US and Canada from Maine to the Great Lakes.
1898 — Spain formally accepts peace terms, ending
the SpanishAmerican War.
1902 — Edward VII is crowned at Westminster
Abbey. 1908 — The ‘‘Great White Fleet’’, commanded by Admiral C. S. Perry, arrives at Auckland. The 16 US naval vessels carrying 14,000 sailors are greeted with jubilation and a ‘‘fleet week’’ entertainment programme.
1936 — Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal
at the Berlin Olympics, in the 4x400m relay.
1945 — A US plane drops a second atomic bomb, destroying more than half of the city of Nagasaki in Japan, in World War 2. More than 70,000 people are killed.
1962 — All stocks of the drug thalidomide are recalled under section 12 of the Food and Drugs Act. The drug was marketed as a mild sleeping pill, save even for expectant mothers until it was found to be the cause of a number of deformities.
1969 — Actress Sharon Tate and four other people are found murdered in Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and his disciples are later convicted of the crime.
1971 — Security forces in Northern Ireland detain
hundreds of guerrilla suspects and put them in the Maze prison, the beginning of an internment without trial policy.
— Gerald Ford is sworn in as 38th president of the US after Richard Nixon becomes the first US president to resign from office.
— Ukrainian and Polish scientists discover the undisturbed 2200yearold tomb of a Scythian military commander, containing some 1000 gold and silver decorations and weapons, in central Ukraine.
1997 — Organisers in Budapest open what they claim is one of the world’s biggest exhibits on UFOs and extraterrestrials.
1999 — Russian president Boris Yeltsin fires his Cabinet, naming Vladimir Putin as his new prime minister.
2003 — Auckland’s Carlos Spencer kicks five goals in the All Blacks’ 1911 victory over South Africa at Carisbrook. A feature of the game was Springbok prop Richard Bands running almost 50m to score a spectacular try.
2012 — New Zealand wins its 100th Olympic medal when Peter Burling and Blair Tuke win the silver medal in the 49er class in yachting competition at the London Olympic Games. It is New Zealand’s 10th medal at these Games.
Today’s birthdays:
Charles Finlayson, New Zealand rugby league and cricket international (18891943); Albert F.A.L. Jones, New Zealand amateur astronomer (19202013); Frank Rennie, founder of the Special Air Service of the New Zealand Army (19181992); Kevin Laidlaw, All Black (1934); Des Connor, a halfback who represented internationally both the Australian and New Zealand national rugby union teams (1935); Sam Elliott, US actor (1944); Hugh Cook, New Zealand author (19562008);
Melanie Griffith, US actress (1957); John Key, 38th prime minister of New Zealand (1961); Pat Petersen, US actor (1966); Gillian Anderson, US actress (1968); Jon Toogood, New Zealand rock guitarist/singer (1971); Chris McBrean, New Zealand professional snooker player (1972); Audrey Tautou, French actress (1976); Daniel Ellensohn, New Zealand football international (1985).
Thought for today:
Genius does what it must, talent does what it can. — Edward BulwerLytton, English author (180373).
ODT and agencies