Today in history
Today is Monday, January 28, the 28th day of 2019. There are 337 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1547 — Death of England’s King Henry VIII, who is
succeeded by his 9yearold son, Edward VI.
1561 — The persecution of Huguenots in France is
suspended by the Edict of Orleans.
1689 — Just three years into his reign, Britain’s Parliament declares that James II has abdicated. The deposed king’s supporters were known as ‘‘Jacobites’’.
1807 — London’s Pall Mall becomes the first street
to be illuminated by gaslight.
1878 — The first commercial telephone switchboard goes into operation in New Haven, Connecticut.
1932 — Japanese troops occupy Shanghai in
China.
1935 — Iceland becomes the first country to
legalise abortion on medical/social grounds.
1943 — Adolf Hitler mobilises the entire German
adult population for the country’s war effort.
1945 — A convoy of United States trucks from India crosses the BurmeseChinese border, opening the famous Burma Road in World War 2.
1949 — The UN Security Council adopts a resolution to establish a ceasefire in Indonesia, then known as the Dutch East Indies.
1950 — The French Assembly ratifies the agreement under which Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos become independent states within the French union.
1957 — The Central Otago town of Ophir records a temperature of 37.6degC, the highest January temperature recorded in Otago.
1968 — The Radio Hauraki pirate radio ship Tiri runs aground on rocks while attempting to negotiate a way into Whangaparapara Harbour on Great Barrier Island during a severe storm. Disc jockey Derek King kept listeners up to date with a running commentary.
1972 — At age 96, Mr A.H. Reed leads an estimated 500 people to the summit of Mt Cargill, in poor weather conditions. Reed first made the trek 70 years earlier.
1973 — The Paris Peace Accords which were suppose to end direct US military intervention in Vietnam, are little more than a day old before fighting resumes between the three remaining powers involved.
1986 — The space shuttle Challenger explodes moments after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing all seven crew members.
1991 — Less than two weeks on the job filing
reports for CNN on the US bombing of Baghdad at the start of the Gulf War, Rivertonborn journalist Peter Arnett files a 90min interview with Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein.
1998 — A judge in Poonamallee, India, convicts 26 conspirators in the 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and orders all to be hanged.
2000 — Macraes gold mine produces its onemillionth ounce of gold after 10 years of operation.
2003 — Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s rightwing Likud Party wins the parliamentary elections, handing the Labour Party its worst defeat at the polls.
2011 — Severe tropical cyclone Wilma, the first cyclone on record to strike New Zealand while still tropical, makes contact with the North Island. Several areas recorded over 200mm of rain in a 24hr period, one recording 280mm. Throughout New Zealand Wilma’s damage bill was estimated at $25 million.
2013 — Milk company Fonterra begins a ‘‘milk for schools’’ programme, beginning with delivery to Southland primary schools, and will complete coverage to all South Island primary schools that apply by the middle of the second term. The company plans to complete the free delivery to all primary schools throughout New Zealand that apply in just over 12 months. A similar governmentbacked service was ended in 1967.
Today’s birthdays:
Henry (Harry) Kerr, New Zealand’s first Olympic Games medallist (18791951); Sir Howard Kippenberger, New Zealand military officer World War 1 and World War 2 (18971957); Sir Trevor Skeet, New Zealandborn lawyer and a British Conservative politician (19182004); Alan Alda, US actor (1936); Dame Malvina Major, New Zealand opera singer (1943); Mike Moore, New Zealand politician (1949); Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer/musician (1968); Julian Dean, New Zealand roadracing cyclist (1975); Nick Carter, US singer (1980); Elijah Wood, US actor (1981);
Kalifa Faifai Loa, New Zealand rugby league international (1990).
Thought for today:
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. — Henry Brooks Adams, American historian and author (18381918).