Today in history
Today is Thursday, April 18, the 108th day of 2019. There are 257 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1775 — Paul Revere rides from Charlestown to Lexington to warn Massachusetts colonists of the arrival of British troops at the start of the American War of Independence.
1831 — The Sydney Herald, a fourpage weekly newpaper, begins publication with a print run of 750. It became a daily newspaper in 1840, and following John Fairfax’s purchase in 1841, was retitled the Sydney Morning Herald. It remains Australia’s oldest newspaper, with a 2018 MondaytoFriday print circulation of just under 79,000.
1856 — The first ploughing match takes place at Tokomairiro. 1906 — A giant earthquake strikes San Francisco, resulting in fires that devastate the city, and leaving over 1000 dead and 200,000 homeless.
1909 — Fifteenthcentury French heroine Joan of Arc is beatified at a ceremony at the Vatican.
1912 — Turkey announces the closure of the Dardanelles Strait to shipping.
1914 — A crowd of 28,000 attends the closing of the Auckland Industrial, Agricultural and Mining Exhibition. An estimated 870,000 people attended in its 20 weeks of operation.
1928 — The Milton to Roxburgh railway line is completed.
1934 — The first laundromat, the Washeteria, is opened in Fort Worth, Texas, by J.F. Cantrell. 1949 — The Republic of Ireland Act 1948, as passed by the Irish Parliament, comes into force, ending Ireland’s status as a British dominion.
1954 — Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes prime minister of Egypt.
1965 — Uganda becomes the first noncommunist nation to join the Soviet Union in a denunciation of the United States’ involvement in Vietnam.
1968 — London Bridge is sold to American Robert McCulloch for £1 million, and later rebuilt in Arizona.
1974 — The Washington District Court conducting the Watergate proceedings subpoenas President Richard Nixon to produce tape recordings and other material demanded by the special prosecutor.
1978 — The US Senate votes 6832 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
1980 — The former Rhodesia becomes independent Zimbabwe.
1993 — In Pakistan, the government of Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif is dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in the culmination of his bitter power struggle with the prime minister.
2003 — New Zealand rally driver Possum Bourne is involved in a headon collision while driving over the course before a hillclimb competition at Cardrona. He dies 12 days later.
2013 — The 134yearold fivedayaweek Oamaru Mail and the Christchurch twiceweekly
The Star, which was established in 1868, are sold by APN New Zealand Media group to Christchurchbased Mainland Media Ltd. The sale was a move by APN NZ to consolidate holdings.
2014 — During heavy rainfall, a submerged fence is all that saves Roda Davidson from being swept away, after the Kakanui River bursts its banks at the Five Forks bridge. She spent two hours huddled on the roof of her car before being rescued. Heavy rain also caused flooding in Dunedin and Christchurch. Greymouth suffered significant damage after winds of up to 140kmh were recorded.
2017 — An historic payequity agreement is announced by the Government which would mean up to 55,000 lowpaid workers receiving up to a 71% wage increase over the next five years. The announcement is traced back to the damning inquiry five years earlier by former equal opportunities commissioner Judy McGregor and the courtcase victory of resthome worker Kristine Bartlett.
Today’s birthdays:
Alfred Hindmarsh, New Zealand politician (18601918); Peter (Sammy) Henderson, New Zealand Empire Games medalwinner and All Black (19262014); Clive Revill, New Zealandborn British actor (1930); Hayley Mills, British actress (1946); James Woods, US actor (1947); Rick Moranis, US actor (1953); Eric Roberts, US actor (1956); Jane Leeves, British actress (1961); Maria Bello, US actress (1967); Melissa Joan Hart, US actress (1976).
Quote from history:
‘‘The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.’’ — Albert Einstein, Germanborn scientist and mathematician. Einstein, who formulated the theory of relativity and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921, died on April 18, 1955, aged 76. ODT and agencies