Today in history
Today is Friday, October 25, the 298th day of 2019. There are 67 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1839 — Te Rauparaha and a number of other chiefs give large blocks of land in the North and South islands to the New Zealand Company in exchange for guns, blankets and various goods.
1852 — Auckland Museum opens in a converted
government building in Grafton.
1854 — The heroic and tragic charge of the
British Light Brigade occurs near Sevastopol, Russia, during the Crimean War.
1872 — An Act of Parliament establishes New
Zealand’s Public Trust Office.
1877 — The Lyttelton water supply is turned on. 1897 — Mary MacKillop and three companions arrive in Arrowtown to teach at St Patrick’s Church School. The cottage in which she taught still stands in the churchyard. Mary MacKillop was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995.
1920 — King Alexander of Greece dies from blood
poisoning after being bitten by a pet monkey.
1936 — Germany and Italy form the RomeBerlin
Axis.
1938 — After years of slowly colonising the country, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini formally declares Libya a part of Italy.
1951 — Dunedin’s historic cablecar service over the Roslyn line has its final run. The public’s affection for the service is demonstrated by crowds jostling for seats or footholds on the last cars to leave for Roslyn. Hundreds more line the streets from the foot of Rattray St, waving and cheering as they bid farewell to a service that began in 1881 and was the first cablecar service to operate in the southern hemisphere.
1959 — Wellington Airport at Rongotai is officially
opened.
1961 — Private Eye, the British satirical magazine,
is published for the first time.
1962 — United States ambassador Adlai Stevenson presents photographic evidence of Soviet missile bases in Cuba to the UN Security Council; the onemillionth Holden car rolls off the production line in Australia.
1966 — With an increased number of parking meters, Dunedin city councillors first consider the introduction of metermaids; Olveston, the 35roomed Royal Tce home in Dunedin owned by the late Miss Dorothy Michaelis Theomin, is bequeathed to the city.
1972 — Dunedinborn poet/philosopher James K. Baxter is buried on the Ngati Hua marae at Jerusalem, 40 miles up the Whanganui River.
1977 — After a merger of Dunedin daily papers the
Evening Star and Otago Daily Times two years previously, both newspapers begin publishing from the Evening Star building in lower Stuart St.
1981 — Just months after winning the prestigious Boston Marathon, New Zealander Allison Roe wins the women’s section of the New York Marathon in a worldrecord time of 2hr 25min 28sec.
1983 — US marines and rangers, assisted by soldiers from six Caribbean nations, invade Grenada, acting on the orders of President Ronald Reagan, who said the action was needed to protect US citizens there.
1989 — The Soviet State Bank announces the rouble will be devalued by nearly 90% for tourists and businessmen.
1993 — A sightseeing aircraft crashes at Franz
Josef Glacier, killing nine people.
1998 — Otago wins the National Provincial Rugby Championship, capping off arguably one of the province’s most successful seasons with a 4920 victory over Waikato in the final in front of 40,000 fans at Carisbrook. The Otago team contained 13 present or future All Blacks and two future Scottish internationals.
2010 — All Black John Kirwan publishes his book
All Blacks Don’t Cry, covering various aspects of his battles with depression. It will change New Zealanders’ view of male depression and how affected men can be treated.
Today’s birthdays:
Marion Ross, US actress (1928); Robbie Macintosh, English musician (1957); Dipak Patel, New Zealand cricket international (1958); Chad Smith, US musician (1962); Adam Goldberg, US actor (1970); Anthony Starr, New Zealand actor (1975); Peter Ingram, New Zealand cricket international (1978); Katy Perry (born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson), US singer (1984); Stu Jacobs, New Zealand football international player/coach (1985); Ciara Harris, US singer (1985); Cathrine Latu, New Zealand netball international (1986).
Quote of the day:
‘‘A man doesn’t begin to attain wisdom until he recognises that he is no longer indispensable.’’ — Richard E. Byrd, US aviator and polar explorer, who was born on this day in 1888. He died in 1957, aged 68.