Today in history
Today is Saturday, November 2, the 306th day of 2019. There are 59 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1642 — In the Thirty Years’ War, a retreating Swedish force defeats the Austrians at the second Battle of Breitenfeld; at least 10,000 Austrians are killed.
1785 — The first lifeboat is patented by London
coachbuilder Lionel Lukin.
1841 — In Afghanistan, following the British occupation of Kabul, Afghans revolt and murder Sir Alexander Burnes and 23 others, heralding the start of the second Afghan War.
1852 — Franklin Pierce is elected as the 14th
president of the United States.
1868 — New Zealand officially adopts a standard
time to be observed nationally.
1899 — New Zealandborn balloonist David Maloney (alias Captain Charles Lorraine) is killed in a hotairballoon accident at Lancaster Park. The balloon later falls into the sea at Lyttelton Heads.
1917 — British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour submits a declaration of intent, known as the Balfour Declaration, to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
1930 — Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of
Ethiopia.
1936 — The first public regular television service with a high level of image resolution is inaugurated by the BBC at Alexandra Palace.
1942 — Accompanied by three British brigades, the
2nd New Zealand Division makes a decisive breakthrough at El Alamein, causing Axis forces to retreat.
1947 — US billionaire/aviator Howard Hughes pilots his huge wooden aeroplane known as
Spruce Goose on its only flight, over Long Beach Harbour, California.
1948 — Despite all opinion polls pointing to the contrary, US president Harry S. Truman retains office in a stunning election win over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.
1954 — Minister of Agriculture Keith Holyoake officially opens the new allconcrete factory of the Cooperative Dairy Company of Otago Ltd in Anzac Ave. The building replaces the company’s old factory in Castle St.
1955 — David BenGurion, as prime minister,
forms the new Government in Israel.
1956 — Gaza, Egypt, falls to the British in the Suez War; the Hungarian Government renounces the Warsaw Treaty, and appeals to the United Nations against the Soviet invasion.
1958 — The last British troops leave Jordan. 1961 — Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa takes
power in Bahrain after his father dies.
1964 — King Saud of Saudi Arabia is deposed, and
Faisal is proclaimed king.
1976 — Jimmy Carter is elected 39th US president,
defeating Gerald Ford.
1987 — Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev marks the 70th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution with scathing criticism of former Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
1990 — Jim Bolger (National) takes office as prime minister when his party wins a landslide victory at the general election. Ruth Richardson becomes New Zealand’s first female minister of finance.
1998 — Clifton Promise is born at Middlemarch. After an uneventful racing career, the colt is eventually picked up by and wins the 2013 Badminton Horse Trials with Jock Paget.
2003 — The Rev Canon V. Gene Robinson is consecrated as the first openly gay bishop of the US Episcopal Church, a move that threatened to tear apart the worldwide Anglican community. 2004 — Theo van Gogh, a filmmaker who was the greatgrandnephew of Vincent van Gogh, is slain in a daylight attack in Amsterdam, and police arrest a Dutchborn Muslim man after wounding him in a shootout.
Today’s birthdays
Daniel Boone, US pioneer (17341820); Marie Antoinette, wife of France’s King Louis XVI (175593); James Polk, 11th US president (17951849); Warren Harding, 29th US president (18651923); Burt Lancaster, US actor (191394); Douglas Lilburn, New Zealand composer (19152001); John Sainsbury, British businessman/politician (1927);
Stefanie Powers (born Stefanie Zofya Paul), US actress (1942); Keith Emerson, UK musician (19442016); kd lang, Canadian singer (1961);
David Schwimmer, US actor (1966); Marisol Nichols, US actress (1973); Jason Cerbone, US actor (1977); Julie Lund, Danish actress (1979).
Quote of the day
‘‘Reputation is what other people know about you. Honuor is what you know about yourself . . . . Guard your honour. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.’’ — US author Lois McMaster Bujold, who was born on this day in 1949.