TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Thursday, January 14, the 14th day of 2021. There are 351 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1526 — Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Madrid, forcing Francis to give up claims to Burgundy, Italy and Flanders.
1724 — Spanish King Philip V abdicates the
throne.
1784 — The United States ratifies a peace treaty with England, formally ending the American War of Independence.
1809 — England and Spain form an alliance against Napoleon Bonaparte.
1814 — Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel.
1866 — In what is their last significant engagement in New Zealand, British troops secure Otapawa pa.
1891 — New Zealand boxer Bob Fitzsimmons wins the world middleweight championship when he knocks out John Edward Kelly (known as Jack ‘‘Nonpareil’’ Dempsey) in their bout in New Orleans. Fitzsimmons successfully retained the title for seven years.
1909 — The last known sighting is made of the brig Rio Loge, which disappeared on the way from Kaipara to Dunedin with 12 crew aboard.
1938 — Premiere of the first Disney cartoon feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in the US.
1943 — US president Franklin Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill open a wartime conference in Casablanca.
1948 — Fourteenyearold Nelson schoolboy Malcolm Simpson discovers the oldest known fossils ever found in New Zealand — believed to be from the Palaeozoic era (542251 million years ago) — while on a field trip to Cobb Valley, near Motueka, with University of Otago geologist Noel Benson.
1950 — The first prototype of Russian jet fighter the MiG17 makes its first flight.
1953 — Josip Tito is elected president of Yugoslavia by Parliament.
1958 — Qantas begins an aroundtheworld service with two Super Constellation aircraft.
1965 — The prime ministers of Northern Ireland and Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
1969 — An explosion aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise near Hawaii, kills 27 sailors and a further 314 are injured.
1972 — Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.
1978 — English punk rock band the Sex Pistols stages its controversial final concert in Winterland, San Francisco.
1995 — The British army ends 25 years of daylight patrols in Belfast, reflecting a winddown of the guerrilla conflict which engulfed Northern Ireland.
1998 — An international treaty comes into effect protecting the entire continent of Antarctica as a global wilderness preserve.
2000 — A massive demonstration is held in Havana, demanding the return from the US of Elian Gonzalez, the boy rescued when a boat carrying illegal migrants sank.
2003 — The US Food and Drug Administration suspends 27 US genetherapy trials after a second child in four months develops leukaemialike symptoms in a French trial that used a similar technique.
2010 — Squadron Leader Nick Cree (32) dies when his CT4 Airtrainer crashes near the Raumai weapons range, west of Bulls, on a training flight with four other Red Checkers aircraft.
2018 — Invercargill records its highest temperature in almost 100 years when 32.3degC is recorded. The previous highest temperature for the southern city was 32.2degC recorded in 1921.
Today’s birthdays:
Thomas Hocken, New Zealand collector, bibliographer and researcher (18361910); Louis Hay, New Zealand architect (18811948); Harry Combs, New Zealand administrator/businessman/politician (18811954); Henry St Aubyn Murray, New Zealand hurdler/serviceman/architect (18861943); Con McCarthy, New Zealand rugby league player (18941968); Don Beard, New Zealand cricketer (19201982); Vera Burt, New Zealand field hockey and cricket international (19272017); Clarence Carter, US blues/soul singer (1936); Ann Chapman, New Zealand limnologist (19372009); Faye Dunaway, US actress (1941); Holland Taylor, US actress (1943); Bob Barber, All Black (1945); Carl Weathers, US actor (1948); Charlie Tumahai, New Zealand singer/songwriter (19491995); Lawrence Kasdan, US film writer/director (1949); Rob Hall, New Zealand mountaineer (19611996), Steven Soderbergh, US film writer/director (1963); Emily Watson, British actress (1967); Zakk Wylde, US singer/songwriter/ musician (1967); Justin Summerton, New Zealand artist (1968); Dave Grohl, US singer/songwriter/musician (1969); Jason Bateman, US actor (1969); Tom Scully, New Zealand cyclist (1990); Grant Gustin, US actor (1990).
Quote of the day:
‘‘You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.’’ — George Herman, US journalist, who was born on this day in 1920. He died in 2005, aged 85.