TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Thursday, February 4, the 35th day of 2021. There are 330 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1789 — Electors unanimously choose George Washington to be the first US president.
1840 — Work begins on the task of translating the Treaty of Waitangi, prepared by James Busby, into Maori.
1861 — Delegates from six Southern states meet in Montgomery, Alabama, to form the Confederate States of America.
1924 — Mahatma Gandhi, the pacifist who led the struggle for Indian independence from Britain, is released after spending two years in jail in Bombay (now Mumbai).
1927 — British driver Malcolm Campbell breaks the world land speed record in his car Bluebird, driving at 174.224mph (280.2kmh). 1945 — British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta in the Crimea, agreeing to demand Germany’s unconditional surrender, and making plans for a postwar world.
1950 — The British Empire Games begin in Auckland. The games are being held in New Zealand for the first time and a crowd of 40,000 witnesses the opening ceremony.
1964 — The largest contracting job in New Zealand history begins at Deep Cove, when Prime Minister Keith Holyoake fires the first shot in the tailrace tunnel project for the Manapouri power scheme. The project is estimated to cost £9.3 million.
1971 — British car maker RollsRoyce declares itself bankrupt.
1973 — Temperatures soar as a heatwave hits the Otago region, with a maximum temperature in Dunedin of 34.5degC.
1974 — Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of the late William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1975 — United States swimmer Lynne Cox becomes the first woman to swim across Cook Strait, and just the fourth person known to have done so. Battling heavy seas and strong winds she completed her swim from north to south in 12hr 2min 30sec.
1985 — New Zealand’s Labour Government stands firm on its antinuclear stance when it refuses the USS Buchanan entry because the US would neither confirm nor deny that the warship had nuclear capability. In response, the US Government severed its visible intelligence and military ties with New Zealand and downgraded political and diplomatic exchanges.
1987 — The San Diego Yacht Club celebrates the victory of skipper Dennis Conner on Stars and Stripes over Australia’s Kooka
burra III to sweep the America’s Cup series off Fremantle.
1990 — New Zealand fast bowler Richard Hadlee becomes the first international cricketer to take 400 test wickets, capturing 4/69 in the first test against India in Christchurch. In 86
tests, Hadlee took 431 wickets at an average of 22.29.
1991 — Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones establish a worldrecord test cricket partnership of 467 runs in the drawn first test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington against Sri Lanka. The partnership was broken when Jones was dismissed for 186. Crowe went on to score 299.
1992 — Large crowds turn out to witness the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth II berth at Port Chalmers. At the time, it was the largest ship to enter Otago Harbour.
1995 — Six people die when the New Empire Hotel in Hamilton is set ablaze. Arsonist Alan Lory is later jailed on six manslaughter charges.
2003 — The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
2004 — Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room.
2009 — Floods hit North Queensland, putting 62% (about 1 million square kilometres) of the state under water.
2020 — The Covid19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau, on China’s southern coast, to be closed down for 15 days.
Today’s birthdays:
Vincent Pyke, Australian/New Zealand politician (182794); Hoani Te Whatahoro Jury, New Zealand recorder/interpreter (18411923); Sir Charles Luke, New Zealand local body politician (18571941); George Stephenson, New Zealand theatrical company manager/entrepreneur (18741918); Charles Reginald Ford, New Zealand explorer/architect (18801972); Roly Marks, New Zealand politician (18931977); Arnold Fielder Downer, New Zealand civil engineer/company director (18951984); Francis Peter Cusack, New Zealand eccentric (191990); Joan Wiffen, New Zealand paleontologist (19222009); Isabel Peron, former president of Argentina (1931); Gary Conway, US actor (1936); Alice Cooper, US rock singer (1948); Michael Beck, US actor (1949); Patrick Bergin, Irish actor (1951); Dame Jenny Shipley, 36th prime minister of New Zealand (1952); Lisa Eichhorn, US actress (1952); Gerry Brownlee, New Zealand politician (1956); Jenette Goldstein, US actress (1960); David Jaggar, New Zealand computer scientist (1967); Gabrielle Anwar, English actress (1970); David Jubermann, New Zealand writer (1982).
Quote of the day:
‘‘You get to be famous or have some notoriety and there are so many people who want a piece of you.’’ — Oscar De La Hoya, former US professional boxer, who was born on this day in 1973.
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