TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Monday, June 14, the 165th day of 2021. There are 200 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1777 — The United States Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes as the nation’s official flag.
1789 — Captain William Bligh and 18 others are cast adrift from HMS Bounty; they eventually reached Timor in the East Indies after a voyage of almost 6500km in an open boat.
1843 — About 100 German settlers arrive at Nelson with the German Colonisation Company.
1847 — Robert Bunsen invents the Bunsen burner.
1862 —The Betsy Douglas, the first steamer built in Otago, is launched.
1873 — Sir James Fergusson assumes office as New Zealand Governor, serving until December 1874. His son, Sir Charles Fergusson, served as GovernorGeneral from 192430, and his grandson, Sir Bernard Fergusson, was GovernorGeneral from 196267. Sir Charles’ fatherinlaw, the Earl of Glasgow, also served as governor, from June 1892 to February 1897.
1905 — The newly created role of high commissioner for New Zealand in London is filled by William Pember Reeves. The role replaced that of agentgeneral.
1940 — The swastika is hoisted on the Eiffel Tower as the German army occupies Paris; the Nazis open the concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland.
1942 — The first wave of US marines arrives in Wellington. Over the next two years, more than 100,000 US servicemen will be based in New Zealand.
1949 — Bao Dai is installed as president of the new state of Vietnam.
1951 — The first electronic computer for commercial use is demonstrated at the Bureau of the Census in Philadelphia.
1967 — The US Mariner spacecraft is launched towards Venus, to try to discover if that planet can support life.
1976 — A waterlogged Eden Park, Auckland, is the venue for the memorable ‘‘water polo’’ rugby test match between New Zealand and Scotland. New Zealand won 240.
1982 — Argentine forces surrender to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands.
1984 — New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon calls a snap election when government MP Marilyn Waring announces she will not necessarily vote with the Government on rape and nuclear disarmament issues.
1989 — Former US president Ronald Reagan is made an honorary knight by Queen Elizabeth.
1990 — The New Zealand Government sells Telecom to Bell Atlantic and Ameritech for $NZ4.25 billion, making it one of the earliest telecommunications companies in the world to fall into private ownership. Shares are sold on to reduce foreign holdings to less than 50%.
1993 — Turkey gets a female prime minister after President Suleyman Demirel asks True Path leader Tansu Ciller to form a government.
1997 — A 1939 comic book featuring the first appearance by Batman is auctioned for $US68,500 at Sotheby’s in New York.
1998 — Queen Margrethe opens Europe’s longest suspension bridge, linking eastern and western Denmark by road.
2004 — British entrepreneur Richard Branson sets a world record by driving across the English Channel in a James Bondstyle amphibious sports car in under two hours.
2006 — More than 1000 Indonesian villagers are forced to flee Mt Merapi after searinghot gas and debris erupt from the volcano.
2011 — There is still no respite for Christchurch residents as the city is disrupted by a series of aftershocks.
2014 — Otago’s Ben Smith puts in a manofthe match performance at fullback in Dunedin, when the All Blacks defeat England 2827 in the second test of a threetest series.
2017 — A fire in the residential Grenfell Tower block in London, England, kills 79 and injures 37.
Today’s birthdays:
Harriet Beecher Stowe, US writer (181196); James Allen Ward, New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross in World War 2 (191941); Ernesto ‘‘Che’’ Guevara, Argentinian revolutionary (192867); Donald Trump, US president (1946); Janet Mackey, New Zealand politician (1953); Boy George (born George Alan O’Dowd), English pop singer (1961); Steffi Graf, German tennis star (1969); Duncan Oughton, New Zealand international footballer (1977); Emma Humphries, New Zealand international footballer (1986); Lucy Hale, US actress/ singer (1989).
Quote of the day:
‘‘Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.’’ — Victor Hugo, French writer (180285).