TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Monday, May 23, the 143rd day of 2022. There are 222 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1430 — Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians, who sell her to the English.
1533 — The marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
1701 — Captain William Kidd is hanged in London after being convicted of piracy and murder.
1785 — In a letter to a friend, Benjamin Franklin reveals his invention of spectacles of two thicknesses, the first bifocals.
1813 — South American independence leader Simon Bolivar enters Merida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (‘‘The Liberator’’).
1861 — Gabriel Read discovers gold in an area that now bears his name, Gabriels Gully. It is the first of many Otago gold discoveries and leads to the doubling of the province’s population within six months. Read’s discovery earned him £1000.
1862 — The proprietors of the Otago Daily Times
offer a silver cup valued at £50 to the author of the best pamphlet promoting selfgovernance of the South Island.
1873 — The brig Australia is wrecked off Cape Campbell with the loss of 10 lives; Canada’s Mounties, at the time called the North West Mounted Police, is established.
1907 — The inaugural meeting of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children (later the Plunket Society) is addressed by its founder, Dr Frederic Truby King. A number of prominent Dunedin women assisted in establishing the organisation.
1934 — Aviatrix Jean Batten arrives in Darwin in a DH60M Moth, setting a women’s record for EnglandAustralia flights of 14 days 23 hours 25 minutes.
1945 — Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler commits suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany.
1958 — Mao Tsetung starts the ‘‘Great Leap Forward’’ movement in China.
1960 — Following an earthquake in Chile, the first of a series of tsunamis hits the east coast of the North Island. Within days, Whakatane, Whitianga and Whangamata are evacuated for fear of further waves.
1966 — Princess Piki is crowned as Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu, the first Maori queen; the collier
Kaitawa sinks in a storm off Cape Reinga, with the loss of 29 lives.
1969 — The Who release the rock opera Tommy.
1993 — In a golden day for New Zealand golf, four of the country’s players win international titles. Greg Turner wins the Italian Open; Bob Charles wins
the Bell Atlantic Classic; Grant Waite wins the Kemper Open and Grant Moorhead wins the West Australian Open.
Today’s birthdays:
Harold (Circus) Hayward, New Zealand rugby union and rugby league representative (18831970); Charles (Charlie) Saxton, All Black player, manager and administrator (19132001); Sir John (Richard) Harrison, New Zealand politician (19212003); John (Jack) Foster, New Zealand marathon runner (19322004);
Joan Collins, English actress (1933); Lauren Chapin US actress (1945); Doug Bruce, All Black (1947); Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess champion (1951); Mark Shaw, All Black (1956); Drew Carey, US comedian (1958); Erin Baker, New Zealand triathlete (1961).
Quote of the day:
‘‘For me, I believe George Foreman was a bad example because when he became world heavyweight champion again at 42 [actually 45], that made a lot of fighters think they could also carry on.’’ — Marvin Hagler, US professional boxer and undisputed middleweight champion from 1980 to 1987, who was born on this day in 1954. He died in 2021.