TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Monday, August 22, the 235th day of 2022. There are 131 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1350 — Philip VI of France dies and is succeeded by John II.
1485 — England’s King Richard III is killed at the Battle of Bosworth, ending the War of the Roses.
1567 — The Spanish Duke of Alba establishes the ‘‘Council of Blood’’ and begins a reign of terror as military governor in the Netherlands.
1582 — A group of Protestant nobles in Scotland carries out the Ruthven Raid, capturing King James VI while he is hunting and holding him captive until June 1583.
1642 — The English Civil War begins when King Charles I brands Parliament and its soldiers as traitors.
1654 — Jacob Barsimson, said to be the first Jewish immigrant to America, lands in New Amsterdam.
1762 — Ann Franklin becomes the first woman editor of an American newspaper, the Newport Mercury, in Rhode Island.
1784 — Vincent Lunardi makes England’s first hotairballoon flight, accompanied by a cat and a dog.
1787 — Inventor John Fitch demonstrates his steamboat Perseverance on the Delaware River in the United States.
1799 — Napoleon Bonaparte abandons the Egyptian campaign and slips past blockading British ships to return to
France.
1851 — The yacht America beats 14 other boats from the Royal Yacht
Squadron of Great Britain in a race around the Isle of Wight to win the £100 Cup (also known as the Hundred Guinea Cup). The crew donated the trophy to the New York Yacht Club and in 1870 it was offered as a challenge prize under the name the ‘‘America’s Cup’’.
1864 — The Geneva Convention for the protection of the wounded in times of active warfare is signed, leading to the formation of the Red Cross.
1871 — New Zealand’s first dairy factory is established on Otago Peninsula, called the Otago Peninsula Cooperative Cheese Factory Company Ltd. By the early 20th century, most factories were owned by cooperatives.
1911 — Officials in Paris announce that the Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre Museum the night before. It is recovered in 1913 in Italy.
1922 — Irish politician and Sinn Fein leader Michael Collins, largely responsible for the 1921 AngloIrish treaty, is killed in an ambush.
1962 — NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclearpowered merchant ship, completes her maiden voyage from Yorktown, Virginia, to Savannah, Georgia.
1969 — Held at the South Pacific Hotel in Auckland, Gary Frazer, of Swannanoa, near Christchurch, wins the first Young Farmer of the Year contest. The competition is now a firmly established part of the New Zealand farming calendar.
1983 — The New Zealand Party is launched by a group including property tycoon Bob Jones. Described by Labour Party leader David Lange as ‘‘a club for rich playboys’’, the libertarian party gains more than 12% of the vote at the 1984 general election without winning a seat.
1984 — The last Volkswagen Rabbit is produced.
1986 — The estate of Karen Silkwood is awarded $US1.3 million in a compensation claim against US nuclearenergy company Kerr McGee.
1990 — Scores of angry smokers block streets near Moscow’s Red Square for hours to protest about a cigarette shortage.
1998 — The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), one of Northern Ireland’s most ruthless Republican guerrilla groups, announces a ‘‘complete ceasefire’’.
Today’s birthdays:
Thomas Brunner, New Zealand surveyor/ explorer (182174); Nathanael Chalmers, New Zealand explorer (18301910); Samuel Pierpont Langley, US astronomer and aviation pioneer (18341906); James Nelson Williams, New Zealand runholder/ orchardist/entrepreneur (18371915); James Malcolm Mason, New Zealand public health administrator (18641924); Shayle Gardner, New Zealand actor (18901945); Rona Tong, New Zealand sprinter/hurdler/netballer/basketballer (19162016); Dick Brittenden, New Zealand sports writer (19192002); Ray Bradbury, US sciencefiction author (19202012); Pat O’Connor, New Zealand professional wrestler (192490); Honor Blackman, English actress (19252020); Maurice Gee,
New Zealand novelist (1931); Des Thomson, New Zealand racing cyclist (1942); Sir Andrew Tipping, New Zealand judge (1942); Catherine Wilkin, New Zealand actress (1945); Helen Moulder, New Zealand actress (1947); Cindy Williams, US actress (1947); David Marks, US musician (1948); Debbi Peterson, US drummer/musician (1961); Tori Amos, US musician (1963); Mark Wilson, New Zealand businessman (1966); Howie Dorough, US singer (1973); Kristen Wiig, US actress (1973); Rebecca Rolls, New Zealand cricket and football international (1975); James Corden, English actor/ comedian (1978); Dan WeekesHannah, New Zealand actor (1987); Sarah Major, New Zealand actress (1988); Kenny Bromwich, New Zealand rugby league player (1991).
Quote of the day:
‘‘I always thought I had a difficult childhood till I saw the film Angela’s Ashes.’’ — Roland Orzabal, English musician/ songwriter/vocalist, who was born on this day in 1961.