TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Tuesday, May 23, the 143rd day of 2023. 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.
1568 — William of Orange defeats a Spanish force at the Battle of Heiligerlee in Holland, marking the start of the Revolt of the Netherlands.
1618 — The Second Defenestration of Prague, a Bohemian revolt against the Hapsburg emperor, takes place and triggers the Thirty Years’ War.
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.
1797 — During a financial crisis, a cartoon by James Gilray appears depicting the Bank of England as a haggard old woman. This is thought to be the origin of the bank’s nickname ‘‘The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’’.
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.
1865 — A telegraphic communications service begins between Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.
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, are 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.
1949 — The German Federal Republic comes into being, with its capital in Bonn.
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 top players win international titles. Greg Turner cards 267 to win the Italian Open; Bob Charles cards 204 over three rounds to win the Bell Atlantic Classic; Grant Waite cards 275 to win the Kemper Open and Grant Moorhead cards 269 to win the West Australian Open.
1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern
Ireland with 75% voting yes.
2000 Eminem releases third studio album The Marshall Mathers LP .Itisthe fastestselling studio album ever.
2007 — Sixtyyearold Frieda Birnbaum becomes the oldest woman to give birth to twins in the United States.
Today’s birthdays:
Carl Linnaeus, taxonomist, botanist, physician and zoologist (170778); Harold (Circus) Hayward, New Zealand rugby
union and rugby league representative (18831970); Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (18831939); Charles (Charlie)
Saxton, All Black player, manager and administrator (19132001); Sir John (Richard) Harrison, New Zealand politician (19212003); Barbara Barrie, US actress (1931); John (Jack) Foster, New Zealand marathon runner (19322004); Joan Collins, English actress (1933); Charles Kimbrough, US actor (1936); Lauren Chapin US actress (1945); Doug Bruce, All Black (1947); Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess champion (1951); Marvin Hagler, US boxer (1954); Mark Shaw, All Black (1956); Drew Carey, US comedian (1958); Erin Baker, New Zealand triathlete/Ironman Hall of Fame inductee (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, 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. and agencies