metro cinema
mutinies at Kiel; Poland declares independence from Russia.
1933 — New Zealand’s Reserve Bank Bill becomes
law.
1942 — In World War 2, German Afrika Korps and Italian forces under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel begin a retreat westward after a renewed campaign by the Allies under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
1945 — Sailors and marines from the British cruiser HMS Newfoundland parade through Dunedin’s centralcity streets in front of a large appreciative crowd.
1948 — The lower Clutha area is inundated by
heavy flooding.
1955 — Bypassing the steep Rimutaka incline, the Rimutaka rail tunnel, between Wairarapa and Hutt Valley, is opened.
1956 — The Roxburgh Dam is commissioned.
1957 — The Soviet Union launches the first inhabited space capsule, Sputnik II, carrying a dog named Laika.
1961 — The UN General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant acting secretarygeneral following the death of Dag Hammarskjold.
1962 — One person is killed when a northbound freight train crashes into the rear of a stationary freight train at Te Kauwhata in Waikato. The crash sparked the introduction of vigilance devices in diesel locomotives.
1968 — Storms, landslips and floods take more than 100 lives and cause heavy damage in northern Italy.
1969 — Read by Dougal Stevenson, New Zealand’s first network news broadcast is screened simultaneously around the country.
1970 — Owned by E.C.S. Falconer of Dunedin,
Baghdad Note wins the Melbourne Cup. The horse was trained by Bob Heasley and ridden by Ernie (Midge) Didham.
1974 — Summer time is given another trial. Proving successful, daylight saving of one hour becomes permanent in New Zealand the following year. 1975 — The Queen opens an underwater pipeline
to bring the first of Britain’s North Sea oil ashore.
1979 — Dunedin’s daily evening newspaper, the
Evening Star, prints its final edition.
1983 — South Africans vote by a large majority to allow Indians and Coloureds, but not Blacks, some limited powersharing in the Government.
1988 — An estimated 20,000 police stop South Korean students from carrying out a threat to seize and kill former leader Chun Doo Hwan.
Today’s birthdays:
George Spencer, New Zealand rugby union and rugby league international (18781950); Monica Vitti, Italian actress (1931); Ken Berry, US actordancer (1933); Lulu, British singeractress (1948); Roseanne Barr, US comedienneactress (1952);
Kate Capshaw, US actress (1953); Dennis Miller, US comedian (1953); Kathy Kinney, US actress (1953); Adam Ant, British pop singer (1954); Vaughan Brown, New Zealand cricket international (1959); Bryan Young, New Zealand cricket international (1964).
Thought for today:
On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down. —
Woody Allen, American actor/filmmaker (1935).
ODT and agencies