Could I Have This Dance?

Happy birthday Anne Murray, 65 today.

Butterflies – It’s not what I want

Happy birthday Wendy Craig – 76 today.

When I was looking for a clip I was expecting to find comedy, not:

That seems to be the plan for women like me. Women like me were born to help the women you’ll marry escape. It’s not what I want and what makes it all worse is I don’t know what I want.”

Has any mother not felt like this at some stage and is it any better now that motherhood and careers don’t have to be mutually exclusive and more fathers take a more active role in parenting  and housework than they did in previous generations?

Plans for last drink at Gardies foiled by early closing

Dunedin didn’t have the plethora of drinking options available today when I was a student there in the mid 70s. The Cook, The Bowling Green or the relatively new Gardies were the three most popular.

We weren’t supposed to be on licensed premises until we were 20 back then. although policing of the purchase age was far less strict than it is now and financial limitations probably had a greater impact than legal ones on our ability to buy booze.

 In those days before student loans, when tertiary education was “free” we had only the money earned in holidays to see us through the year and, at least in my circle of friends and flatmates, there wasn’t enough over for much alcohol.

I have vague memories of a few trips to the Gardies but nothing of note so wasn’t planning to join the hordes expected there over the weekend to mark its closure.

Those who had planned a last drink at the pub which has been sold to the University of Otago, had their plans foiled  when the Gardies  served its last drink and closed its doors at midnight  on Friday.

The early closure was to avoid any trouble. I understand why but it’s a sad indictment on society that the publican couldn’t trust the patrons to mark the closure without causing trouble.

The last test

The first game I can remember watching at Carisbrrok was a match between Otago and the Lions.

It would have been 1975ish, in the days when touring teams toured the provinces.

I can’t remember the score though I suspect we lost. It wasn’t the only Otago loss I’ve watched but I also saw some wins, most notably the day the team captained by Taine Randall won the NPC final.

We used to go down to Dunedin regularly for NPC games and in the early days of the Super 12 but in recent years we’ve had other priorities.

But we went down again for Carisbrook’s 37th and final rugby test match last night.

The city was buzzing and turned on a glroious day – blue sky, sunshine and almost no wind. The mild temperature would have been welcomed by the teams playing nude rugby in the afternoon.

As part of the pre-test entertainment, Colin Meads and Otago’s favourite sons Josh Kronfeld and Jeff Wilson told us there favourite memories of the ground.

Deborah Wai Kapohe and Judd Arthur sang the national anthems – powerfully.

Wales scored first and second, then the All Blacks found their feet.

After the final whistle, with the score at 42 -9, the City of Dunedin Pipe Band marched on to the ground to play Auld Lang Syne, Jeff Wilson dug out a piece of turf to be taken to the new Forsyth Barr Stadium and the celebration finished with a fireworks display.

The ODT editorialises in tribute to Carisbrook here.

Jim Mora chatted to Ian Galloway and Ron Polenski about Carisbrook here.

UPDATE: Keeping Stock pays tribute too.

June 20 in history

On June 20:

451  Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius‘ battled Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.

1005 Ali az-Zahir, caliph, was born (d. 1036).

1214 The University of Oxford received its charter.

1631  The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore was attacked by Algerian pirates.

1652  Tarhoncu Ahmet Paşa appointed grand vezir of the Ottoman Empire, served until 21 March 1653.

1685  Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwater.

1723 Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian, was born  (d. 1816).

 

1756  A British garrison was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

 

1782  The U.S. Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States.

 

1787  Oliver Ellsworth moved at the Federal Convention to call the government the United States.

1789  Deputies of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath.

 

1791  King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family began the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution.

1819 Jacques Offenbach, German-born French composer, was born  (d. 1880).

 

1819  The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrived  at Liverpool, United Kingdom – the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey was made under sail.

1837  Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne.

 Victoria receives the news of her accession to the throne from Lord Conyngham (left) and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

1840  Samuel Morse received the patent for the telegraph.

 

1862   Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, was assassinated.

1863  American Civil War: West Virginia was admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

1877  Alexander Graham Bell installed the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario.

 

1893  Lizzie Borden was acquitted for the murders of her father and stepmother.

1909 Errol Flynn, Australian actor, was born (d. 1959).

1919  150 died at the Teatro Yaguez fire, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

1924  Chet Atkins, American guitar player and producer, was born  (d. 2001).

1934 Wendy Craig, English actress, was born.

 

1942 Brian Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys), was born.

1944 World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concluded with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.

 

1944  Continuation war: Soviet Union demanded an unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive.

1945  Anne Murray, Canadian singer, was born.

1946 Xanana Gusmão, President of East Timor, was born.

1948 Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru, was born.

1948 Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, made its television debut.

 1949  Lionel Richie, American musician (The Commodores) , was born.

1949  Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass guitarist (Bay City Rollers), was born. 

1950  Nouri Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq, was born. 

1954 Michael Anthony, American musician (Van Halen), was born.

1956  A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.

1959  A rare June hurricane struck Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.

 

1960 John Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran), was born.

1960  Independence of Mali and Senegal.

1963  The so-called “red telephone” was established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

1967 Nicole Kidman, American-born Australian actress, was born.

1971 Josh Kronfeld, New Zealander rugby union footballer, was born.

1973  Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires  Snipers fired on left-wing Peronists. At least 13 were killed and more than 300 injured.

1979 ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder was caught on tape and sparked international outcry of the regime.

1987 The All Blacks won the inaugural rugby World Cup.

 

1990  Asteroid Eureka was discovered.

1991  The German parliament decided to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.

2003 The WikiMedia Foundation was founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia