Today is Friday, July 31, the 212th day of 2026. There are 153 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 30BC — At the Battle of Alexandria, Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to Octavian’s invasion of Egypt. 1786 — Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect by Robert Burns, is published. 1830 — The Rev William Yate arrives in the Bay of Islands with the country’s first hand-printing press. By the end of the year, a catechism in Maori entitled Ko te Katekihama III will become the first printed publication in New Zealand. 1843 — The foundation stone is laid for the Royal Victoria Theatre, New Zealand's first purpose-built theatre, on Manners St, Wellington. Wellington’s second theatre, the Britannia Saloon in Willis St, forced the Royal Victoria out of business soon after it opened in 1845. 1844 — At Port Chalmers, the New Zealand Company completes the purchase of the Otago Block from Ngai Tahu. 1856 — Christchurch is chartered as a city. 1870 — The jail at Clyde is broken into and robbed of all the escort gold and money for the month. 1875 — The Rev Patrick Francis Healy, a priest, the son of a plantation owner and a mixed-race slave, becomes president of Georgetown University in the United States, making him the first African-American to preside over a predominantly white university. 1910 — Dr Hawley Crippen and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve, are arrested on board the liner SS Montrose as it enters the St Lawrence River, Canada. 1912 — The world’s first film-censorship law is passed in the US, preventing the interstate transportation of films showing prize fights. 1913 — New Zealand’s first ski club, the Ruapehu Ski Club, is established. 1917 — In World War 1 the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) begins; about half a million casualties ensue. 1928 — MGM’s Leo the Lion roars for the first time, before MGM’s first talking motion picture, White Shadows in the South Seas. 1947 — In a move to give the New Zealand dairy industry and the Government shared responsibility in export marketing, the Dairy Products Marketing Commission Act passes into law; in Dunedin, the Kaikorai cable tram service ends, with its last run up the Stuart St line at 11.10pm. It was replaced by diesel buses. 1954 — Mt Godwin-Austen (K2) in the Himalayas is climbed for the first time, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio. 1956 — England spin bowler Jim Laker takes all 10 Australian wickets for 53 runs in the second innings of a cricket test at Old Trafford, after a first innings haul of 9/37. 1960 — The Malayan emergency officially ends, by which time 15 New Zealand servicemen had lost their lives, only three in active combat. 1962 — Television transmission (black and white) begins in Dunedin, with the introduction of the regional channel DNTV2. 1964 —The US Ranger 7 spacecraft transmits to Earth the first close-up pictures of the moon. 1965 — After finishing second in 1964, Kiri Te Kanawa wins the prestigious Mobil Song Quest final held in the Dunedin Town Hall. 1975 — The Irish pop group the Miami Showband is ambushed and murdered by Protestant gunmen near Newry in Northern Ireland. 1976 — John Walker becomes the third New Zealander to win an Olympic 1500m race, at the Montreal Olympic Games. 2004 — A renovator and former shearer from Gisborne, Gary Lewis, adds some Maori lineage to the British Royal Family when he marries Lady Davina Windsor, at the time 22nd in line to the throne. 2007 — The deployment of British troops to support Northern Ireland police, codenamed Operation Banner, officially ends after 38 years. 2012 — Michael Phelps becomes the greatest medal winner in Olympic history as part of the winning American 4 x 200m freestyle relay team in London. It was Phelps' 19th career Olympic medal and 15th gold. 2022 — Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins and 31 other New Zealanders banned from entering Russia for supporting a ‘‘Russophobic agenda’’.. Today’s birthdays William Calder, New Zealand-born engineer (1860-1928); William James Hardham, New Zealand recipient of the Victoria Cross (1876-1928); Gwitha Shand, New Zealand swimmer (1904-1962); Harry Ayres, New Zealand mountaineer (1912-1987); Theo Schoon, New Zealand artist (1915-1985); Verdun Scott, New Zealand cricket and rugby league international (1916-1980); Primo Levi, Italian writer (1919-1987); Don Donnithorne, New Zealand architect (1926-2016); Louise Pajo, New Zealand actress (1940-2020) Susan Flannery, US actress (1943-); Geraldine Chaplin, US actress (1944-); Richard Griffiths, British actor (1947-2013); Russell Morris, Australian singer (1948-); Brian Turner, New Zealand football international (1949-); Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Australian tennis player (1951-); Ruth Aitken, New Zealand netball representative and coach (1956-); Alison Maclean, Canadian film director (1958-); Bill Berry, US musician (1958-); Wesley Snipes, US actor (1962-); Norman (Fatboy Slim) Cook, British musician (1963-); J.K. Rowling, British author (1965); Emilia Fox, British actress (1974-); Sam Hammington, New Zealand actor (1977-); Robert Telfer, US actor (1977-); Mils Muliaina, All Black (1980-); Quote of the day: ‘‘Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?.’’ — J.K. Rowling, British author, who was born on this day in 1965. ODT and agencies
