In 2019 I got a message from the W.E.K.A's asking me if I had heard of LíB's OTD series in S. Austrailia and what OTD stood for?... I had no idea and after some research we had found out that it was a series called On This Day (OTD) with a story for each day of the year. Well that sounded like a crazy fun challenge and so the call went out to the Otago and Southland Geocachers to parttake in this series. You'll see in the description that the owners will write in either some muggle, geocaching or personnal facts/stories related to this day.
On this day.... 14 October
There were assassination attempts on three world leaders in 1981, with the attack on Queen Elizabeth II the third of three after assassination attempts on President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
Trooping the Colour is an annual ceremonial event held in London, and on June 13, 1981, crowds gathered along the Mall to watch the Queen attending the ceremony on horseback. In the crowd was a 17-year-old named Marcus Sarjeant. As the queen rode by, he fired six blanks from a starting pistol. According to reports, the queen’s horse, Burmese, was startled, but the sovereign managed to calm him down and rode on.
The monarch was again shot at by a teenager, this time with live rounds on the 14 October while she was visiting Dunedin, New Zealand.
The assailant was Christopher John Lewis, reported as a troubled 17-year-old, who fired a single round from a .22 caliber rifle at the Queen from the Adams Building as she was on her way to the Otago Museum. He missed, although witnesses reported hearing a “loud crack”, according to various media outlets and it appeared that not many knew of the attempt (noted as the closet anyone has ever come to assassinating Queen Elizabeth II) as police initially downplayed the incident, telling local and international media the sound of what appeared to be a gunshot was, in fact, a council sign falling over. It had been reported in a number of books and stories told by police in the following years but it was not until files were declassified was it was picked up by news outlets in January 2018.
A hand-drawn map (released as part of the declassidied files) reported in Stuff Jan 2018 confirms the shot was heard near Walsh St, metres from where the Queen travelled.
Lewis was arrested 8 days later and charged with treason at first but that charge was reduced and Lewis was prosecuted for other firearms violations, serving three years, partly in a psychiatric facility. Two years after shooting at the Queen, the teenager, planning to murder Prince Charles, attempted to escape from a psychiatric ward. In 1995, New Zealand police sent him on a taxpayer-funded holiday during the Queen’s November tour – believing him to be safer snoozing on a beach than anywhere within firing distance of the monarch.
Lewis eventually committed suicide in 1997 while he was being held for the murder of a woman.
You can read more about it here https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99760154/the-snowman-and-the-queen-the-story-of-a-kiwi-teen-terrorist-and-wouldbe-assassin
Due to the size of the containers there are no pens/pencils in them so you will need to bring your own - photo logs will not be accepted.
The listed co-ords are at the entrance of the Adams Building. Here you can look up at the building Lewis set up the shot. The final (is a short walk from here, at nearby high muggle area, please take care when finding it, from the right angle it can be spotted from roadside before you step off the path to reach it - not a bullet sticking out but a black nano). The cache can be found at S 45° 52.ABC' E 170° 30.CDF'
Where:
A = How many words are written in red on the sign?
B = The first number of the address on the sign.
C = Number of words making up the third sentance written in yellow.
D = Standing under the Adams sign, you can see the building and car park. Tucker's parking number is 7D .
F = Under the Adams sign, how many rows (ground to sky) of breeze blocks make up the wall.
Checksum A+B+C+D+F = 20
Please feel free to include in your logs any stories you have regarding today's date.
Due to the size of the containers there are no pens/pencils in them so you will need to bring your own - photo logs will not be accepted.