Today in History

1429 – Joan of Arc enters Orleans, France, and defeats the English.

1770 – Captain James Cook lands at Botany Bay in Australia.

1864 – About 1700 colonial troops attack Gate Pa, near Tauranga, but are routed by about 230 Māori defenders.

1881 – The steamer Tararua, en route from Port Chalmers to Melbourne, hits a reef at Waipapa Point, Southland. Of the 151 passengers and crew, 131 die.

1916 – Irish republicans abandon the besieged post office in Dublin and surrender unconditionally, ending the Easter Rising.

1918 – Germany’s main offensive on the Western Front ends.

1945 – US Army liberates Dachau concentration camp, near Munich; Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun.

1952 – Anzus treaty comes into force. 1974 – President Nixon announces release of Watergate tapes.

1975 – In the closing hours of the Vietnam War, US task force evacuates foreigners and Vietnamese by helicopter from Saigon. 1980 – UK-born film director Sir Alfred Hitchcock dies, at 80.

1990 – Cranes begin tearing down Berlin Wall at Brandenburg Gate.

1991 – Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 139,000 people; 10m left homeless.

1992 – Jury in Los Angeles acquits policemen charged with beating black motorist Rodney King, setting off three days of riots that kill 55 people.

1997 – The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention comes into force, banning production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons among signatories.

2011 – Prince William marries Kate Middleton, left, at Westminster Abbey.

Birthdays

William Randolph Hearst, US publisher (1863-1951); Duke Ellington, US musician (1899-1974); Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1901-89); Willie Nelson, US singer (1933-); Paul Holmes, NZ broadcaster (1950-2013); Jerry Seinfeld, US comedian (1954-); Daniel Day-Lewis, UK/Irish actor (1957-); Michelle Pfeiffer, US actor (1958-); Dean Bell, NZ league player (1962-); Andre Agassi, US tennis player (1970-); Donna Wilkins, NZ netballer/basketballer (1978-).