Today in history
Today is Wednesday, April 29, the 120th day of 2020. There are 246 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1429 — Joan of Arc, along with 200 troops,
relieves the English siege of Orleans, France.
1628 — Sweden and Denmark sign a defence treaty against the Duke of Wallenstein, bringing Sweden into the Thirty Years’ War.
1769 — Scottish engineer James Watt’s patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser is registered (Patent 913).
1781 — A French fleet under Admiral Suffren prevents the British fleet from seizing the Cape of Good Hope.
1840 — Thirtyone chiefs sign the Treaty of Waitangi at Port Nicholson, Wellington. William Wakefield strongly opposes the Treaty, considering that the settlement should not be affected, as the land had been bought before the Treaty had been signed.
1864 — After shelling Gate pa for the best part of the day, imperial troops storm the fortifications and meet with strong resistance, forcing them to retreat and leave behind more than 100 dead and wounded. The Maori defenders evacuate the pa later that night.
1872 — The northern railway line from
Christchurch is opened.
1881 — SS Tararua strikes Otara Reef at the entrance to Foveaux Strait. Of the 151 passengers and crew, 131 lose their lives. It is New Zealand’s worst civilian shipwreck.
1882 — The Elektromote (an electric vehicle that got its power from an overhead wire through a trolley), the world’s first is tested by Dr Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin.
1907 — Elsdon Best completes his tribal history Tuhoe, the children of the mist. The work has taken 12 years to complete; Dunedin’s
power scheme begins generation.
1916 — The Easter Rising in Dublin collapses as
Irish nationalists surrender to British authorities.
1918 — Germany’s main offensive on the Western
Front in World War 1 ends.
1941 — The last New Zealand forces leave Greece in a hasty retreat to Crete during WW2. The failure of the campaign saw 261 New Zealanders killed, 387 wounded and 1856 taken prisoner.
1944 — A tornado strikes Westport, causing
widespread damage.
1945 — United States soldiers in Germany liberate 32,000 victims of the Nazis from the concentration camp in Dachau; Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker, and designates Admiral Karl Doenitz as his successor.
1952 — A fire in Stuart St, Dunedin, destroys the fivestoreyed department store and surrounding businesses; a defence treaty with the US and Australia, the Anzus Treaty, comes into force.
1953 — The first experimental 3D television broadcast in the US broadcasts an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECATV.
1955 — Fletcher Timber Co, Graham Coal Co and Cadbury Fry Hudson’s buildings on Dunedin’s foreshore are destroyed by fire.
1975 — The US begins to evacuate its citizens from Saigon in Operation Frequent Wind in response to advancing North Vietnamese forces, bringing an end to its involvement in the Vietnam War.
1981 — Truckdriver Peter Sutcliffe admits in a London court to being the Yorkshire Ripper, killer of 13 women in northern England over five years.
1990 — Wrecking cranes tear down the section of the Berlin Wall surrounding the Brandenburg Gate, the wall’s most famous section.
1992 — A jury in Los Angeles acquits a policeman charged with beating black man Rodney King, setting off three days of riots, which kill 55 people.
1993 — The Queen announces that, for the first time, Buckingham Palace will be opened to the public, to help raise money for repairs to the firedamaged Windsor Castle.
Today’s birthdays:
William Randolph Hearst, US publisher (18631951); Duke Ellington, US bandleader (18991974); Ivan Walsh, New Zealand footballer (19242005); Willie Nelson ,US singer/actor (1933); Chris Rogers, New Zealand mathematician (1954); Jerry Seinfeld, US comedian (1954); Daniel DayLewis, British actor (1957); Michelle Pfeiffer, US actress (1958); Dean Bell, New Zealand rugby league international (1962); Brendon Tuuta, New Zealand rugby league international (1965); Uma Thurman, US actress (1970).
Quote of the day