Today in History

1104 – The Seljuq Turks capture Baldwin of Bourg, First Crusade leader. He is ransomed in 1108 and later becomes king of Jerusalem. 1824 – Premiere in Vienna of Ninth Symphony, by Beethoven, right. 1846 – Sixty people, including the paramount chief of Nga¯ti

Tu¯ wharetoa, die in a landslide at Te Rapa on the shores of Lake Taupo¯. 1856 – Henry Sewell becomes first NZ premier. 1867 – Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.

1888 – Anti-Chinese hysteria in Dunedin sees a public meeting call for a ban on Chinese immigrants. 1915 – Nearly 1200 people die when German torpedo sinks British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast.

1945 – Germany signs an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, ending World War II in Europe. 1954 – Vietnamese forces overrun Dien Bien Phu, held by the French. A resulting ceasefire divides the country into North and South.

1975 – US President Gerald Ford declares an end to the ‘‘Vietnam era’’. Viet Cong celebrate takeover of Ho Chi Minh City.

1994 – Edvard Munch’s The Scream is recovered by Norwegian police, almost three months after it was stolen from a museum in Oslo. 2009 – Gunman Jan Molenaar holes up in his Napier home after shooting three policemen and another man. 2015 – Britain’s Conservative Party, under David Cameron, wins general election with an outright majority. 2017 – Emmanuel Macron wins France’s presidential election.

Birthdays

Robert Browning, UK poet (1812-89); Johannes Brahms, German composer (1833-97); Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (1840-93); Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav president (1892-1980); Gary Cooper, US actor (1901-61); Eva Peron, Argentine leader (1919-52); Steve Hansen, All Blacks coach (1959-); Andrew Little, NZ politician (1965-); Stacey Jones, NZ league player (1976-).