Today in History

1663 - Opening of London’s Drury Lane Theatre, the oldest English theatre still in use.

1824 - Premiere in Vienna of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

1846 - Sixty people, including the paramount chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa, die in a landslide at Te Rapa.

1856 - Henry Sewell becomes the first premier of New Zealand.

1867 - Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.

1888 - Anti-Chinese hysteria in Dunedin sees a public meeting call for a ban on Chinese immigrants.

1928 - The minimum voting age for British women is lowered from 30 to 21 – the same age as men.

1939 - Germany and Italy announce a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.

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.

2021 - A federal grand jury indicts four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death.

Birthdays

Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (1840-93); Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav president (1892-1980); Eva Peron, Argentine leader (1919-52); Steve Hansen, All Blacks coach (1959-); Stacey Jones, NZ league player (1976-).