Today In The Past
Events
357 – Emperor Constantius II visits Rome
585 – War between Lydia & Media ended by solar eclipse
1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne confirmed by election. Killing carried out by Hashshashin.
1202 – King Philip II throws out John without Country, from France
1253 – -May 7th) Utrecht destroyed by fire
1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
1503 – Battle at Cerignalo: Spanish army under G Cordoba beats France
1521 – Treaty of Worms: Emperor Charles names his brother Ferdinand Arch duke of Neth-Austria
1635 – Virginia Gov John Harvey accused of treason & removed from office
1655 – English admiral Blake beats Tunen pirate fleet
1686 – 1st volume of Isaac Newton’s “Principia” published
1770 – Capt James Cook aboard Endeavor lands at Botany Bay in Australia
1788 – Maryland becomes 7th state to ratify constitution
1789 – Fletcher Christian leads Mutiny on HMS Bounty & Capt William Bligh
1796 – Cease fire of Cherasco
1804 – 31 English ships sail Suriname river demanding transition colony from the Dutch
1818 – Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on Great Lakes & Lake Champlain
1855 – 1st veterinary college in US incorporated in Boston
1914 – 181 die in coal mine collapse at Eccles WV
1914 – W H Carrier patents air conditioner
1919 – 1st jump with Army Air Corp (rip-cord type) parachute (Les Irvin)
1924 – 119 die in Benwood West Virginia coal mine disaster
1925 – Kurd rebels surrender to Turkish army
1925 – Netherlands & Great Britain return to gold standard
1931 – Program for woman athletes approved for 1932 Olympics track & field
1932 – Yellow fever vaccine for humans announced
1934 – FDR signs Home Owners Loan Act
1935 – Moscow underground opens (81 km long)
1937 – 1st animated cartoon electric sign displayed (NYC)
1937 – 1st commercial flight across Pacific, Pan Am
1940 – Glenn Miller records “Pennsylvania 6-5000”
1940 – Rudolf Hess becomes commandant of concentration camp Auschwitz
1941 – Last British troops in Greece surrenders
1942 – “WW II” titled so, as result of Gallup Poll
1942 – Nightly “dim-out” begins along East Coast
1943 – German-Italian counter offensive in North-Africa
1943 – US 34th Division occupies Djebel el Hara North Tunisia
1944 – Exercise “Tiger” ends with 750 US soldiers dead in D-Day rehearsal after their convoy ships were attacked by German torpedo boats
1945 – British commands attack Elbe & occupies Lauenburg
1945 – US 5th army reaches Swiss border
1947 – Thor Heyerdahl & “Kon-Tiki” sail from Peru to Polynesia
1949 – Former Philippine First Lady Aurora Quezon, 61, is assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 others are also killed.
1952 – WW II Pacific peace treaty takes effect
1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Commander of NATO.
1956 – Last French troop leave Vietnam
1956 – Reds Frank Robinson hits his 1st of 586 HRs
1958 – Vanguard TV-5 launched for Earth orbit (failed)
1961 – Lt Col Gueorgui Mossolov takes E-66A to 34,714 m altitude
1961 – Warren Spahn pitches 2nd no hitter at 41 beats SF Giants, 1-0
1965 – Lindsey Nelson broadcasts game at Astrodome from a hanging gondola
1965 – Richard Helms replaces Marshall S Carter as deputy director of CIA
1965 – US marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until October 1966
1965 – William F Raborn Jr replaces John A McCone as 7th head of CIA
1967 – Muhammad Ali refuses induction into army & stripped of boxing title
1968 – 11 year-old Mary Bell strangles 4 year-old
1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France
1969 – King Crimson with Greg Lake & Ian McDonald debuts
1971 – Samuel Lee Gravely Jr becomes 1st black admiral in US Navy
1972 – Courts awarded Kentucky Derby prize money to 2nd place winner because winner was given drugs before race
1973 – Over 6000 Mk. 82 500 pound bombs detonate over the course of 18 hours in a railyard in northern California. 5500 structures are damaged, and the town of Antelope, California ceases to exist, with every building being reduced to the foundation. This accident leads to the passing of the Transportation Safety Act of 1974 which makes the NTSB an independent agency.
1977 – Christopher Boyce convicted for selling secrets
1977 – Andreas Baader & members of Baader-Meinhoff jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly 2 years in Stuttgart, Germany
1983 – Argentine government declares all 15-30,000 missing persons dead
1983 – NASA launches Geos-F
1985 – Billy Martin named NY Yankee manager for 4th time
1985 – Fernando Valenzuela sets record of 41 scoreless inn to start season
1987 – American engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by U.S.-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua.
1988 – Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 roof tears off in flight; kills stewardess
1989 – Argentina, hit by rocketing inflation, runs out of money
1989 – Iran protests sale of “Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie
1990 – Boston Celtics score most points in a playoff, beat NY Knicks 157-128
1991 – Space Shuttle STS 39 (Discovery 12) launched
1994 – Aldrich Ames, former CIA officer & wife Rosario plead guilty to spying
1995 – Gas explosion in South Korean metro, 103 die
1996 – Martin Bryant shoots & kills 35 in Port Arthur Tasmania
2001 – Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world’s first space tourist.
Births
1442 – Edward IV, King of England (1461-70, 71-83)
1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral (d. 1598)
1592 – George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham/English admiral
1686 – Michael Brokoff, Czech sculptor (d. 1721)
1753 – Franz K Achard, German physicist
1758 – James Monroe, Westmoreland Va, (D-R) 5th pres (1817-25)
1774 – Francis Baily, describer of “Baily’s Beads” during solar eclipse
1795 – Charles Sturt, England, explorer (Australia)
1809 – Conradus Leemans, Dutch archaeologist
1810 – Daniel Ullmann, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1812 – Daniel Henry Rucker, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1910
1815 – Andrew Jackson Smith, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1897
1825 – James Winning McMillan, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1846 – Johann E Backlund, Swedish astronomer (planets/asteroids)
1868 – Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (d. 1908)
1878 – Lionel Barrymore, [Blythe], Phila, actor (Free Soul, Dr Kildare)
1882 – Alberto Pirelli, Italian industrialist
1888 – Henry DG Crerar, Canadian general (WW I/Italy/Netherland)
1889 – Karel WFM Doorman, Dutch rear admiral
1892 – Joseph Dunninger, NYC, mentalist (Amazing Dunninger)
1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician (d. 1986)
1900 – Jan Hendrik Oort, Dutch astronomer (hypothesized “Oort Cloud”)
1906 – Bartholomeus J “Bart” Bok, Dutch/US astronomer (Milky Way)
1906 – Kurt Gödel, Austrian mathematician (d. 1978)
1908 – Oskar Schindler, Zwittau, Moravia, Austria-Hungary, Austrian businessman and subject of the novel Schindler’s Ark and the film Schindler’s List. (d. 1974)
1911 – Lee Falk, American comic strip writer (d. 1999)
1912 – Odette Hallowes, British classified agent in France (WW II)
1921 – Rowland Evans, White Marsh Pa, news reporter (CNN-Evans & Novak)
1922 – Iser J Koepermann, Russian/US world checkers champ (1958-68, 75-76)
1922 – William Guarnere, WWII Veteran
1922 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist (d. 1987)
1926 – Harper Lee, author (To Kill a Mockingbird)
1926 – Blossom Dearie, American jazz singer
1927 – Garfield Weston, English industrial/billionaire (Twinings Tea)
1928 – Eugene M. Shoemaker, American planetary scientist (d. 1997)
1929 – Carolyn Jones, Amarillo Texas, actress (Morticia–Addams Family)
1930 – James Baker 3, Houston, Sec of Treasury (1985-88), Sec State (1989-92)
1933 – Oliver “Bops Junior” Jackson, drummer
1937 – Saddam Hussein, [At-Takriti], Al-Awja, president of Iraq (1979-2003)
1941 – K. Barry Sharpless, American chemist, Nobel laureate
1942 – Ghislaine Hermanez, architect
1943 – Fantastic Johnny C[orley], US singer (Boogaloo down Broadway)
1947 – Steve Khan, jazz musician (Christmas Waltz)
1948 – Marcia Strassman, NYC, actress (Julle Kotter-Welcome Back Kotter)
1948 – Terry Pratchett, English author
1949 – Jerome “Jay” Apt, Springfield Mass, astronaut (STS 37, 47, 59, 79)
1949 – Indian Larry, American stuntsman (d. 2004)
1950 – Jay Leno, New Rochelle, comedian/talk show host (Tonight Show)
1952 – Mary McDonnell, Wilkes-Barre PA, actress (Sneakers, Independence Day)
1953 – Julie Cole, LPGA golfer
1953 – Kim Gordon, American musician (Sonic Youth)
1955 – Eddie Jobson, rock violinist (Zappa, UK, Roxy Music-For Your Pleasure)
1956 – Paul S Lockhart, Amarillo Tx, Major USAF/astronaut
1957 – Leopold Eyharts, France, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-26, TM-28/27)
1958 – Hal Evan Sutton, Shreveport LA, PGA golfer (1982 Walt Disney)
1960 – Ian Rankin, Scottish novelist
1960 – Joel H. Rosenthal American political scientist
1960 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strength athlete (d. 1993)
1961 – Futoshi Matsunaga, Japanese serial killer
1964 – Helen Marina Lucy Windsor, England, daughter of Prince Edward
1966 – Too Short, American rapper
1967 – Monique Noel, Salem Oregon, playmate (May, 1989)
1971 – Mihai Apostal, Bucharest Romania, Canadian kayaker (Olympics-96)
1971 – Bridget Moynahan, American actress
1972 – Michelle Menzies, Barrie Ont, Canadian ice pairs (1995, 96 Can champs)
1973 – Marc[us] Blake Schneider, Lubbock TX, rower (Olympics-bronze-1996)
1974 – Penélope Cruz, Alcobendas, Madrid, Spanish actress (Vanilla Sky, Waking Up in Reno)
1981 – Jessica Alba, American actress
Deaths
1089 – Dirk de Grote, bishop of Verdun/Basel/archbishop of Trier, dies
1109 – Hugo van Cluny, 6th abbott of Cluny/saint, dies
1192 – Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem (b. mid 1140s)
1498 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician
1533 – Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1461)
1741 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish General and statesman (b. 1668)
1781 – Cornelius Harnett, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1723)
1813 – Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
1843 – William Wallace, Scottish mathematician (rights of Wallace), dies
1858 – Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist (b. 1801)
1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-born British shipping magnate (b. 1787)
1881 – Robert W Ollinger, US warden/last victim of Billy the Kid, dies
1905 – Fitzhugh Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1835)
1926 – Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
1935 – Alexander Campbell Mackenzie, Scotish composer, dies at 87
1944 – Frank Knox, U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate (b. 1874)
1945 – Benito Mussolini, Fascist leader (Italy), shot after trial at 61
1946 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician (b. 1870)
1970 – Ed Begley, actor (Mr Koppel-Leave it to Larry), dies at 69
1973 – Pat Henning, actor (Goodyear TV Playhouse), dies at 62
1981 – Mickey “Toy Bulldog” Walker, welterweight champ (1922-26) dies at 79
1988 – B. W. Stevenson, American country singer (b. 1949)
1991 – Floyd B McKissick, US founder (CORE), dies
1991 – Ken Curtis, actor (Festus-Gunsmoke), dies at 74
1996 – William E Colby, director of CIA (1973-76), dies
1999 – Rory Calhoun, American actor (b. 1922)
1999 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1921)
2002 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general (b. 1950)
2005 – Percy Heath, American jazz bassist (Modern Jazz Quartet) (b. 1923)
2007 – Tommy Newsom, American bandleader (b. 1929)
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