Today In The Past
Events
649 – Theodore I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1027 – Robert II, the Vrome, names son Henry I, king of France
1264 – Battle at Lewes during the 2nd Barons War: Simon van Leicester beats English King Henry III
1483 – Coronation of Charles VIII of France (“Charles l’Affable”).
1509 – Battle of Agnadello, French beat Venitians in Northern Italy
1576 – Dutch Council of State replaced by Council of Beroerten
1607 – 1st permanent English settlement in New World, Jamestown, Va
1608 – The Protestant Union is founded in Auhausen.
1610 – Assassination of Henri IV of France, bringing Louis XIII to the throne.
1638 – Admiral Adam Westerwolt conquerors Batticaloa, Ceylon
1664 – Turkish great Kiprulu attacks 120,000 Donau soldiers
1747 – A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.
1767 – British government disbands Americans import duty on tea
1804 – Lewis & Clark set out from St Louis for Pacific Coast
1811 – Paraguay gains independence from Spain (Natl Day)
1853 – Gail Borden patents her process for condensed milk
1861 – The Canellas meteorite, an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite, strikes the earth near Barcelona, Spain.
1862 – Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents chronograph
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson, MS takes place.
1868 – Japanese Boshin War: end of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō.
1878 – Vaseline is 1st sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly)
1884 – Anti-Monopoly party forms in US
1885 – 11th Kentucky Derby: Babe Henderson aboard Joe Cotton wins in 2:37.25
1886 – 12th Kentucky Derby: Paul Duffy aboard Ben Ali wins in 2:36.50
1888 – 14th Kentucky Derby: George Covington aboard MacBeth II wins in 2:38.00
1890 – 16th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Riley wins in 2:45
1894 – Fire in Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings
1896 – Lowest US temperature in May recorded (-10°F-Climax, Colo)
1904 – 1st Olympics in US are held (St Louis)
1908 – 1st passenger flight in an airplane
1910 – Canada authorizes issuing of silver dollar coins
1919 – 45th Preakness: Johnny Loftus aboard Sir Barton wins in 1:53
1920 – Wash Senator Walter Johnson wins his 300th game vs Detroit
1927 – 53rd Kentucky Derby: Linus McAtee aboard Whiskery wins in 2:06
1931 – Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
1938 – 64th Preakness: Maurice Peters aboard Dauber wins in 1:59.8
1939 – Lina Medina becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
1940 – Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production
1940 – World War II: The Netherlands surrenders to Germany.
1942 – US Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) forms
1943 – Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine.
1944 – Gens Rommel, Speidel & von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate Hitler
1945 – Kamikaze-Zero strikes US aircraft carrier Enterprise
1945 – US offensive on Okinawa, Sugar Loaf conquered
1948 – Israel declares independence from under British administration
1949 – 75th Preakness: Ted Atkinson aboard Capot wins in 1:56
1949 – Harry Truman signs bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral
1951 – Ernie Kovacs Show, TV Variety debut on NBC
1954 – Belgium shortens military conscription from 20 to 18 months
1955 – Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland & Romania
1961 – Bus with 1st group of Freedom Riders bombed & burned in Alabama
1961 – Stirling Moss wins the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix
1964 – Underground America Day is 1st observed
1965 – 2nd Chinese atom bomb explodes
1967 – Mickey Mantle’s 500th HR off Oriole’s Stu Miller
1969 – Last Chevrolet Corsair built
1970 – Cops kill 2 students in racial disturbance (Jackson State U, Miss)
1970 – Harry A Blackmun appointed to Supreme Court
1970 – RAF-leader Andreas Baader freed after serving 2 years in West Berlin
1970 – The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.
1972 – In Willie Mays 1st game as a NY Met his homer beats SF Giants, 5-4
1973 – Gold hits record $102.50 an ounce in London
1973 – Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, last airs on NBC-TV
1973 – Skylab launched, 1st Space Station
1973 – US Supreme court approves equal rights to females in military
1975 – US forces raid Cambodian island of Koh Tang to free Mayaguez ship
1976 – Lowell Thomas ends 46 years as radio network reporter
1976 – Oil tanker Urqui Ola explodes off Spanish coast
1983 – “She Blinded Me with Science” by Thomas Dolby hits #5
1983 – Rosa Mota runs female world record 20k (1:06:55.5)
1986 – Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary
1986 – Reggie Jackson hit his 537th HR passing Mickey Mantle into 6th place
1986 – Pride of Baltimore lost at sea.
1987 – Colt revolver (Peacemaker) of 1873 sells for $242,000
1988 – 1st non-pitcher (Jose Oquendo) in 20 years to get a decision in a baseball game, he & St Louis Cards lose to Braves 7-5 in 19 inn
1989 – 1st Tour de Trump bicycle race run (Atlanta)
1989 – 1st time since 1948 a player hit 6 consecutive doubles (Kirby Puckett)
1989 – Demonstration for democratic reforms in Beijing’s Tiananmen square
1989 – Final TV episode of “Family Ties” airs
1989 – Moonlighting, TV Crime Drama last airs on ABC
1990 – Dow Jones avg hits a record 2,821.53
1991 – Robert M Gates becomes head of CIA
1991 – World’s Largest Burrito created at 1,126 lbs
1995 – Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet’s 2nd most sr spiritual leader
1998 – Last episode of Seinfeld on NBC (commercials are $2M for 30 seconds)
2005 – The former USS America (CV-66), a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States Navy, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. She is the largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.
2012 – Stanford University scientists develop prototype bionic eye
Births
1316 – Charles IV, King of Bohemia (1346-78) and Holy Roman Emperor (1355-78). Dies 1378
1553 – Margaret of Valois, wife of Henry IV (d. 1615)
1652 – Johann Philipp Fortsch, composer
1666 – Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)
1679 – Peder [Nielsen] Horrebow, Danish astronomer
1686 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Prussia, inventor (thermometer) [NS=5/24]
1699 – Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian field marshal (d. 1786)
1710 – Adolf Frederik, king of Sweden (1751-70)
1725 – Ludovico Manin, last Doge of Venice (d. 1802)
1737 – George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, British statesman (d. 1806)
1814 – Charles Beyer, German-British locomotive engineer (d. 1876)
1830 – George Pierce Doles, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1836 – James Patrick Major, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1877
1885 – Otto Klemperer, Breslau Germany, conductor/composer (Das Ziel)
1897 – Sidney Bechet, US, jazz clarinetist/saxophonist/band leader
1897 – Ed Ricketts, American marine biologist (d. 1948)
1898 – Zutty Singleton, US jazz drummer
1904 – Marcel Junod, Swiss physician (d. 1961)
1915 – Harry Joseph Chick Daugherty, trombonist (Spike Jones & City Slickers)
1916 – Del Moore, American comedian (d. 1970)
1922 – Richard Deacon, actor (Mel Cooley-Dick Van Dyke Show)
1923 – Diane Arbus, [Nemerov], NYC, photographer (Vogue/Harper’s Bazaar)
1925 – Al Porcino, American jazz trumpet player
1928 – Will “Dub Jones, American singer (The Coasters) (d. 2000)
1928 – Frederik H. Kreuger, Dutch scientist and inventor
1934 – Siân Phillips, Welsh actress
1936 – Bobby Darin, [Walden Waldo Cassotto], Bronx, singer (Mack the Knife)
1940 – ‘H’. Jones, British Soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
1942 – Lord McAlpine, English contractor/multi-millionaire
1943 – Elizabeth Ray, Marshall NC, congressman Wayne Hays’ lover
1943 – Jack Bruce, Lanarkshire Scotland, bassist (Cream-White Room)
1944 – George Lucas, Modesto CA, director (Star Wars, Indiana Jones)
1946 – Derek Lek Leckenby, rock guitarist (Herman’s Hermits-Kinda Hush)
1946 – Robert Jarvik, surgeon/inventor (Jarvik 7 artificial heart)
1947 – Al Ciner, Chicago Ill, rock guitarist (American Breed)
1947 – Tamara Dobson, Baltimore MD, actress (Amazons, Cleopatra Jones)
1951 – Robert Zemeckis, American film director (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future)
1951 – Jay Beckenstein, saxophonist (Spyro Gyra-Morning Dance)
1951 – Seasan Hubley, [Susan], NYC, actress (Vice Squad, Hardcore)
1952 – David Byrne, Dumbarton Scotland, rock guitarist/singer (Talking Heads–Burning Down the House)
1953 – Bill Meek, Upland PA, prone rifle (Olympics-8th-1996)
1953 – Tom Cochrane, Toronto Canada, rock vocalist/guitarist (Red Rider)
1956 – Gillian [Marucha] Bradshaw, US, sci-fi author (Hawk of May)
1957 – William G Gregory, Lockport NY, Mjr USAF/Astronaut (STS 67)
1961 – Tim Roth, London England, actor (Reservoir Dogs, Vincent & Theo)
1962 – C C Deville, rocker (Poison-Talk Dirty to Me)
1964 – James M Kelly, Burlington Iowa, Capt USAF/astronaut
1966 – Fabrice Morvan, Guadeloupe, singer (Milli Vanilli-Girl You Know)
1966 – Raphael Saadiq, American musician (Tony! Toni! Toné!)
1969 – David William Wood, Boston, rocker (New Kids-Lovin’ You Forever)
1969 – Cate Blanchett, Melbourne, Victoria, Australian actress (Elizabeth, Galadriel-The Lord of the Rings)
1971 – Sofia Coppola, American director
1975 – Nicki Sørensen, Danish road bicycle racer
1976 – Terrance Cauthen, Trenton NJ, lightweight boxer (Olympics-bronze-96)
1977 – Sophie Anderton, English model and television personality
1978 – Heather Brink, Lincoln Neb, gymnast (Olympics-96)
1983 – Amber Tamblyn, Santa Monica California, actress (Emily Bowen-Gen Hospital)
1983 – Anahí, Mexican actress and singer (RBD)
1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, White Plains, New York, American internet entrepreneur and founder of Facebook
1993 – Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer
Deaths
347 – Pachomius, Egyptian monastery founder/abbot (Coenobieten), dies
649 – Theodore, Greek Pope (642-49) (excommunicated by Paul II), dies
964 – John XII, [Octavianus], Pope (955-64), dies
1470 – Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409)
1565 – Nicolaus von Amsdorf, German reform theologist, dies
1574 – Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (b. 1479)
1610 – Henry IV, 1st Bourbon King of France (1572, 89-1610), murdered at 56
1643 – Louis XIII, King of France (1610-43), dies at 41
1669 – Georges de Scudéry, French writer (b. 1601)
1726 – Moshe Darshan, Rabbi/author (Torat Ahsam), dies
1761 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician (rule of Simpson), dies at 50
1832 – John van Speijk, Dutch heroic sailor, buried
1864 – William N Green Jr, Union brig-general, dies
1878 – Ookubo Toshimichi, Japanese statesman, samurai, and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration (b. 1830)
1887 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (b. 1808)
1906 – Carl Schurz, German revolutionary and statesman (b. 1829)
1912 – August Strindberg, Swedish writer (Deaddans), dies at 63
1918 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American newspaper publisher (b. 1841)
1919 – Henry John Heinz, founder of the H. J. Heinz Company, dies at 74
1925 – Henry Rider Haggard, English writer (Dawn, She), dies
1931 – David Belasco, American theatrical producer (b. 1853)
1931 – Denys Finch Hatton, English big-game hunter (b. 1887)
1940 – Emma Goldman, US anarchists/feminist/author (Living My Life), dies
1947 – John Ray Sinnock, US chief engraver (1925-47), dies at 59
1954 – Heinz Guderian, German General (b. 1888)
1959 – Sidney Bechet, US jazz clarinetist/saxophonist/bandleader, dies at 62
1968 – Husband Edward Kimmel, commandant US Ocean fleet WW II, dies at 86
1970 – Billie Burke, comedienne (Glinda-Wizard of Oz), dies at 84
1982 – Hugh Beaumont, actor (Ward-Leave it to Beaver), dies at 73
1984 – Larry Stock, songwriter (Blueberry Hill), dies
1987 – Rita Hayworth, actress (Gilda), dies of Alzheimer’s disease at 68
1991 – Jiang Qing, widow of Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung, commits suicide
1992 – Lyle Alzado, NFL defense linesman (Raiders), dies of cancer at 43
1993 – William Randolph Hearst, US newspaper magnate (Pulitzer), dies at 85
1995 – Christian B. Anfinsen, American Nobel laureate (b. 1916)
1997 – Harry Blackstone Jr, magician, dies of cancer at 62
1998 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor, dies at 82
2003 – Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player (b. 1940)
2003 – Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919)
2007 – Mary Goldsmith, American ceramist (b. 1908)
2007 – Ülo Jõgi, Estonian freedom fighter (b. 1921)
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