Today in History

May 16th Birthdays:
1905
Henry Fonda- actor 'Mr Roberts, 12 Angry Men,On Golden Pond' His only Oscar win Best Actor on 'Pond' he was too ill to attend ceremony,his daughter Jane accepted the award on his behalf
1913
Woody Herman- U.S jazz clarinetist/composer'Thundering Herds'
1953
Pierce Brosnan-Irish actor who played spy,'James Bond in couple movies. His best known TV role 'NBC detective series' Remington Steele' co starring with Stephanie Zimbalist
1955
Debra Winger- actress 'Terms of Endearment, Urban Cowboy, An Officer and a Gentleman'
Deaths:
1703
Charles Perrault French fairy tale writer' Tales of Mother Goose' 75
1955
James Agee- author 'African Queen,Death in Family' 45
1985
Margaret Hamilton-actress best known movie role 'Wicked Witch in 'Wizard of Oz' 85
1990
Jim Henson- U.S.. puppeteer, creator of 'The Muppets' 53
2019
I.M.Pei- Chinese/American modern architect 102
 

On This Day In History, May 17th

1999 Ehud Barak becomes Prime Minister of Israel
During his tenure, Barak attempted to revive the peace negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). However, his efforts were unsuccessful.

1990 The WHO deletes homosexuality from its list of mental diseases
Precisely 14 years later, the first same-sex marriages in the United States were performed as Massachusetts became the first state to legalize them.

1972 Germany ratifies the Treaty of Warsaw
Chancellor Willy Brandt signed the treaty, by which Germany gives up any territorial claims and guarantees the Oder-Neisse line as the valid border to Poland.

1954 The U.S. Supreme Court declares racially segregated public schools unconstitutional
Despite this landmark decision, de facto racial segregation was upheld for years in some areas of the United States.

1943 The Royal Air Force Dambusters wrecked three German dams
The RAF squadron used revolutionary bouncing bombs to avoid the torpedo nets protecting the dams. The audacious air raid was depicted in a 1954 war film.
 
Births On This Day, May 17th 🎂

1956 Sugar Ray Leonard
American boxer, actor

1946 Udo Lindenberg
German singer-songwriter, drummer

1936 Dennis Hopper
American actor, director

1866 Erik Satie
French pianist, composer

1836 Wilhelm Steinitz
Austrian/American chess player

Deaths On This Day, May 17th 🪦

2011 Harmon Killebrew
American baseball player

1996 Johnny "Guitar" Watson
American singer, guitarist

1875 John C. Breckinridge
American general, politician, 14th Vice President of the United States

1829 John Jay
American jurist, politician, 1st Chief Justice of the United States

1510 Sandro Botticelli
Italian painter
 

17th May

1215 The country was in a state of Civil War and English barons, in revolt against King John, took possession of London.

1527 Archbishop Warham began a secret inquiry into Henry VIII's marriage with Catherine of Aragon, the first step in divorce proceedings.

1649 Cromwell's troops captured 300 Levellers and locked them up in Burford church. (The Levellers believed in civil rights, a 'level' society and religious tolerance and Cromwell was determined to crush them.) Three of the Levellers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire.

1900 The siege of the British garrison at Mafeking by Boer forces was broken. The commander of the garrison, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell and his forces had held firm for 217 days.

1978 The coffin containing the body of Charlie Chaplin, missing since his grave was pillaged nearly two months previously, was found.
 
1792
24 merchants form NewYork Stock Exchange at 70 Wall St in NYC
1899
Victoria&Albert Museum foundation is laid in London,Eng
1954
U.S. Supreme Court rules animously in Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka,Kansas, racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional
1970
an annoymous buyer purchases one of the pairs of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in movie'Wizard of Oz' at MGM auction. The person payed $15,000 then donated them to Smithsonian Institute
1993
Intel's new Pentium processor is unveiled
2018
Gina Haspel is confirmed by U.S. Senate as the 1st female director of C.I.A.
 
May 17th Birthdays:
1911
Maureen O'Sullivan- Irish actress,'Tarzan,Pride&Prejudice,Hannah&Her Sisters', one of her daughters is actress ,Mia Farrow
1936
Dennis Hopper- actor' Blue Velvet, Easy Rider, Hoosiers'
1955
Bill Paxton- actor 'Twister,True Lies, Big Love
1961
Enya- Irish singer/songwriter 'Orincco Flow,Only Time'
Deaths:
1829
John Jay-1st U.S. Chief Justice,Sec of State 83
1886
John Deere- founder of Deere Company 82
1992
Lawrence Welk- accordionst/orchestra leader'Lawrence Welk Show' 89
2005
Frank Gorshin- comedian/impressionist' played' The Riddler in TV show 'Batman' 72
2019
Herman Wuok- author'The Caine Mutiny,Winds of War' 103
 
On This Day In History, May 18th

2009 The Sri Lankan Civil War ends
The 25-year conflict between the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers had claimed up to 100,000 lives. It ended with the Tigers' defeat.

1980 Mount St. Helens erupts
The eruption killed 57 people. A large part of the previously cone-shaped volcano was replaced by a massive crater; its summit is now some 1300 feet (400 meters) lower than before the eruption.

1927 45 people die in the United States' worst school massacre
In the Bath school disaster, a disgruntled school board member set off several bombs at the Bath Consolidated School and other locations in Michigan.

1848 The first German National Assembly gathers in Frankfurt
The assembly constituted the first freely elected parliament of Germany. It produced a constitution that provided the basis for today's constitution of Germany (Grundgesetz).

1804 Napoleon Bonaparte is appointed Emperor of the French
Even today, the French leader, a native of Corsica, is widely known for his successful military campaigns - and his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
 
Births On This Day, May 18th 🎂

1920 Pope John Paul II

1912 Perry Como
American singer, actor

1897 Frank Capra
Italian/American director, producer, screenwriter

1895 Augusto César Sandino
Nicaraguan rebel leader

1868 Nicholas II of Russia

Deaths On This Day, May 18th 🪦

2004 Elvin Jones
American drummer

1955 Mary McLeod Bethune
American educator, activist

1911 Gustav Mahler
Austrian composer

1909 Isaac Albéniz
Spanish pianist, composer

1799 Pierre Beaumarchais
French playwright
 
18th May

1843 The 'Disruption' in Edinburgh in which 450 ministers of the Church of Scotland broke away, over the issue of the Church's relationship with the State, to form the Free Church of Scotland.

1951 Britain’s first four-engined jet bomber, the Vickers Valiant, made its maiden flight.

1954 The European Convention on Human Rights came into force.

1964 Two tribes went to war in Brighton. Thousands of Mods (riding Vespa scooters and sporting neat suits and parkas) and Rockers (long-haired bikers clad in leathers) converged on this seaside town and a pitched battle broke out. Weapons of choice were flick-knives for the Mods and bicycle chains for the Rockers, as well as deckchairs, bottles and stones. Police arrested hundreds of teenagers, many of whom were fined and some even received short prison sentences. Over the same weekend, similar fights also broke out in several other seaside towns in the south of England. This tribal rioting was recreated in the 1979 film 'Quadrophenia'.

1991 Chemist Helen Sharman from Sheffield was the first Briton to go into space, as a participant in a Soviet space mission.

1998 High Society burglar Peter Scott was jailed for 3 years after being involved in a plot to sell a stolen Picasso painting worth £750,000.
 
1897
chemist/industralist, Hebert Henry Dow founded Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan
1927
Grauman's Theatre opens in Hollywood, Calif,it hosted the Academy Awards 1944-1946.Its still a 1st run movie theatre for the public
1969
Apollo 10 launches from Kennedy Space Center in Fla ,it later transmits 1st color pictures of the Earth from space
1980
Mount St Helens in Washington State erupts causing a massive avalanche,blasted 10,000 feet in air,killed 57 people,caused $1 bill in damage. Its located 96 miles south of Seattle.
1999
the 3rd studio album,"Millenium' from boy band' Back Street Boys' becomes one of the best all time selling albums,30 million copies sold
2012
Facebook's IPO{Inital Public Offering} on NY Stock Exchange $ 38 /share
 
May 18th Birthdays:
1897
Frank Capra- Oscar winning film director,he won 3 Oscars "It Happened One Night' 34, Mr Deeds Goes to Town'36, You Can't Take It with You'39,other movies he directed 'Its a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'
1902
Meredith Wilson -U.S composer 'The Music Man',The Great Dictator, Little Foxes
1909
Fred Perry-British tennis player,won 8 Grand Slam titles,/6 Grand Slam doubles titles
1934
Dwayne Hickman- actor best known TV role 'Dobie Gilles' inTV sitcom 'Many lives of Dobie Gilles', later he was an executive for CBS
1944
Albert Hammond- singer/songwriter' It Never Rains In California'
Deaths:
1911
Gustav Mahler- Austrian composer/conductor of NYC Philharmonic 50
1988
Daws Butler- U.S. animation voice actor,'Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound' 71
1995
Elizabeth Montgomery- actress, best known TV role' Samantha Stephens' in ABC sitcom 'Bewitched' 62{cancer}
 
On This Day In History, May 19th

1963 Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail is published
King used the open letter to defend his nonviolent resistance against racism and segregation. It became one of the central texts for the civil rights movement in the United States.

1962 Marilyn Monroe performs her famous rendition of Happy Birthday
Monroe gave her sultry performance, which was to be her last, at a party for U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The two are believed to have been engaged in an affair.

1959 The North Vietnamese Army begins organizing the Ho Chi Minh trail
According to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the system of supply routes used by the “Vietcong” was “one of the greatest achievements of military engineering of the 20th century.”

1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sets off the Turkish War of Independence
The fight against the allies of the Triple Entente ended some four years later. The Republic of Turkey was founded, and Atatürk became its first President.

1743 Jean-Pierre Christin invents the Celsius thermometer
The centigrade temperature scale, which is based on the freezing and boiling point of water, is used by most countries around the world. Exceptions include the United States, Belize, and Palau.
 
Births On This Day, May 19th 🎂

1945 Pete Townshend
English singer-songwriter, guitarist

1925 Malcolm X
American minister, activist

1898 Julius Evola
Italian philosopher

1893 H. Bonciu
Romanian author, poet, journalist

1881 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Turkish army officer, politician, 1st President of Turkey

Deaths On This Day, May 19th 🪦

1994 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
American book editor, 37th First Lady of the United States

1912 Bolesław Prus
Polish writer

1898 William Ewart Gladstone
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1895 José Martí
Cuban journalist, poet, theorist

1536 Anne Boleyn
English wife of Henry VIII of England
 
1643
Massachusetts Bay,Plymouth,Conn&New Harbor form United Colonies of New England
1857
the electric fire alarm was patent by William Francis Channing&Moses G.Farmer
1930
white women win their right to vote in South Africa
1958
album soundtrack'South Pacific' hits # 1 on Music charts,stays there for 31 weeks
1973
jockey, Ron Turcotte aboard horse'Secretariat' wins Triple Crown in horse racing. He's on the cover of Time Magazine calling him 'Superhorse'
2007
movie' No Country for Old Men' is released directed by Coen Brothers,based on the novel by Cormac Mc Carthy.The movie is set in 1980's in W.Texas,western crime thriller involving 3 men. Josh Brolin'Moss' a Vietnam vet finds a large sum of money in desert, Javier Bardem'Anton' is mysterious hitman looking for the $,Tommy Lee Jones'Ed' plays the sheriff investigating crime. The movie won Oscars picture,best actor{Bardem},,adapted screenplay
2020
in a study published in 'Nature Climate Change' greenhouse gas emissions dropped 17% in April 2020 worldwide due to Covid lockdown
 
May 19th Birthdays:
1890
Ho Chi Minh- Pres of N.Vietnam '1946-1969
1925
Malcolm X- African/American Muslim leader/civil rights activist
1939
James Fox- British actor'The Servant,The Remains of The Day'
1941
Nora Ephron- novelist'Heartburn' about her marriage to Washington Post reporter,Carl Bernstein,screenwriter'When Harry Met Sally,director'Sleepless in Seattle'
Deaths:
1864
Nathaniel Hawthorne-writer'The Scarlet Letter' 59
1935
T.E. Lawrence- British author/soldier 46{motorcycle accident} His life story was basis of movie' Lawrence of Arabia'
1971
Ogden Nash humor poet 71
2004
Tony Randall- actor, best known TV role'Felix Unger' in sitcom'The Odd Couple' co starred with Jack Klugman 84
2016
Morey Safer-Canadian-U.S TV reporter with CBS magazine' 60 Minutes' 84
 
On This Day In History, May 20th

2006 The Three Gorges Dam is officially opened
The hydroelectric dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity. Despite its benefits, the project remains controversial because it flooded archeological and cultural sites and displaced some 1.3 million people.

1983 In South Africa, a car bomb planted by anti-Apartheid activists kills 19
The Church Street Bombing was carried out by the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). It was one of the bloodiest chapters in the ANC’s long and difficult struggle against racial segregation and oppression in South Africa.

1940 The first prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz was the biggest extermination camp during World War II. From 1940 to 1945, the Nazi regime murdered at least 1.1 million people here.

1927 Charles Lindbergh takes off on the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight
He departed from Long Island in the United States and arrived in Paris, France at 22:22 on the next day.

1873 Blue jeans are patented
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis invented the garment, which today represents one of the most popular types of trousers worldwide.
 
Births On This Day, May 20th 🎂

1971 Tony Stewart
American race car driver

1946 Cher
American singer-songwriter, actress, producer, director

1944 Joe Cocker
English singer-songwriter

1915 Moshe Dayan
Israeli general, politician, 5th Minister of Foreign Affairs for Israel)

1799 Honoré de Balzac
French author, playwright

Deaths On This Day, May 20th 🪦

2012 Robin Gibb
English singer-songwriter, producer

2002 Stephen Jay Gould
American paleontologist

1896 Clara Schumann
German pianist, composer

1834 Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
French general

1506 Christopher Columbus
Italian explorer discovered the Americas
 
1830
D Hyde patents the fountain pen
1873
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the 1st blue jeans with copper rivets
1892
George Sampson patents clothes dryer
1993
the final episode of NBC sitcom'Cheers' airs after 11 seasons, 93 mil viewers tune in
2015
David Letterman's last show hosting'The Late Show' 13.76 mil viewers tune in
 
May 20th Birthdays:
1908
Jimmy Stewart- actor, "Its A Wonderful Life,Mr Smith Goes to Washington,The Philadelphia Story'. He only won 1 Oscar best actor in 'Story'
1913
William Hewitt- electric engineer, co founder of Hewitt-Packard
1940
Stan Mikita- Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame center
1944
Joe Cocker- British singer'You Are So Beautiful',Cry Me A River,Little Help from My Friends'
1968
Timothy Olyphant-actor 'Deadwood,Justified, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'
Deaths:
1984
Peter Bull-British actor 'The African Queen Tom Jones, Dr Strangelove 72
1989
Gilda Radner- comedic actress, original cast member on Saturday Night Live, 42{ovarian cancer}
2012
Robin Gibb-singer/songwriter with his brothers, Barry&Maurice "The Bee Gees' 62
 
20th May

1191 English King Richard I 'the Lion Heart' conquered Cyprus on his way to join the Crusaders in north west Israel.

1497 The Italian explorer John Cabot, commissioned by England, set sail from Bristol in his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west. At the time, Bristol was the only English city to have had a prior history of undertaking exploration expeditions out into the Atlantic.

1867 Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the Royal Albert Hall.

1903 King Edward VII opened the Kew Bridge over the River Thames. Its proper name is the Edward VII Bridge.

1965 The Chief Inspector of Constabularies announced that Britain's police would be armed with tear gas guns and grenades for use against dangerous criminals, but that it would not be used for crowd control.
 
On This Day In History, Mat 21st

1991 Former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, is assassinated
The attacker was a woman believed to be linked to the Sri Lankan separatist militant organization, the Tamil Tigers. At least 14 people lost their lives in the suicide bombing.

1979 Violent clashes follow the lenient sentencing for Harvey Milk's murderer
Milk, the first openly gay U.S. politician, had been shot and killed together with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. The assassin, Dan White, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter only, triggering the White Night Riots.

1951 The 9th Street Show opens in New York
The ground-breaking art exhibition showing works by artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning is considered the birth hour of the artistic avant-garde referred to as the New York School.

1932 Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic
The U.S. aviatress' disappearance on an attempted round-the-world flight five years later is one of the most discussed unsolved mysteries in the history of flight.

1904 FIFA, the world governing body of association football, is founded
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is responsible for the organization of the World Cup, which is one of the world's most viewed sporting events.
 
Births On This Day, May 21st 🎂

1980 Gotye
Belgian/Australian singer-songwriter

1921 Andrei Sakharov
Russian physicist

1844 Henri Rousseau
French painter

1527 Philip II of Spain
1471 Albrecht Dürer
German painter, engraver, mathematician

Deaths On This Day, May 21st 🪦

2006 Katherine Dunham
American dancer

2000 John Gielgud
English actor, director, producer

1991 Rajiv Gandhi
Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India

1935 Jane Addams
American social worker, Nobel Prize laureate

1771 Christopher Smart
English actor, playwright, poet
 
21st May

1840 Britain claimed complete sovereignty over New Zealand – over the North Island on the basis of cession through the Treaty of Waitangi, and over the southern islands by 'right of discovery'.

1932 American Amelia Earhart landed in Derry, Ireland, after taking off from Newfoundland the previous day. It was the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot.

1946 A world wheat shortage led to bread rationing in Britain.

1966 American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) ended the hopes of British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper winning the world heavyweight titles when the bout was stopped in Round 6 because of a severe cut above Cooper's eye.

2015 At 8:00 am about 50 small boats that were involved in the evacuation of allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in World War Two set sail from Ramsgate to mark the 75th anniversary of the rescue. The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed 'Operation Dynamo' took place between 26th May and 4th June 1940 and saw hundreds of wooden fishing boats, pleasure yachts and lifeboats rescue 338,000 troops after they retreated from Nazi forces.
 
1881
American Red Cross was founded by nurse, Clara Barton
1934
Oskaloosa,Iowa becomes 1st U.S. city to fingerprint its citizens
1980
Ensign Jean Marie Butler becomes 1st woman to graduate from U.S. service academy
1999
actress Susan Lucci who played' Eric Kane' on soap opera'All My Children' finally won a Daytime Emmy award.She had been nominated 19 times,its the longest unsuccessful nomination in TV history
2007
Cutty Sark, last surviving tea clipper is badly damage by a fire in Greenwich,England
 
May 21 Birthdays:
1844
Henri Rousseau- French post-impressionist painter
1904
Fats Waller-U.S jazz singer/songwriter/organist/ piano player 'Aint MisBehavin' Honeysuckle Rose'
1917
Raymond Burr- actor,best known TV roles' Perry Mason, Robert Ironside
1924
Peggy Cass -comedic actress/game show panelist' To Tell The Truth'
1948
Leo Sayer- British singer/songwriter'You Make Me feel Like Dancing When I Needed You
Deaths:
1935
Jane Addams-social worker/activist/ pacifist/ co founder of ACLU{American Civil Liberities Union} 65
1952
John Garfield- actor"4 Daughters,Body&Soul 39
1983
Kenneth Clark-British art historian'Civilisation' 79
2000
Sir John Gielgud British actor stage/screen' Hamlet, Arthur 95
 


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