Today in History

27 May 1977
Virgin Records releases the anti-establishment anthem "God Save The Queen" by The Sex Pistols.
UK sales will reach over 150,000 in the first five days, despite the fact that major retailers refuse to sell the record and the BBC bans it from air-play.
Against all odds, the single still reached #2 on the UK singles chart.
 

On This Day In History, May 27th

2006 A massive earthquake devastates parts of Java, Indonesia
With 5 million people living within 50 km of the quake's epicenter, about 6000 died, and 1.5 million were left homeless.

1942 Czech resistance fighters kill Reinhard Heydrich
The high-ranking German Nazi official was one of the main architects of the Holocaust. In retaliation, the Nazis murdered all male inhabitants over 15 years of age in the Czech village of Lidice and deported most of the remaining people to concentration camps.

1937 The Golden Gate Bridge is opened
The suspension bridge connecting the San Francisco peninsula with Marin County is one of the most recognized works of United States architecture.

1933 Walt Disney's cartoon Three Little Pigs is released
The animated short film is one of the best-known cartoons of all time. In 1934, it was awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

1851 The world's first chess tournament is held in London
Adolf Anderssen, a maths teacher from Wrocław, won the tournament, which was held parallel to the 1851 Great Exhibition.
 

Births On This Day, May 27th 🎂

1975 Jamie Oliver
English chef, author

1934 Harlan Ellison
American author, screenwriter

1923 Henry Kissinger
German/American politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate

1922 Christopher Lee
English actor

1907 Rachel Carson
American biologist, author

Deaths On This Day, May 27th 🪦

2011 Gil Scott-Heron
American singer-songwriter, author

1964 Jawaharlal Nehru
Indian politician, 1st Prime Minister of India

1840 Niccolò Paganini
Italian violinist, composer

1564 John Calvin
French theologian, pastor

927 Simeon I of Bulgaria
 

27th May

1679 Britain passed the Habeas Corpus Act which made it illegal to hold anyone in prison without a trial.

1936 Britain's 80,733 tonne liner Queen Mary left Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York with more than 1800 passengers.

1941 World War II: Royal Naval ships Dorsetshire, King George V and Rodney attacked and sank the German battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic after it had been damaged by torpedoes dropped by British aircraft from HMS Ark Royal.

1994 Alexander Solzhenitsyn flew back to his native Russia after 20 years living in exile.

2014 34 year old Edward McKenzie-Green, former head of counter-fraud at Oxfam, was jailed for more than two years after using fake companies to defraud Oxfam of more than £64,000.
 
1895
Birt Acres, British inventor patents film camera/projector
1930
Richard Drew invents masking tape
1937
Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens to the public which connects the city to Marin County. The construction started Jan 1933- May 1937,at the time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 4,200ft
1995
actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed after falling from his horse in a riding competion in Culpepper, VA
 
May 27th Birthdays:
1819
Julia Ward Howe- U.S poet/author' Battle Hymn of the Republic'
1894
Dashiell Hammett- detective author 'Sam Spade, Maltese Falcon
1922
Christopher Lee- British actor Dracula, Lord of the Rings, The Hobitt
1943
Bruce Weitz- actor best known TV role' Det Mick Belker on NBC police drama' Hill St. Blues'
1958
Neil Finn- New Zealand singer/ songwriter with band Crowded House' Don't Dream Its Over
1975
Jamie Oliver- British chef/ TV personality
Deaths:
1964
Jawaharlal Nehru- India's 1st Prime Minister 1947-1964 74
2000
Maurice Richard- Canadian hockey player with Montreal Canadiens 78
2010
John William Finn- U.S. Navy sailor,awarded the 1st Medal of Honor of WWII for his action during attack at Pearl Harbor. He took a machine gun from one of the planes he maintain,moved it on the runway at Kaneske Bay,shot at Japanese planes that flew overhead. He was hit several times but survived 100
 
On This Day In History, May 28th

1998 Pakistan detonates five atom bombs
The nuclear tests came as a response to India's tests just days earlier. Fearing a devastating conflict between the two nuclear powers, a number of countries, including the U.S. and Japan, imposed economic sanctions.

1987 Mathias Rust lands on the Red Square in Moscow
The 19-year-old West German amateur pilot illegally landed his Cessna in the heart of the Russian capital at the height of the Cold War.

1961 Amnesty International is founded
The publication of Peter Benenson's article “The forgotten prisoners” is commonly considered the organization's birth hour. Amnesty International is one of the world's most influential human rights organizations.

1937 Volkswagen (VW) is founded
The automobile manufacturer whose name means “People's Car” in German is one of the world's biggest. It produced classics like the VW Golf and the VW Beetle.

1936 Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication
In this landmark paper, the British computer pioneer described the Turing Machine and defined the inherent limits of computation.
 

Births On This Day, May 28th 🎂

1968 Kylie Minogue
Australian singer-songwriter, producer, actress

1944 Rudy Giuliani
American lawyer, politician, 107th Mayor of New York City

1923 György Ligeti
Romanian/Austrian composer

1908 Ian Fleming
English journalist, author

1883 Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Indian politician

Deaths On This Day, May 28th 🪦

2014 Maya Angelou
American author, poet, actress, director

1972 Edward VIII
of the United Kingdom

1937 Alfred Adler
Austrian psychologist

1849 Anne Brontë
English author, poet

1843 Noah Webster
American lexicographer, author
 
28th May

1533 The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer rendered his verdict that the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn was valid. Shortly afterwards, the Pope decreed sentences of excommunication against both Henry and Cranmer.

1588 The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.

1842 Britain's first public library opened, in Frederick Street, Salford. Chetham’s Library is housed in a beautiful sandstone building dating from 1421 which was built to accommodate the priests of Manchester’s Collegiate Church.

1907 The first Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motor cycle races were held. The winner was Charlie Collier on his pedal assisted Matchless, at an average speed of 38.22 mph. It was argued that rival Jack Marshall, riding a Triumph, would have won if he'd fitted pedals, and the following year pedals were banned.

1945 World War II: the English broadcaster of Nazi propaganda, William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was captured near Hamburg. He was later tried for treason, found guilty, and hanged.
 
1742
the 1st indoor swimming pool opens at Goodman's Field in London
1892
The Sierra Club forms in San Francisco by John Muir& others for the conversation of nature
1934
the Dionne quintuplets born to Olivia&Elzra Dionne in Callender, Ontario.They are the 1st to survive infancy. Two are still alive today, Annette&Cecile
1952
women of Greece are given the right to vote
1961
Amnesty International founded in London
1987
60th Spelling Bee contest, winner was Stephanie Petit who spelled Staphylococci- {staph infecton} correctly
2016
Haramba- gorilla at the Cincinatti,Ohio Zoo is shot after he dragged a 3yr old boy who had slipped into its enclosure
 
May 28th Birthdays:
1858
Carl Richard Nyberg- Swedish inventor of blowtorch
1908
Ian Fleming- British author of 'James Bond' novels
1938
Jerry West- NBA Basketball Hall of Fame guard with LA Lakers/ executive with the team
1961
Roland Gift- singer/ songwriter with band Fine Young Cannibals'She Drives Me Crazy'
Deaths:
1843
Noah Webster- American lexicographer- Webster's Dictionary 84
1971
Audie Murphy- U.S. soldier among most decorated in WWII with 33 medals 46{plane crash}
2010
Gary Coleman- actor best known TV role' Arnold Jackson' in NBC sitcom' Different Strokes 42
 
On This Day In History, May 29th

1999 Olusegun Obasanjo wins Nigeria's first free elections in 16 years
The former Nigerian Army general and military ruler oversaw a democratization process that defines the country's political system to the present day.

1996 Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Israel's prime minister
The conservative politician is criticized for hampering the peace process that former prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, had promoted.

1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest
The first successful ascent of the world's highest mountain came after Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans had come within 100 meters of the summit just three days previously.

1942 Bing Crosby Records White Christmas
Crosby's rendition of Irving Berlin's song became the most successful of his career and the best-selling Christmas single in history.

1913 Igor Stravinsky's ballet Le Sacre du Printemps premiered
the performance sparked a riot in the audience as many felt its irregular beat and the percussive character was a sacrilege against music. Today, it is considered one of the key works of 20th-century art music.
 
Births On This Day, May 29th 🎂

1984 Carmelo Anthony
American basketball player

1967 Noel Gallagher
English singer-songwriter, guitarist

1922 Iannis Xenakis
Greek/French composer, engineer, theorist

1917 John F. Kennedy
American lieutenant, politician, 35th President of the United States

1914 Tenzing Norgay
Nepalese mountaineer

Deaths On This Day, May 29th 🪦

2013 Henry Morgentaler
Polish/Canadian physician

2010 Dennis Hopper
American actor, director

1997 Jeff Buckley
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1892 Bahá'u'lláh
Persian spiritual leader founded the Bahá'í Faith

1829 Humphry Davy
English chemist, physicist
 
29th May

1630 Charles II, king of England, was born.

1660 Charles II marched into London and was restored to the throne, 11 years after the execution of his father Charles I.

1871 Whit Monday became the first official Bank Holiday in Britain.

1884 The first steam cable tramway began operating, in London's Highgate. The line was opened by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Robert Fowler, and was operated by the Highgate Hill Tramways Company (the successor to the Steep Grade Tramways & Works Co. Ltd who had obtained the original authority).

1914 The ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland, sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence shortly after departing from Quebec for Liverpool.
In this horrific maritime disaster, over a thousand passengers en route from Quebec to Liverpool were lost in just fifteen minutes—the length of time it took for the ocean liner to sink into Canada’s Saint Lawrence River after being hit by a ship called The Storstad. Canada was a growing nation of only eight million at the time, making the loss of over a thousand people in the accident a national tragedy.
 
30th May

1431 Joan of Arc, the French peasant girl who became a national heroine leading French troops against the English, was burnt at the stake in Rouen for heresy.

1536 Eleven days after he had his second wife Anne Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, former lady-in-waiting to Anne.

1842 n assassination attempt was made on Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill in London with her husband Prince Albert. The would-be assassin was John Francis.

1914 The new, and at that time the largest Cunard ocean liner, RMS Aquitania weighing 45,647 tons, set sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City. In her 36 years of service, Aquitania had the longest service career of any 20th century express liner, a record that stood until 2004, when the Queen Elizabeth 2 (with an ultimate career service of 40 years) became the longest-serving liner.

1972 The Angry Brigade, a small British anarchist group, went on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.
 
1498
Christopher Columbus departs with 6 ships for his 3rd trip to America
1783
Benjamin Tower in Philadelphia publishes 'The Philadelphia Evening Post' the 1 U.S. daily newspaper
1848
William G. Young in Baltimore, MD patents ice cream freezer
1906
Hershey Park in Hershey,PA is founded by chocolate tycoon, Milton Hershey for exclusive use of his employees
1927
The 1st Indy 500 race, 1st time starter, George Sounders won by 8 laps, was 1st driver to win full 500 laps without help from a relief driver or mechanic
1987
North American Phillips Company unveils compact disc video
2020
Space X's Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts aboard Dragon capsule launches from Cape Canveral, FLa to the international space station Its the 1st private company to do so
 
May 30th BIrthdays:
1896
Howard Hawkes- film director/ producer 'Scarface, Rio Bravo
1909
Benny Goodman- clarinetist/ band leader' King of Swing'
1943
Gale Sayers- Pro Football Hall of Fame half back with Chicago Bears
1946
Candy Lightner-U.S. founder of MADD{ Mothers Against Drunk Driving} Her 13 yr old daughter, Cari was killed by a repeated drunk driver
Deaths:
1778
Voltaire-French playwright' Candide' 83
1912
Wilbur Wright- U.S. aviator 43
1960
Boris Pasternak- Russian novelist' Doctor Zhivago' 70
2016
Rick Mac Leish- Candian ice hockey center with Philadelphia Flyers 66
 
31 May 1976

The Who appear at the Charlton Athletic Grounds in England and put their name into the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest Rock band ever when their set measures at 126 decibels.
That record has since been surpassed by a number of bands.
The loudest concert ever recorded was by Swedish band Sleazy Joe when they performed in Hassleholm in 2008 which peaked at 143.2 decibels.
 
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