Today in History

On This Day In History, April 30th

1993 CERN announces that World Wide Web protocols will remain free
By offering the software required to operate a web server with an open license, the European organization ensured its dissemination, and the WWW flourished.

1993 Tennis ace Monica Seles is stabbed by an obsessed fan
Although the stab wound proved to be relatively harmless, the psychological ramifications meant that Seles did not play any tournaments for over two years.

1975 The fall of Saigon marks the end of the Vietnam War
As Communist forces gained control of Saigon, South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh, who had only been in office for 2 days, surrendered unconditionally.

1916 Germany and its World War I allies become the first countries to use daylight saving time (DST)
The rationale was to save energy to aid the war effort. Other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, first introduced DST later that year.

1789 George Washington becomes the first U.S. President
Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. In the United States, he is venerated as one of the country's founding fathers.
 

Births On This Day, April 30th 🎂

1982 Kirsten Dunst
American actress, singer

1959 Stephen Harper
Canadian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

1956 Lars von Trier
Danish director, screenwriter

1933 Willie Nelson
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor

1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss
German mathematician

Deaths On This Day, April 30th 🪦

1983 Muddy Waters
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1980 Luis Muñoz Marín
Puerto Rican poet, politician, 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

1945 Adolf Hitler
Austrian/German politician, Chancellor of Germany

1883 Édouard Manet
French painter

1030 Mahmud of Ghazni
 
30th April

1513 Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, was executed on the orders of Henry VIII.

1943 The body of a mystery man (planted with false invasion plans) was used by Britain to fool Nazi Germany into defending the 'wrong' regions of the Mediterranean, aiding a successful invasion of Sicily.

1973 President Richard Nixon took full responsibility for the Watergate scandal but denied any personal involvement.

1980 Armed terrorists seized the Iranian Embassy in London taking 20 hostages and threatening to blow up the building.

1999 Soho nail bomb. Two people were killed and at least 30 injured in the third nail-bomb attack in London in two weeks. The bomb went off in the Admiral Duncan pub, in Soho, just after 1830. The bar was packed with drinkers at the start of the bank holiday weekend.
 

30th April 1982
40-year-old Bobbie Gentry, whose "Ode To Billie Joe" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967, made her final public appearance at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
After that evening, she stopped performing, recording, and giving interviews, and retired to a gated community near Memphis.
 
30th April 1988
20-year-old Celine Dion helps Switzerland win its first ever Eurovision Song Contest with her rendition of "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" (Don't leave without me). The success encourages her to learn English, and two years later her fifteenth studio album, "Unison" (1990), reaches #4 on the Billboard 200 chart.
 
On This Day In History, May 1st

1978 Naomi Uemura becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone
The Japanese adventurer is also credited with the first solo ascent of Mount McKinley and the first solo rafting of the Amazon River. He disappeared in 1984 during a winter ascent of Mount McKinley.

1961 Fidel Castro declared Cuba a socialist nation and banned elections
A month after Cuban troops had fought off a U.S.-backed military invasion at the Bay of Pigs, Castro announced that “The revolution has no time for elections.”

1945 Adolf Hitler's death is announced on German radio
As the Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, the German people are informed that “our leader, Adolf Hitler, has fallen for Germany, fighting to his last breath against Bolshevism.”

1925 The world's largest trade union is founded
The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has more than 300 million members.

1840 The world's first adhesive postage stamp was issued in the United Kingdom
The Penny Black shows a portrait of Queen Victoria. Despite its historical significance, the stamp can be bought for around £25 as over 68 million copies were distributed.
 
Births On This Day, May 1st 🎂

1987 Shahar Pe'er
Israeli tennis player

1967 Tim McGraw
American singer-songwriter, actor

1924 Terry Southern
American author, screenwriter

1923 Joseph Heller
American author, playwright

1769 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Irish/English field marshal, politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Deaths On This Day, May 1st 🪦

1994 Ayrton Senna
Brazilian race car driver

1990 Sergio Franchi
Italian/American singer, actor

1960 Charles Holden
English architect designed the Bristol Central Library

1904 Antonín Dvořák
Czech composer

1873 David Livingstone
Scottish missionary, explorer
 
On April 29th, the 45th infantry , along with the 42nd infantry of Patton's 3rd Army, liberated Dachau concentration camp. My father was in the 45th,and even though he was with Patton's armies since they landed in northern Africa in 42 .... he said it was the worst thing he ever witnessed ,
 
rgp said:
On April 29th, the 45th infantry , along with the 42nd infantry of Patton's 3rd Army, liberated Dachau concentration camp. My father was in the 45th,and even though he was with Patton's armies since they landed in northern Africa in 42 .... he said it was the worst thing he ever witnessed ,
Click to expand...
It would be, my Grandfather was a Partisan and there was this one story he told that chilled me to the bone.
He and the other members of the group entered a Concentration camp after the Nazies fled, some inmates were laying on the ground and seemed to be moving, as they got closer to their shock it was just the lice that infested these poor dead people.
I will never forget that story.
 
On This Day In History, May 3rd

1999 A tornado produces the highest wind speeds ever recorded
The F5 tornado hitting parts of Oklahoma City caused a record wind speed of about 301 mph (484 km/h). 45 people were killed, 665 injured.

1979 Margaret Thatcher is elected British Prime Minister
The conservative politician was the first female head of state in Europe. During her 11-year reign, her sweeping economic reforms polarized the British public and her toughness earned her the nickname The Iron Lady.

1978 The Digital Equipment Corporation sends the world's first spam email
A representative sent out 600 emails and sold computers for $12 million. Unsolicited bulk emails have since become a scourge of the digital age as spammers attempt to achieve similar success.

1958 Truman Capote's book Breakfast at Tiffany's is published
The novella is one of the U.S. author's most popular works. The 1961 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn is a classic in its genre.

1913 The first Indian full-length feature film is premiered
The release of Raja Harishchandra marked the birth of the Indian film industry, the world's largest in films produced and ticket sales.
 
Births On This Day, May 3rd 🎂

1933 James Brown
American singer-songwriter, producer, actor

1921 Sugar Ray Robinson
American boxer

1919 Pete Seeger
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1898 Golda Meir
Israeli educator, politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel

1469 Niccolò Machiavelli
Italian historian, philosopher

Deaths On This Day, May 3rd 🪦

2014 Jim Oberstar
American politician

1999 Godfrey Evans
English cricketer

1987 Dalida
Egyptian/French singer, actress

1916 Patrick Pearse
Irish activist

1481 Mehmed the Conqueror
Ottoman sultan
 
On This Day In History, May 4th

1994 Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat signed a peace accord to ensure Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho
Together with Shimon Peres, the two leaders received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. A year later, Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist.

1959 The Grammy is presented for the first time
It is one of the most prestigious awards in the music industry. Winners of the first edition included Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Mancini, and Frank Sinatra.

1953 Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize
The American author was awarded the prestigious accolade for his novel The Old Man and the Sea. The story about a fisherman and his battle with a large marlin also earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1904 The United States takes over the construction of the Panama Canal
French engineers had begun digging a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in 1881, but they had to abandon the project after about 22,000 lives had been lost to accidents and disease.

1675 King Charles II of England commissions the Royal Observatory in Greenwich
The observatory was built on the prime meridian. The mean solar time at this location is the basis for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
 
Births On This Day, May 4th 🎂

1989 Rory McIlroy
Irish golfer

1929 Audrey Hepburn
Belgian/English actress, singer

1928 Hosni Mubarak
Egyptian air marshal, politician, 4th President of Egypt

1916 Jane Jacobs
American/Canadian journalist, author, activist

1825 Thomas Henry Huxley
English biologist

Deaths On This Day, May 4th 🪦

2014 Elena Baltacha
Ukrainian/Scottish tennis player

1980 Josip Broz Tito
Yugoslav marshal, politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia

1924 E. Nesbit
English author

1903 Gotse Delchev
Bulgarian activist

1799 Tipu Sultan
Indian army officer, king
 
5th May 1959
The Grand Ballroom of The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles was the site of the very first Grammy Awards, where statuettes were given out for Record of the year and Song of the year to Domenico Modugno for his rendition of "Volare".
 
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May 4th:
1780
American Academy of Arts&Sciences is founded by James Bowden,John&Samuel Adams in Boston,Mass
1904
Charles Rolls meets Henry Royce at Midland Hotel in Manchester, England hotel form the car manufactuer Rolls Royce
1932
gangster, Al Capone sent to Atlanta,Georgia prison for tax income evasion,stays 2 yrs then transferred to Alcatraz in Aug 1934
1959
The 1st Grammy Awards winners include Ella Fitzgerald, won 2 for Best Female Vocal for 'Irving Berlin Songbook, Best Jazz Performance for' Duke Ellington Songbook', Perry Como Best Male Vocal' Catch a Falling Star'
1970
4 anti-war protesters killed by National Guard at Kent State Univ, in Kent, Ohio
1991
Al Jarreau, Phil Collins receive honorary music degrees from the Berklee Music College in Boston,Mass
2023
WHO{World Health Org} declare Covid- 19 over as a global health emergency but remains a significant threat
 
5th May 1963
The Beatles debut album "Please Please Me" rises to the top of the UK's Record Retailer Chart on the strength of the title track and "Love Me Do". It would remain at number one on that list for 30 weeks, an unprecedented achievement for a Pop album at that time.
 
5th May

1215 Rebel barons renounced their allegiance to King John; part of a chain of events that led to the signing of the Magna Carta.

1930 British aviator Amy Johnson took off from Croydon Airport in her Gypsy Moth plane 'Jason'. She became the first woman to fly solo to Australia, arriving on 24th May.

1955 Dr Jonas Salk, the world-famous American virologist witnessed a ceremonial polio vaccination in London. Margaret Jenkins, aged 21, of Bromley in Kent became the 500,000th person in London to receive the polio vaccine in the first of two injections at the special lunchtime clinic at Guildhall in the City.

1961 Commander Alan Shepard was recovered from his space capsule in the Atlantic after becoming the first American in space. He travelled 115 miles into space and landed in the Atlantic just 15 minutes later. His first words after he was picked up by a helicopter were: "Boy, what a ride!"

1980 The siege of the Iranian embassy in London ended after a dramatic raid by SAS commandos. Five Iranian gunmen were killed and one was arrested. Nineteen hostages were set free but one died and two were injured in the cross-fire.

1981 Riots in Northern Ireland followed the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in the Maze prison.

2014 A police officer who handcuffed himself to a man on suspicion of assault locked his keys in his patrol car and found that he had no way of taking the pair of them to the police station. Undeterred he sheepishly knocked on the suspect’s door and asked the boy's mother if she would be willing to drive them to the station herself .....and she did.
 
On This Day In History, May 6th

2004 The final episode of Friends is aired
The immensely popular sitcom about Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross has been produced since 1994. The final episode “The Last One” was watched by 52 million viewers.

1994 The Channel Tunnel linking the United Kingdom with France is opened
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand inaugurated the “Chunnel”. It measures just over 50 km (31 mi) and is the tunnel with the world's longest undersea portion.

1976 A massive earthquake hits northeast Italy
939 people died and 157,000 were left homeless in Italy's worst earthquake, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale.

1954 Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes
The British athlete took 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds to cover 1609 meters. The current record by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj stands at 3:43.13 (as of February 2014).

1937 The Hindenburg zeppelin filled with hydrogen goes up in flames
The footage showing a colossal fireball engulfing the German airship during a landing attempt in Lakehurst, NJ, has become iconic for the end of the zeppelin era. 35 lives were lost in the crash.
 
Births On This Day, May 6th 🎂

1961 George Clooney
American actor, director, producer, screenwriter

1953 Tony Blair
Scottish/English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1915 Orson Welles
American actor, director, producer, screenwriter

1856 Sigmund Freud
Austrian neurologist

1758 Maximilien de Robespierre
French lawyer, politician

Deaths On This Day, May 6th 🪦

1992 Marlene Dietrich
German/American actress, singer

1952 Maria Montessori
Italian physician, educator

1919 L. Frank Baum
American author

1862 Henry David Thoreau
American writer, philosopher

1859 Alexander von Humboldt
German geographer, explorer
 
6th May

878 6–12 May - The Battle of Edington, a village in Wiltshire. The arrival of a Danish great army in East Anglia in 865 marked the start of a new phase of Viking attacks on Britain. Previously, the Vikings had come to raid and settle around the coast, but this force came to conquer. Only the victory of Alfred the Great against the Viking Guthrum the Old saved Anglo-Saxon independence. Guthrum was forced to withdraw from Wessex and agree to the division of England.

1659 English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removed Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth.

1840 The first postage stamps, the ‘Penny Black’ and two-penny ‘blues’, which were the brainchild of Roland Hill, became valid for postage On This Day.

1960 Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong Jones married at Westminster Abbey. More than 20 million viewers tuned in to watch the first ever televised royal wedding service.

2001 A bomb exploded at a north London postal sorting office. It was the second such attack in three weeks and linked to the Real IRA.

2023 The coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey, the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned there since 1066.
 

This Day In History, May 7th

2000 Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia
The former KGB officer enjoys high approval ratings in his country as living standards in Russia have improved drastically under his rule. Internationally, he has been criticized for his authoritarian style of government.

1946 Sony is founded
The company started as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering. It is now one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products.

1945 Germany's Nazi regime surrendered unconditionally
The capitulation ended World War II, one of the bloodiest conflicts of all time. According to estimates, between 40 and 71 million people died in the war and the Holocaust initiated by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

1915 A German U-boat sinks the RMS Lusitania
1198 lives were lost in the attack, making it the deadliest shipwreck during World War I. The fact that some of the dead were U.S. citizens influenced the country's decision to enter the war in 1917.

1895 Alexander Popov demonstrates the world's first radio receiver
The Russian physicist had initially built the device as a lightning detector. He achieved the first radio transmission between two buildings the following year.
 

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