Today in History

16th May

1532 Sir Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor of England. He opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England.

1908 Britain’s first diesel submarine was launched. HMS/m D1 was built by shipbuilding company Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness in Lancashire (now renamed Cumbria).

1943 The famous ‘Dam Busters’ raid by the 617 Squadron of Lancaster bombers led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson breached the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany. The dams were fiercely protected. Torpedo nets in the water stopped underwater attacks and anti-aircraft guns defended them against enemy bombers. But 617 Squadron had a secret weapon: the 'bouncing bomb'.
developed by Dr Barnes Wallis.

1991 Queen Elizabeth II addressed the U.S. Congress, the first British monarch to do so.

2001 Labour's Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, punched a man who threw an egg at him during his visit to, Rhyl, North Wales. 🥚
 

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 wreck 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
 
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 massive crater replaced a large part of the previously cone-shaped volcano; 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

1152 Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, married Henry Plantagenet (later Henry II of England).

1812 John Bellingham was hanged for the murder of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.

1944 Monte Cassino, Italy, was taken by Allied forces during World War II.

1964 Mods and Rockers jailed after seaside riots. Scores of youths were given prison sentences following a Whitsun weekend of violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers at a number of resorts on the south coast of England.

1991 Chemist Helen Sharman from Sheffield was the first Briton to go into space, as a participant in a Soviet space mission.
 
19th May

1536 Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife, was beheaded in London. Although the evidence against her was unconvincing, the charges brought included incest with her brother and no less than four counts of adultery.

1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 established the requirement for all clergy of the Church of England to strictly adhere to the practices outlined in the newly revised Book of Common Prayer.

1845 Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition departed from Greenhithe in Kent. Two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, left England in order to search for the Northwest Passage - a vital sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Both ships were lost, and all 129 men on board perished.

1940 Churchill made his first broadcast as Prime Minister. "I speak to you for the first time as Prime Minister in a solemn hour for the life of our country, of our empire, of our allies, and, above all, of the cause of freedom." So began Winston Churchill’s radio broadcast of 19 May 1940.

1974 Valery Giscard d'Estaing elected President of France,
 
1857
William Francis Chaney& Moses G. Farmer patent electric fire alarm
1926
NBC{National Broadcasting Corp} is founded by RCA{Radio Corp of America}
1958
movie soundtrack album of Rogers/ Hammerstein's musical' South Pacific" hits #1 on music charts, stays there for 31 weeks
1995
the world's youngest doctor, 17yr old Balamurali Ambati graduates from Mount Sinai Medical Center in NYC
Today he is a professor at the Moran Eye Center at Univ of Utah in Salt Lake City
2022
Mercedes confirms the sale of the world's most expensive car, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR Coupe for $142 mil
 
On This Day In History, May 21st

1991 Former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, is assassinated
The attacker was a woman believed to be linked the Sri Lankan separatist militant organisation, 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 organisation 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, and 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, and poet
 
21st May

1420 The Treaty of Troyes was signed, in which it was agreed that Henry V would marry Catherine, the daughter of King Charles VI of France and that Henry and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of the French king.

1662 England's Charles II married Catherine de Braganza, daughter of John IV of Portugal.

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.

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.

1991 Rajiv Gandhi, the 46-year-old former Indian prime minister, was assassinated.

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. A return takes place every five years.
 
1881
humanitarian/nurse, Clara Barton founded American Red Cross in Washington,DC
1914
Greyhound Bus Company was founded by Carl Wickman in Hibbing, Michigan. The company was acquired by Flexmobility in 2021. Some of the bus stations around country are no longer in business, the company is still in operation
1980
movie' The Empire Strikes Back' sequel to '77 movie' Star Wars' is released directed by Irvin Kershner In this story the beginnings of romance between Han Solo{Harrison Ford} and Princess Leia{ Carrie Fisher}. Luke Skywalker{Mark Hamill} begins his 'Jedi' training with Yoda{voiced by Frank Oz} Others in cast, James Earl Jones{ voice of Dearth Vader}, Billy Dee Williams,Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker David Prowse,Alec Guinness
It won special Oscar for the special effects Opening weekend made $6.4 million
2007
Cutty Sark, the last remaining tea clipper was badly damages by a fire in Greenwich, England
2024
French Post Office La Poste issues a scratch& sniff stamp of bread to celebrate the baguette
 
On This Day In History, May 22nd

2012 The world's tallest tower is opened to the public
At 643 meters (2080 feet), the Tokyo Skytree in Japan's capital city is also the second tallest structure in the world after Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Its prime purpose is relaying TV and radio signals.

2010 The worst air crash involving a Boeing 737 kills 158
Air India Express Flight 812 overshot the runway on landing at Mangalore International Airport. It fell over a cliff and burst into flames. The 737 is the world's most widely flown aircraft.

1980 The arcade game Pac-Man is released
The game featuring a dot-munching round yellow figure moving through a maze has become one of the best-known video games in history. It was produced by Namco.

1960 The most violent earthquake in recorded history hits Chile
The Great Chilean Earthquake rated 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale. According to estimates, between 2230 and 6000 people were killed.

1906 The Wright brothers' flying machine is patented
The American aviation pioneers are credited with having performed “the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight.” (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)
 
Births On This Day, May 22nd 🎂

1959 Morrissey
English singer-songwriter, pianist

1930 Harvey Milk
American lieutenant, politician, activist

1907 Hergé
Belgian illustrator

1859 Arthur Conan Doyle
Scottish physician, author

1813 Richard Wagner
German composer, director

Deaths On This Day, May 22nd 🪦

2013 Henri Dutilleux
French composer

1992 Zellig Harris
American linguist

1967 Langston Hughes
American poet, author

1885 Victor Hugo
French author, poet, and playwright

337 Constantine the Great
Roman Emperor
 
1892
Dr Washington Sheffield invents toothpaste tube
1906
Orville &Wilbur Wright granted a patent for their'flying machine', they had applied for one 3 yrs earlier
1936
Aer Lingus incorporated as national airline for Republic of Ireland
1961
single' Mother In Law' written by pianist, Allen Toussaint sung by Ernie K-Doe hits #1 on the music charts, stays there for 2 weeks
1992
Johnny Carson last appearance as host of NBC's 'The Tonight Show' 55 million tuned in,the largest in the show's history. He hosted the show for 30 yrs
2018
Stacey Cunningham becomes the 1st woman head of the New York Stock Exchange in its 226 yr history.
She stepped down in 2022,now one of the exchange's board of directors
 
On This Day In History, May 23rd

1992 The Italian mafia murder Giovanni Falcone
Falcone, a judge, was the mafia's most prominent adversary. After he, together with his wife and three bodyguards, fell victim to a car bomb, Falcone became a folk hero in Italy.

1969 The Who release Tommy
The British rock band's fourth album is considered the first musical work of the rock opera genre.

1951 Delegates of the Dalai Lama sign the Seventeen Point Agreement
The contract affirmed Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. According to Tibetan officials, the document was signed under duress and is, therefore, invalid.

1949 The Federal Republic of Germany is established
The proclamation of the Grundgesetz, Germany's current constitution, marked the birth hour of the republic. The foundation of West Germany came four years after the demise of the Nazi regime and the end of World War II.

1844 Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází founds Bábism
The Báb, as he called himself, created the religion which was a forerunner of the Bahá'í Faith. His teachings were seen as a threat by the Islamic clergy, and his followers were brutally persecuted by the Persian government.
 

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