| 408:
|
Theodosius II suceeds to the Eastern Roman throne
|
| 474:
|
Massacre of 300 English nobles on Salisbury Plain
|
| 686:
|
Death of St. Ultan
|
| 1169:
|
First Normans land in Ireland
|
| 1171:
|
Dermot MacMurrough, last Irish King of Leinster, dies
|
| 1187:
|
The death of Jacques de Mailly, Marshal of the Templars, and Roger des Moulins, Master of the Hospitalers. Gerard de Ridefort, Master of the Templars, and two others flee the battle
|
| 1218:
|
Rudolf I, Count of Habsburg, King of the Romans born
|
| 1229:
|
Frederick II Hohenstaufen leaves the Holy Land from Acre
|
| 1308:
|
King Albert of Germany murdered by his disinherited nephew
|
| 1316:
|
Coronation of Edward Bruce as King of Ireland
|
| 1345:
|
Death of St. Peregrine Laziosi
|
| 1402:
|
Jean de Bethencourt sails from La Rochelle for the Canary Islands
|
| 1486:
|
Columbus persuades Queen Isabella to finance his expedition
|
| 1543:
|
Copernicus circulates "The Little Commentary," showing the heliocentricity of the Solar System
|
| 1572:
|
Death of Pope Pius V
|
| 1590:
|
King James VI lands at Leith with his bride, the Princess of Denmark
|
| 1625:
|
Charles I, King of England, marries Henrietta Marie of France by proxy
|
| 1654:
|
"Under penalty of death, no Irish man, woman, or child, was to let himself, herself, itself be found east of the River Shannon" An Order from the Parliament of England
|
| 1672:
|
Joseph Addison, English poet, essayist and politician. Together with Richard Steele, he founded the Spectator in March 1711. born
|
| 1683:
|
In England a patent was awarded for extracting salt from sea water
|
| 1700:
|
John Dryden, English poet and Poet Laureate from 1668-88, died
|
| 1707:
|
Scotland and England were joined together under the name of Great Britain
|
| 1761:
|
Haydn was hired by Prince Esterhazy. Haydn worked for the Esterhazys for most of his long life, and was billed as being the music director of the family after the orchestra was disbanded and Haydn pensioned off
|
| 1769:
|
Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington born
|
| 1786:
|
Vienna was talking about what a hothead Mozart was. He threatened to burn "The Marriage of Figaro" unless it was performed ahead of another composer's latest opera. Mozart prevailed
|
| 1808:
|
After only a few days in power, Ferdinand relinquished the Spanish throne in favor of Napoleon of France
|
| 1830:
|
Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones) born
|
| 1840:
|
1st adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued
|
| 1851:
|
Queen Victoria opened the first Great Exhibition (World's Fair) in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London
|
| 1855:
|
Feminist Lucy Stone married Henry Blackwell. A marriage contract written by the couple at their wedding omitted the word "obey" and disavowed the gross inequity married women suffered under American law
|
| 1866:
|
A hailstorm broke 20-thousand panes of glass in Baltimore
|
| 1873:
|
David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer, was found dead at Chitambo, now in Zambia
|
| 1876:
|
The Royal Titles Bill was passed by the British Parliament, entitling Queen Victoria to call herself Empress of India
|
| 1883:
|
Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) staged his first Wild West Show
|
| 1884:
|
Work began on a 10-story building in Chicago using a unique steel-framed interior, making it the world's first ``skyscraper.''
|
| 1893:
|
The World's Columbian Exposition was officially opened in Chicago by President Cleveland
|
| 1895:
|
Composer Leo Sowerby born
|
| 1896:
|
General Mark Clark, American army general. With Eisenhower during the invasion of North Africa, he also commanded the 5th Army at Salerno, Anzio, and Rome. born
|
| 1898:
|
Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.( During the Spanish-American war.)
|
| 1904:
|
Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, noted for his ninth symphony ``From the New World,'' died
|
| 1909:
|
Singer Kate Smith born
|
| 1915:
|
The liner Lusitania left New York on the same day the German Embassy took out advertisements warning anyone traveling on ships carrying a British flag that they did so at their own risk. It was sunk six days later
|
| 1916:
|
Actor Glenn Ford born
|
| 1917:
|
Actor John Beradino born
|
| 1918:
|
Television personality Jack Paar born
|
| 1919:
|
Actor Dan O'Herlihy born
|
| 1919:
|
Sportscaster Harry Caray (Carabini) born
|
| 1920:
|
The longest baseball game (by innings) was played as the Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers played 26 innings with the same pitchers, Leon Cadore of Brooklyn and Boston's Joe Oeschger. The game was a 1-1 tie
|
| 1922:
|
Charlie Robertson of Chicago pitched a perfect no-hit, no-run game as the Chicago White Sox shut out the Detroit Tigers 3-0. This would be the last perfect game in an American League regular season for 46 years
|
| 1923:
|
Author Joseph Heller. His satirical novel ``Catch 22'' was published in 1955. born
|
| 1925:
|
Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter born
|
| 1925:
|
Cyprus officially became a British colony. It had been leased to Britain by Turkey in 1878 and was annexed to the British Empire in 1914
|
| 1929:
|
Country singer Sonny James born
|
| 1931:
|
New York's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. It remained the world's tallest building for 40 years
|
| 1931:
|
Singer Kate Smith began her long-running radio program on CBS. The 22-year-old Smith started out with no sponsors and a paycheck of $10 a week for the program. Within 30 days, her salary increased to $1,500 a week
|
| 1937:
|
Spanish painter Pablo Picasso produced the first sketch of his masterpiece ``Guernica,'' five days after the Basque town had been bombed by the Germans
|
| 1939:
|
Singer Judy Collins born
|
| 1941:
|
The Orson Welles motion picture "Citizen Kane" premiered in New York
|
| 1942:
|
Actor Stephen Macht ("Knots Landing;" "Cagney and Lacey") born
|
| 1945:
|
Singer Rita Coolidge born
|
| 1945:
|
A day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, it was announced that Admiral Karl Doenitz had succeeded Hitler as leader of the Third Reich
|
| 1948:
|
The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed
|
| 1949:
|
Actor-director Douglas Bar. ("Designing Women") born
|
| 1954:
|
Singer-songwriter Ray Parker Junior born
|
| 1960:
|
Former jockey Steve Cauthen born
|
| 1960:
|
The Soviet Union shot down an American U2 spy plane flown by Francis Gary Powers, who was captured
|
| 1961:
|
Tanganyika achieved internal self-government with Julius Nyerere as prime minister
|
| 1961:
|
Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared the country a socialist nation and abolished elections
|
| 1963:
|
Sir Winston Churchill announced his retirement from the House of Commons
|
| 1963:
|
James W. Whittaker of Redmond, Washington, became the first American to conquer Mount Everest as he and a Sherpa guide reached the summit
|
| 1965:
|
Country singer Wayne Hancock born
|
| 1966:
|
Rock musician Johnny Colt (The Black Crowes) born
|
| 1966:
|
Actor Charlie Schlatter ("Diagnosis Murder") born
|
| 1967:
|
Country singer Tim McGraw born
|
| 1967:
|
Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua
|
| 1967:
|
Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.)
|
| 1968:
|
Rock musician D'Arcy (Smashing Pumpkins) born
|
| 1969:
|
Leonard Tose, a trucking executive from Philadelphia, PA, bought the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League for $16,155,000. It was the largest price paid to date for a pro football franchise
|
| 1971:
|
Amtrak -- which combined and streamlined the operations of 18 intercity passenger railroads -- went into service
|
| 1975:
|
Hank Aaron, then playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, drove in two runs, breaking Babe Ruth's lifetime RBI record of 2,209. He achieved a final record of 2,297
|
| 1976:
|
Actor Darius McCrary ("Family Matters;" "Don King America") born
|
| 1978:
|
Ernest Morial was inaugurated as the first black mayor of New Orleans
|
| 1978:
|
Naomi Uemura, a Japanese explorer, became the first man to reach the North Pole alone
|
| 1981:
|
Sen. Harrison A. Williams Jr., D-NJ, was convicted in New York of charges related to the FBI's "ABSCAM" probe
|
| 1982:
|
In Poland, 50,000 supporters of ``Solidarity'' demonstrated in Warsaw against military rule
|
| 1983:
|
President Reagan paid his first visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, placing a bouquet of yellow and pink flowers in front of the monument's dark granite walls
|
| 1985:
|
Arriving in West Germany, President Reagan began a four-nation European visit by clamping a trade embargo on Nicaragua
|
| 1986:
|
The Soviet Union announced that the situation at the damaged Chernobyl nuclear plant was under control. However, Soviet Embassy official Vitaly Churkin said the problem was "not over yet."
|
| 1986:
|
Race car driver Bill Elliott set a stock car speed record with his Ford Thunderbird in Talladega, Alabama. Elliott recorded a speed of 212.229 miles per hour
|
| 1987:
|
During a visit to West Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz
|
| 1988:
|
"Newsweek" magazine reported that, according to a memoir by former White House chief of staff Donald Regan, astrology had influenced the planning of President Reagan's schedule
|
| 1989:
|
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer has the legal burden of proving that its refusal to hire or promote someone is based on legitimate and not discriminatory reasons
|
| 1990:
|
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other Kremlin leaders were jeered by thousands of people during the annual May Day parade in Red Square
|
| 1990:
|
Chinese troops began withdrawing from the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as martial law was lifted
|
| 1991:
|
Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers threw his seventh no-hitter at age 44, shutting out the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0
|
| 1991:
|
Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A's set a major-league record by stealing his 939th base during a game against the New York Yankees
|
| 1991:
|
The government of Angola and U.S.-backed guerrillas initialed agreements ending their civil war
|
| 1992:
|
On the third day of the Los Angeles riots, beaten motorist Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, asking, "Can we all get along?" President Bush delivered a nationally broadcast address in which he vowed to "use whatever force is necessary" to restore order
|
| 1992:
|
Turkmenistan announced it would switch to a Latin-based Turkish alphabet from the Cyrillic script
|
| 1993:
|
France's former Socialist prime minister Pierre Beregovoy died after shooting himself
|
| 1993:
|
President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ruling party won the most seats in united Yemen's first general elections
|
| 1993:
|
President Clinton held a strategy session with top military and foreign policy advisers on Bosnia
|
| 1993:
|
Violence erupted during a May Day protest in Moscow
|
| 1993:
|
The president of Sri Lanka (Ranasinghe Premadasa) was assassinated by a suicide bomber
|
| 1993:
|
"Sea Hero" won the Kentucky Derby
|
| 1994:
|
Israeli and PLO delegates opened a final round of talks in Cairo, Egypt, on Palestinian autonomy prior to the signing of an agreement on self-rule
|
| 1994:
|
Ayrton Senna, three times world F-1 auto racing champion, died after a high-speed crash in the San Marino Grand Prix
|
| 1995:
|
Croatia recaptured the rebel Serb enclave of Western Slavonia it lost in 1991
|
| 1995:
|
Charges that Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, had plotted to murder Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan were dropped as jury selection for the trial was about to begin in Minneapolis
|
| 1995:
|
President Clinton defended his choice for Surgeon General, Henry Foster, as a "pro-life, pro-choice doctor.""
|
| 1996:
|
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps announced she was resigning over the government's failure to abolish a controversial sales tax
|
| 1996:
|
PLO leader Yasser Arafat received a statesman's welcome at the White House, where he met with President Clinton for 45 minutes, then lashed out at Israel for keeping its borders closed to Palestinian workers
|
| 1997:
|
Britons went to the polls in a national election that gave the Labor Party a resounding victory over the ruling Conservatives
|
| 1997:
|
John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, publicly declared their innocence in the case, and asked for the public's help in finding the killer of their six-year-old daughter
|
| 1998:
|
Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona, California, at age 62
|
| 1998:
|
Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than half a million Tutsis
|
| 1999:
|
Despite protests, the National Rifle Association held its annual meeting in Denver 11 days after the Columbine High School shootings
|
| 1999:
|
The "Liberty Bell 7," the Mercury space capsule flown by Gus Grissom, was found in the Atlantic 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, 38 years after it sank
|
| 1999:
|
An amphibious boat sank at Hot Springs, Ark., killing 13. Charismatic, a 30-1 shot, charged to victory in the 125th Kentucky Derby
|
| 2000:
|
Joerg Haider, leader of Austria's far-right Freedom Party, stepped down after 14 years as party leader
|
| 2000:
|
Actor Steve Reeves died in Escondido, California, at age 74
|
| 2000:
|
About three and a-half million Time Warner cable subscribers temporarily lost access to seven Disney-owned ABC stations in a quarrel over transmission rights
|
| 2005:
|
Firefox browser reaches fifty million downloads
|
| 2005:
|
Two university students shot, killed in Cameroon strikes
|
| 2005:
|
Swiss finish drilling world's longest overland tunnel
|
| 2005:
|
Cyprus, Latvia and Malta are a step closer to adopting euro
|
| 2005:
|
Soap opera writer, creator William J. Bell dies at 78
|
| 2005:
|
Pro-Palestinian graffiti sprayed on the wall of Israeli embassy in Denmark
|
| 2005:
|
President Bush faces some tough questioning
|
| 2005:
|
BBC News website expands RSS license terms to allow commercial use
|
| 2005:
|
FOX News previews Grafton Street restaurant and "voice collector" in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts
|
| 2005:
|
Tabletop fusion may lead to neutron source
|
| 2005:
|
China introduces new jury trial system
|
| 2005:
|
Julian Easter celebrated
|
| 2005:
|
World's smallest democracy votes
|
| 2005:
|
May Day protests occur throughout Switzerland
|
| 2006:
|
Some Australian government welfare recipients will be forced to pay their bills
|
| 2006:
|
Bolivian troops told to seize natural gas fields
|
| 2006:
|
May Day march takes place in London
|
| 2006:
|
Militants kill 22 villagers in Kashmir
|
| 2006:
|
First pictures from the Israeli photo/spy satellite Eros B
|
| 2007:
|
Five found guilty of UK bomb plot
|
| 2007:
|
Western New York recovering after major internet outage
|
| 2007:
|
Internet Radio Equality Act proposed
|
| 2007:
|
US State Department accuses Iran of being top state sponsor of terrorism
|
| 2007:
|
Reports: Leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq killed
|
| 2007:
|
Turkey's Constitutional Court invalidates first round in presidential elections
|
| 2007:
|
Worldwide student competition brings WTO debate battle to Geneva
|
| 2008:
|
Research shows that bats cry to detect prey
|
| 2008:
|
Footage of 7/7 bombers shown to court
|
| 2008:
|
Sea lions take over dock at Moss Landing, California
|
| 2008:
|
Wail of sirens marks Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel
|
| 2008:
|
Cuba announces shift of farm management to local level
|
| 2008:
|
Demolition to resume at New York skyscraper damaged by 9/11 after deadly fire
|
| 2008:
|
2007/08 UEFA Cup: Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Bayern Munich
|
| 2008:
|
Native Hawaiians blockade historic palace to restore "Hawaiian nation"
|
| 2008:
|
An Australian child's vocabulary: it's "I" before "we", both before "you"
|
| 2009:
|
Chrysler files for bankruptcy, Fiat Group SpA to run company
|
| 2009:
|
Runaway EMU train collides with freight train in India
|
| 2009:
|
U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter to retire
|
| 2010:
|
Bomb blasts in Somalia kill at least 30
|
| 2010:
|
Nine of Alfred Hitchcock's films are restored; 30 years since his death
|
| 2010:
|
Redistricting reform efforts in Illinois fail for this year
|
| 2010:
|
Stones thrown by protesters in Kashmir kill civilian
|
| 2011:
|
NASCAR driver Kyle Busch wins spring race in Richmond, Virginia
|
| 2011:
|
Sheffield United relegated from English Football League Championship
|
| 2011:
|
British snooker commentator Ted Lowe dies aged 90
|
| 2012:
|
Bosnia jails first female war crime convict
|
History
Icons
Singer Kate Smith born in Washington, DC
Actor Glenn Ford born in Quebec City, Québec
Radio and television personality, Jack Paar born in Canton, Ohio
Blues harmonica legend "Little Walter" born Marion Walter Jacobs in Marksville, Louisiana
Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter, Judy Collins born in Seattle, Washington
Pop hit singer Rita Coolidge born in Lafayette, Tennessee
Model, activist, Bond girl and BAFTA award winning actress, Joanna Lumley born in Srinagar, British India
Singer, songwriter and guitarist, Ray Parker Jr born in Detroit, Michigan
César Award winning film and theater actress, Catherine Frot born in Paris, France
Olympic Gold Medalist speed skater, Yvonne van Gennip born in Haarlem, Netherlands
Grammy Award winning country singer, Tim McGraw born in Delhi, Louisiana
Ice skating champion and actress, Julie Benz born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Film and TV actress, Sachie Hara born in Fukuoka, Japan
Actress Farah Fath born in Lexington, Kentucky