Discover

Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Liturgical feasts

External links

Events

★ 1416 - The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.

★ 1431 - Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.

★ 1434 - Hussite Wars (Bohemian Wars): Battle of Lipany - Effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilated Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.

★ 1536 - King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.

★ 1539 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.

★ 1574 - Henry III becomes King of France.

★ 1588 - The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.

★ 1635 - Thirty Years' War: Peace of Prague (1635) signed.

★ 1806 - Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.

★ 1814 - Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition - Treaty of Paris (1814) signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent.

★ 1832 - The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario is first opened.

★ 1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.

★ 1868 - Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") observed in the United States for the first time (By "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclaimation on May 5).

★ 1871 - The Paris Commune falls.

★ 1876 - Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.

★ 1879 - New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.

★ 1879 - An F4 tornado strikes Irving, Kansas, killing 18 and injuring 60.

★ 1883 - In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.

★ 1911 - At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race in his ''Marmon Wasp''.

★ 1913 - First Balkan War: Treaty of London, 1913 signed ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.

★ 1914 - New & then largest Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.

★ 1917 - Alexander I becomes king of Greece.

★ 1922 - In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.

★ 1935 - Babe Ruth plays in his last baseball game, in the uniform of the Boston Braves.

★ 1941 - World War II: Germany captures Crete.

★ 1941 - World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb on the athenian Acropolis, tear down the nazi swastika and replace it with the Greek flag.

★ 1942 - World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.

★ 1948 - A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

★ 1956 - Composer Karlheinz Stockhausen premieres his piece Gesang der Jünglinge in Cologne.

★ 1958 - Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

★ 1966 - Former Congolese Prime Minister Evariste Kimba and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.

★ 1967 - At the Ascot Park in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.

★ 1967 - The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.

★ 1969 - Riots on the Caribbean island of Curaçao

★ 1971 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 launched to Map 70% of the surface and study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface of Mars.

★ 1972 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.

★ 1972 - In Tel Aviv, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.

★ 1982 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.

★ 1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.

★ 1997 - The Norway national football team beats Brazil 4-2. They still have never lost to Brazil, and remain the only team that hasn't.

★ 1998 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.

Births

★ 1010 - Emperor Renzong of China (d. 1063)

★ 1423 - Georg Purbach, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1461)

★ 1623 - John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (d. 1686)

★ 1672 (O.S.) - Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (d. 1725)

★ 1718 - Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, English politician (d. 1793)

★ 1719 - Roger Newdigate, English politician (d. 1806)

★ 1757 - Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1844)

★ 1814 - Mikhail Bakunin, Russian anarchist (d. 1876)

★ 1814 - Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian mathematician (d. 1894)

★ 1819 - William McMurdo, British army officer (d. 1894)

★ 1820 - Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, French Canadian politician (d. 1890)

★ 1845 - King Amadeo I of Spain (d. 1890)

★ 1858 - Siegfried Alkan, German composer (d. 1941)

★ 1875 - Giovanni Gentile, Italian philosopher (d. 1944)

★ 1878 - Mike Donlin, baseball player (d. 1933)

★ 1879 - Colin Blythe, English cricketer (d. 1917)

★ 1881 - Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (d. 1968)

★ 1882 - Wyndham Halswelle, Scottish runner (d. 1915)

★ 1886 - Randolph Bourne, American writer (d. 1918)

★ 1895 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (d. 1956)

★ 1896 - Howard Hawks, American film director (d. 1977)

★ 1899 - Irving Thalberg, American film producer (d. 1936)

★ 1901 - Cornelia Otis Skinner, American writer and actress (d. 1979)

★ 1902 - Stepin Fetchit, American dancer and actor (d. 1985)

★ 1903 - Countee Cullen, American writer (d. 1946)

★ 1906 - Bruno Gröning, German faith healer (d. 1959)

★ 1907 - Elly Beinhorn, German pilot

★ 1908 - Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)

★ 1908 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)

★ 1909 - Benny Goodman, American clarinetist and bandleader (d. 1986)

★ 1910 - Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete (d. 1978)

★ 1910 - Inge Meysel, German actress (d. 2004)

★ 1912 - Julius Axelrod, American biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)

★ 1912 - Erich Bagge, German physicist

★ 1912 - Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (d. 1980)

★ 1918 - Guadalupe "Pita" Amor, Mexican poet (d. 2000)

★ 1918 - Bob Evans, American restaurateur (d. 2007)

★ 1919 - René Barrientos, President of Bolivia (d. 1969)

★ 1920 - Franklin Schaffner, American film director (d. 1989)

★ 1922 - Hal Clement, American writer (d. 2003)

★ 1926 - Christine Jorgensen, American transsexual activist (d. 1989)

★ 1927 - Clint Walker, American actor

★ 1928 - Agnès Varda, French director

★ 1928 - Pro Hart, Australian artist (d. 2006)

★ 1934 - Aleksei Leonov, Russian cosmonaut

★ 1934 - Alketas Panagoulias, Greek footballer and coach

★ 1936 - Keir Dullea, American actor

★ 1939 - Michael J. Pollard, American actor

★ 1939 - Dieter Quester, Austrian racing driver

★ 1940 - Gilles Villemure, Canadian ice hockey player

★ 1943 - James Chaney, American civil rights activist (d. 1964)

★ 1943 - Gale Sayers, American football player

★ 1944 - Meredith MacRae, American actress (d. 2000)

★ 1947 - Jocelyne Bourassa, French Canadian LPGA golfer

★ 1948 - Michael Piller, American screenwriter (d. 2005)

★ 1949 - P.J. Carlesimo, American basketball coach

★ 1950 - Bertrand Delanoë, French politician

★ 1950 - Paresh Rawal, Indian actor

★ 1951 - Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor

★ 1951 - Zdravko Čolić, Bosnian singer

★ 1953 - Colm Meaney, Irish actor

★ 1955 - Topper Headon, British musician (The Clash)

★ 1958 - Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer and songwriter (Roxette)

★ 1958 - Steve Israel, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (D-New York)

★ 1961 - Harry Enfield, British comedian

★ 1962 - Kevin Eastman, American comic book creator

★ 1962 - Tonya Pinkins, American actress

★ 1964 - Tom Morello, American guitarist (Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine)

★ 1964 - Andrea Montermini, Italian racing driver

★ 1966 - Stephen Malkmus, American musician (Pavement)

★ 1968 - Zacarias Moussaoui, French citizen found guilty relating to September 11, 2001 attacks

★ 1970 - Flora Chan, Hong Kong television actress

★ 1970 - Ness Wadia, Indian industrialist

★ 1971 - Idina Menzel, American actress and singer

★ 1972 - Manny Ramírez, Dominican baseball player

★ 1972 - Soichiro Hoshi, Japanese seiyuu

★ 1973 - Leigh Francis, British comedian

★ 1974 - Cee-Lo, American musician

★ 1974 - Big L, American rapper (d. 1999)

★ 1974 - Konstantinos Chalkias, Greek footballer

★ 1974 - Shin Ha-kyun, South Korean actor

★ 1974 - David Wilkie, American ice hockey player

★ 1975 - Andrew Farrell, English rugby league and union footballer

★ 1976 - Radoslav Nesterovič, Slovenian basketball player

★ 1976 - Magnus Norman, Swedish tennis player

★ 1977 - Rachael Stirling, British actress

★ 1977 - Fabrice Akwa, Angolan footballer

★ 1979 - Mike Bishai, Canadian ice hockey player

★ 1979 - Kugimiya Rie, Japanese seiyuu (voice actress)

★ 1980 - Steven Gerrard, English footballer

★ 1981 - Devendra Banhart, American singer and songwriter

★ 1981 - Gianmaria Bruni, Italian racing driver

★ 1981 - Blake Bashoff, American actor

★ 1984 - Matt Maguire, Australian rules footballer

Deaths

★ 1159 - Wladislaus II the Exile of Poland (b. 1105)

★ 1252 - King Ferdinand III of Castile

★ 1416 - Jerome of Prague, Czech theologian (executed) (b. 1379)

★ 1431 - Joan of Arc, French heroine and saint (burned at the stake) (b. 1412)

★ 1434 - Prokop the Great, Hussite general

★ 1469 - Lope de Barrientos —a powerful bishop in Castile

★ 1574 - King Charles IX of France (b. 1550)

★ 1576 - Harada Naomasa, Japanese retainer and samurai

★ 1593 - Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (b. 1564)

★ 1640 - Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (b. 1577)

★ 1696 - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty (b. 1638)

★ 1718 - Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle, Dutch favorite of William III of England (b. 1670)

★ 1730 - Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1648)

★ 1744 - Alexander Pope, English writer (b. 1688)

★ 1770 - François Boucher, French painter (b. 1703)

★ 1778 - Voltaire, French philosopher and author (b. 1694)

★ 1865 - John Catron, United States Supreme Court Justice

★ 1868 - Souji Okita, 1st Captain of the Shinsengumi (b. 1823

★ 1901 - Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician (b. 1841)

★ 1912 - Wilbur Wright, aviation pioneer (Wright Brothers) (b. 1867)

★ 1925 - Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian (b. 1876)

★ 1926 - Vladimir Steklov, Russian physicist (b. 1864)

★ 1934 - Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (b. 1848)

★ 1939 - Floyd Roberts, Auto racer, killed during 1939 Indianapolis 500 (b. 1904)

★ 1941 - Prajadhipok, Rama VII, king of Thailand (b. 1893)

★ 1946 - Louis Slotin, Canadian Scientist at Los Alamos (b. 1910)

★ 1947 - Georg Ritter von Trapp, World War I Austrian submarine commander (b. 1880)

★ 1951 - Hermann Broch, Austrian author (b. 1886)

★ 1953 - Dooley Wilson, American musician and actor (b. 1886)

★ 1955 - Bill Vukovich, Auto racer, killed during 1955 Indianapolis 500 (b. 1918)

★ 1960 - Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (b. 1890)

★ 1961 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)

★ 1964 - Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-born nuclear physicist (b. 1898)

★ 1964 - Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald, American auto racers, killed during 1964 Indianapolis 500 (b. 1927)

★ 1967 - Claude Rains, English actor (b. 1889)

★ 1971 - Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (b. 1886)

★ 1975 - Steve Prefontaine, American runner (b. 1951)

★ 1975 - Michel Simon, French actor (b. 1895)

★ 1980 - Carl Radle, American bass guitarist (b. 1942)

★ 1981 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)

★ 1981 - Ziaur Rahman, President of Bangladesh (b. 1936)

★ 1986 - Perry Ellis, American fashion designer (b. 1940)

★ 1993 - Sun Ra, American musician (b. 1914)

★ 1994 - Ezra Taft Benson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

★ 1994 - Marcel Bich, French industrialist (Société Bic) (b. 1914)

★ 1995 - Ted Drake, former English footballer (b. 1912)

★ 1995 - Bobby Stokes, former English footballer (b. 1951)

★ 2000 - Tex Beneke, American bandleader, singer, and saxophone player (b. 1914)

★ 2003 - Mickie Most, English record producer (b. 1938)

★ 2005 - Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer (b. 1958)

★ 2006 - Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director (b. 1926)

★ 2007 - Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor & director (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

★ Trinidad and Tobago – Indian Arrival Day (National Holiday).

★ Peru – National Potato Day.

★ United States – Memorial Day (originally – currently last Monday in May).

★ Canary Islands – Canary Islands' Day

Liturgical feasts

★ Saint Ferdinand III

★ Saint Gabinus

★ Saint Isaac of Dalmatia

★ Saint Joan of Arc

★ Saint Reinhilde

External links

★ BBC: On This Day

★

★ On This Day in Canada
----