April 21st



~753 BC – Romulus and Remus founded Rome.

~43 BC – The Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony's army was again defeated in battle by the forces of Aulus Hirtius (who was killed) and Octavian. Antony failed to capture Mutina but soon after the battle a truce was formed between himself and Octavian at Bologna.

~1073 – Died this day: Pope Alexander II (b. circa 995).

~1109 – Died this day: Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1033).

~1509 - Died this day: King Henry VII of England (b. 1457).

~1509 – Henry VIII ascended the throne of England upon the death of his father King Henry VII.

~1526 - At the First Battle of Panipat, in Northern India, the forces of Mughal Emperor Babur annihilated an Indian Army more than twice its size led by Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, who was killed in the fighting. The victory marked the beginning of the Mughal Empire. This was also one of the earliest battles involving gunpowder firearms and field artillery.

~1792 – Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (Tiradentes), a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil's independence, was hanged in Rio de Janeiro, in the plaza today named Praça Tiradentes. His body was then quartered. Now recognized as a national hero, the anniversary of Tiradentes death is a national holiday in Brazil.

~1809 – War of the Fifth Coalition: 2 Austrian army corps were driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon Bonaparte as 2 French corps to the north held off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.

~1836 – The Battle of San Jacinto – The decisive battle of the Texas Revolution was fought in present day Harris County, Texas. A Republic of Texas force numbering just over 900, led by Sam Houston, totally destroyed a much larger force of Mexican troops under the command of Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. The battle lasted only 18 minutes and resulted in massive casualties for the Mexicans and the capture of Santa Ana. Texan casualties were incredibly light.

~1856 - The Mississippi River was finally crossed by a rail train with the opening of the first bridge across the river between Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois.

~1894 – Norway formally adopted the Krag-Jørgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, the weapon would remain in front line service for almost 50 years.

~1898 – The Spanish-American War began. The U.S. Congress (on April 25th) recognized that a state of war existed between the United States and Spain as of this date. Spain formally declared war on April 23rd.

~1910 – Died this day: Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) American author and humorist (b. 1835).

~1916 - Sir Roger Casement landed in Ireland to incite rebellion against the British. Casement, a British diplomat, was captured within hours and was hanged for high treason on August 3.

~1918 – Legendary German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron", was shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France. He was 25 years old.

~1926 - Born this day: Queen Elizabeth II of Britain.

~1933 - The USS Macon (ZRS-5) was launched. She was a rigid airship built and operated by the US Navy for, primarily, scouting purposes. The ship served as a flying aircraft carrier, launching Sparrowhawk biplane fighters from a trapeze launch/recovery system that proved highly successful. In service for less than 2 years, in 1935 Macon was damaged in a storm and lost off California's Big Sur coast, though most of her crew were saved. It was the loss of the Macon, following that of her sister ship USS Akron, that convinced the Navy to discontinue the development and manufacture of airships.

~1940 - The CBS radio quiz show "Take It or Leave It" premiered with Bob Hawk as host. The show would run through July, 1947.

~1945 – Soviet Red Army forces, south of Berlin at Zossen, attacked the German High Command headquarters.

~1956 - Leonard Ross, age 10, became the youngest prizewinner on NBC's "The Big Surprise"; he won $100,000.

~1960 – Brasília, Brazil's capital, was officially inaugurated. At 9:30 AM the Three Powers of the Republic were simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.

~1962 – The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opened. This was the first World's Fair in the United States since the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

~1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opened for its second (and final)6 month run.

~1967 – Less than a month before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos led a coup d'état that established the Regime of the Colonels, a military dictatorship that would last for 7 years.

~1967 - Svetlana Alliluyeva (Svetlana Stalina), the daughter of Joseph Stalin, arrived in New York City after defecting to the West.

~1970 – The Hutt River Province Principality was established by Leonard George Casley, when he and his associates proclaimed their secession from the state of Western Australia. Casley now styles himself "His Royal Highness Prince Leonard I". The principality has claimed to be an independent sovereign state since its foundation but it is not de jure recognized by the Commonwealth of Australia or any other international entity. (Old Len suffers from delusions of grandeur in his later years, he does...it's rather sad really.)

~1975 – The President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu fled Saigon as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, fell.

~1977 - The original Broadway production of Annie opened at the Alvin Theatre and starred Andrea McArdle as Annie, Reid Shelton as Daddy Warbucks, Dorothy Loudon as Miss Hannigan, and Sandy Faison as Grace Farrell. It was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and went on to win 7, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book.

~1977 - Died this day: Gummo Marx, American actor and comedian, brother of Zeppo, Chico, Harpo and Groucho (b. 1892).

~1982 – Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers became the first pitcher to record 300 saves. (Of course he'd been setting records ever since he passed 227 saves in 1980, but I digress...)

~1989 – In Beijing, some 100,000 students marched on Tiananmen Square, gathering there before the square could be closed off for the funeral of Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.

~1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia sentenced former president (dictator) Luis Garcia Meza to 30 years in prison without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.

~1994 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets were announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.

~2004 – 5 suicide car bombers targeted police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and injuring 160 others.

...

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

April 22nd



~296 – Died this day: Pope Caius (b. circa 240).

~455 – Died this day: Petronius Maximus, Roman Emperor (b. circa 396).

~536 – Died this day: Pope Agapetus I (b. circa 475).

~1500 – The expedition of Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on the coast of Brazil, becoming the first Europeans to set foot there.

~1529 – The Treaty of Saragossa was signed by King John III of Portugal and the Charles I of Spain, in the city of Zaragoza. It divided the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.

~1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl saw the Austrian army under Archduke Charles totally routed and driven over the Danube at Regensburg by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France.

~1864 – The U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1864, that changed the composition of the one cent coin and authorized the minting of the 2 cent coin.

~1889 – The Land Run of 1889: At high noon, an estimated 50,000 people rushed into sections of Oklahoma for their piece of the available 2 million acres (8,000 km²) of Unassigned Lands. Due to the Homestead Act of 1862, legal settlers could claim lots up to 160 acres (0.65 km2) in size. Provided a settler lived on the land and improved it, the settler could then receive the title to the land.

~1898 – The Spanish-American War: The US Navy began a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.

~1915 – During the Second Battle of Ypres, the German Army had 168 tons of chlorine gas deployed in 5,730 cylinders opposite Langemark-Poelkapelle, north of Ypres. At 17:00 hrs, in a slight easterly breeze, the gas was released. It formed a gray-green cloud that drifted across positions held by French Colonial troops from Martinique who broke ranks, abandoning their trenches and creating an 8,000-yard (7 km) gap in the Allied line. But the German infantry were also wary of the gas and, lacking reinforcements, failed to exploit the break before the First Canadian Division along with assorted French troops reformed the line in scattered and hastily prepared positions 1,000 to 3,000 yards apart.

~1930 – Britain, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States signed the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting the building of warships.

~1931 - James G. Ray landed an autogyro on the lawn of the White House, unannounced. (Try that today and the Secret Service dudes would turn you into Swiss cheese first and ask questions after the gunsmoke cleared...!)

~1933 – Died this day: Henry Royce, British automobile manufacturer and co-founder of Rolls Royce (b. 1863).

~1935 - The Ikarus IK-2, a high-wing, all-metal, monoplane fighter took off on its maiden flight in Yugoslavia. The aircraft was of indigenous design and built for the Yugoslav Air Force. It was the first fighter ever built in Yugoslavia and served well with few teething problems.

~1944 – Operation Persecution began. Allied forces landed at Aitape on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The amphibious landing was undertaken simultaneously with the amphibious landings at Hollandia to isolate the Japanese 18th Army, stationed at Wewak.

~1945 – 600 prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp in Yugoslavia revolted. 520 were killed but 80 managed to escape.

~1945 – After learning that Soviet forces had taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admitted defeat in his underground Fuehrerbunker and stated that suicide was his only recourse. General Alfred Jodl, however, lied about the situation to the madman and calmed him down for awhile. (Too bad Adolph didn't decide to off himself a dozen years earlier...)

~1952 - An atomic test conducted in Nevada was the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television.

~1954 – The Red Scare: Witnesses began appearing before the Army-McCarthy Hearings and the sessions were first broadcast.

~1964 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opened for its first (6 month) season.

~1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston completed the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.

~1970 – The first Earth Day was celebrated (endured).

~1979 – The Albert Einstein Memorial was unveiled at The National Academy of Sciences in honor of the centennial year of the great scientist's birth.

~1983 – The German magazine Der Stern claimed that the "Hitler Diaries" had been found inside wreckage in East Germany. The diaries were subsequently revealed to be forgeries.

~1984 – Died this day: Ansel Adams, renowned world leading (American) photographer and photographic innovator (b. 1902).

~1992 – Numerous gasoline explosions in the sewer system of Guadalajara, Mexico occurred over 4 hours destroying 5 miles (8 kms) of streets. 206 people were killed, nearly 500 injured and 15,000 more left homeless.

~1993 – The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. was dedicated.

~1993 – Version 1.0 of the web browser Mosaic was released.

~1997 – In yet another installment of the Algerian Massare Serial/Saga, 93 more villagers were murdered. This time in Haouch Khemisti.

~1997 – The Japanese Embassy Hostage Crisis ended in Lima, Peru with a raid by Peruvian Armed Forces commandos. One hostage (of a heart attack0, 2 commandos and all 14 MRTA militants died in the attack that freed the remaining 71 hostages after 126 days.

~1998 – Disney's Animal Kingdom opened at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida.

~2000 – In a pre-dawn raid, 8 SWAT-equipped agents of the Border Patrol's elite BORTAC unit, as part of an operation in which more than 130 INS personnel took part, seized 6 year old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida. The boy was eventually returned to Cuba to be with his father.

~2000 – The Second Battle of Elephant Pass: Tamil Tigers captured a strategic Sri Lankan Army base. They would hold it for 8 years.

~2004 – Flammable cargo exploded at the railway station in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing 160 people and injuring another 1,300.

~2008 – The US Air Force retired the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in service primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor and the impending fielding of the F-35 Lightning II.

...

OK, got you caught up, Ron. Did you move to the North Pole, or what?

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

April 23rd



~303 – Died this day: Saint George, Roman soldier and Christian martyr (b. circa 275).

~725 – Died this day: King Wihtred of Kent (b. circa 670).

~871 - Died this day: King Æthelred of Wessex (b. circa 840).

~1014 – The Battle of Clontarf took place between the army of Brian Boru and the forces led by the King of Leinster, Máel Mórda mac Murchada. these were composed mainly of his own men, Viking mercenaries from Dublin and the Orkney Islands led by his cousin Sigtrygg, as well as the one rebellious king from the province of Ulster. The battle ended in a rout of the Máel Mórda's forces, along with the death of Brian, who was killed by a few Norsemen who were fleeing the battle and stumbled upon his tent. After the battle, Ireland returned to a fractious status quo between the many small, separate kingdoms that had existed for some time. 10,000 of the 13,500 combatants involved in the bloody battle died.

~1016 - Died this day: King Æthelred II of England (b. circa 968).

~1124 – Died this day: King Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078).

~1151 – Died this day: Queen Adeliza of England (b. 1103).

~1217 – Died this day: King Inge II of Norway (b. 1185).

~1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising began. It was an unsuccessful attempt by the indigenous Estonian population in the Duchy of Estonia and Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek to annihilate Danish and German rulers and landlords, who had conquered the country in the 13th century during the Livonian crusade. It was also intended to eradicate the non-indigenous Christian religion. After initial success the revolt was ended by the invasion of the Teutonic order.

~1344 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III of England was announced on St George's Day. It is the oldest English order of knighthood.

~1521 – At the Battle of Villalar the royalist supporters of King Charles I of Spain won a crushing victory over the comuneros rebels. Three of the most important rebel leaders were captured, Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo, and Francisco Maldonado. They were executed the next day, effectively ending armed resistance to the rule of Charles I.

~1564 - Born this day: - William Shakespeare, English writer, playwright and actor (d. 1616).

~1605 – Tsar Boris Godunov of Russia (b. 1551).

~1635 – The Boston Latin School, both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States, was founded in Boston, Massachusetts.

~1660 – The Treaty of Oliwa was agreed upon between Sweden and Poland. This was one of the major treaties that led to the end of the Second Northern War (1655-1660).

~1661 – The coronation of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in Westminster Abbey.

~1759 - The British seized Basse-Terre and Guadeloupe in the Antilies from France.

~1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: The national Serbian council proclaimed a revolt in Takovo. Miloš Obrenović was chosen as the leader and famously spoke, "Here I am, here you are. War to the Turks!" When the Ottomans discovered the new revolt they sentenced all of its leaders to death. The Serbs fought in battles at Ljubić, Čačak, Palež, Požarevac and Dublje and drove the Ottomans out of the Pashaluk of Belgrade.

~1861 - Arkansas troops seized control of Fort Smith.

~1872 - Charlotte E. Ray was admitted to the bar becoming the first black woman lawyer in the US.

~1895 - Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China. In the aftermath of this intervention, the Russian government pressured the ruling Qing dynasty to lease Liaodong and the strategically important Lüshunkou (Port Arthur) for use by the Russian Navy. This caused resentment in Japan and was a factor leading to the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) when negotiations concerning the peninsula, Manchuria, and Korea broke down, due to Russia's unwillingness to treat Japan seriously as another power. (That one kinda came back to bite the Ruskies in the ass...)

~1895 - In New York City, the Vitascope system for projecting movies onto a screen was first demonstrated publicly.

~1908 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act creating the U.S. Army Reserve.

~1910 – Theodore Roosevelt made his "The Man in the Arena" speech at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. It was subsequently re-printed in his book Citizenship in a Republic. The speech is notable for the passage:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

~1920 – In Turkey, a new government, the Turkish Grand National Assembly (under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) was formed in Ankara. The new government denounced the rule of Sultan Mehmed VI and a temporary constitution was drafted.

~1927 – Turkey became the first country to celebrate Children's Day as a national holiday.

~1932 – The 153 year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, Netherlands burnt. The fire brigade arrived quickly but could not prevent the complete burning down of the mill. This event was a shock for many citizens of the city and the cause of the fire has never been established.

~1935 - The DC-2 derived Douglas B-18 Bolo light bomber made its maiden flight over Southern California. By 1940, most US Army Air Force bomber squadrons were equipped with B-18s or B-18As. Although not the latest or most advanced design, the B-18 was pressed into service where it performed wartime patrol duties early in World War II.

~1935 – The April Constitution: The Polish Constitution of 1935 was passed by the act of the Polish Sejm. It introduced in Poland a presidential system with certain elements of authoritarianism.

~1940 – The Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, killed 209 people. The all black nightclub, which was once a church and converted blacksmith shop, was located in a one story frame building just blocks from the city's business district. At the time of the fire, it was the second most deadly structural fire in the history of the nation. The cause of the blaze has never been determined but all evidence points towards arson.

~1941 – The Greek government and King George II evacuated Athens for the island of Crete before the invading Wehrmacht.

~1942 – The Baedeker Blitz began when German bombers hit Exeter in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.

~1948 - The famous Johnny Longden became the first race jockey to ride 3,000 career winners.

~1954 - Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit his first major-league home run off Cardinals' pitcher Vic Raschi.

~1956 – The Canadian Labour Congress was formed by the merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour.

~1961 – The Algiers putsch began in the midst of the Algerian War (1954–1962). Also known as the "Generals' putsch" (Putsch des Généraux), it was a failed coup d'état to overthrow French President Charles De Gaulle and establish an anti-communist military junta.

~1967 – In the Soviet Union, Soyuz 1 was launched into orbit. it was a manned spaceflight and the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. It carried cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov aboard. Komarov was killed when the spacecraft crashed during its return to Earth after a mission beset with mechanical problems. This was the first confirmed in flight fatality in the history of space exploration.

~1968 – Students at Columbia University in New York City, demonstrating against the Vietnam War, took over the administration buildings and shut down the university.

~1969 - The assassin of U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy was sentenced to death in a gas chamber. 3 years later, his sentence was commuted to life in prison, due to the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Anderson which ruled capital punishment a violation of the California Constitution's prohibition of cruel or unusual punishment. The California Supreme Court declared in the Anderson case that its decision was retroactive, thereby invalidating all death sentences imposed in California.

~1985 – The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was changing its 99 year old secret formula. "New Coke" was ultimately not successful, which resulted in the resumption of selling the original version.

~1987 – 28 construction workers died when the L'Ambiance Plaza apartment building collapsed while under construction in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Failure was possibly due to high concrete stresses on the floor slabs by the placement process resulting in cracking which ended in a type of "punch through" failure. There was a school of thought that this accident highlighted the deficiencies of the lift slab construction technique. The disaster prompted a major nationwide federal investigation into the construction technique as well as a temporary moratorium of its use in Connecticut.

~1988 - Kanellos Kanelopoulos set 3 world records for human powered flight when he flew a distance of 71.5 mi (115.11 km) in 3 hours, 54 minutes from Iraklion on the island of Crete to the island of Santorini in his pedal-powered "Daedalus" aircraft.

~1993 – Eritreans voted overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations monitored referendum.

~1996 - The Subway Vigilante: A New York civil-court jury ordered Bernhard Goetz to pay $43 million to Darrell Cabey. Cabey was paralyzed when he was shot in a subway car in 1984.

~1997 – "So, what do we have on our daily list of bloody Algerian massacres today, Johnny?"
               "Well, Bob, today's massacre takes place in the village of Omaria with 42 villagers murdered by Muslim extremists.
               "Thanks Johnny! Tune in again tomorrow folks when we announce our next exciting Algerian massacre!"
               (Sorry, all...it just gets to me after awhile.)

~2003 – Beijing closed all schools for 2 weeks due to the SARS virus outbreak.

~2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed legislation that authorized the design change of the 5-cent coin (nickel) for release in 2004. It was the first change to the coin in 65 years. The change, to commemorate the 200th annivesary of the Louisiana Purchase, was planned to run for only two years before returning to the previous design.

~2007 – Died this day: Boris Yeltsin, first President of the Russian Federation (b. 1931).

~2009 – The gamma ray burst GRB 090423 was observed for 10 seconds. The event signalled the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe.

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This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

April 24th



~1479 BC - Died this day: Thutmose II, 4th Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (b. circa 1517 BC).

~1479 BC – Thutmose III ascended the throne of Egypt upon the death of his father Thutmose II, although power effectively shifted to his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut. (Eeeewwwwww, stepmother AND aunt...that's just nasty!)

~624 – Died this day: Mellitus, 3rd Archbishop of Canterbury (b. circa 560).

~1185 – Died this day: Antoku, 81st emperor of Japan (b. 1178).

~1342 – Died this day: Pope Benedict XII (b. circa 1285). (3 out of 7 sources claim April 25th)

~1547 - The troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V crushed the army of the Protestant League of Schmalkalden led by Elector John Frederick I of Saxony at the Battle of Mühlberg. The Schmalkaldic League's commanders could not agree to any sort of military actions on the battlefield, thereby allowing Charles' forces to run through the League's defences and slaughter them at will.

~1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots, married the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris. Her marriage was short lived, however, as Francois died on her only 2 1/2 years later.

~1704 – The first regular newspaper in the United States, the Bofton News-Letter, was published in Boston, Massachusetts.

~1731 – Died this day: Daniel Defoe, English writer, author of Robinson Crusoe (b. 1659).

~1800 – The United States Library of Congress, now the largest library in the world by shelf space and largest number of books, was established when President John Adams signed legislation to appropriate $5,000. This to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress". (Ya' see? Ole Prez Johnny WAS actually good for something. Not very damned much...but something.)

~1862 – A Union flotilla commanded by Flag Officer David Farragut fought its way (under heavy bombardment) past 2 Confederate forts on the Mississippi River enroute to capturing New Orleans, Louisiana.

~1877 – The Russian Empire declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The Russo-Turkish War would continue until 1878 and result in a decisive Russian victory.

~1904 – Tsarist Russia lifted the Lithuanian press ban after 40 years. The ban had made it illegal to print, import, distribute, or possess any publications in the Latin alphabet.

~1907 – Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, was opened.

~1913 – The Woolworth Building, one of the oldest and most famous skyscrapers in New York City, opened its doors for business. At the time of its completion it was the tallest building in the world, it remained so until 1930. The cost of construction was a then staggering $13.5 million.

~1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul by Turkish authorities marrked the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.

~1916 – The Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett started a rebellion in Ireland.

~1916 – Ernest Shackleton and 5 men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launched a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the ice trapped ship Endurance, which had sunk the previous November.

~1918 – The first tank to tank combat in history took place at the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, France. 3 British Mark IVs engaged 3 German A7Vs with the British tanks ultimately emerging victorious.

~1926 – The (8th of at least 9) Treaty of Berlin was signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledged neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a 3rd party for the next 5 years. The treaty was renewed in 1931. (Well, I guess that was kinda friendly of them...)

~1932 - Political activist Benny Rothman led the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in Britain that are still playing out today.

~1946 - One of the Soviet Union's first 2 jet fighters, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, flew for the first time in the skies over Russia. Although it was beset by teething problem from the very beginning that were never fully overcome, the MiG-9 was nonetheless a significant step forward in aviation engineering and design. 598 of the small, single seat interceptors were manufactured before production ended in 1948.

~1946 - The 2nd of the Soviet Union's first 2 fighters (the MiG-9 flew 3 hours before it), the Yakovlev Yak-15 flew for the first time in the slkies over Russia. Unlike the MiG-9 the Yak-15 was a pleasure to fly, proving to be both very stable and fast. With its vast improvement in performance over piston engined fighters it became an instant favorite with the pilots who flew her. Along with the Swedish Saab 21R, the Yak-15 was one of very few jets to be successfully converted from a piston powered production aircraft. A Yak-15 was also the first Soviet jet aircraft to be successfully refueled inflight. Production ended in 1947 with over 280 examples built.

~1953 – Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

~1955 – The Bandung Conference ended in Bandung, Indonesia. 29 non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finished a meeting that condemned colonialism, racism, and the Cold War. (Whoa! Who would've EVER thought they'd be opposed to those things?)

~1955 - The science fiction classic "X-Minus One," was aired for the first time on NBC radio.

~1957 – The Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal was fully reopened to international shipping following the introduction of United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) peacekeepers to the region.

~1961 – The salvaged 17th century Swedish warship Vasa broke the surface for the first time in 333 years after sinking on her maiden voyage. Press from all over the world, television cameras, 400 invited guests on barges and boats, along with thousands of spectators on shore watched as the first timbers emerged above the surface. The Vasa is today a museum piece.

~1963 – The marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy took place at Westminster Abbey in London. By all accounts they were happy together right up to Ogilvy's death in 2004. (Hey! A royal marriage that actually worked out!)

~1965 – Civil war broke out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño led a movement to overthrow the triumvirate military junta that had been in power since the CIA backed coup d'état against the democratically elected president Juan Bosch, in September of 1963.

~1967 - The newest Greek regime banned miniskirts. (Apparently they didn't like the Camaro or Firebird, either...)

~1970 – Dong Fang Hong I (China I), the first Chinese satellite, was successfully launched.

~1971 – Soyuz 10 failed to dock completely with the Salyut 1 space station due to a jammed hatch.

~1974 - David Bowie released "Diamond Dogs" on the RCA Records label.

~1980 – 8 U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw, the ill-fated attempt to rescue the 52 American hostages held in the Iran hostage crisis.

~1986 – Died this day: Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor and American wife of Edward, Duke of Windsor. Central figure in the 1936 Abdication Crisis of Edward VIII of England (b. 1896). ("I have now had my fill of this business. You can all go to hell...I will marry my Mrs. Simpson in spite of the whole damned lot of you!" Ahhh, yes; old Edward was never one to mince words or do as he was told.)

~1989 - Thousands of students began striking in Beijing in what would eventually end with the Tiananmen Square massacre.

~1990 – The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on mission STS-31 with the Hubble Space Telescope. The mission saw the telescope successfully positioned in space.

~1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, was officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine following biological weapons testing during World War II.

~1993 – An IRA truck bomb exploded, devastating London's financial district in Bishopsgate. One person was killed and a further 44 injured in the blast that caused well over £1 billion in damage.

~1996 – The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was signed into law in the US.

~2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger celebrated his Papal Inaugural Mass as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.

~2005 – The Afghan hound "Snuppy", the world's first cloned dog, was born in South Korea. (Although why in hell we have to clone dogs is beyond me; apparently the technology has to do with "replicating sterilized working dogs".)

~2006 – In a televised address to the nation, King Gyanendra of Nepal surrended to the demands of protesters and restored the parliament that he had dissolved in 2002.

...

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

April 25th



1599 - Born this day: Oliver Cromwell, statesman (d. 1658).

1607 - In the "Eighty Years' War" the Dutch fleet destroyed the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.

1707 - An Allied Austrian army was defeated by the Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in "The War of the Spanish Succession".

1719 - Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, was first published.

1792 - Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier became the first person to be executed by guillotine.

1831 - "The Lion of the West", a play celebrating Davy Crockett, opened in New York City.

1840 - Born this day: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer (d. 1893).

1846 - "The Thornton Affair": Open conflict began over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.

1849 - The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signed the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering "The Montreal Riots".

1859 - Ground was first broken for the Suez Canal.

1862 - American Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut capture the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

1864 - American Civil War: "The Battle of Mark's Mills" – Confederate forces seized a Union wagon supply train on its way to Camden, Arkansas forcing Union General Frederick Steele to withdraw his troops to Little Rock, Arkansas.

1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States declared war on Spain; the U.S. Congress announced that a state of war had existed since April 21.

1901 - New York became the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.

1908 - Born this day: Edward R. Murrow, journalist (d. 1965).

1915 - The "ANZAC" tradition began during World War I with a landing at Gallipoli on the Turkish coast.

1916 - "The Easter Rebellion": Britain declared martial law in Ireland. This lasted until April 29, the end of the rebellion.

1916 - "ANZAC Day" was commemorated for the first time.

1917 - Born this day: Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer (d. 1996).

1926 - Reza Khan was crowned Shah of Iran under the name "Reza Pahlavi".

1940 - Born this day: Al Pacino, actor.

1945 - US and Soviet troops met in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two. This was a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.

1945 - The United Nations was organized in San Francisco, California, by 50 nations.

1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson published "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid describing the double helix structure of DNA.

1959 - "The Saint Lawrence Seaway", linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opened to shipping.

1961 - Robert Noyce was granted a patent for an integrated circuit.

1972 - Vietnam War: "The Nguyen Hue Offensive" – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forced 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and trapped about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.

1974 - "The Carnation Revolution": A coup in Portugal restored democracy.

1975 - As North Vietnamese forces closed in on the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, the Australian Embassy was closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day of the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.

1980 - A commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages was aborted after mechanical problems grounded the rescue helicopters. Eight US troops were killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.

1981 - More than 100 workers were exposed to radiation during repairs to a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.

1982 - Israel completed its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula per the Camp David Accords.

1983 - American schoolgirl Samantha Smith was invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.

1983 - "Pioneer 10" travelled beyond Pluto's orbit.

1988 - In Israel, John Demjanuk was sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He was convicted of being a notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible" by survivors.

1989 - James Richardson was freed from a Florida prison 21 years after being wrongfully convicted of murdering his seven children.

1990 - Space Shuttle program: STS-31 – Astronauts aboard the Discovery deployed the "Hubble Space Telescope".

1993 - 300,000 homosexuals marched on Washington, DC demanding freedom from discrimination.

1995 - Died this day: Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer extrordinaire (b. 1911).

April 26th

1478 - "The Pazzi" attacked Lorenzo de' Medici and killed his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Florence Cathedral.

1489 - Died this day: Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1465).

1607 - English colonists made landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia. They later moved up the James River to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

1785 - Born this day: John James Audubon, naturalist, artist/illustrator (d. 1851).

1812 - Born this day: Alfred Krupp, German industrialist and founder of the "Krupps Works" (d. 1887).

1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrendered his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina.

1865 - Union cavalry troopers corner President Lincoln's assassin, in a barn in Virginia. He is shot dead by a cavalryman.

1886 - Born this day: Ma Rainey, blues singer (d. 1939).

1925 - Paul von Hindenburg defeated Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election. He became the first directly elected "Reichspräsident", head of state of the Weimar Republic.

1933 - The Gestapo, official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.

1933 - Born this day: Carol Burnett, singer, actress, comedienne.

1934 - Born this day: Alan Arkin, actor

1937 - During "The Spanish Civil War" Guernica, Spain is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

1942 - The worst-ever mining accident in history killed 1,549 miners in an explosion at the Honkeiko Colliery, Manchuria.

1946 - Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claimed to be God, married the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.

1954 - The 1954 Geneva Conference begins. The international conference was held in Geneva in an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea.

1962 - Ranger program: The "Ranger 4" spacecraft crashed onto the Moon's lunar surface.

1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.

1970 - Died this day: Gypsy Rose Lee, actress, burlesque queen (b. 1911).

1971 - Vietnam War: The American force level in Vietnam dropped to 281,400 men, the lowest number since July 1966.

1972 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced that another 20,000 U.S. troops were to be withdrawn from the war in May and June, reducing the authorized troop level to 49,000.

1984 - Died this day: Count Basie, swing era band leader, musician and composer (b. 1904).

1986 - In Ukraine, a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant exploded, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. Thirty-one people were killed directly in the incident and many thousands more were exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material.

1989 - Died this day: Comedy legend Lucille Ball (b. 1911).

1991 - Seventy tornadoes broke out in the central United States. Before its end Andover, Kansas would record the year's only "F5" tornado and 17 people would perish.

1994 - South Africa held its first multiracial elections.

1994 - A "China Airlines" Airbus A-300-600R crashed at Nagoya Airport, Japan killing 264.

2002 - A 19-year-old student shot and killed 17 people at his school in Erfurt, Germany.

April 27th



1124 - David became King of Scotland.

1296 - At "The Battle of Dunbar" the Scots were defeated by English forces under Edward I.

1509 - Pope Julius II placed the Italian state of Venice under interdict.

1521 - At "The Battle of Mactan" in the Philippines explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives led by chief Lapu-Lapu.

1565 - Cebu was established, becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

1650 - At "The Battle of Carbisdale" a Royalist army invaded mainland Scotland from the Orkney Islands. It was defeated by a Covenanter army.

1667 - A blind and impoverished John Milton sold the copyright of "Paradise Lost" for £10.

1773 - The British Parliament passed "The Tea Act", designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1791 - Born this day: Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of Morse code (d. 1872)

1805 - During "The First Barbary War" US Marines and Berbers attacked the Tripolitan city of Derna. This is the "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' hymn.

1813 - During "The War of 1812" US troops captured York (present day Toronto) the capital of Ontario.

1822 - Born this day: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885).

1840 - The first foundation stone for the new "Palace of Westminster" was laid by the wife of Sir Charles Barry, in London.

1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus.

1865 - The steamboat "Sultana", carrying 2,300 passengers, exploded and sank in the Mississippi River killing 1,700, most of whom were Union survivors of the Andersonville Prison.

1882 - Died this day: Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist (b. 1803).

1897 - Grant's Tomb was dedicated.

1904 - The Australian Labor Party, under Chris Watson, became the first socialist party to gain national government vstatus.

1908 - The Summer Olympics opened in London. (In April yet!)

1909 - The Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II was overthrown, and was succeeded by his brother, Murat V.

1927 - Born this day: Coretta King, civil rights activist and widow of Reverend Martin Luther King.

1936 - The United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) gained autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.

1941 - World War II: German troops entered Athens.

1945 - "Völkischer Beobachter", the newspaper of the Nazi Party, ceased publication.

1947 - Babe Ruth Day was celebrated at Yankee Stadium.

1950 - Apartheid: In South Africa, "The Group Areas Act" was passed formally segregating races.

1960 - Togo gained its independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

1961 - Sierra Leone was granted its independence from Great Britain, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.

1967 - Expo '67 opened in Montreal, Quebec.

1972 - A constructive Vote of "No Confidence" against German Chancellor Willy Brandt failed under obscure circumstances.

1981 - Xerox PARC introduced the computer mouse.

1986 - "Captain Midnight" (John R. MacDougall) hijacked HBO's satellite and transmitted his own message to HBO viewers.

1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed, comprising of Serbia and Montenegro.

1994 - Voting ended in the South African general election. This was the first democratic general election in South Africa where black citizens were allowed to vote.

1994 - The funeral of former U.S. President Richard Nixon was held in Nixon's hometown of Yorba Linda, California. Several foriegn dignitaries and all five living U.S. presidents attended.

1997 - A serial killer murdered Jeffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that would last until July and terminate with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.

1999 - Died this day: Al Hirt, musician (b. 1922).

April 28th



1253 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounded Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declared it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.

1788 - Maryland became the 7th state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

1789 - The mutiny on HMAV Bounty. (Lt.) Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors were set adrift and the rebel crew set sail for Pitcairn Island.

1796 - "The Armistice of Cherasco" was signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, the King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.

1862 - American Civil War: Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans, Louisiana.

1878 - Born this day: Lionel Barrymore, actor (d. 1954).

1896 - Born this day: Charlie Rivel, clown (d. 1983).

1908 - Born this day: Oskar Schindler, German businessman, operator of Jewish protectorate during WWII (d. 1974).

1920 - Azerbaijan was added to the Soviet Union.

1930 - The first night game in organized baseball history took place in Independence, Kansas.

1932 - A vaccine for yellow fever was announced for use on humans.

1937 - The Museum of Costume Arts opened in New York City.

1941 - Born this day: Ann-Margret, actress.

1945 - Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were executed (murdered) by members of the Italian resistance movement.

1947 - Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

1950 - Born this day: Jay Leno, comedian, political satirist.

1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Supreme Commander of NATO in order to run for the office of President of the United States.

1952 - The United States occupation of Japan ended.

1965 - United States troops landed in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. citizens.

1969 - Charles de Gaulle resigned as President of France. (We're all still cheering!)

1970 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorized American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.

1977 - "The Red Army Faction Trial" ended, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.

1978 - President of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan was overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.

1987 - 27-year old American engineer Ben Linder was killed in an ambush by US-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua. His death set off a fierce debate in the United States.

1988 - Near Maui, Hawaii, a flight attendant was sucked out of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 and fell to her death when an upper part of the plane's cabin area ripped off in mid-flight. Metal fatigue was later found to be the cause of the failure.

1990 - After 6,237 performances, the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line" closed.

1994 - Former Central Intelligence Agency official Aldrich Ames pled guilty to giving US secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.

1996 - Whitewater scandal: President Bill Clinton gave a 4 1/2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.

1996 - The world's worst 'spree killer' killed 35 people, and wounded another 18 at the "Port Arthur Massacre" in Tasmania, Australia.

1997 - The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, signed in Paris in January 1993, went into effect. Russia, Iraq and North Korea were the notable nations who had not ratified the treaty.

2001 - Millionnaire Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist.

2002 - Died this day: Ruth Handler, inventor of the Barbie Doll (b. 1916).

2003 - Apple Computer's "iTunes Music Store" launched, selling 1 million songs in its first week.

April 29th

1289 - Qala'un, the Sultan of Egypt, captured Tripoli.

1429 - Joan of Arc lead Orleans, France, to victory over Britain.

1661 - The Chinese Ming dynasty occupied Taiwan.

1672 - King Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands.

1813 - Rubber was patented by J.F. Hummel.

1852 - The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus was published.

1856 - A peace treaty was signed between England and Russia.

1858 - Austrian troops invaded Piedmont.

1861 - The Maryland House of Delegates voted against seceding from Union.

1862 - New Orleans fell to Union forces during the Civil War.

1864 - Theta Xi was founded in Troy, New York.

1879 - In Cleveland, OH, electric arc lights were used for the first time.

1913 - Gideon Sundback patented an all-purpose zipper.

1916 - Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities in Dublin.

1918 - Germany's Western Front offensive ended in World War I.

1924 - An open revolt broke out in Santa Clara, Cuba.

1927 - Construction of the Spirit of St. Louis was completed for Lindbergh.

1941 - The Boston Bees agreed to change their name to the Braves.

1945 - The German Army in Italy surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.

1945 - In a bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were married. Hitler designated Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor.

1945 - The Nazi death camp, Dachau, was liberated.

1946 - Twenty-eight former Japanese leaders were indicted in Tokyo as war criminals.

1952 - IBM President Thomas J. Watson, Jr., informed his company's stockholders that IBM was building "the most advanced, most flexible high-speed computer in the world." The computer was unveiled April 7, 1953, as the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine.

1954 - Ernest Borgnine made his network television debut in "Night Visitor" on NBC-TV.

1961 - ABC’s "Wide World of Sports" premiered.

1974 - Phil Donahue’s TV show, "Donahue" moved to Chicago, IL.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of secretly made White House tape recordings related to the Watergate scandal.

1975 - The U.S. embassy in Vietnam was evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fought their way into Saigon.

1981 - Steve Carlton, of the Philadelphia Phillies, became the first left-handed pitcher in the major leagues to get 3,000 career strikeouts.

1984 - In California, the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor went online after a long delay due to protests.

1985 - Billy Martin was brought back, for the fourth time, to the position of manager for the New York Yankees.

1986 - Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox set a major-league baseball record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariner batters.

1988 - The Baltimore Orioles set a new major league baseball record by losing their first 21 games of the season.

1988 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev promised more religious freedom.

1990 - The destruction of the Berlin Wall began.

1992 - Exxon executive Sidney Reso was kidnapped outside his Morris Township, NJ, home by Arthur Seale. Seale was a former Exxon security official. Reso died while in captivity.

1992 - Rioting began after a jury decision to acquit four Los Angeles policemen in the Rodney King beating trial. 54 people were killed in 3 days.

1994 - Israel and the PLO signed an agreement in Paris which granted Palestinians broad authority to set taxes, control trade and regulate banks under self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1996 - Former CIA Director William Colby was missing and presumed drowned after an apparent boating accident in Maryland. Colby's body was later recovered.

1997 - Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, a drill instructor at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted of raping six female trainees. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and was dishonorably discharged.

1997 - Astronaut Jerry Linenger and cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev went on the first U.S.-Russian space walk.

1998 - The U.S., Canada and Mexico end tariffs on $1 billion in NAFTA trade.

1998 - Brazil announced a plan to protect a large are of Amazon forest. The area was about the size of Colorado.

2002 - Kelsey Grammer and his production company, Grammnet Inc., were ordered to pay more than $2 million in unpaid commissions to his former talent agency.

2003 - Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud) filed a lawsuit against Best Buy Co. Inc., that claimed the store did not have permission to use his likeness in a print ad.

April 30th

0030 - Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.

0313 - Licinius unified the whole of the eastern empire under his own rule.

1250 - King Louis IX of France was ransomed for one million dollars.

1527 - Henry VIII and King Francis of France signed the treaty of Westminster.

1563 - All Jews were expelled from France by order of Charles VI.

1725 - Spain withdrew from Quadruple Alliance.

1789 - George Washington took office as first elected U.S. president.

1803 - The U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.

1812 - Louisiana admitted as the 18th U.S. state.

1849 - The republican patriot and guerrilla leader Giuseppe Garabaldi repulsed a French attack on Rome.

1864 - Work began on the Dams along the Red River. The work would allow Union General Nathaniel Banks' troops to sail over the rapids above Alexandria, Louisiana.

1889 - George Washington's inauguration became the first U.S. national holiday.

1900 - Hawaii was organized as an official U.S. territory.

1900 - Casey Jones was killed while trying to save the runaway train "Cannonball Express."

1930 - The Soviet Union proposed a military alliance with France and Great Britain.

1931 - The George Washington Bridge, linking New York City and New Jersey, opened.

1939 - The first railroad car equipped with fluorescent lights was put into service. The train car was known as the "General Pershing Zephyr."

1939 - Lou Gehrig played his last game with the New York Yankees.

1940 - Belle Martell was licensed in California by state boxing officials. She was the first American woman, prizefight referee.

1943 - The British submarine HMS Seraph dropped 'the man who never was,' a dead man the British planted with false invasion plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain.

1945 - Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide. They had been married for one day. One week later Germany surrendered unconditionally.

1945 - Arthur Godfrey began his CBS radio morning show "Arthur Godfrey Time." It ran until this day in 1972.

1947 - The name of Boulder Dam, in Nevada, was changed back to Hoover Dam.

1948 - The Organization of American States held its first meeting in Bogota, Colombia.

1953 - The British West Indian colonies agreed on the formation of the British Caribbean Federation that would eventually become a self-governing unit in the British Commonwealth.

1964 - The FCC ruled that all TV receivers should be equipped to receive both VHF and UHF channels.

1967 - Muhammad Ali was stripped of his world heavyweight boxing championship when he refused to be inducted into the U.S. military service. Ali claimed his religion conflicted with being inducted into the military.

1968 - U.S. Marines attacked a division of North Vietnamese in the village of Dai Do.

1970 - U.S. troops invaded Cambodia to disrupt North Vietnamese Army base areas. The announcement by U.S. President Nixon led to widespread protests.

1972 - The North Vietnamese launched an invasion of the South.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon announced resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and other top aides.

1975 - Communists North Vietnamese troops entered the Independence Palace of South Vietnam in Saigon. 11 Marines lifted off of the U.S. Embassy were the last soldiers to evacuate.

1980 - Terrorists seized the Iranian Embassy in London.

1984 - U.S. President Reagan signed cultural and scientific agreements with China. He also signed a tax accord that would make it easier for American companies to operate in China.

1991 - An estimated 125,000 people were killed in a cyclone that hit Bangladesh.

1993 - Monica Seles was stabbed in the back during a tennis match in Hamburg, Germany. The man called himself a fan of second- ranked Steffi Graf. He was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and received a suspended sentence.

1997 - ABC aired the "coming out" episode of the sitcom "Ellen." The title character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, admitted she was a lesbian.

1998 - NATO was expanded to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The three nations were formally admitted the following April at NATO's 50th anniversary summit.

1998 - United and Delta airlines announced their alliance that would give them control of 1/3 of all U.S. passenger seats.

1998 - In the U.S., Federal regulators fined a contractor $2.25 million for improper handling of oxygen canisters on ValuJet that crashed in the Florida Everglades in 1996.

2001 - Chandra Levy was last seen in Washington, DC. Her remains were found in Rock Creek Park on May 22, 2002. California Congressman Gary Condit was questioned in the case due to his relationship with Levy.

2002 - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was overwhelmingly approved for another five years as president.

May 1st

Happy May Day!

0408 - Theodosius II succeeded to the throne of Constantinople.

1308 - King Albert was murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.

1486 - Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund an expedition to the West Indies.

1707 - England, Wales and Scotland were united to form Great Britain.

1751 - America’s first cricket tournament was held in New York City.

1805 - The state of Virginia passed a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.

1863 - In Virginia, the Battle of Chancellorsville began. General Robert E. Lee's forces began fighting with Union troops under General Joseph Hooker. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by his own soldiers in this battle. (May 1-4)

1867 - Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration.

1877 - U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.

1883 - William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) had his first Wild West Show.

1884 - The construction of the firt American 10-story building began in Chicago, IL.

1898 - The U.S. Navy under Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines.

1912 - In London's Kensington Gardens, a statue of Peter Pan was erected.

1915 - A German submarine sank the U.S. ship Gulflight.

1922 - Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect no-hit, no-run game against the Detroit Tigers. The Sox won 3-0. Another perfect game did not come along until 46 years later.

1927 - Adolf Hitler held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.

1931 - The Empire State Building in New York was dedicated and opened. It was 102 stories tall and was the tallest building in the world at the time.

1934 - The Philippine legislature accepted a U.S. proposal for independence.

1937 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.

1941 - "Citizen Kane," directed and starring Orson Welles, premiered in New York.

1944 - The Messerschmitt Me 262, the first combat jet, made its first flight.

1945 - Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escaped from the Fuehrerbunker as the Red Army advanced on Berlin.

1945 - Admiral Karl Doenitz succeeded Hitler as leader of the Third Reich. This was one day after Hitler committed suicide.

1948 - The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed.

1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.

1958 - James Van Allen reported that two radiation belts encircled Earth.

1960 - Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Powers was taken prisoner.

1961 - Fidel Castro announced there would be no more elections in Cuba.

1967 - Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.

1968 - In the second day of battle, U.S. Marines, with the support of naval fire, continue their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do.

1969 - Leonard Tose bought the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles for $16,155,000.

1970 - Students at Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, OH, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.

1971 - The National Railroad Passenger Copr. (Amtrak) went into service. It was established by the U.S. Congress to run the nation's intercity railroads.

1986 - The Tass News Agency reported the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

1986 - Bill Elliott set a stock car speed record with his Ford Thunderbird in Talladega, AL. Elliott reached a speed of 212.229 mph.

1989 - Disney-MGM Studios opened.

1992 - On the third day of the Los Angeles riots resulting from the Rodney King beating trial. King appeared in public to appeal for calm, he asked, "Can we all get along?"

1998 - Arrow Air was fined $5 million for using spare parts that lacked federal approval in the U.S.

1999 - On Mount Everest, a group of U.S. mountain climbers discovered the body of George Mallory. Mallory had died in June of 1924 while trying to become the first person to reach the summit of Everest. At the time of the discovery it was unclear whether or not Mallory had actually reached the summit.

2000 - ABC aired the first celebrity "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?." ---and I said; "I do", but they weren't listening.

2000 - The "Barbie for President" doll was released in stores.

2001 - In Washington, DC, Chandra Levy disappeared. She was an intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. California Representative Gary Condit was named in the investigation. Her body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.

May 2nd

1519 - Leonardo da Vinci died.

1670 - The Hudson Bay Company was founded by England's King Charles II.

1776 - France and Spain agreed to donate arms to American rebels fighting the British.

1797 - A mutiny in the British navy spread from Spithead to the rest of the fleet.

1798 - The black General Toussaint L’ouverture forced British troops to agree to evacuate the port of Santo Domingo.

1808 - The citizens of Madrid rose up against Napoleon.

1813 - Napoleon defeated a Russian and Prussian army at Grossgorschen.

1853 - Franconi’s Hippodrome opened at Broadway and 23rd Street in New York City.

1863 - Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded by his own men in the battle of Chancellorsville, VA. He died 8 days later.

1865 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson offered $100,000 reward for the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

1885 - The Congo Free State was established by King Leopold II of Belgium.

1885 - "Good Housekeeping" was first published.

1887 - Hannibal W. Goodwin applied for a patent on celluloid photographic film. This is the film from which movies are shown.

1890 - The Oklahoma Territory was organized.

1902 - "A Trip To The Moon," the first science fiction film was released. It was created by magician George Melies.

1919 - The first U.S. air passenger service started.

1922 - WBAP-AM bean broadcasting in north Texas.

1926 - In India, Hindu women gained the right to seek elected office.

1926 - U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to put down a revolt and to protect U.S. interests. They did not depart until 1933.

1932 - Jack Benny's first radio show debuted on NBC Radio.

1933 - Hitler banned trade unions in Germany.

1939 - Lou Gehrig set a new major league baseball record when he played in his 2,130th game. The streak began on June 1, 1925.

1941 - Hostilities broke out between British forces in Iraq and that country’s pro-German faction.

1941 - The Federal Communications Commission agreed to let regular scheduling of TV broadcasts by commercial TV stations begin on July 1, 1941. This was the start of network television.

1945 - Russians took Berlin after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting. The Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

1946 - Prisoners revolted at California's Alcatraz prison.

1954 - Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals set a new major league record when he hit 5 home runs against the New York Giants.

1960 - Caryl Chessman was executed. He was a convicted sex offender and had become a best selling author while on death row.

1965 - The "Early Bird" satellite was used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.

1970 - Student anti-war protesters at Ohio's Kent State University burn down the campus ROTC building. The National Guard took control of the campus.

1974 - Former U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals.

1974 - The filming of "Jaws" began in Martha's Vineyard, MA.

1982 - The British submarine HMS Conqueror sank Argentina's only cruiser, the General Belgrano during the Falkland Islands War. More than 350 people died.

1993 - At Washington's National Gallery of Art, an exhibit of 80 paintings from the collection of Dr. Albert C. Barnes opened.

1993 - Authorities said that they had recovered the remains of David Koresh from the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, TX.

1994 - Nelson Mandela claimed victory after South Africa's first democratic elections.

1999 - In Panama, Mireya Moscoso de Grubar, of the Armulfista Party, was elected president.

2002 - It was reported that Phyllis Diller had retired from touring.

May 3rd

1568 - French forces in Florida slaughtered hundreds of Spanish.

1802 - Washington, DC, was incorporated as a city.

1855 - Macon B. Allen became the first African American to be admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts.

1859 - France declared war on Austria.

1888 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Phonograph Works.

1916 - Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.

1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.

1926 - The revival of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" opened in New York.

1926 - U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua and stayed until 1933.

1926 - In Britain, trade unions began a general strike.

1927 - Francis E.J. Wilde of Meadowmere Park, NY, patented the electric sign flasher.

1933 - The U.S. Mint was under the direction of a woman for the first time when Nellie Ross took the position.

1937 - Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With The Wind."

1944 - Wartime rationing of most grades of meats ended in the U.S.

1944 - Dr. Robert Woodward and Dr. William Doering produced the first synthetic quinine at Harvard University.

1945 - Indian forces captured Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese.

1948 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities were legally unenforceable.

1952 - The first airplane landed at the geographic North Pole.

1966 - The game "Twister" was featured on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

1968 - After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retook Dai Do complex in Vietnam. They found that the North Vietnamese had evacuated the area.

1971 - Anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations in Washington, DC.

1971 - National Public Radio broadcast for the first time.

1971 - James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King's assassin, was caught in a jailbreak attempt.

1986 - In NASA's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff. Safety officers destroyed it by remote control.

1988 - The White House acknowledged that first lady Nancy Reagan had used astrological advice to help schedule her husband's activities.

1992 - Five days of rioting and looting ended in Los Angeles, CA. The riots, that killed 53 people, began after the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King.

1997 - The "Republic of Texas" surrendered to authorities ending an armed standoff where two people were held hostage. The group asserts the independence of Texas from the U.S.

1998 - "The Sevres Road," by 18-century landscape painter Camille Corot, stolen from the Louvre in France.

1999 - Mark Manes, at age 22, was arrested for supplying a gun to Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold, who later killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado.

1999 - Hasbro released the first collection of toys for the Star Wars movie "Episode I: The Phantom Menace."

1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 11,000 for the first time.

2000 - The trial of two Libyans accused of killing 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 (over Lockerbie) opened.

May 4th



1471 - The War of the Roses: At "The Battle of Tewkesbury" Edward IV's forces defeated a Lancastrian Army and killed Edward, Prince of Wales.

1493 - Pope Alexander VI divided the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Demarcation Line. (As if it was his to do anything with!)

1494 - Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica.

1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrived at New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the "See Meeuw".

1675 - King Charles II of England ordered the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

1776 - Rhode Island became the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.

1814 - Emperor Napoleon I of France arrived at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.

1855 - American adventurer William Walker departed from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.

1863 - American Civil War: "The Battle of Chancellorsville" ended with a Union retreat.

1869 - The Naval Battle of "Hakodate" took place in Japan.

1871 - The National Association, the first professional baseball league, began its first season.

1886 - The Haymarket Square Riot: A bomb was thrown at police trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago killing eight and wounding 60. The police then fired into the crowd.

1904 - Construction began by the United States on the Panama Canal.

1910 - The Royal Canadian Navy is created. By the Second World War it was the 4th largest navy in the world, today it is but a military joke.

1912 - Italy occupied the island of Rhodes.

1919 - May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations took place in Beijing's Tiananmen Square protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.

1924 - The 1924 Summer Olympics opened in Paris, France.

1930 - British police arrested Mahatma Gandhi and placed him in "Yeravda Central Prison".

1932 - In Atlanta mobster boss "Scarface" Al Capone began serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.

1942 - World War II: In the "Battle of the Coral Sea" – The battle began with the launch of attack aircraft from both American and Japanese aircraft carriers.

1945 - World War II: The "Neuengamme" concentration camp near Hamburg was liberated by the British Army.

1945 - World War II: The surrender of the North Germany Army to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.

1946 - In San Francisco Bay, US Marines from the Treasure Island Marine Barracks stopped a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people were killed in the riot.

1948 - Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, was published.

1949 - Except for one player who did not take the trip due to an injury, the entire Torino football (soccer) team was killed in a plane crash at the Superga hill at the edge of Turin, Italy.

1953 - Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for "The Old Man and the Sea".

1959 - The first Grammy Awards were announced.

1961 - American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" began a bus trip through the South.

1970 - Vietnam War: "The Kent State Shootings" – The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after the ROTC building was burnt down, opened fire on unamrmed students protesting at the United States' invasion of Cambodia. Four students were killed and nine more were wounded.

1972 - The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Vancouver, BC Canada in 1971, officially changed its name to "Greenpeace Foundation".

1974 - An all-female Japanese team reached the summit of Manaslu, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak.

1979 - Margaret Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1989 - Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North was convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, were later overturned on appeal.

1990 - Latvia proclaimed independence.

1991 - In Rome, Italy Carola won the thirty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Fångad av en stormvind" (Trapped in a storm wind).

1994 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a peace accord regarding Palestinian autonomy granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1996 - José María Aznar was appointed Prime Minister of Spain, this ended 13 years of Socialist rule.

1998 - A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gave "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.

1999 - In California, Manuel Babbitt was executed for the 1980 murder of Leah Schendel. While on death row Babbitt was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries he received in the Vietnam War.

2002 - An "EAS Airlines" BAC 1-11-500 crashed into a suburb of Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff killing more than 148 people.

2003 - "The Outbreak of 2003" began. Ninety-four tornadoes began the week-long outbreak.

May 5th


1494 - Christopher Columbus sighted Jamaica on his second trip to the Western Hemisphere. He named the island Santa Gloria.

1809 - Mary Kies was awarded the first patent to go to a woman. It was for technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.

1814 - The British attack the American forces at Ft. Ontario, Oswego, NY.

1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte died on the island of St. Helena, where he had been in exile.

1834 - The first mainland railway line opened in Belgium.

1847 - The AMA (American Medical Association) was organized in Philadelphia, PA.

1862 - The Battle of Puebla took place. It is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo Day.

1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery in the U.S.

1886 - A bomb exploded on the fourth day of a workers' strike in Chicago, IL.

1891 - Music Hall was dedicated in New York City. It was later renamed Carnegie Hall.

1892 - The U.S. Congress extended the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act for 10 more years. The act required Chinese in the U.S. to be registered or face deportation.

1901 - The first Catholic mass for night workers was held at the Church of St. Andrew in New York City.

1904 - The third perfect game of the major leagues was thrown by Cy Young (Boston Red Sox) against the Philadelphia Athletics. It was the first perfect game under modern rules.

1912 - Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda began publishing.

1916 - U.S. Marines invaded the Dominican Republic.

1917 - Eugene Jacques Bullard becomes the first African-American aviator when he earned his flying certificate with the French Air Service.

1920 - Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for murder.

1925 - John T. Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton, TN, was arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

1926 - Eisenstein's film "Battleship Potemkin" was shown in Germany for the first time.

1926 - Sinclair Lewis refused a 1925 Pulitzer for "Arrowsmith."

1936 - Edward Ravenscroft received a patent for the screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip.

1942 - General Joseph Stilwell learned that the Japanese had cut his railway out of China and was forced to lead his troops into India.

1945 - The Netherlands and Denmark were liberated from Nazi control.

1945 - A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon. A pregnant woman was killed in the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II.

1955 - "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway.

1955 - The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) became a sovereign state.

1956 - Jim Bailey became the first runner to break the four-minute mile in the U.S. He was clocked at 3:58.5.

1961 - Alan Shepard became the first American in space when he made a 15 minute suborbital flight.

1966 - Willie Mays broke the National League record for home runs when he hit his 512th.

1978 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds registered his 3,000th major league hit.

1981 - Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. It was his 66th day without food.

1987 - The U.S. congressional Iran-Contra hearings opened.

1991 - In New York, Carnegie Hall marked its 100th anniversary.

1994 - Michael Fay was caned in Singapore for vandalism. He received four lashes.

1997 - Dolores Hope received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1997 - Ivan Reitman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000 - The final episode of "Boy Meets World" aired on ABC.

May 6th

1527 - German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.

1529 - Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.

1576 - The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.

1682 - King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.

1835 - James Gordon Bennett published the "New York Herald" for the first time.

1840 - The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale in Great Britain.

1851 - The mechanical refrigerator was patented by Dr. John Gorrie.

1851 - Linus Yale patented the clock-type lock.

1861 - Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union.

1877 - Chief Crazy Horse surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska.

1882 - The U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.

1889 - The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the Eiffel Tower. Also at the exposition was the first automobile in Paris, the Mercedes-Benz.

1910 - Kind Edward VII of England died. He was succeeded by his second son, George V.

1915 - Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox.

1937 - The German airship Hindenburg crashed and burned in Lakehurst, NJ. Thirty-six people (of the 97 on board) were killed.

1941 - Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.

1941 - Bob Hope gave his first USO show at California's March Field.

1942 - During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.

1945 - Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

1946 - The New York Yankees became the first major league baseball team to travel by plane.

1954 - British runner Roger Banister broke the four minute mile.

1957 - U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Profiles in Courage".

1959 - The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid (at the time) for a painting by a living artist.

1960 - Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones. They were divorced in 1978.

1960 - U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

1962 - The first nuclear warhead was fired from the Polaris submarine.

1981 - A jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin's entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1994 - The Chunnel officially opened. The tunnel under the English Channel links England and France.

1994 - Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against U.S. President Clinton. The case alleged that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.

1997 - Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping six trainees at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

1997 - Four health-care companies agreed to a settlement of $600 million to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted blood between 1978-1985.

1999 - Britain's Labour Party won the largest number of seats in the first elections for Scotland's new Parliament and Wales' new Assembly.

1999 - A parole board in New York voted to release Amy Fisher. She had been in jail for 7 years for shooting her lover's wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face.

2001 - Chandra Levy's parents reported her missing to police in Washington, DC. Levy's body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.

May 7th

0558 - The dome of the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapsed. It was immediately rebuilt as ordered by Justinian.

1274 - The Second Council of Lyons opened in France to regulate the election of the pope.

1429 - The English siege of Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.

1525 - The German peasants' revolt was crushed by the ruling class and church.

1663 - The first Theatre Royal was opened in London.

1763 - Indian chief Pontiac began all out war on the British in New York.

1789 - The first U.S. Presidential Inaugural Ball was held in New York City.

1800 - The U.S. Congress divided the Northwest Territory into two parts. The western part became the Indiana Territory and the eastern section remained the Northwest Territory.

1847 - The AMA (American Medical Association) was founded in Philadelphia.

1898 - The first Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association meet was held in New Haven, CT.

1912 - Columbia University approved final plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories.

1912 - The first airplane equipped with a machine gun flew over College Park, MD.

1915 - The Lusitania, a civilian ship, was sunk by a German submarine. 1,198 people were killed.

1926 - A U.S. report showed that one-third of the nation's exports were motors.

1937 - The German Condor Legion arrived in Spain to assist Franco’s forces.

1939 - Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.

1940 - Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister.

1942 - In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese and American navies attacked each other with carrier planes. It was the first time in the history of naval warfare where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other.

1943 - The last major German strongholds in North Africa, Tunis and Bizerte, fell to Allied forces.

1945 - Baseball owner Branch Rickey announced the organization of the United States Negro Baseball League. There were 6 teams.

1945 - Germany signed unconditional surrender ending World War II. It would take effect the next day.

1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp. was founded. The company was later renamed Sony.

1951 - Russia was admitted to participate in the 1952 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.

1954 - French Colonial Forces surrendered to the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu after 55 days of fighting.

1954 - The United States and the United Kingdom rejected the Soviet Union's bid to join NATO.

1958 - Howard Johnson set an aircraft altitude record in F-104.

1960 - Leonid Brezhnev became president of the Soviet Union.

1975 - U.S. President Ford declared an end to the Vietnam War.

1977 - Rookie Janet Guthrie set the fastest time on opening day of practice for the Indianapolis 500. Her time was 185.607.

1984 - A $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who claimed they had suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant while serving in the armed forces.

1987 - Shelly Long, as Diane Chambers, made her last appearance as a regular on the TV show "Cheers."

1992 - A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified as the 27th Amendment.

1994 - The Evard Munch painting "The Scream" was recovered after being stolen 3 months earlier from an Oslo Museum. This version of "The Scream", one of four different versions, was painted on paper.

1996 - The trial of Serbian police officer Dusan Tadic opened in the Netherlands. He was later convicted on murder-torture charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

1997 - A report released by the U.S. government said that Switzerland provided Nazi Germany with equipment and credit during World War II. Germany exchanged for gold what had been plundered or stolen. Switzerland did not comply with postwar agreements to return the gold.

1998 - Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler Corp. for close to $40 billion. It was the largest industrial merger on record.

1998 - Residents of London voted to elect their own mayor for the first time in history. The vote would take place in May 2000.

1998 - Leeza Gibbons received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - A jury ruled that "The Jenny Jones Show" and Warner Bros. were liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure. He was killed by another guest on the show. The jury's award was $25 million.

1999 - Jerry Moss received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens were killed and 20 were wounded when a NATO plane mistakenly bombed the Chinese embassy.

1999 - In Guinea-Bissau, the government of President João Bernardo Vieira was ousted in a military coup.

2000 - Russian President Vladimir V. Putin named First Deputy Premier Mikhail Kasyanov as premier.

2003 - In Washington, DC, General Motors Corp. delivered six fuel cell vehicles to Capitol Hill for lawmakers and others to test drive during the next two years.

2003 - Roger Moore collapsed during a matinee performance of the Broadway comedy "The Play What I Wrote." He finished the show after a 10-minute break. He was fitted with a pacemaker the following day.

May 8th

1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion-Kentishmen revolted against King Henry VI.

1541 - Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River. He called it Rio de Espiritu Santo.

1794 - Antoine Lavoisier was executed by guillotine. He was the French chemist that discovered oxygen.

1794 - The United States Post Office was established.

1846 - The first major battle of the Mexican War was fought. The battle occurred in Palo Alto, TX.

1847 - The rubber tire was patented by Robert W. Thompson.

1879 - George Selden applied for the first automobile patent.

1886 - Pharmacist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invented what would later be called "Coca-Cola."

1902 - Mount Pelee on Martinique erupted and killed over 30,000 people and destroyed the town of St. Pierre.

1904 - U.S. Marines landed in Tangier to protect the Belgian legation.

1914 - The U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution that designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

1915 - H.P. Whitney's Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby.

1919 - The first transatlantic flight took-off by a navy seaplane.

1921 - Sweden abolished capital punishment.

1933 - Gandhi began a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India.

1939 - Clay Puett's electric starting gate was used for the first time.

1943 - The Germans suppressed a revolt by Polish Jews and destroyed the Warsaw Ghetto.

1945 - U.S. President Harry Truman announced that World War II had ended in Europe.

1954 - Parry O'Brien became the first to toss a shot put over 60 feet. O'Brien achieved a distance of 60 feet 5 1/4 inches.

1956 - Alfred E. Neuman appeared on the cover of "Mad Magazine" for the first time.

1958 - U.S. President Eisenhower ordered the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green became the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school.

1960 - Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union resumed.

1961 - New Yorkers selected a new name for their new National League baseball franchise. They chose the Mets.

1967 - Muhammad Ali was indicted for refusing induction in U.S. Army.

1970 - Construction workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York City's Wall Street.

1973 - Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

1978 - David R. Berkowitz, known as the "Son of Sam," pled guilty to six murder charges.

1984 - The Soviet Union announced that they would not participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics Games in Los Angeles.

1984 - Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) got married on ABC-TV's "Happy Days."

1985 - "New Coke" was released to the public on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola.

1986 - Reporters were told that 84,000 people had been evacuated from areas near the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Soviet Ukraine.

1997 - Larry King received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - A pipe burst leaving a million residents without water in Malaysia's capital area. This added to four days of shortages that 2 million already faced.

1999 - The first female cadet graduated from The Citadel military college.

May 9th

1429 - Joan of Arc defeated the besieging English at Orleans.

1502 - Christopher Columbus left Spain for his final trip to the Western Hemisphere.

1671 - Thomas "Captain" Blood stole the crown jewels from the Tower of London.

1754 - The first newspaper cartoon in America showed a divided snake "Join or die" in "The Pennsylvania Gazette."

1785 - Joseph Bramah patented the beer-pump handle.

1825 - The Chatham Theatre opened in New York City. It was the first gas-lit theater in America.

1901 - In Australia, the Duke of Cornwall and York declared the First Commonwealth Parliament open.

1915 - German and French forces fought the Battle of Artois.

1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly an airplane over the North Pole.

1930 - A starting gate was used to start a Triple Crown race for the first time.

1936 - Fascist Italy took Addis Abba and annexed Ethiopia.

1936 - The first sheet of postage stamps of more than one variety went on sale in New York City.

1940 - Vivien Leigh debuted in America on stage in "Romeo and Juliet" with Lawrence Olivier.

1941 - The German submarine U-110 was captured at sea by Britain's Royal navy.

1945 - U.S. officials announced that the midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.

1946 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy abdicated and was replaced by Umberto.

1955 - West Germany joined NATO.

1958 - Richard Burton made his network television debut in the presentation of "Wuthering Heights" on CBS-TV.

1960 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for sale an oral birth-control pill for the first time.

1961 - Jim Gentile (Baltimore Orioles) set a major league baseball record when he hit a grand slam home run in two consecutive innings. The game was against the Minnesota Twins.

1962 - A laser beam was successfully bounced off Moon for the first time.

1974 - The House Judiciary Committee began formal hearings on the Nixon impeachment.

1978 - The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro was found in an automobile in the center of Rome. The Red Brigades had abducted him.

1980 - A Liberian freighter hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida. 35 motorists were killed and a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapsed.

1987 - Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers were married.

1994 - Nelson Mandela was chosen to be South Africa's first black president.

1996 - In video testimony to a courtroom in Little Rock, AR, U.S. President Clinton insisted that he had nothing to do with a $300,000 loan in the criminal case against his former Whitewater partners.

2002 - In Bethlehem, West Bank, a deal was reached that would end the 38-day standoff at the Church of the Nativity. Thirteen suspected militants were to be deported to several different countries. The standoff had begun on April 2, 2002.

2002 - In Kaspiisk, Russia, 39 people were killed and at least 130 were injurde when a remote-controlled bomb exploded during a holiday parade.

2002 - In Bahrain, people were allowed to vote for representatives for the first time in nearly 30 years. Women were allowed to vote for the first time in the country's history.

May 10th



Happy Birthday Sis...!


1265 - Born this day: Emperor Fushimi of Japan (d. 1317).

1291 - Scottish nobles recognized the authority of England's King Edward I.

1497 - Amerigo Vespucci allegedly left Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.

1503 - Christopher Columbus visited the Cayman Islands and named them "Las Tortugas" after the numerous sea turtles there.

1534 - Jacques Cartier visited Newfoundland.

1768 - John Wilkes was imprisoned for writing an article in "The North Briton" severely criticizing King George III. This action provoked rioting in London.

1774 - Louis XVI became King of France.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: Fort Ticonderoga was taken by a small force led by Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: Representatives from the 13 colonies of the United States met in Philadelphia and raised "The Continental Army" to defend the new republic. They placed it under command of Cavalier George Washington of Virginia.

1796 - First Coalition: Forces under the command of Napoleon I of France won a decisive victory against Austrian forces at "Lodi Bridge" over the River Adda in Italy. The Austrians lost some 2,000 men.

1801 - First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declared war on the United States.

1837 - "The Panic of 1837" occurred when New York City banks failed, and unemployment reached record levels.

1857 - Indian Mutiny: In India, the Sepoys revolted against the British Army.

1863 - Died this day: Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (b. 1824).

1865 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.

1865 - American Civil War: Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound renegade Confederate raider William Quantrill in Kentucky. He survived until June 6.

1869 - The "First Transcontinental Railroad", linking the eastern and western United States, was completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah).

1872 - Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to be nominated for President of the United States.

1877 - Romania declared itself independent from Turkey. It was recognized on March 26, 1881 after the end of the Romanian independence war.

1899 - Born this day: Fred Astaire, singer, dancer, actor (d. 1987).

1908 - Mother's Day was observed for the first time at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, USA.

1924 - J. Edgar Hoover was appointed the Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and remained so until his death in 1972.

1933 - Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis staged massive public book burnings.

1940 - World War II: The first German bombs were dropped on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.

1940 - World War II: Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

1940 - World War II: Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain.

1941 - World War II: The House of Commons in London was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.

1941 - World War II: Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace deal between Britain and Nazi Germany.

1954 - Bill Haley and the Comets released "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the charts.

1960 - The nuclear submarine "USS Triton" completed the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

1960 - Born this day: Bono, of U2 fame.

1969 - The first rural outdoor rock concert at Zap, North Dakota ended prematurely when the North Dakota National Guard was ordered to disperse the unruly crowd.

1979 - The Federated States of Micronesia became self-governing.

1988 - Michel Rocard became Prime Minister of France.

1994 - The State of Illinois executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murder of 33 young men and boys.

1994 - Weezer released their debut, self-titled album.

1994 - An annular eclipse of the sun was visible across much of North America.

1997 - An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran killed at least 2,400 people.

1998 - National elections were held in Hungary.

1999 - Died this day: Shel Silverstein, poet, composer, humorist (b. 1930).

2001 - In Ghana, a stampede at a football game killed over 120 spectators.

2002 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

2002 - Lynda Lyon Block was executed in "Yellow Mama", the electric chair of Alabama.

2003 - The "May 2003 Tornado Outbreak" ended.