Month: May 2024

1417 – Jacoba of Bavaria becomes countess of Holland/Zealand/Henegouwen
1821 – Cathedral of Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, 1st US Catholic cathedral, is dedicated in Baltimore, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe
1868 – Dr James Moore (UK) wins 1st recorded bicycle race, (2k) velocipede race at Parc fde St Cloud, Paris
1891 – Work on Trans-Siberian railway begins
1910 – Cape of Good Hope becomes part of Union of South Africa
1930 – British Amateur Championship, Men’s Golf, St. Andrews Links: Bobby Jones scores a 7 and 6 win over Englishman Roger Wethered for the first leg of his Grand Slam
1961 – US President John F. Kennedy visits Charles de Gaulle in Paris
1980 – “Love Stinks” by J. Geils Band peaks at #38
1990 – 63rd National Spelling Bee: Amy Marie Dimak wins spelling fibranne
1992 – 46th Tony Awards: “Dancing at Lughnasa” (play) and “Crazy For You” (musical) win

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1814 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition – the Treaty of Paris (1814) is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent.
1925 – British mariners shoot on demonstrators
1937 – Memorial Day Massacre: Chicago Police Department shoot and kill 10 unarmed demonstrators during the “Little Steel Strike” in the United States
1946 – United flight 521 crashes on takeoff at LaGuardia Airport (NY) 42 die
1953 – French Championships Women’s Tennis: Maureen Connolly beats fellow American Doris Hart 6-2, 6-4 for the 2nd leg of her Grand Slam
1954 – Emile Zatopek runs world record 5K (13:57.2)
1977 – Cleveland Indian Dennis Eckersley no-hits California Angels, 2-0
1980 – 1st papal visit to France since 1814
1981 – LA Dodgers are quickest to get 1,000,000 attendance in a season in only 22 games
2019 – Austria appoints its first female chancellor Brigitte Bierle to head caretaker government after fall of the coalition government

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1956 – Arnold Schoenberg’s “Modern Psalm” premieres
1977 – Australian Sue Prell first female golfer to hit consecutive holes-in one; 13th and 14th holes at Chatswood Golf Club, Sydney
1977 – USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
1978 – US 1st class postage rises to 15 cents (13 cents for 3 years)
1978 – USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
1989 – Student pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, China construct a replica of the Statue of Liberty, naming it the Goddess of Democracy
1992 – White Sox Tim Raines swipes his 700th career base
2001 – International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers inaugurated.
2005 – Indianapolis 500: Dan Wheldon becomes first British-born winner since Graham Hill in 1966; first Indy 500 victory for car owner Michael Andretti of Andretti-Green Racing
2011 – Senior PGA Championship, Valhalla GC: Tom Watson wins his 6th and final Champions Tour major title with a birdie on the first playoff hole against David Eger

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1958 – French government of Prime Minister Pierre Pflimlin resigns; 200,000 demonstrate against Charles de Gaulle
1959 – Congressional Committee of Astronautics meets Project 7 astronauts
1959 – Johnson and Bart’s musical “Lock Up Your Daughters” premieres in London
1973 – Indianapolis 500: Gordon Johncock wins first of his two Indy triumphs after rain halts the race at lap 133
1980 – 24th European Cup: Nottingham Forest beats Hamburg 1-0 at Madrid
1982 – Pope John Paul II is 1st reigning pope to visit Great Britain (Adrian IV was born in England, as Nicholas Breakspear)
1986 – Democratic Labor Party wins parliamentary election in Barbados
1997 – Wallace Berg, 42, is 4th American to scale Mt Everest for 3rd time
2002 – NHL Eastern Conference Final: Carolina Hurricanes beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 games to 2
2018 – One million French smokers quit in one year after anti-smoking measures introduced according to Public Health France

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1660 – Denmark and Sweden sign The Treaty Of Copenhagen, ends Second Northern War
1903 – 37th Belmont: John Bullman aboard Africander wins in 2:21.75
1903 – Queen Wilhelmina opens the new Amsterdam stock exchange Beurs van Berlages, designed by influential architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage
1933 – Trailing 11-3, Yanks score 12 runs in 8th and beat White Sox 15-11
1956 – US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests)
1964 – European Cup Final, Praterstadion, Vienna: Internazionale beats Real Madrid, 3-1 for their first title
1981 – John Hinckley attempts suicide by overdosing on Tylenol
1982 – New owners headed by John McMullen buy NHL’s Colorado Rockies and move the team to the New Jersey Meadowlands under the new name NJ Devils
1983 – Former EPA official Rita Lavelle indicted for contempt of Congress
2009 – UEFA Champions League Final, Rome: Barcelona beats Manchester United, 2-0; first Spanish treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League

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553 – Moon Jaguar becomes the 10th ruler of the Maya city of Copán (modern Honduras), will reign for 25 years
1647 – Alse Young becomes the first person executed as a witch in the American colonies, when she is hanged in Hartford, Connecticut
1942 – Belgium Jews are required by Nazis to wear a Jewish star
1955 – Musical adaptation of the 1927 silent film “7th Heaven”, starring Gloria DeHaven and Ricardo Montalbán, opens at ANTA Theater, NYC; runs for 44 performances
1963 – French Championships Men’s Tennis: Australian Roy Emerson beats home favourite Pierre Darmon 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
1972 – The British state-owned travel firm Thomas Cook and Son is sold to a consortium of private businesses headed by the Midland Bank
1987 – US Supreme Court ruled dangerous defendants could be held without bail
1987 – Cecilia Bolocco, 22, of Chile, crowned 36th Miss Universe
2002 – Indianapolis 500: Defending champion Hélio Castroneves of Brazil becomes fifth driver in Indy 500 history to win back-to-back races for his second of 4 race victories
2012 – Pope Benedict XVI’s butler is arrested for allegedly leaking confidential documents

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1660 – King Charles II of England lands at Dover harbour on his way to London during the Restoration
1787 – Constitutional convention opens at Philadelphia, George Washington presiding
1810 – In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Spanish Viceroy Cisneros during Semana de Mayo
1904 – 38th Belmont: George Odom aboard Delhi wins in 2:06.6
1973 – 26th Cannes Film Festival: “The Hireling” directed by Alan Bridges and “Scarecrow” directed by Jerry Schatzberg jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
1983 – 1st US National Missing Children’s Day is proclaimed
1992 – Jay Leno becomes permanent host of US talk show “The Tonight Show”
1992 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro elected President of Italy
1995 – The Bosnian Serb Army kills 72 youngsters in the Bosnian city of Tuzla
2002 – Super Rugby Final, Jade Stadium, Christchurch: Crusaders win 4th title with a 31-13 thumping of the ACT Brumbies; flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens boots 3 penalties, 2 conversions and a dropped goal for the winners

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