A Day In History - May   

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Events and birthdays around the world on this day . . .

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1006 Supernova observed by Chinese & Egyptians in constellation Lupus.
1171 Dermot MacMurrough last Irish king of Leinster, dies.
1707 England, Wales & Scotland form UK of Great Britain.
1751 1st American cricket match was played.
1769 Arthur Wellsley Duke of Wellington, British PM (C) (1828-30), born.
1786 Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premiers in Wien (Vienna).
1839 Chardonnet, France inventor (rayon), born.
1840 1st adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued.
1889 1st International Workers Day, according to the 2nd International.
1913 Walter Susskind, Praha (Prague) Czechoslovakia, conductor, born.
1927 Harry Belefonte calypso singer (The Banana Boat Song), born.
1932 Paul Doumer Pres of France, assassinated by Russia's Paul Gargalov.
1934 Philippine legislature accepts US proposal for independence.
1939 Batman Comics hit the street.
1939 Judy Collins, singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds), born.
1941 "Citizen Kane," directed & starring Orson Welles, premiers in NY.
1946 Joanna Lumley, Kashmir India, actress (Absolutely Fabulous, The Avengers), born.
1954 Ray Parker Jr rocker (Ghostbusters theme), born.
1959 Oscar Torp, Norwegian premier, dies.
1960 Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk.
1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba.
1961 Tanganyika granted full internal self-government by Britain.
1963 Indonesia takes control of Irian Jaya (west New Guinea) from Netherlands.
1964 1st BASIC program run on a computer (Dartmouth).
1967 Priscilla & Elvis Presley wed.
1979 Elton John becomes 1st pop star to perform in Israel.
1979 Home rule introduced to Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland).
1979 Marshall Islands (in the Pacific) become self-governing.
1989 135 acre Disney's MGM studio officially opens to the public.

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1519 Leonardo Da Vinci artist/scientist, dies at 67.
1660 Alessandro Scarlatti, Palermo Italy, composer (Tigrane), born.
1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ends War of Devolution.
1729 Catherine II (the Great) empress of Russia (1762-96), born.
1776 France & Spain agree to donate arms to American rebels.
1780 William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris.
1808 Uprising against French occupation begins in Madrid.
1810 Leo XIII, 257th Roman Catholic pope (1878-1903), born.
1840 Theodor Herzl, founded Zionist movement, born.
1885 Congo Free State established by King Leopold II of Belgium.
1892 Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen [the Red Baron], German WW I ace, born.
1903 Benjamin Spock, pediatrician/author (Common Sense Book of Baby Care), born.
1904 Bing Crosby (claimed this to be his Birthdate: True Date May 3 1903), crooner/actor (Going My Way), born.
1935 Faisal II, King of Iraq, born.
1945 Russia takes Berlin.
1946 Prisoners revolt at Alcatraz, 5 die.
1952 1st commercial jet plane, BOAC Comet.
1956 US Lab detects high-temperature microwave radiation from Venus.
1957 Joseph McCarthy commie hunting senator, dies at 47.
1964 Beatles' Second album goes #1 & stays #1 for for 5 weeks.
1975 Apple records closes down (Beatles first record company).
1979 "Quadrophenia" premieres in London.
1979 Vivekananda (Sri Lanka) begins nonstop ride, cycling 187 hrs, 28 min., around Vihara Maha Devi Park, Columbia, Sri Lanka.
1980 Joseph Doherty & 3 other IRA men arrested for murder.
1990 David Rappaport 3'11' actor (wizard), shoots himself at 38.

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In 553 -- Second Council of Constantinople (5th ecumenical council) opens.
In 1705 -- Leopold I Emperor of Holy Roman Empire, dies at 64.
In 1813 -- Síren Kierkegaard Denmark, philosopher, founded Existentialism, born.
In 1818 -- Karl Marx philosopher (Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital), born.
In 1867 -- Battle of Puebla; Mexicans defeat Maximilian's forces (Cinco de Mayo).
In 1891 -- Carnegie Hall opens in NYC with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.
In 1900 -- Spencer Tracy actor (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), born.
In 1908 -- Rex Harrison England, actor (My Fair Lady, Cleopatra), born.
In 1912 -- Fifth modern Olympic games opens in Stockholm.
In 1913 -- Tyrone Power actor (Mark of Zorro, Alexander's Ragtime Band), born.
In 1925 -- John T Scopes arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee.
In 1930 -- First woman to fly solo from England to Australia takes-off (Amy Johnson).
In 1943 -- Michael Palin comedian (Monty Python, Fish Called Wanda), born.
In 1945 -- Netherlands & Denmark liberated from Nazi control.
In 1965 First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam.
In 1981 -- Bobby Sands IRA activists dies in his 66th day of his hunger strike.
In 1990 -- Paul Hogan & Linda Koslowski wed in Byron Bay, Eastern Australia.
In 2000 -- Conjunction of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn & Moon

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In 1527 -- Sack of Rome - End of the Renaissance.
In 1626 -- Peter Minuet purchases Manhattan Island for $24.
In 1818 -- Karl Marx, author of the Communist Manifesto, born
In 1851 -- Patent granted to Dr. John Farrie for a "refrigeration machine".
In 1856 -- Sigmund Freud, cigar smoker, psychiatrist, born
In 1895 -- Rudolph Valentino, silent film star, sheik
In 1915 -- T. H. White, writer, born
In 1915 -- Orson Welles, actor (Citizen Kane), director, genius, born
In 1937 -- The dirigible Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, NJ.
In 1954 -- Roger Bannister breaks the 4 min mile in 3:59:4
In 1985 -- Seventeenth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 7 returns to Earth.

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In 1812 -- Robert Browning, poet, born.
In 1824 -- Beethoven's Ninth Symphony presented for first time.
In 1833 -- Johannes Brahms, composer, born.
In 1840 -- Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, composer, born.
In 1901 -- Gary Cooper, actor (High Noon, The Plainsman), born.
In 1909 -- Edwin Land, founded instant photography (Polaroid), born.
In 1919 -- Eva Peron, Argentine first lady, born
In 1945 -- World War II ends in Europe. Nazis surrender to General Eisenhower at Reims, France.
In 1968 -- Traci Lords, actress, born.

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In 535 -- John II ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 615 -- St Boniface IV ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 685 -- St Benedict II ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1450 -- Jack Cade's Rebellion-Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
In 1541 -- Hernando de Soto discovers Mississippi River.
In 1737 -- Edward Gibbon England, historian (Decline & Fall of Roman Empire), born.
In 1753 -- Miguel Hidalgo father of Mexican independence, born.
In 1824 -- William Walker filibuster, president of Nicaragua (1856-57), born.
In 1828 -- Jean Henri Dunant Switzerland, founded Red Cross, YMCA (Nobel 1901), born.
In 1866 -- Australian Rules Football is created.
In 1884 -- Harry S Truman Missouri, 33rd US President (D) (1945-1953), born.
In 1886 -- Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents Coca Cola.
In 1895 -- China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki.
In 1926 -- Richard F Attenborough environmentalist/zoologist/filmmaker (BBC), born.
In 1930 -- Gary Snyder beat poet (Rip Rap & Cold Mountain Poems), born.
In 1944 -- Gary Glitter [Paul Gadd] England, rocker (Rock & Roll Part II), born.
In 1945 -- Nazi General Von Keitel surrenders to Russian Marshal Zhukov near Berlin.
In 1945 -- V-E Day; Germany signs unconditional surrender, WW II ends in Europe.
In 1970 -- Beatles release "Let it Be" album.
In 1984 -- USSR announces it will not participate in LA Summer Olympics.
In 1988 -- Robert A Heinlein sci-fi writer, dies of heart failure at 80.

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In 1502 -- Columbus left Spain on his 4th and final trip to the New World.
In 1860 -- James M. Barrie (in Scotland), Author (Peter Pan)
In 1873 -- Howard Carter, Egyptologist who found King Tutankhamen
In 1936 -- Albert Finney, actor (Oliver, The Twelve Chairs)
In 1936 -- Italy annexed Ethiopia.
In 1945 -- Czechoslovak National Day.
In 1946 -- Candice Bergen (in Beverly Hills), actor (Murphy Brown)
In 1949 -- Billy Joel (in the Bronx, NY), singer, piano man
In 1950 -- EEC Anniversary.
1974 In -- House Judiciary Committee begin formal hearings on Nixon impeachment.

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In 1838 -- John Wilkes Booth assassin of Abraham Lincoln, born.
In 1850 -- Sir Thomas Lipton tea magnate (Lipton Tea), born.
In 1863 -- Gen Stonewall Jackson dies from wounds received at Chancellorsville.
In 1872 -- Victoria Woodhull becomes 1st woman nominated for US president.
In 1879 -- Meteor falls near Estherville, Iowa.
In 1899 -- Fred Astaire Omaha Neb, tap dancer/actor (Easter Parade, Swingtime), born.
In 1902 -- David O Selznick Pittsburgh Pa, producer (Gone With the Wind), born.
In 1908 -- First Mother's Day held (Philadelphia).
In 1910 -- Halley's closest approach to Earth.
In 1910 -- William Huggins discoverer of stellar nature of Andromeda, dies.
In 1940 -- Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British PM.
In 1941 -- England's House of Commons destroyed in a blitz.
In 1943 -- Donovan (Leitch) Scotland, rock singer (Mellow Yellow), born.
In 1955 -- Mark David Chapman assassin of John Lennon, born.
In 1957 -- Sid Vicious [John Beverly], bassist (Sex Pistols), born.
In 1960 -- Bono, aka Paul Hauson, rocker (U2), born.
In 1963 -- Decca signs the Rolling Stones on advice of Beatle George Harrison.
In 1986 -- Tommy Lee drummer of Motley Crue marries Heather Locklear.

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In 330 -- Constantinople (later Istanbul) founded.
In 1812 -- Waltz introduced into English ballrooms. Most observers consider it disgusting & immoral. No wonder it caught on!
In 1888 -- Irving Berlin [Isadore Balin], Temun, Russia, composer (White Xmas), born.
In 1892 -- Dame Margaret Rutherford, England, actress (Murder Most Foul), born.
In 1904 -- Salvador Dali, Spain, surrealist artist (Crucifixion), born.
In 1916 -- Einstein's Theory of General Relativity presented.
In 1917 -- Britain grants Royal Letters Patent to New Zealand.
In 1924 -- Jackie Milburn, English soccer star (Newcastle United).
In 1927 -- Mort Sahl comedian/political satirist/beatnik (Big Party).
In 1941 -- Eric Burdon, rocker (Animals-House of the Rising Sun).
In 1947 -- Laos accepts constitution for parliamentary democracy.
In 1949 -- By a vote of 37-12, Israel becomes 59th member of UN.
In 1949 -- Siam renames itself Thailand.
In 1951 -- Jay Forrester patents computer core memory.
In 1959 -- Elvis Presley's 1st entry on UK charts with "Heartbreak Hotel".
In 1960 -- Israeli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires.
In 1960 -- John D Rockefeller, Jr. philanthropist, dies at 86.
In 1981 -- Bob Marley reggae singer, dies at 36 of brain & lung cancer.
In 1962 -- Emilio Estevez actor (Breakfast Club, Young Guns).
In 1965 -- Bangladesh windstorm kills 17,000.
In 1975 -- Israel signs an agreement with European Economic Market.
In 1977 -- Ted Turner manages an Atlanta Braves game.

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In 254 -- St Stephen I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1812 -- Edward Lear England, landscape painter, writer of nonsense verse, born.
In 1820 -- Florence Nightingale Florence, Italy, nurse (Crimean War), born.
In 1881 -- Treaty of Bardo, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
In 1929 -- Burt Bacharach composer (I'll Never Fall in Love Again), born.
In 1936 -- George VI's coronation in Great Britain.
In 1937 -- Beryl Burton UK, won record (7) women's cycling titles, born.
In 1940 -- Nazi blitz conquest of France began by crossing Muese River.
In 1943 -- Axis forces in North Africa surrender.
In 1948 -- Steve Winwood England, rocker (A Higher Love), born.
In 1949 -- West begins Berlin Airlift to get supplies around Soviet blockade.
In 1950 -- Shozo Fujii judo champion, born.
In 1960 -- Elvis Presley appears on a Frank Sinatra TV special.
In 1962 -- Emilio Estevez actor (Young Guns), born.
In 1963 -- Bob Dylan walks off Ed Sullivan Show.
In 1965 -- Israel & West Germany exchange letters beginning diplomatic relations.
In 1972 -- Paul McCartney & Wings release "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
In 1977 -- First quadraphonic concert (Pink Floyd in London).
In 1982 -- In Fatima Portugal, a Spanish priest with a bayonet is stopped prior to his attempt to attack Pope John Paul II.
In 1984 -- South African prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife for 1st time in 22 years.
In 1990 -- Nora Dunn & Sinead O'Connor boycott Saturday Night Live to protest Andrew "Dice" Clay's hosting.

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In 535 -- St Agapitus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1655 -- Innocent XIII, 244th Roman Catholic pope (1721-24), born.
In 1717 -- Empress Maria Theresa, Austria (Wife of Napoleon), born.
In 1842 -- Sir Arthur Sullivan, London, England, of Gilbert & Sullivan fame, born.
In 1856 -- Peter Henry Emerson, 1st to promote photography as an independent art, born.
In 1888 -- Brazil abolishes slavery.
In 1907 -- Daphne du Maurier novelist (Rebecca, The Parasites), born.
In 1912 -- Royal Flying Corps established in England.
In 1913 -- First four engine aircraft built & flown (Igor Sikorsky-Russia).
In 1931 -- Jim Jones, reverend, poisoned several hundred of his followers in Guyana, born.
In 1940 -- Churchill says "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat".
In 1941 -- Ritchie Valens, singer (Donna, La Bamba), born.
In 1950 -- Peter Gabriel, rocker (Genesis-Against All Odds), born.
In 1950 -- Diner's Club issues its 1st credit cards.
In 1950 -- Stevie Wonder, singer/songwriter (You are The Sunshine of My Love), born.
In 1961 -- Gary Cooper, 2 time Academy award winning actor, dies at 60.
In 1965 -- Rolling Stones record "Satisfaction".
In 1966 -- Rolling Stones release "Paint It Black".
In 1970 -- Beatles movie "Let It Be" premiers.
In 1981 -- Pope John Paul II shot, wounded by assailant in St Peter's Square.

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In 1602 -- Cape Cod was discovered by the English navigator Batholomew Gosnold.
In 1753 -- Whitsunday Term Day.
In 1886 -- American poet Emily Dickinson died.
In 1918 -- US Airmail begins between Wash DC, Philadelphia and New York.
In 1919 -- Wladziu Valentino Liberace, pianist, born
In 1930 -- A United Air Lines flight from Oakland, CA to Cheyenne, WY carried the first airline "air hostess" (stewardess) -- Ellen Church.
In 1934 -- US Dept of Justice offers $25,000 reward for Dillinger, dead or alive.
In 1936 -- Paul Zindel, playwright, born
In 1940 -- Nylon stockings on sale for the first time in the United States.
In 1948 -- Brian Eno, singer, songwriter, born
In 1955 -- Lee Horsley, actor, born
In 1958 -- The Soviet Union launched Sputnik III.

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In 1770 -- Marie Antoinette married the future King Louis XVI of France.
In 1801 -- William H. Seward, who bought Alaska at $0.02/acre, born.
In 1905 -- Henry Fonda (in Grand Island, Nebraska), actor, born.
In 1920 -- Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.
In 1929 -- First Academy Awards were given out. 'Wings' won best picture. Best Actor went to Emil Jennings; Best Actress, Janet Gaynor.
In 1952 -- Pierce Brosnan (in Israel), actor (current James Bond), born.
In 1955 -- Debra Winger (in Columbus, Ohio), actor, born.
In 1955 -- Olga Korbut (in Russia), gymnast, born.
In 1966 -- Janet Jackson, singer, Michael's sister, born.
In 1969 -- Venera 5, Venus landing. First successful landing on another planet.
In 1970 -- Gabriela Sabatini, tennis professional, born.
In 1975 -- Japanese Junko Tabei became first woman to reach Mt Everest's summit.
In 1990 -- Sammy Davis, Jr., "The Complete Entertainer", dies of throat cancer.
In 1990 -- Later that day, Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets, dies from pneumonia and complications.

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In 715 -- St Gregory II begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1536 -- Anne Boleyn wife of Henry VIII, beheaded.
In 1588 -- Spanish Armada sets sail for Lisbon, bound to England.
In 1611 -- Innocent XI 240th Roman Catholic pope (1676-89), born.
In 1780 -- About midday, near-total darkness descends on much of New England to this day it's cause is still unexplained.
In 1890 -- Ho Chi Minh trail blazer/leader of Vietnam (1946, 1969), born.
In 1925 -- Malcolm X Omaha NB, assassinated leader of Black Muslims, born.
In 1928 -- "Firedamp" explodes in Mather, PA coal mine killing 195 of 273 miners.
In 1935 -- T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) dies in a motorcycle crash.
In 1945 -- Peter Townsend singer (Who-Tommy), born.
In 1964 -- US diplomats find at least 40 hidden microphones in the Moscow embassy.
In 1966 -- Tortoise reportedly given to Tonga's king by Capt. Cook (1773), dies.
In 1971 -- Ogden Nash poet/TV panelist (Masquerade Party), dies at 68.
In 1971 -- USSR launches Mars 2, first spacecraft to crash land on Mars.
In 1976 -- Gold ownership legalized in Australia.
In 1979 -- Guitarist Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd.
In 1983 -- NASA launches Intelsat V.
In 2161 -- Syzygy: 8 of 9 planets aligned on same side of sun.

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In 526 -- Earthquake kills 250,000 in Antioch, Syria.
In 1506 -- Christopher Columbus explorer, dies in poverty in Spain at 55.
In 1690 -- England passes Act of Grace, forgiving followers of James II.
In 1799 -- Honore de Balzac France, novelist (Pere Goriot), born.
In 1806 -- John Stuart Mill philosopher/political economist/Utilitarian, born.
In 1874 -- Levi Strauss markets blue jeans with copper rivets, price $13.50 doz.
In 1900 -- Second modern Olympic games opens in Paris (lasted 5 months).
In 1908 -- Jimmy Stewart, actor (Mr. Smith Goes to Wash, Wonderful Life), born.
In 1915 -- Moshe Dayan Israeli general/politician, born.
In 1926 -- Thomas Edison says Americans prefer silent movies over talkies.
In 1927 -- Great Britain via treaty grants Saudi Arabia's kingdom independence.
In 1944 -- Joe Cocker England, rock musician (You can leave your hat on), born.
In 1946 -- Cher, rocker/actress (I got you babe, Jack Lalane, Mask), born.
In 1956 -- Atomic fusion (thermonuclear) bomb dropped from plane-Bikini Atoll.
In 1967 -- BBC bans Beatle's A Day in the Life (drug references).
In 1970 -- The Beatles' Let it Be movie premiers in UK.
In 1972 -- Republic of Cameroon declared as constitution is ratified.
In 1979 -- First western pop star to tour the USSR-Elton John.
In 1985 -- FBI arrests John A Walker, Jr., convicted of spying for USSR.
In 1989 -- China declares martial law in Beijing.
In 1989 -- Gilda Radner comedienne (SNL), dies at 42 of cancer.

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In 427 B.C. -- Plato (Aristocles), philosopher/writer, Athens, born.
In 1471 -- Albrecht Dürer Nörnberg Germany, Renaissance painter/print maker, born.
In 1527 -- Philip II king of Spain (1556-98) and Portugal (1580-98), born.
In 1688 -- Alexander Pope England, poet, born.
In 1904 -- Fats Waller jazz pianist, composer (Ain't Misbehavin'), born.
In 1904 -- Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Soccer's World governing body forms.
In 1927 -- Lindbergh lands in Paris, after 1st solo air crossing of Atlantic.
In 1948 -- Leo Sayer [Gerard], England, singer (When I Need Love), born.
In 1952 -- Mr T [Lawrence Tero], Chicago, actor, (A-Team, Rocky III, T and T), born.
In 1980 -- Empire Strikes Back premieres.
In 1983 -- David Bowie's Let's Dance single goes #1.
In 1991 -- Rajiv Gandhi Indian Prime Minster, assassinated.

 

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In 1430 -- Joan of Arc captured by Burgundians who sold her to the English.
In 1533 -- King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon marriage declared null and void by the newly formed Church of England.
In 1701 -- Captain Kidd is hanged in London after convicted of piracy and murder.
In 1883 -- Douglas Fairbanks, first and greatest of Hollywood's swashbucklers, born
In 1873 -- Canada's North West Mounted Police force (The Mounties) first established.
In 1915 -- Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in World War I.
In 1933 -- Joan Collins (in London), actor, born
In 1934 -- Bonnie and Clyde shot in Louisiana ambush.
In 1937 -- Industrialist John D. Rockefeller died in Ormond Beach, FL.
In 1945 -- Nazi Himmler committed suicide while in prison at Lunenburg, Germany.
In 1949 -- West Germany was proclaimed.
In 1952 -- 'Marvelous' Marvin Hagler (in New Jersey), boxer, born
In 1960 -- Israel announced capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

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In 1686 -- Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, invented the thermometer, born.
In 1743 -- Jean-Paul Marat, philosopher, born.
In 1819 -- Queen Victoria, British ruler, born.
In 1844 -- Samuel F. B. Morse taps out "What Hath God Wrought".
In 1899 -- The first auto repair shop opens in Boston, MA.
In 1941 -- Robert Zimmerman (a.k.a. Bob Dylan) (in Minnesota), folk singer, born.
In 1944 -- Patti Labelle, singer, born.
In 1945 -- Priscilla Presley, actor, wife of Elvis, born.
In 1954 -- First rocket to exceed 150 mile altitude - White Sands, NM.
In 1959 -- First house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited, Pleasant Hills, Pa.
In 1962 -- M. Scott Carpenter aboard Aurora 7 is launched.
In 1964 -- Beatles' third appearance on Ed Sullivan.
In 1975 -- Soyuz 18B is launched.

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In 585 B.C. -- First known prediction of a solar eclipse.
In 1085 -- St Gregory VII, pope (1073-85), dies (birth date unknown).
In 1085 -- Alfonso VI of Castile captured Toledo, Spain, and brought the Moorish center of science into Christian hands.
In 1803 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson US, essayist/philosopher, born.
In 1810 -- Argentina declares independence from Napoleonic Spain (Natl. Day).
In 1878 -- Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, actor (Stormy Weather, Little Colonel), born.
In 1889 -- Igor Sikorsky developed a working helicopter, born.
In 1911 -- Revolution in Mexico overthrows President Diaz.
In 1914 -- British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule.
In 1926 -- Miles Davis trumpeter; pioneered cool jazz (Porgy and Bess), born.
In 1927 -- Robert Ludlum spy novelist (Bourne Identity), born.
In 1927 -- Henry Ford stops producing Model T car (begins Model A).
In 1935 -- Jesse Owens equals or breaks 6 world records in one hour.
In 1941 -- Five thousand drown in a storm at Ganges Delta region in India.
In 1943 -- Sally Jesse Raphael TV talk show host (Sally), born.
In 1944 -- Frank Oz Heresford England, puppeteer (Sesame St, Muppet Show), born.
In 1945 -- Arthur C. Clarke proposes relay satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
In 1946 -- Jordan gains independence from Britain (Natl. Day).
In 1958 -- Paul Weller guitar (Jam-This is the Modern World, Style Council), born.
In 1967 -- John Lennon takes delivery of his psychedelic painted Rolls Royce.
In 1978 -- Star Wars released.
In 1983 -- Return of the Jedi (Star Wars 3) released.

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In 1328 William of Ockham forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII.
In 1667 -- Abraham De Moivre French mathematician (De Moivre's theorem), born.
In 1799 -- Alexander S Pushkin Russia, writer (Eugene Onegin), born.
In 1886 -- Al Jolson jazz singer/silent film actor (Mamie, Swanee), born.
In 1896 -- Last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II, crowned.
In 1907 -- John Wayne "Duke", [Marion Michael Morrison] actor (True Grit), born.
In 1913 -- Peter Cushing England, actor (Hound of the Baskervilles), born.
In 1918 -- Georgian Social Democratic Republic declared independence from Russia.
In 1923 -- First Le Mans Grand Prix d'Endurance was run.
In 1937 -- San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge opens.
In 1946 -- Patent filed in US for H-Bomb.
In 1946 -- Stevie Nicks Phoenix, AZ, rocker (Fleetwood Mac-Bella Donna), born.
In 1948 -- South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy.
In 1957 -- Siouxsie [Susan Ballion], (Siouxsie and the Bandshee-Wild Thing), born.
In 1966 -- British Guiana gains independence, takes the name Guyana.
In 1969 -- Apollo 10 returns to Earth.
In 1969 -- John and Yoko begin their 2nd bed-in (Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal).

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In 1647 -- Achsah Young becomes 1st woman known to be executed as a witch (MA).
In 1837 -- Wild Bill Hickok cowboy, born.
In 1844 -- Samuel F. B. Morse completes 1st telegraph line.
In 1911 -- Vincent Price St Louis Mo, actor (The Fly, Laura), born.
In 1949 -- Ropert L. Ripley cartoonist (Believe It or Not), dies at 55 in NY.
In 1958 -- Neil Finn rocker (Split Enz-I Got You, Crowded House), born.
In 1965 -- Pat Cash tennis player (Wimbledon 1987), born.

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In 1738 -- Dr. Joseph Guillotin, guess what he invented, born.
In 1742 -- First indoor swimming pool opens at Goodman's Fields, London.
In 1886 -- Jim Thorpe, Olympic athlete, born.
In 1908 -- Ian Fleming, writer (James Bond series), born.
In 1929 -- First all color talking picture On With The Show exhibited, NYC.
In 1944 -- Gladys Knight, singer, born.
In 1953 -- Premier of first animated 3-D cartoon in Technicolor - Melody.
In 1959 -- First animals fired into space and rescued, Cape Canaveral.
In 1961 -- Amnesty International Anniversary.
In 1971 -- Mars 3 launched. First spacecraft to soft land on Mars.

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In 757 -- St Paul I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
In 1453 -- Constantinople falls to Muhammad II (Turks); ends Byzantine Empire. Also considered the end of the Middle Ages.
In 1630 -- Charles II king of England (1660-85), born.
In 1826 -- Ebenezer Butterick inventor (tissue paper dress pattern), born.
In 1837 -- Birth of Charles W. Fry, the English musician who, along with his three sons, formed the first Salvation Army brass band.
In 1900 -- Trademark Escalator registered by Otis Elevator Co..
In 1911 -- First running of the Indianapolis 500.
In 1917 -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th U.S. President (1961-1963), born.
In 1922 -- Ecuador becomes independent.
In 1939 -- Al Unser, auto racer (Indianapolis 500-1970, 71), born.
In 1953 -- Hillary and Tenzing become 1st humans to reach top of Mt Everest.
In 1958 -- Annette Bening, actress (Bugsy, Valmont), born.
In 1977 -- Sue Press is 1st woman golfer to hit consecutive holes-in one.
In 1980 -- Larry Bird beats out Magic Johnson for NBA rookie of year.
In 1984 -- Eric Morecambe comedian (Morecambe and Wise), dies at 58.
In 1985 -- Thirty-five die in rioting between British and Italians at European Cup soccer.
In 1987 -- Michael Jackson attempts to buy Elephant Man's remains.

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In 1431 -- Joan of Arc burned at the stake in Rouen, France at age 19.
In 1778 -- The French philosopher Voltaire died.
In 1908 -- Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Barney Rubble, etc, etc, born.
In 1909 -- Benny Goodman, bandleader, king of swing, born
In 1911 -- Indianapolis 500 car race run for first time. Winning driver Ray Harroun takes it with a blazing 75 mph.
In 1926 -- Christine Jorgensen, pioneer transsexual, born
In 1971 -- Mariner 9 launched.
In 1972 -- Three Japanese PFL terrorists kill 24, wound 72 at Tel Aviv's Lydda airport.
In 1982 -- Spain became the 16th member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

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In 1678 -- Lady Godiva takes a ride through Coventry.
In 1809 -- Composer Franz Josef Hayden died in Vienna, Austria.
In 1819 -- Walt Whitman (in West Hills, NY), poet, born.
In 1868 -- First recorded bicycle race, 2 kilometers in Paris.
In 1879 -- First electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition.
In 1908 -- Don Ameche, actor (Cocoon, Trading Places), born.
In 1910 -- Union of South Africa was founded.
In 1916 -- During WW I British and German fleets fought the Battle of Jutland.
In 1923 -- Prince Rainier of Monaco, born.
In 1930 -- Clint Eastwood, actor (Dirty Harry, Heartbreak Ridge, City Heat), born.
In 1950 -- Tom Berenger, actor, born.
In 1961 -- South Africa became an independent republic.
In 1962 -- WW II Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann hung in Israel.
In 1965 -- Brooke Shields (in New York City), actor, model, born.
In 1970 -- Tens of thousands of people in Peru died in an earthquake.
In 1974 -- Israel and Syria sign an agreement concerning the Golan Heights.
In 1988 -- Americans and Soviets ratify the INF treaty, agreeing to eliminate medium range nuclear warheads.

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