1076 – Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria and the last Anglo-Saxon earl, beheaded after rebelling against William the Conquorer
1246 – Isabella of Angouleme, queen consort of King John of England (1200-16) and Countess of La Marche, dies at about 58
1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and 1st moderator (Free Church of Scotland 1843-47), dies at 67
1906 – Hermann Schell, German theologist and philodopher (Gott und Geist), dies of a heart attack at 56
1996 – Elsbeary Hobbs, American rocker (Drifters), dies at 59
2010 – Rubén Juárez, Argentine bandoneonist, dies of cancer at 62
2010 – Chris Haney, Canadian journalist who created the board game “Trivial Pursuit”, dies at 59
2017 – Jiří Bělohlávek, Czech conductor (Czech Philharmonic, 1990-92 and 2012-17; Prague Philharmonia, 1993-2005; BBC Symphony, 2006-12), dies of cancer at 71
2020 – Christo [Javacheff], Bulgarian artist and wrapper (Running Fence), dies at 84
2021 – Phil Johnstone, British songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer (Robert Plant), dies at 63
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 31st May 2025
1665 – Jerusalem’s rabbi Sjabtai Tswi proclaims himself Messiah
1790 – Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca (now the international border between Canada and the US)
1847 – Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
1916 – HMS Invincible explodes after taking fire during the Battle of Jutland, killing 1026 officers including Rear-Admiral Hood – only 6 crew members survive
1919 – NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes 1st crossing of Atlantic
1921 – Boston Red Sox 1st baseman John “Stuffy” McInnis begins an errorless string of 1,700 chances
1937 – German warships bombard Almeria, Spain
1970 – Cathedral of Brasília, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer is dedicated in the Brazilian capital Brasília
1990 – BPAA US Women’s Bowling Open won by Dana Miller-Mackie
2021 – Tulsa, Oklahoma, marks 100 year anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of black residents by a white mob in the Greenwood neighborhood
Today in History for 31st May 2025
Historical Events
1923 – The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) forms in Durban, South Africa, with Omar Hajee Amod Jhaveri as President
1928 – First aerial crossing of the Pacific takes off from Oakland
1937 – 1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University)
1958 – Dick Dale invents “surf music” with “Let’s Go Trippin”
1970 – KDUB TV channel 40 in Dubuque, IA (ABC) begins broadcasting
Famous Birthdays
1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (Wife at University), born in Skipton, Yorkshire, England (d. 1900)
1892 – Willem Ravelli, Dutch baritone singer (St Matthew Passion), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1980)
1893 – Janet Sobel [Jennie Olechovsky], Ukrainian-American abstract expressionist and drip-paint pioneering artist (Milky Way), born in Katerynoslav, Russian Empire (now Dnipro, Ukraine) (d. 1968)
1904 – Stan Brenders, Belgian jazz pianist and bandleader, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1969)
1929 – Neil Shaw, Canadian-British businessman and CEO of sugar company Tate and Lyle, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 2023)
Famous Deaths
1198 – Moses ben Solomon Ha-Cohen, rabbi of Mainz, dies
1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish Modernist poet , dies at 78
1960 – Walther Funk, German economist and Nazi politician, dies at 69
2000 – Johnnie Taylor, American RandB and multi-genre singer (“Disco Lady”; “I Believe In You”), dies at 66
2021 – Phil Johnstone, British songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer (Robert Plant), dies at 63
Famous Deaths for 30th May 2025
1809 – Johan B Scheffer, portrait painter, dies at about 43
1922 – David Mendes Chumaceiro, Curacaos poet (Adelfas), dies at 45
1935 – Lothar Windsperger, German composer and editor, dies at 49
1938 – Raden Soetomo, Indonesian freedom fighter, dies at 49
1944 – Jessie Ralph, American stage, silent and sound screen actress (The Good Earth; San Francisco: The Bank Dick), dies at 79
1946 – Louis Slotin, Canadian Physicist and Chemist (Manhattan Project, Los Alamos) who assembled the plutonium core for ‘Trinity’, the first detonated atomic device, dies of radiation poisoning at 35 (b. 1910)
1977 – Claire Goll, German-French writer, dies at 86
2006 – Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director, won 2 Palme d’Or awards for “The Ballad of Narayama” and “The Eel”, dies at 79
2008 – Boris Shakhlin, Russian gymnast (Olympic gold, 1956, 1960, 1964; World Champion, 1958; European Champion, 1955), dies at 76
2022 – David Holford, West Indian cricket all-rounder (24 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 105no, 51 wickets, BB 5/23; Barbados), dies at 82
Historical Events for 30th May 2025
1642 – All honours granted by Charles I are retrospectively annulled by Parliament
1907 – 41st Belmont Stakes: George Mountain aboard 3-year-old stallion Peter Pan wins
1917 – Jazz standard “Dark Town Strutters Ball” by Shelton Brooks recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
1927 – Walter Johnson records 110th and final shutout of his Baseball HOF career, the most in MLB history; Washington Senators score 3-0 win over Boston Red Sox
1956 – Mickey Mantle misses by 18 inches hitting 1st home run out of Yankee Stadium in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators
1957 – Test Cricket debut for Rohan Kanhai v England at Edgbaston
1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge is officially opened in Auckland, New Zealand.
1966 – Indianapolis 500: English 1962 F1 World Champion Graham Hill wins after leading for a total of only 10 laps; first rookie winner since 1927
1972 – 3 Japanese PFL terrorists kills 24, wound 72 at Tel Aviv’s Lod Intl airport
1986 – Indianapolis 500: Bobby Rahal becomes first driver in race history to complete the 500 miles (800 km) in less than 3 hours; average speed 170.722 mph (274.750 km/h)
Today in History for 30th May 2025
Historical Events
1908 – US Assay Office in Salt Lake City, Utah authorized
1908 – 1st federal workmen’s compensation law approved
1933 – Indianapolis 500: Louis Meyer wins accompanied by riding mechanic Lawson Harris; Mark Billman killed in a crash on lap 79; Lester Spangler and riding mechanic “Monk” Jordan die in a crash on lap 132
1962 – 69 killed in bus crash in Ahmedabad, India
2022 – Frontier becomes the world’s fastest supercomputer and first exascale computer, able to perform a quintillion calculations per second, at US’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Famous Birthdays
1757 – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, British Prime Minister (Tory: 1801-04), born in London (d. 1844)
1830 – Edward Winslow Hinks, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Bucksport, Maine (d. 1894)
1844 – Louis Varney, French composer, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1908)
1871 – Amos Rusie, American Baseball HOF pitcher (Triple Crown and NL wins leader 1894; 5 × NL strikeout leader; pitched no-hitter 1891; NY Giants), born in Mooresville, Indiana (d. 1942)
1926 – Edouard Van Remoortel, Belgian conductor (St Louis Symphony, 1958-62), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1977)
Famous Deaths
1469 – Lope de Barrientos, Spanish bishop
1994 – Ezra Taft Benson, 13th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and US Secretary of Agriculture, dies at 94
2008 – Lorenzo Odone, American medical figure (b. 1978)
2019 – Frank Lucas, American drug kingpin (fictionalised in 2007 film “American Gangster”), dies at 88
2021 – Frank Navarro, American college football coach (Williams College, Columbia University, Princeton University), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 29th May 2025
1511 – Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, Spanish Governor of the Indies (1501-09), dies at 50 or 51
1790 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (Battle of Bunker Hill), dies at 72
1862 – Franciszek Wincenty Mirecki, Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue, dies at 71
1921 – Abbott Handerson Thayer, American painter and naturalist (paintings of angels), dies at 71
1951 – Dimitrios Levidis, Greek composer, dies at 66
1961 – Uuno Klami, Finnish composer (Psalmus; Kalevala Suite), dies of a heart attack while sailing at 60
1972 – Margaret Ruthven Lang, American composer (Irish Love Song), dies at 104
2012 – Mark Minkov, Russian Soviet theater and film score composer, dies at 67
2015 – Henry Carr, American athlete (Olympic gold 200m, 4x400m 1964) and football safety (NY Giants), dies at 72
2021 – B.J. Thomas, American singer (“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”; “Hooked On A Feeling”; “Growing Pains Theme”), dies of lung cancer at 78
Historical Events for 29th May 2025
1138 – Anti-Pope Victor IV (Gregorio) submits himself to Pope Innocentius II
1900 – Trademark “Escalator” registered by Otis Elevator Co.
1916 – NY Giants win 17th consecutive road game
1924 – AEK Athens FC is established on the anniversary of the siege of Constantinople by the Turks
1928 – Fritz von Opel reaches 200 kph in experimental rocket car
1973 – Columbia Records fires president Clive Davis for misappropriating $100,000 in funds, Davis will start Arista records
1973 – Thomas Bradley elected 1st African American mayor of Los Angeles, California
1983 – Yuri Dumchev of USSR throws discus a record 71.86 m
2015 – Heat wave in India centered in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states is reported to have killed 1800 people in a week
2019 – World’s smallest surviving baby, a girl, discharged from Sharp March Birch Hospital in San Diego after being born at 23 weeks weighing 8.6 ounces (245 grams)
Today in History for 29th May 2025
Historical Events
1954 – French Championships Women’s Tennis: Maureen Connolly retains her title; beats Ginette Bucaille of France 6-4, 6-1
1972 – LPGA Titleholders Championship Women’s Golf, Southern Pines CC: Sandra Palmer wins first of 2 majors by a massive 10 strokes from Judy Rankin and Mickey Wright
2006 – Singer David Bowie joins guitarist David Gilmour as special guest during encore at Royal Albert Hall, London concert; they perform “Arnold Layne” and “Comfortably Numb” in what becomes Bowie’s final UK appearance
2018 – ABC TV network cancels TV comedy “Roseanne” after its star Roseanne Barr posts a racist tweet
2023 – Canadian hiker Delaney Irving (19) wins perilous Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling in Brockworth, Glocestershire, England, despite being knocked unconscious
Famous Birthdays
1906 – T. H. White, English novelist (England Have My Bones) and author of the King Arthur novels, born in Bombay, British India (d. 1964)
1927 – Dick Hillenius, Dutch biologist and writer, born in Amsterdam (d. 1987)
1933 – William Yorzyk Jr., American swimmer (Olympic gold 200m butterfly, WR 2:19.3, 1956), born in Northampton, Massachusetts (d. 2020)
1937 – Charles W. Pickering, American judge (Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi), born in Laurel, Mississippi
1960 – Adrian Paul, English actor (Dance to Win, Highlander), born in London, England
Famous Deaths
1924 – Pierre-Paul Cambon, French diplomat (negotiated Entente Cordiale), dies at 81
1924 – Johann Baptist Singenberger, Swiss composer, music teacher, editor and publisher of liturgical music, dies at 76
1939 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic saint and foundress of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, dies of a carcinoma at 74
1992 – Ruby Middleton Forsythe, African-American teacher who taught for 50 years in one-room schoolhouse in South Carolina, dies at 86
2012 – Mark Minkov, Russian Soviet theater and film score composer, dies at 67
Famous Deaths for 28th May 2025
1672 – John Trevor, English politician (b. 1626)
1811 – Henry Dundas, British minister (b. 1742)
1878 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, British Prime Minister (Whig: 1846-52 and 1865-66), dies at 85
1900 – George Grove, English biblical scholar and misicographer, dies at 79
1964 – John Finley Williamson, American choral conductor (Westminster Choir College, 1920-58), dies at 76
1979 – William Edmonson, American bass harmony and gospel vocalist (Southernaires), radio, stage and screen actor (Thirty Years Later), dies at 76
1980 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)
1990 – Joseph Hardy, American character actor (Husbands; The Clock), dies at 71
1996 – Jimmy Rowles [Hunter], American jazz pianist and composer (The Peacocks), dies of cardiac arrest at 77
2021 – Mark Eaton, American basketball center (NBA All-Star 1989; NBA Defensive Player of the Year 1985, 89; Utah Jazz), dies after a bicycle accident at 64