Author: gil7

Today in History for 5th May 2025

Historical Events

1814 – British attack Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York
1908 – 34th Kentucky Derby: Arthur Pickens aboard 66-1 chance Stone Street wins in muddy track conditions; 2:15.20 slowest Derby in history
1938 – MLB Philadelphia Phillies Harold Kelleher pitcher faces 16 batters in 6th, as Cubs score 12 runs, both marks are NL records off one hurler in a single inning
1980 – Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as the SAS and police storm the building
1990 – 35th Eurovision Song Contest: Toto Cutugno for Italy wins singing “Insieme: 1992” in Zagreb

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Famous Birthdays

1680 – Giuseppe Porsile, Neapolitan composer, born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, Spanish Empire (d. 1750)
1873 – Leon Czolgosz, American anarchist and assassin of US President William McKinley, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1901)
1904 – Gordon Richards, British jockey (26 x British flat racing Champion Jockey; 4,870 race wins), born in Donnington Wood, Telford (d. 1986)
1921 – Sonja Oosterman, Dutch pop singer and lyricist (De Marketentsters en De Musketiers), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2008)
1936 – Patrick Gowers, British choral and film score composer (Viri Galilaei; Hamlet; Smiley’s People), born in Islington, England (d. 2014)

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Famous Deaths

1678 – Anna M van Schurman, Dutch poet, spoke 10 languages, dies at about 70
1808 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist, dies at 50
1864 – John Marshall Jones, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 43
1996 – Bernard Benjamin Gillis [Kyanski] British jurist (High Court , 1964-80), dies at 89
2000 – Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (Tour de France 1938, 48; Giro d’Italia 1936-7, 46), dies of a heart attack at 85

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Famous Deaths for 4th May 2025

1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, dies in Battle of Tewkesbury at 17, becoming the only heir apparent to the English throne to ever die in battle
1770 – Christian Gottfried Krause, German composer, dies at 51
1811 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
1859 – Joseph Diez Gergonne, French mathematician, dies at 87
1873 – William Holmes McGuffey, American professor (wrote elementary school McGuffey Readers – 120 million copies sold), dies at 72
1916 – Joseph Mary Plunkett, Irish revolutionary (b. 1887)
1972 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
1980 – Kay Hammond, British actress (Blithe Spirit, 5 Golden Hours), dies at 71
1994 – Karl Francis Hettinger, American police officer (Onion Field survivor), dies at 59
2018 – Edwin G. Burrows, American historian and professor, dies at 74

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Historical Events for 4th May 2025

1883 – John Gordon Cashman publishes the first edition of the “Vicksburg Evening Post” in Mississippi
1919 – Demonstrates organised by students erupt in China, after news from the Paris Peace Conference that the Allies intend to give Shangtung to Japan
1933 – Pulitzer Prize for poetry awarded to Archibald Macleish for “Conquistador”
1961 – Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather reach a record height of 34,668 meters in a balloon
1968 – 1st ABA championship: Pitts Pipers beat NO Buccaneers, 4 games to 3
1977 – US Catholic bishops rescind automatic excommunications for divorced and remarried Catholics (receiving communion still outlawed if the previous marriages were not annulled by Church tribunals)
1991 – Phil Collins, Al Jarreau, Ikutaro Kakehashi and Joe Zawinul receive honorary doctorate degrees from the Berklee College of Music in Boston
1991 – MLB Cleveland Indians’ Chris James sets club record for most RBIs in a game (9)
1992 – US Army and Marine Corps forces arrive in Los Angeles to end rioting following the acquittal of four police officers over the beating of Rodney King
2016 – Ohio Governor John Kasich bows out of the race for US Republican Presidential nominee

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Today in History for 4th May 2025

Historical Events

1868 – World’s largest book, the “Kuthodaw Inscription Shrines,” recording the whole of Buddhist scriptures on 729 marble tablets, is completed and opened to the public in Mandalay, Burma
1919 – Demonstrates organised by students erupt in China, after news from the Paris Peace Conference that the Allies intend to give Shangtung to Japan
1958 – Alberto Lleras Camargo chosen as president of Colombia
2002 – 128th Kentucky Derby: Victor Espinoza aboard War Emblem wins in 2:01.13
2013 – 39 people are killed at a funeral in Wukari, Nigeria

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Famous Birthdays

1893 – Edgar Dearing, American actor (Pollyanna, Abraham Lincoln, Free and Easy), born in Ceres, California (d. 1974)
1921 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter, born in Velika Pisanica, Bjelovar, Croatia (d. 2005)
1933 – J. Fred Duckett, American sports announcer (Houston Astros, Rice University, US Track and Field) and teacher, born in Houston, Texas (d. 2007)
1989 – Rory McIlroy, Irish golfer (Masters 2025; US Open 2011, British Open 2014, PGA C’ship 2012, 14; FedEx Cup 2016, 19, 22), born in Holywood, Northern Ireland
1994 – Pauline Ducruet, daughter of HSH Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, born in Princess Grace Hospital Centre, La Colle, Monaco

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Famous Deaths

1859 – Joseph Diez Gergonne, French mathematician, dies at 87
1919 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak politician, French army general (WWI), Czecho-Slovak nationalist resistance leader, aviator, and astronomer, dies in a plane crash at 38
1971 – Donald Dexter Van Slyke, American chemist (Micromanometric analysis), dies at 88
1975 – Moe Howard [Moses Horowitz], American actor and comedian (The 3 Stooges), dies at 77
1999 – Brinsley Ford, British art historian and CEO (National Art Collections Fund), dies at 90

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Famous Deaths for 3rd May 2025

1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Bohemian-Austrian violinist and composer, dies at 59
1707 – Michiel de Swaen, Dutch physician and poet, dies at 53
1737 – Abraham Patras, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1735-37), dies at 65
1779 – John Winthrop, American educator at Harvard and astronomer, dies at 64
1863 – Elisha Franklin Paxton [Bull Paxton], American general (Confederate Army), dies leading Stoneville Brigade at the Battle of Chancellorsville at 35
1968 – Leonid Sabaneyev, Russian composer, dies at 86
1972 – Bruce Cabot, actor (Diamonds are Forever), dies at 68
1991 – Don Whitmire, American College Football Hall of Fame tackle (Alabama, Navy – All American at both), dies at 68
2018 – Bob Prewitt, American college basketball coach (SMU Mustangs), dies at 93
2023 – Lance Blanks, American basketball guard (Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves), executive (GM Phoenix Suns 2010-13), and broadcaster (ESPN, Longhorn Network), takes his own life at 56

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Famous Deaths for 3rd May 2025

1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, Bohemian-Austrian violinist and composer, dies at 59
1707 – Michiel de Swaen, Dutch physician and poet, dies at 53
1737 – Abraham Patras, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1735-37), dies at 65
1779 – John Winthrop, American educator at Harvard and astronomer, dies at 64
1863 – Elisha Franklin Paxton [Bull Paxton], American general (Confederate Army), dies leading Stoneville Brigade at the Battle of Chancellorsville at 35
1968 – Leonid Sabaneyev, Russian composer, dies at 86
1972 – Bruce Cabot, actor (Diamonds are Forever), dies at 68
1991 – Don Whitmire, American College Football Hall of Fame tackle (Alabama, Navy – All American at both), dies at 68
2018 – Bob Prewitt, American college basketball coach (SMU Mustangs), dies at 93
2023 – Lance Blanks, American basketball guard (Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves), executive (GM Phoenix Suns 2010-13), and broadcaster (ESPN, Longhorn Network), takes his own life at 56

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Historical Events for 3rd May 2025

1837 – The University of Athens is founded by King Otto of Greece – first modern university in the Eastern Mediterranean
1902 – 28th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on Alan-a-Dale wins in 2:08.75
1922 – Salt layer find at Winterswijk
1953 – Westchester conference of American Library Association proclaims “Freedom to Read”
1968 – Holland Pirate Radio Station VRON becomes Radio Veronica Intl
1970 – World premiere of The Beatles’ “Let it Be” documentary film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, in New York City
1982 – NY Times reports that military will get 25% of NASA’s budget
1992 – NY Met Eddie Murray is 24th to hit 400 HRs
2018 – Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan becomes NFL’s first $30m per season player after agreeing to $150m contract extension
2018 – Indian government confirms around 110 people have died in dust storms in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the last 9 days

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Today in History for 3rd May 2025

Historical Events

1765 – 1st North American medical college opens in Philadelphia
1830 – First regular steam train passenger service in the US starts in South Carolina, with U.S.-built locomotive “The Best Friend of Charleston”
1867 – Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island
1900 – 26th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Boland aboard Lieut Gibson wins in 2:06.25
2018 – Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan becomes NFL’s first $30m per season player after agreeing to $150m contract extension

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Famous Birthdays

1895 – Ernst Kantorowicz, German-American historian (Laudes regiae), born in Posen, Prussia (d. 1963)
1920 – John Lewis, American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer (Modern Jazz Quartet, 1952-97), born in La Grange, Illinois (d. 2001)
1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian ice hockey goalie (Vezina and Conn Smyth Trophy 1987) and executive (GM Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins), born in Brandon, Manitoba
1968 – Shane Minor, American country music singer, born in Modesto, California
1979 – Genevieve Nnaji, Nigerian actress and director (Lionheart), born in Mbaise, Imo State, Nigeria

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Famous Deaths

1763 – George Psalmanazar, British impostor (b. 1679)
1764 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian art collector and encyclopedist (Viaggio in Russia), dies at 53
1983 – Armando José Fernandes, Portuguese neoclassical composer, dies at 76
2005 – Pierre Moerlen, French rock-jazz fusion drummer and percussionist (Gong; Mike Oldfield), dies at 52
2008 – Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, Spanish former Primer Minister (b. 1926)

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Famous Deaths for 2nd May 2025

1300 – Blanche of Artois, regent of Navarre (b. 1248)
1934 – Sergey Lebedev, Russian chemist, inventor of first commercially viable, mass-produced polybutadiene synthetic rubber for tires, and synthetic motor oil for aircraft engines, dies at 59
1957 – Tadeusz Zygfryd Kassern, Polish composer and cultural attache, dies at 53
1960 – Caryl Chessman, American kidnapper and rapist, executed in gas chamber at San Quentin (California) State Prison after 12 years of appeals at 38
1982 – Hugh Marlowe [Hipple], American actor (All About Eve, Ellery Queen), dies from a heart attack at 71
1994 – Louis Calaferte, writer (Requiem of the Innocents), dies at 65
1995 – Michael Hordern, British actor (Watership Down, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold), dies from kidney disease at 83
1996 – Emile Habibi, Palestinian Israeli writer (The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist), dies at 73
2001 – Ted Rogers, British comedian and game show host (3-2-1), dies after emergency open-heart surgery at 65
2018 – Wang Danfeng, Chinese actress, dies at 93

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Historical Events for 2nd May 2025

1809 – Dartmoor Prison in England opens to house French prisoners of war
1906 – Tsar Nicolas II of Russia dismisses his moderate Prime Minister Witte and appoints Ivan Goremykin, a conservative bureaucrat
1950 – Dutch PM Malan recognizes South-Africa but not People’s Republic of China
1956 – US Lab detects high-temperature microwave radiation from Venus
1979 – 14th Academy of Country Music Awards: Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell win
1985 – US performs underground nuclear test “Towanda” at Nevada Test Site, with an estimated 150 ton yield
1993 – “Tango Passion” closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 5 performances
1998 – 124th Kentucky Derby: Kent Desormeaux aboard Real Quiet wins in 2:02.20
2011 – E. coli O104:H4 outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick
2019 – Drone delivers a kidney for transplant surgery in Baltimore, Maryland, for the first time

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