1788 – Jacques Aliamet, French etcher and engraver, dies at 61
1866 – Winfield Scott, American army general (Union) and presidential candidate, dies at 79
1882 – Vasily Perov, Russian painter (b. 1833)
1914 – Paul von Mauser, German weapon designer, dies at 75
1995 – Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (U.S. Senator from Maine), dies at 97
1998 – Eric St Eval Atkinson, West Indian cricketer (bro of Denis WI pace bowler 1958-59), dies at 70
2005 – Oscar Brown, American singer, songwriter (“Brown Baby”; “Forbidden Fruit”), playwright, and poet, dies from complications of osteomyelitis at 78
2011 – Bill Clements, American politician, Governor of Texas (1987-91), dies at 94
2015 – Doris Hart, American tennis player (6 x Grand Slam singles titles; 29 x GS doubles titles), dies at 89
2021 – Keith Mullings, American boxer (WBC and lineal light middleweight titles 1998), dies at 53
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 29th May 2024
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
Today in History for 29th May 2024
Historical Events
1138 – Anti-Pope Victor IV (Gregorio) submits himself to Pope Innocentius II
1851 – Sojourner Truth addresses 1st Black Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio
1912 – Ballets Russes premieres their ballet L’après-midi d’un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun) in Paris, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky
1943 – Algiers Allied Planning Conference between Winston Churchill, George Marshall and General Dwight D. Eisenhower finalizes the plan for the Italian Campaign
1986 – 59th National Spelling Bee: Jon Pennington wins spelling odontalgia
2019 – Tourist boat sinks after colliding with another boat on the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary, killing 28 people
Famous Birthdays
1923 – Eugene Wright, American jazz bassist (The Dave Brubeck Quartet), sometimes known as “The Senator”, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2020)
1930 – Eddy Choong, Malaysian badminton player (Thomas Cup 1955), born in Penang, British Malaya (d. 2013)
1944 – Quentin Davies, British MP (C and L), born in Oxford, England
1948 – Nick Mancuso, Italian-Canadian actor, born in Mammola, Italy
1959 – Mel Gaynor, British rock drummer (Simple Minds – “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”; “Alive And Kicking”), born in Balham, London, England
1963 – Ukyo Katayama, Japanese auto racer, team manager (F1 95 starts), born in Tokyo, Japan
Famous Deaths
1896 – Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist, dies at 81
1905 – Leon Francis Victor Caron, French-Australian composer (Caron Opera Company), dies at 55
1948 – May Whitty, English actress (Gaslight, Mrs Miniver, Suspicion), dies at 82
1951 – Fanny Brice, American singing comedian (Ziegeld Follies, Baby Snooks), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 59
1992 – Peter “Ollie” Halsall, British rock guitarist and vibraphone player (Patto; The Rutles; Kevin Ayers), dies of a heart attack at 43
1994 – Joseph Janni, producer, dies at 78
Famous Deaths for 28th May 2024
1317 – Guy van Avesnes/Henegouwen, bishop of Utrecht, dies at about 63
1787 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, dies at 67
1914 – Adolf Sonnenfeld, Polish violinist and composer, dies at 76
1927 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter (b. 1878)
1964 – John Finley Williamson, American choral conductor (Westminster Choir College, 1920-58), dies at 76
1987 – Charles Ludlam, American playwright and actor (Big Easy), dies at 44
1995 – Daniela Rocca, Italian actress (Battle of Austerlitz), dies at 57
1996 – Julian Krein [Yulian Kreyn], Russian composer (Razrusheniye (Destruction)), and musicologist, dies at 83
2014 – David Nadien, American concert and session violin virtuoso, dies of pneumonia at 88
2019 – Andre Asriel, Austrian-German classical and film score composer, dies at 97
Historical Events for 28th May 2024
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
Today in History for 28th May 2024
Historical Events
1037 – Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II removes “Constitutio the Feudis”
1941 – 1st night game at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C. (NY Yankees pip the Senators 6-5)
1979 – European Market accepts Greece as member
1986 – Democratic Labor Party wins parliamentary election in Barbados
1999 – Two Swedish police officers are murdered with their own fire arms by the bank robbers Jackie Arklöv and Tony Olsson after a dramatic car chase
2021 – Discovery of a mass grave with the remains of 215 children from Kamloops Indian Residential School announced by First Nation in British Columbia, Canada
Famous Birthdays
1883 – Clough Williams-Ellis, British architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales, born in Gayton, Northamptonshire, England (d. 1978)
1912 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist and politician (d. 1992)
1924 – Geoffrey Rippon, British MP, born in Penn, Buckinghamshire (d. 1997)
1940 – Hans Dulfer, Dutch funk and jazz-fusion tenor saxophonist, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands
1944 – Patricia Quinn, Lady Stephens, Northern-Irish actress, voice artist and singer (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), born in Belfast, Northern Ireland
1956 – Germaine Montenesdro, 2nd victim of NYC’s Zodiac killer (survives)
Famous Deaths
1672 – John Trevor, English politician (b. 1626)
1811 – Henry Dundas, British minister (b. 1742)
1849 – Anne Brontë, English novelist (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall), dies at 29
1962 – Jesse Crawford, American pianist, theatre organist for silent films, and recording artist, dies at 66
1996 – Buck Bundy, TV dog (Married with Children), dies at 13
2008 – Robert Justman, American television producer (b. 1926)
Famous Deaths for 27th May 2024
1797 – Gracchus Babeuf, French utopian socialist, dies at 36
1910 – Robert Koch, German pioneering bacteriologist (TB, Cholera, Nobel Prize 1905), dies at 66
1964 – Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st Prime Minister of India (1947-64) and important leader of the Indian independence movement, dies of an assumed heart attack at 74
1983 – (Arnoldus) Arnold van Wyk, South African concert pianist and composer (Nagmusiek – Night Music), dies at 67
1985 – Kay Campbell, actress (All My Children), dies at 80
1986 – Gaston Duribreux, Flemish writer (Sour Dove), dies at 82
1991 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (International Bruckner Society; Mozart’s Requiem), and educator (Vienna University, 1932-73), dies at 86
2006 – Paul Gleason, American actor (Breakfast Club, Die Hard), dies of lung cancer at 67
2007 – Gretchen Wyler, American actress, dancer (Silk Stockings), and animal rights activist, dies at 75
2021 – William Jay Sydeman, American avant-garde composer, dies at 93
Historical Events for 27th May 2024
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
Today in History for 27th May 2024
Historical Events
1905 – Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history
1918 – Third Battle of Aisne: German offensive overcomes British forces (WWI)
1942 – Dorie Miller awarded navy cross for deeds at Pearl Harbor
1984 – Beth Henley’s “Miss Firecracker contest” premieres in NYC
2007 – Indianapolis 500: Scotsman Dario Franchitti declared the winner with 34 laps remaining when race halted by torrential rain
2009 – South Africa enters the global recession; the first recession for South Africa in 17 years
Famous Birthdays
1887 – Kazimierz Fajans, Polish-American physical chemist (Fajans’ rules), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1975)
1940 – Ed Van Impe, Canadian NHL hockey defenseman, 1966-77 (Stanley Cup, 1974, 1975 – Philadelphia Flyers, and 2 other teams), and broadcaster (Flyers), born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
1963 – Gonzalo Rubalcabo [González], Cuban jazz pianist, born in Havana, Cuba
1966 – John Jaha, infielder (Milwaukee Brewers), born in Portland, Oregon
1975 – Jamie Oliver, British chef and television personality, born in Claverling, England
1994 – Shawn Barber, Canadian athlete (World C’ship gold pole vault 2019; World Indoor Tour 2016), born in Las Cruces, New Mexico (d. 2024)
Famous Deaths
1596 – Tibaldi II, Italian painter/sculptor/architect, dies
1675 – Gaspard Dughet, French painter (b. 1613)
1863 – Edward Payson Chapin, American lawyer and Union Army Colonel (posthumously elevated to Brigadier General), dies of injuries from the Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana at 31
1958 – Samuel Stritch, US cardinal/archbishop (Chicago), dies
2007 – Ron Archer, Australian cricket all-rounder (19 Tests, 1 x 100, 48 wickets; Queensland CA), dies at 73
2011 – Jeff Conaway, American actor and singer (Taxi – “Bobby”; Grease – “Kenickie”; Babylon 5 – “Zack”), dies of pneumonia and sepsis at 60
Famous Deaths for 26th May 2024
1831 – Ciro Menotti, Italian patriot (b. 1798)
1832 – François-Louis Perne, French composer, dies at 59
1871 – Aimé Maillart, French opera composer (Les Dragons de Villars), dies at 54
1933 – Horatio Bottomley, British financier and politician (b. 1860)
1943 – Edsel Ford, American President of Ford Motor Company (1919-1943) and son of Henry Ford, dies of stomach cancer aged 49
1954 – Franz Pfemfert, German journalist and writer, dies at 74
1995 – Severn Darden, American actor (Luv; The President’s Analyst; Saturday the 14th), dies at 65
1996 – Matima Kinuani Mpiosso, Zairen rock guitarist (Zaika Langa-Langa), dies at 45
2003 – Gerald S. Hawkins, English-American astronomer (archaeoastronomy), dies at 75
2021 – Patrick Sky [Lynch], American musician, folk singer, songwriter, record producer, and uilleann bagpiper (Songs That Made America Famous), dies of cancer at 80