Today in History for 10th May 2023

Historical Events

1915 – Canadian physician Cluny Macpherson first presents his gas mask invention to the British War Office
1959 – Giants Jim Hearn allows 2 runs against Pirates, game is suspended, Hearn is released and charged with loss 2 months after his retirement
1972 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1995 – Real Zaragoza of Spain win 35th European Cup Winner’s Cup against Arsenal of England 2-1 in Paris
2014 – The African National Congress wins the 2014 South African General Election
2022 – Tom Brady agrees to record 10-year, $375m deal to be Fox Sports’ lead analyst when he decides to finally retire; surpasses $303m the quarterback earned in salary during his NFL career

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Famous Birthdays

1866 – Léon Bakst, Russian painter and scene and costume designer, born in Grodno, Belarus (d. 1924)
1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Prime minister of Norway (d. 1987)
1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian president
1949 – Nolan Porter, American RandB singer-songwriter (“Keep On Keeping On”), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2021)
1973 – Rüştü Reçber, Turkish soccer goalkeeper (120 caps, record appearance holder, FIFA World Cup All Star Team: 2002; Fenerbahçe, Barcelona, Beşiktaş), born in Korkuteli, Turkey
1977 – Amanda Borden, American gymnast (World silver 1994, Olympic gold 1996), born in Cincinnati, Ohio

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Famous Deaths

995 – Boudouin, bishop of Utrecht
1798 – George Vancouver, British explorer, (surveyed Pacific coast from San Francisco to Vancouver Island), dies at 40
1989 – Woody Shaw, American jazz trumpeter (Rosewood), dies from complications after being stuck by a subway train at 44
1992 – Sylvia Syms [Blagman], American jazz and cabaret singer and actress (“I Could Have Danced All Night”; South Pacific – “Bloody May”), dies of a heart attack at 74
1995 – Harold Berens, comedian, dies at 92
1999 – Shel Silverstein, American writer and cartoonist (Now Here’s My Plan: A Book of Futilities; The Giving Tree) and songwriter (“A Boy Named Sue”; “The Cover Of The Rolling Stone”), dies at 68

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Famous Deaths for 9th May 2023

1760 – Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Austrian-born German religious and social reformer, dies at 59
1864 – John Sedgwick, American Major General (Union Army), is shot in battle after claiming “they couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance” at 50
1880 – Johann Hermann Berens, German-born Swedish Romantic composer, dies at 54
1915 – François Faber, Luxembourgian cyclist (Tour de France 1909), killed in action by gunshot wounds at 28
1970 – Walter P. Reuther, American worker’s union leader and president of the CIO, dies in a plane crash at 62
1977 – Walter Kraft, German organist and composer, dies at 71
1979 – Cyrus Eaton, Canadian-American financier, industrialist and steel magnate, dies at 95
2004 – Alan King [Irwin Kniberg], American comedian and actor (Anderson Tapes, Memories of Me), dies at 76
2015 – Kenan Evren, Turkish soldier and politician, (President of Turkey 1980-1989 by military coup), dies at 97
2016 – John Warr, English cricket bowler (avg 281) and president (MCC), dies at 88

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Historical Events for 9th May 2023

328 – Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria
1588 – Duke Henri de Guise’s troops occupy Paris
1864 – Battle of Cloyd’s Mt, and Swift Creek, Virginia (Drewery’s Bluff, Fort Darling)
1929 – WJW-AM in Cleveland Ohio begins radio transmissions
1949 – Britain’s 1st launderette opens in Queensway, London
1965 – Luna 5 launched (USSR) 1st attempt to soft land on Moon (fails)
1978 – American publishing heiress Patty Hearst returns to jail, after legal appeals to her bank robbery conviction fail
1989 – NY Mets Kevin Elster, errors after 88 errorless games at shortstop
1992 – 37th Eurovision Song Contest: Linda Martin for Ireland wins singing “Why Me” in Malmo
2006 – George Preca is canonized as the first Maltese saint in history

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Today in History for 9th May 2023

Historical Events

1901 – A financial panic begins in the USA following the struggle between two groups to control the railroads between the Great Lakes and the Pacific
1971 – 23rd Emmy Awards: All in the Family, Jack Klugman and Jean Stapleton win
1978 – American publishing heiress Patty Hearst returns to jail, after legal appeals to her bank robbery conviction fail
1989 – NY Mets Rick Cerone, errors after 159 errorless games as catcher
2017 – Moon Jae-in elected President of South Korea after a snap election to replace Park Geun-hye
2019 – At least 65 migrants drown off the coast of Tunisia when their boat capsizes after leaving Libya according to the UN

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Famous Birthdays

1914 – Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian conductor, born in Barletta, Italy (d. 2005)
1928 – Páll Pampichier Pálsson, Austrian-Icelandic composer, born in Graz, Austria (d. 1966)
1948 – Calvin Murphy, American basketball player
1955 – Myra Blackwelder, American golfer (LPGA Rookie of the Year 1980), born in Lexington, Kemtucky
1962 – John Corbett, American actor (Northern Exposure – “Chris Stevens”; Sex and the City – “Aidan”; My Big Fat Greek Wedding), and country music singer, born in Wheeling, West Virginia
1977 – Iñigo Landaluze, Spanish cyclist

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Famous Deaths

1822 – Charles Duquesnoy, French composer, dies at 62
1966 – Alfred Mendelsohn, Romanian composer, and conductor (Romanian National Opera, 1944-63), and teacher, dies at 56
1982 – Ab Visser, Dutch poet and writer (Man Without a Head), dies at 69
1990 – Patrick Piggott, British pianist, composer, and musicologist (The Life and Music of John Field; The Innocent Diversion – Music in the Life and Writings of Jane Austen), dies at 74
1995 – Abha Gandhi, servant to Gandhi, dies at 68
2011 – Wouter Weylandt, Belgian cyclist, dies at 26

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Famous Deaths for 8th May 2023

1725 – John Lovewell, American ranger and Native Indian scalper, dies fighting against Abenaki Indians at 33
1846 – Giacomo Cordella, Italian composer, dies at 59
1941 – Heinrich Zöllner, German composer, dies at 86
1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-born department store founder (b. 1858)
1967 – Elmer Rice, American playwright (Pulitzer-Street Scene) and novelist, dies at 74
1979 – Talcott Parsons, American sociologist, dies at 76
1990 – Tomas O’Fiach [Tomas Seamus Fee], Irish cardinal-archbishop, dies of a heart attack at 66
1994 – George Peppard, American actor (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Banacek, A-Team, Blue Max), dies at 65
2006 – Viola Mae Wilkerson, American pop singer (“Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now”), dies of cancer at 69
2017 – Robert Gutter, American conductor and teacher (founded International Institute for Conductors, 1996), dies at 78

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Historical Events for 8th May 2023

1877 – 1st Westminster Dog Show held
1907 – Boston Doves pitcher “Big Jeff” Pfeffer no-hits Cincinnati Reds, 6-0 at South End Grounds, Boston
1929 – Jan Mayen island, 500 km NNE of Iceland, incorporated into Norway
1956 – John Osborne’s “Look Back in Anger” premieres in London
1994 – Jim Cartwright’s play “The Rise and Fall of Little Voice” closes at Neil Simon Theater, NYC after 9 performances
2018 – Largest-ever wave at 23.8m recorded in the South Hemisphere at Campbell Island by New Zealand scientists
2018 – Ebola outbreak declared in north-west Democratic Republic of Congo with 2 confirmed cases and 17 deaths
2019 – Singapore passes sweeping “anti-fake news” laws bill
2021 – Bombings outside a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, kill at least 50 people, mostly teenage girls, amid growing fears about US military withdrawal
2021 – Indian Medical Association calls for a national lockdown, criticizing President Modi’s government’s response as recorded COVID-19 deaths pass 4,000 a day

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Today in History for 8th May 2023

Historical Events

1942 – German summer offensive opens in Crimea
1950 – President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek asks US for weapons
1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental
1971 – Courtney, Courtney, and Link’s musical “Earl of Ruston” closes at Billy Rose Theater, NYC, after 5 performances
1993 – Lennox Lewis beats Tony Tucker in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
2018 – President Trump pulls the US out of the multilateral Iran nuclear deal

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Famous Birthdays

1839 – Adolphe-Basile Routhier, French Canadian lyricist (“O! Canada”), born in Saint-Placide, Quebec (d. 1920)
1927 – Ian Denholm, Scottish shipping CEO (Murray Investment Trust), born in Kilmacolm, Scotland (d. 2018)
1968 – Chris Lighty, music executive and manager (Violator), born in The Bronx New York (d. 2012)
1969 – Akebono Taro, American born Japanese sumo wrestler (1st non Japanese to reach rank of Yokozuna), born in Waimānalo, Hawaii
1978 – Jang Woo Hyuk, Korean singer, rapper, and dancer (HOT; JTL), and actor, born in Daegu, South Korea
1987 – Felix Jones, American football player (Dallas Cowboys), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Famous Deaths

1278 – Emperor Duanzong of China (b. 1268)
1788 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
1846 – Giacomo Cordella, Italian composer, dies at 59
1864 – Leroy Augustus Stafford, Confederate American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies from injuries incurred 3 days earlier during the Battle of the Wilderness in northern Virginia, at 42
1957 – Jan Sluyters, Dutch painter (Moderne Kunstkring), dies at 75
1992 – Sergey Vladimirovich Obraztsov, Soviet puppet master, dies at 90

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Famous Deaths for 7th May 2023

1800 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian classical, opera, and sacred music composer (Roland; Buona Figliuola), dies at 72
1876 – Franz Graf von Pocci, German founding director of the Munich Marionette Theatre (Punch and Judy), poet, and illustrator of children’s literature (Viola Tricolor: In Picture and Rhyme), dies at 69
1925 – William Hesketh Lever, First Viscount Leverhulme (b. 1851)
1928 – Alexander Spendiaryan, Armenian-Soviet conductor and composer (Three Palms; Yerevan Sketches), dies at 56
1941 – David Wijnkoop, Dutch revolutionary socialist, dies
2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (British Open 1979, 84, 88, US Masters 1980, 83), dies of brain cancer at 54
2015 – Sir Samuel “Sam” Edwards, Welsh physicist (condensed matter physics), dies at 87
2016 – Chris Mitchell, Scottish footballer, commits suicide at 27
2018 – Maurane [Claudine Luypaerts], Belgian Francophone jazz and chanson singer, dies at 57
2020 – Mike Storen, American sports executive (Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks; ABA Commissioner 1973-76), dies from cancer at 84

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Historical Events for 7th May 2023

1867 – Blacks stage ride-in to protest segregation in New Orleans
1910 – 35th Preakness: R Estep aboard Layminster wins in 1:40.6
1924 – Peruvian Torre forms APRA, Alianza Popular Revolutionaria Americana
1951 – International Olympic committee allows Russia to participate in 1952 Olympics
2007 – Ehud Netzer of Hebrew University announces he has discovered the tomb of Herod the Great at Herodium, West Bank
2008 – Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in as the 3rd President of the Russian Federation
2012 – NATO air strike kills 14 and woulds 6 civilians in Afghanistan’s Badghis Province
2013 – The Dow Jones Industrial average and SandP 500 set record highs
2014 – Fighting between pro-Russian and Kiev forces continue amid fears internationally of a civil war in Ukraine
2017 – “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” becomes the highest grossing Indian box office film ever earning $120 million

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Today in History for 7th May 2023

Historical Events

1579 – Congress of Cologne forms in Netherlands
1913 – Plot by English suffragettes to blow up part of St Paul’s cathedral thwarted when the bomb is discovered
1960 – 86th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack on Venetian Way wins in 2:02.4
1979 – 5th UNCTAD-conference opens in Manila
1994 – Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” is recovered 3 months after it was stolen
2012 – Vladimir Putin sworn in for third six-year term as President of Russia

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Famous Birthdays

1748 – Olympe de Gouges [Marie Gouze], French playwright and revolutionary (Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen), born in Montauban, France (d. 1793)
1763 – Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish general and marshal of France, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1813)
1873 – Clarence Dickinson, American composer, born in Lafayette, Indiana (d. 1969)
1882 – Willem Elsschot [Alfons Josephus de Ridder], Flemish writer (Mend), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1960)
1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (Sgt York, High Noon), born in Helena, Montana (d. 1961)
1945 – Robin Strasser, American actress (Dorian-One Life to Live, Another World), born in NYC, New York

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Famous Deaths

1673 – Johannes Teellinck, Dutch vicar, dies at about 58
1884 – Judah P. Benjamin, 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State and 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War, dies at 72
1932 – Albert Thomas, French socialist politician (Minister of Armament WW1), dies at 53
1956 – Josef Hoffmann, Austrian architect (Vienna Secession Movement), dies at 85
1957 – Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer who led the German Antarctic expedition of 1911–12, dies at 79
2000 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr, American actor (Prisoner of Zenda; Gunga Din), and decorated US naval officer (WWII Beach Jumpers), dies of a heart attack at 90

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