1515 – George van Saksen-Meissen sells Friesland for 100,000 gold guilders to arch duke Charles
1643 – Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form the United Colonies of New England
1896 – 1st auto (Karl Benz) arrives in Netherlands
1906 – Portugal’s King Carlos I names Joao Franco premier
1923 – KPD (communist revolts) in German Ruhr cities occupied by Allies
1959 – Jan de Quay becomes premier of Netherlands
1962 – “Bravo, Giovanni” opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 76 performances
1990 – 115th Preakness: Pat Day aboard Summer Squall wins in 1:53.6
1993 – Dow Jones closes above 3,500 for 1st time (3,500.03)
2009 – Sri Lanka announces victory in its 25-year war against the terrorist organisation, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Author: gil7
Today in History for 19th May 2021
Historical Events
1780 – About midday, near-total darkness descends on New England, now known to be caused by forest fires in Canada
1928 – 54th Kentucky Derby: Chick Lang aboard Reigh Count wins in 2:10.4
1968 – Pirate Radio Brumble of Northern England 1st heard
1972 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1999 – Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, directed by George Lucas, starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Liam Neeson is released in cinemas
2019 – 64th Eurovision Song Contest won by Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands
Famous Birthdays
1755 – Gabriele Prota, composer
1928 – Dolph Schayes, American basketball Hall of Famer (Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers, 1948-63) and coach (76ers, 1963-66; Buffalo Braves, 1970-72)) and coach, born in NYC, New York (d. 2015)
1954 – Rick Cerone, catcher (Yankees/Red Sox/Mets/Expos), born in Newark, New Jersey
1963 – Filippo Galli, Italian footballer
1970 – K. J. Choi, South Korean golfer (Players C’ship 2011; 8 PGA Tour titles), born in Wando, South Korea
1977 – Brandon Inge, American baseball player
Famous Deaths
1389 – Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1350)
1715 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman, dies at 54
1915 – John Simpson Kirkpatrick stretcher bearer with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli during World War I (b. 1892)
1970 – Tadeusz Breza, Polish writer (The Bronze Gate), dies at 64
1997 – Millie, dog of US President George H. W. Bush (Millie’s Book), dies at 12
2011 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish politician and former Taoiseach (b. 1926)
Famous Deaths for 18th May 2021
1675 – Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary explorer (Chicago), dies at 37
1724 – Johann K. Amman, Swiss-Dutch doctor for deaf-mutes, dies at 54
1910 – Pauline Viardot, French mezzo-soprano and composer, dies at 88
1949 – James Truslow Adams, American historian (Pulitzer 1921), dies at 70
1967 – Richard Ainley, British actor (I Dood It, As You Like It, Above Suspicion), dies from barbiturate poisoning at 56
1980 – Harry Truman, American victim of Mount St. Helens eruption, dies at 83
1993 – Pamela M Cunnington, English architect and writer, dies at 67
2002 – Davey Boy Smith, English professional wrestler (WWF Intercontinental Championship; British Bulldogs), dies of a heart attack at 39
2017 – Chris Cornell, American musician (Soundgarden, Audioslave), commits suicide at 52
2017 – Roger Ailes, American TV executive and CEO of Fox News (1996-2016), dies at 77
Historical Events for 18th May 2021
1642 – Ville-Marie (later Montreal), Canada, founded by the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal
1851 – Amsterdam-Nieuwediep telegraph connection linked
1869 – Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan
1933 – Around 5,000 forced deportees in the Soviet Union arrive on Nazino Island; within thirteen weeks most of them will be dead due to disease, cannibalism and violence
1971 – Bulgarian constitution goes into effect
1974 – India becomes the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb
1980 – People’s Republic of China launches 1st intercontinental rocket
1991 – France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
1993 – Italian police arrest Mafia boss Benedetto “Nitto” Santapaola
1996 – 41st Eurovision Song Contest: Eimear Quinn for Ireland wins singing “The Voice” in Oslo
Today in History for 18th May 2021
Historical Events
1897 – Herbert Henry Dow founds Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan
1927 – Ritz Hotel opens in Boston
1941 – Italian army in Ethiopia under general Aosta surrenders to Britain
1958 – 11th Cannes Film Festival: “The Cranes Are Flying” directed by Mikhail Kalatozov wins the Palme d’Or
1985 – 110th Preakness: Pat Day aboard Tank’s Prospect wins in 1:53.4
2014 – Swiss voters reject a $25 per hour minimum wage
Famous Birthdays
1872 – Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher (Nobel 1950), born in Trellech, England (d. 1970)
1905 – Eric Zeisl, Austrian-American composer (Requiem Ebraico), born in Vienna (d. 1959)
1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician and wife of President Jacques Chirac, born in Paris, France
1940 – Pat Trimborn, South African cricket fast bowler (4 Tests, 11 wickets), born in Durban, Natal, South Africa
1965 – Ingo Schwichtenberg, German drummer (Helloween), born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1995)
1971 – Ben Coleman, American guard/offensive tackle (Jacksonville Jaguars), born in South Hill, Virginia
Famous Deaths
1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, dies at 51
1848 – William Leidesdorff, Mixed-race early Californian businessman, dies at 37
1961 – Henry O’Neill, American actor (Lady Killer, Nothing But Trouble), dies
1986 – John Bubbles Sublett, American tap dancer (Black and Bubbles), dies at 84
1996 – Kevin Gilbert, American singer, composer and instrumentalist (Toy Matinee; Tuesday Night Music Club), dies of accidental asphyxiation at 29
2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (1991), dies at 74
Famous Deaths for 17th May 2021
1729 – Samuel Clarke, English philosopher and theologian, dies at 53
1916 – Gervais Bernard Gaston Salvayre, composer, dies at 68
1931 – Timothy Cole, American wood engraver, dies at about 71
1945 – Sasaki Shigetsu Sokei-an, founder 1st Zen Institute of America, dies
1985 – Hugh Burden, actor (Night of Laughing Dead), dies at 72
1996 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson, musician, dies at 61
2001 – Ikuma Dan, Japanese composer (Yūzuru), dies at 77
2001 – Frank G. Slaughter, American novelist and physician (b. 1908)
2002 – James Chichester-Clark, Irish politician, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1969-71), dies at 79
2020 – Shad Gaspard, American professional wrestler (WWE), bodyguard, and actor, drowns at 39
Historical Events for 17th May 2021
1527 – Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men – by 1536 only 4 survive
1849 – Fire destroy Centrum in St Louis, Missouri
1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling, the national-socialist party of Norway
1943 – Millionaire Howard Hughes crashes into Lake Mead, while test flying his Sikorsky S-43, killing CAA inspector Ceco Cline and Richard Felt
1952 – 77th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Blue Man wins in 1:57.4
1953 – Yanks and Browns use record 41 players in a game
1964 – Phillies triple play Houston Colt .45s
1975 – Mick Jagger punches a restaurant window, gets 20 stitches
2000 – In the Philippines an explosion rocks Glorietta 2 injuring 13 persons, mostly teenagers. According to local authorities, the homemade bomb was placed in front of a toilet beside a video arcade.
2019 – Brooks Koepka fires a 65 (-5) to set new record for lowest 36-hole score in a golf major at the PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park; 7 stroke lead is a 36-hole tournament record
Today in History for 17th May 2021
Historical Events
1712 – Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria honored as “sovereign of Netherlands”
1872 – Bohemian Club incorporated in San Francisco
1963 – US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
2004 – Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
2015 – The Tradition Senior Men’s Golf, Shoal Creek GandCC: Jeff Maggert wins first of 2 consecutive Champions Tour majors with par on 1st playoff hole against Kevin Sutherland
2015 – “Blurryface,” 4th studio album by Twenty One Pilots is released (1st album ever to have every track gold-certified)
Famous Birthdays
1768 – Caroline of Brunswick, Queen Consort of King George IV (1820-21), born in Brunswick, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1821)
1866 – Erik Satie, French composer (Gymnopédies), born in Honfleur, Normandy (d. 1925)
1901 – Werner Egk, German composer (Die Zaubergeige), born in Donauwörth, Germany (d. 1983)
1928 – Vivian Moses, biotechnologist
1959 – Paul Di’anno, rocker (Iron Maiden Chingford, London V Early Vocalist
1970 – Matt Lindland, American mixed martial arts fighter
Famous Deaths
1955 – Alan Fairfax, cricketer (10 Tests for Australia 1928-31), dies
1955 – Leslie Hylton, Jamaican cricketer and West Indies fast bowler, executed and hanged for murder at 50
1972 – Sir Gordon Lowe, British tennis player, Member of Parliament (Australasian C’ship 1915), dies at 87
1996 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson, musician, dies at 61
2010 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist, composer (Mélopées africaines), and teacher, dies at 86
2013 – Ken Venturi, American golfer, broadcaster (US Open 1964), dies from multiple infections at 82
Famous Deaths for 16th May 2021
1669 – Reyer Anslo, writer/poet, dies at about 42
1790 – Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician, dies at 70
1847 – Kaspar Ett, German organist/composer, dies at 59
1864 – Lean Bear, Cheyenne chief, murdered
1913 – Louis Perrier, Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council, dies at 63
1938 – Stephen Fairbairn, oarsman/coach, dies
1963 – Oleg Penkovsky, Soviet military intelligence (GRU), dies at 44
1985 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (The Wizard of Oz), dies at 82
1996 – Jeremy Boorda, U.S. Navy admiral (25th Chief of Naval Operations), commits suicide at 56
2011 – Edward Hardwicke, British actor (Sherlock Holmes), dies at 78
Historical Events for 16th May 2021
1811 – Peninsular War: Allies defeat French at Albuera
1815 – The Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, officially names the town of Blackheath in the upper Blue Mountains
1864 – Battle of Bermuda Hundred, Virginia
1888 – CPR opens Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia
1938 – 1st animal breeding society forms (NJ)
1946 – Irving Berlin, Dorothy and Herbert Fields’ musical “Annie Get Your Gun” starring Ethel Merman and featuring “There’s No Business Like Show Business” opens at Imperial Theater, NYC
1958 – Eli Beeding experiences 83 g deceleration on a rocket sled, New Mexico
1964 – 89th Preakness: Bill Hartack aboard Northern Dancer wins in 1:56.8
1969 – Barbra Streisand appears at a Friars Club Tribute
1980 – 34th NBA Championship: LA Lakers beat Philadelphia 76ers, 4 games to 2