1761 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician (rule of Simpson), dies at 50
1873 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and writer (b. 1797)
1918 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American newspaper publisher (b. 1841)
1919 – Henry John Heinz, German-American entrepreneur who founded prepared-foods company (H.J. Heinz Company-57 varieties), dies at 74
1962 – Florence Auer, American actress (b. 1880)
1991 – Shintaro Abe, minister of Exterior of Japan (1982-86), dies
1996 – Sritharan Jeganathan, cricketer, 1st Sri Lankan Test player to die
2006 – Lewis “Lew” Anderson, American actor and musician (The Howdy Doody Show), dies of prostate cancer at 84
2007 – Jean Saubert, American alpine ski racer (Olympic giant slalom silver, slalom bronze 1964), dies of breast cancer at 65
2017 – Brad Grey, American film and TV producer (Sopranos), Chairman of Paramount Pictures, dies of cancer at 59
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 14th May 2020
1767 – British government disbands Americans import duty on tea
1888 – 14th Kentucky Derby: George Covington aboard MacBeth II wins in 2:38.00
1907 – Sweden adopts universal suffrage for elections to its lower house and proportional representation for both houses
1919 – Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical In hac tanta
1950 – Pitts Johnny Hopp goes 6 for 6 including 2 HRs
1972 – In Willie Mays 1st game as a NY Met his homer beats SF Giants, 5-4
1991 – Robert M Gates becomes head of CIA
1996 – NY Yankee Dwight Gooden no-hits Seattle Mariners 2-0
2000 – 46th British Academy Television Awards: “The League of Gentlemen” Best Comedy, “The Cops” Best Drama
2005 – Pope Benedict XVI observes his first beatification, elevating Blessed Marianne of Molokai on the road to canonization into sainthood
Today in History for 14th May 2020
Historical Events
1264 – Battle of Lewes, 2nd Barons’ War: Simon de Montfort the younger, Earl of Leicester, defeats English King Henry III
1747 – A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.
1897 – Great Britain signs treaty with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
1935 – LA’s Griffith Planetarium opens, 3rd in US
1954 – Belgium shortens military conscription from 20 to 18 months
1955 – Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania
Famous Birthdays
1652 – Johann Philipp Fortsch, German composer, statesman and physician, born in Wertheim am Main (d. 1732)
1916 – Marco Zanuso, Italian architect
1937 – Dick Howser, shortstop (Kansas City A’s), manager (KC Royals)
1954 – Jens Sparschuh, German writer
1961 – Tim Roth, actor (Reservoir Dogs, Vincent and Theo), born in London, England
1966 – Leroy Blugh, CFL defensive end (Edmonton Eskimos)
Famous Deaths
1878 – Ookubo Toshimichi, Japanese statesman, samurai, and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration (b. 1830)
1934 – Lou Criger, American baseball player (b. 1872)
1959 – Sidney Bechet, Americanjazz clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader, dies at 62
1991 – Herman Niels, Flemish radio director, dies
1993 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (Hearst Newspapers) and 1955 Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 85
2004 – Anna Lee [Joan Boniface Winnifrith], British actress (General Hospital, How Green Was My Valley), dies of pneumonia at 91
Famous Deaths for 13th May 2020
1619 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch lawyer and statesman, beheaded at 71
1839 – Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, found Ashkenazic community (1815), dies
1866 – Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician, dies at 69
1901 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish novelist (La Regenta), dies at 49
1914 – Tip Foster, English cricketer (287 on debut England v Aust SCG 1903), dies at 36
1962 – Franz Jozef Kline, US expressionist painter, dies at 51
1972 – Dan Blocker, American actor (Tiny-Cimarron City, Hoss-Bonanza), dies of a pulmonary embolism at 43
1974 – Denny Shute, American golfer (British Open 1933, PGA C’ship 1936-37), dies at 69
1993 – Evert “Eef” Dolman, Dutch cyclist (Olympic gold 1964), dies at 47
2011 – Derek Boogaard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1982)
Historical Events for 13th May 2020
1643 – Battle of Grantham: English parliamentary armies beat royalists
1941 – Willy Lewis’ US jazz band performs in Switzerland
1946 – Sarwate and Banerjee add 249 for 10th wkt for Indians v Surrey
1946 – US sentences 58 camp guards of Mauthausen concentration camp to death
1949 – 1st British-produced jet bomber, the Canberra, makes its 1st test flight
1958 – Stan Musial is 8th to get 3,000 hits
1958 – Jordan and Iraq form Arab Federation
1989 – Approx 2,000 students begin hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, China
1995 – Team New Zealand beats Team Dennis Conner 5-0 to win the America’s Cup for the first time
2012 – 49 dismembered bodies are found on a Mexican highway as part of the Mexican drug war
Today in History for 13th May 2020
Historical Events
535 – St Agapitus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1891 – 17th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Kingman wins in 2:52.25
1933 – 58th Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard Head Play wins in 2:02
1944 – 69th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 1:59.2
1954 – US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1991 – “Michael Jackson: Magic and Madness” goes on sale
Famous Birthdays
1792 – Pius IX “Pio Nono”, [Giovanni-Maria Mastai-Ferretti], Pope (1846-78)
1936 – Rafael Campos, Santiago Dominican Republic, actor (Tonka)
1937 – Zohra Lampert, American actress (Doctor’s Hospital, Girl With Something Extra), born in NYC, New York
1965 – Chris Washburn, American NBA player, born in Hickory, North Carolina
1965 – Lari White, American country music singer and actress (You Can Be a Star winner- 1988), born in Dunedin, Florida (d. 2018)
1969 – André Schmechta, German musician (X Marks the Pedwalk, Scarecrow), born in Germany
Famous Deaths
1312 – Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)
1619 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch lawyer and statesman, beheaded at 71
1807 – Eliphalet Dyer, American statesman and judge, dies at 85
2011 – Jack Richardson, Canadian record producer (The Guess Who), dies at 81
2013 – Vladimir Romanovsky, Soviet sprint canoer, dies at 56
2013 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist, dies from respiratory failure at 85
Famous Deaths for 12th May 2020
1784 – Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (first to study freshwater polyps or hydra), dies at 73
1796 – Johann Peter Uz, German poet (Theodicee), dies at 75
1871 – Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber, French opera composer, dies at 89
1876 – Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros, French poet and writer (Evangile du peuple), dies at 63
1981 – Benjamin Sheares, President of Singapore (1971-81), dies at 73
1985 – Jean Debuffet, French painter and sculptor (Landscape with 2 Personages), dies at 83
2004 – John LaPorta, American Jazz clarinetist and composer, dies at 84
2006 – Gillespie V. Montgomery, former U.S. representative from Mississippi (b. 1920)
2007 – Teddy Infuhr, American former child actor (The Bishop’s Wife, They Live By Night), dies at 70
2007 – Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Taliban military leader (b. 1966?)
Historical Events for 12th May 2020
1082 – Battle at Mailberg: Vratislav II of Bohemia beats Leopold II of Austr
1525 – Battle at Biblingen: Zwabische Union beats rebel Wurttemberg farmers
1588 – Catholic League under duke Henri de Guise occupies Paris
1875 – 1st recorded shutout in pro baseball, Chicago 1, St Louis 0
1916 – James Connolly and Sean McDermott are executed following their involvement in the Easter Rising in Dublin
1941 – Martin Bormann succeeds Rudolf Hess as Adolf Hitler’s deputy
1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin
1967 – 1st quadraphonic concert by Pink Floyd at the Games for May concert in London
1990 – NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Edmonton Oilers beat Chicago Blackhawks, 4 games to 2
2003 – The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26
Today in History for 12th May 2020
Historical Events
1534 – German Duchy of Wurttemberg becomes Lutheran under Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg
1864 – Battle of Todd’s Tavern, cavalry battle fought near Todds Tavern, Virginia (Sheridan’s Raid), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
1951 – 1st H Bomb test, on Enewetak Atoll
1966 – St Louis’ Busch Stadium opens, Braves lose to Cards 4-3 in 12 inns
1967 – Provo disbands in Neth Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
1996 – “Inherit the Wind” closes at Royale Theater NYC after 45 performances
Famous Birthdays
1751 – Gaetano Manna, Italian composer, born in Naples (d. 1804)
1886 – Hermann Grabner, Austrian composer (Die Richterin), born in Graz, Austria (d. 1969)
1922 – Barend Busnac, office clerk/resistance fighter
1956 – Homer Simpson, fictional character from the long running television show “The Simpsons”, born in Springfield
1958 – Eric Singer, American drummer
1967 – Warren Rychel, Canadian NHL left wing (Colorado Avalanche), born in Strathroy, Ontario
Famous Deaths
1845 – August Wilhelm Schlegel, German poet, translator and critic, dies at 77
1993 – Zeno Colò, Italian downhill skier (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 72
1994 – John Smith, British Labour Party chairman (1992-94), dies at 55
2006 – Gillespie V. Montgomery, former U.S. representative from Mississippi (b. 1920)
2007 – Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Taliban military leader (b. 1966?)
2007 – Teddy Infuhr, American former child actor (The Bishop’s Wife, They Live By Night), dies at 70
Famous Deaths for 11th May 2020
1742 – Francesco Stradivari, Italian violin maker/son of Antonius, dies at 70
1849 – Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier, French socialite (b. 1777)
1953 – Jean Adair, dies at 80
1985 – Jorja Curtright, actor (Whistle Stop), dies of a heart attack
1992 – Elizabeth McDonald, inventor (Spic and Span), dies at 98
1994 – Danny Overbea, American singer and guitarist (40 Cups of Coffee), dies at 68
2006 – Yossi Banai, Israeli singer (b. 1932)
2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Sovereign Ruler of Samoa (b. 1913)
2008 – Bruno Neves, portuguese cyclist that died in competition (b.1981)
2013 – Oliver “Ollie” Mitchell, American musician and bandleader (The Wrecking Crew), dies of cancer at 86