879 – Pope John VIII gives blessings to duke Branimir and to Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state
1793 – Curacao Island Council forbids criticism of House of Orange
1911 – French troop enter Fez in Morocco to quell anti-European agitation
1943 – Fastest 9 inning AL baseball night game (89 mins), Chicago White Sox beat visiting Washington Senators, 1-0
1972 – Michelangelo’s Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal
1978 – Yamada Mumon Roshi appointed head of Zen Rinzai Sect
1980 – “Star Wars Episode V – Empire Strikes Back”, produced by George Lucas opens in cinemas in UK and North America
1990 – 43rd Cannes Film Festival: “Wild at Heart” directed by David Lynch starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern wins the Palme d’Or
2001 – French Taubira law officially recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
2019 – More than 600 people, 75% children, identified as HIV in a month in Sindh province, Pakistan, thought to be due to use of infected needles
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 20th May 2024
1882 – Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy sign the Triple Alliance
1910 – Funeral for Britain’s King Edward VII held in Westminster Abbey, has one of the largest assemblages of European royalty
1961 – 86th Preakness: Johnny Sellers aboard Carry Back wins in 1:57.6
1961 – White mob attacks “Freedom Riders” in Montgomery, Alabama
1963 – Sukarno appointed president of Indonesia
1980 – Drummer Peter Criss quits rock band Kiss
1985 – US began broadcasts to Cuba on Radio Marti
1988 – Howard Stern fans disrupt rival radio station WMMR’s and DJ John DeBella’s “Louie Louie” parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1989 – Toonces The Cat takes the wheel on “Saturday Night Live”
2015 – 5 major world banks (JPMorgan, Barclays, Citigroup, RBS and UBS) fined US$5.7bn for manipulating currency markets – some of the largest ever fines
Historical Events for 19th May 2024
1585 – Spain confiscates English ships in Spanish harbors – beginning of the The Anglo-Spanish War
1930 – White women win voting rights in South Africa
1944 – German defense line in Italy collapses
1959 – The USS Triton, the first submarine with two nuclear reactors, is completed
1972 – 25th Cannes Film Festival: “The Working Class Goes to Heaven” directed by Elio Petri and “The Mattei Affair” directed by Francesco Rosi jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
1981 – Pirate Jim Bibby gives up a leadoff single to Brave Terry Harper, then retires next 27 batters
1982 – Sophia Loren jailed in Naples, Italy for tax evasion
1990 – “Elvis” TV Drama about early life of Elvis Presley last airs on ABC
2012 – UEFA Champions League Final, Munich: Chelsea beats Bayern Munich, 4-3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw at the end of extra time; Blues’ first title
2021 – New York Yankees pitcher Cory Kluber no-hits Texas Rangers, 2-0 at Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas
Historical Events for 18th May 2024
1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany
1863 – US General Ulysses S. Grant begins siege on Vicksburg, Mississippi; after 47 days of battle siege, Confederate Lt. General John C. Pemberton’s troops surrender
1922 – Dutch 2nd Chamber agrees to 48 hour work week (was 45 hrs)
1933 – Tennessee Valley Act (TVA) Act signed by FDR, to build dams
1943 – Allied bombers attack Pantelleria, an Italian island 100 km southwest of Sicily
1953 – American Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier
1955 – Queen Juliana opens E55 fair in Amsterdam, Netherlands
1964 – US Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional to deprive naturalized citizens of citizenship if they return to home country for more than 3 years
1971 – US President Richard Nixon rejects 60 demands of Congressional Black Caucus
1991 – France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
Historical Events for 17th May 2024
1750 – -18] Tax revolt in Gorinchem
1881 – Frederick Douglass appointed recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia
1894 – 19th Preakness: Fred Taral aboard Assignee wins in 1:49.25
1957 – Prayer Pilgrimage, biggest civil rights demonstration to date (DC)
1973 – Five British Army soldiers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army booby-trap bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone
1976 – Earthquake in Uzbekistan: thousands killed
1981 – Islanders score 5 power play goals against Flyers in a playoff
1987 – Musical revue “Stardust – The Mitchell Parish Musical”, featuring songs of the Lithuanian-American lyricist, closes at Biltmore Theater, NYC, after 101 performances
1989 – Nelson Mandela receives a BA from University of South Africa
2023 – Nepali Sherpa Kami Rita Sherpa (53) climbs of Mt. Everest for a record 27th time
Historical Events for 16th May 2024
1763 – Samuel Johnson 1st meets his future biographer James Boswell in London
1914 – American Horseshoe Pitchers Association organizes in Kansas City
1941 – Nazis forbid Dutch Organization of Actors (NOT)
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
1963 – “Beast in Me” opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 4 performances
1969 – US nuclear sub Guitarro sinks off San Francisco
1977 – 5 die as NY Airway helicopter topples on Pan Am building in NYC
1986 – Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) comes back from the dead on TV show “Dallas”
1988 – US Supreme Court rules trash may be searched without a warrant
2019 – South African Saray Khumalo is the first black African woman to climb Mt Evervest
Historical Events for 15th May 2024
1248 – Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden lays cornerstone for Cologne Cathedral
1525 – The battle of Frankenhausen: German peasant army surrounded, 5,000 slaughtered ; ends the peasants’ uprising
1928 – Mickey Mouse makes his 1st ever appearance in silent film “Plane Crazy”
1944 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, Winston Churchill and King George VI discuss the plan for D-Day
1967 – Paul McCartney meets his future wife, American photographer Linda Eastman
1976 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army kill 3 Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers in County Fermanagh and 1 in County Down
1983 – Madison Hotel (Boston) destroyed by implosion
2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
2018 – Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim is released from prison after being pardoned by King Muhammad V
2022 – Hassan Sheikh Mohamud elected President of Somalia in a vote restricted to the country’s 328 members pf parliament amid security concerns
Historical Events for 14th May 2024
1889 – The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is launched in London, England, led by Benjamin Waugh
1918 – Sunday baseball is made legal in Washington, D.C.
1920 – Washington Senator Walter Johnson wins his 300th game vs Detroit
1944 – 91 German bombers harass Bristol
1960 – Michael Flanders and Donald Swann’s musical review “At the Drop of a Hat” closes at John Golden Theater, NYC, after 216 performances
1975 – US forces raid Cambodian island of Koh Tang to free Mayaguez ship
1981 – NASA launches space vehicle S-192
1994 – FA Cup Final: Manchester United defeat Chelsea 4-0 at Wembley Stadium, London
1995 – Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet’s 2nd most senior spiritual leader
2002 – Ten members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition invade the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory of Australia.
Historical Events for 13th May 2024
641 – Eligius (Saint Eloy) becomes bishop of Doornik-Noyon
1364 – Peter Coutherel banished from Leuven
1877 – Caesar Franck’s symphonic poem “Lesson Eolides” premieres
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
1975 – “Rodgers and Hart” opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 108 performances
1982 – Braniff Airlines files for bankruptcy
1996 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
2018 – China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier begins sea trials in Dalian, China
2023 – 67th Eurovision Song Contest: Loreen wins for Sweden, for the second time, singing “Tattoo”, in Liverpool, England, hosting on behalf of Ukraine
Historical Events for 12th May 2024
1534 – German Duchy of Wurttemberg becomes Lutheran under Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg
1864 – Battle of Spotsylvania, fought near Courthouse, Virginia (Overland Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
1919 – New York Yankees and Washington Senators play second straight extra inning tie, 4-4 in 15 innings at the Polo Grounds; 0-0 in 12 the previous day
1948 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates due to ill health
1953 – KUHT TV channel 8 (PBS) in Houston, TX, begins broadcasting
1967 – 20th Cannes Film Festival: “Blowup” directed by Michelangelo Antonioni wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
1972 – Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings (completed 5/13)
1976 – 20th European Cup: Bayern Munich beats Saint-Etienne 1-0 at Glasgow
1995 – Jose Mesa gets 1st of his M.L. record 37 consecutive saves
2001 – 46th Eurovision Song Contest: Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL for Estonia wins singing “Everybody” in Copenhagen