Today In History

[minidog]

1568 - French ****** in Florida slaughtered hundreds of Spanish.

1802 - Washington, DC, was incorporated as a city.

1855 - Macon B. Allen became the first African American to be admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts.

1859 - France declared war on Austria.

1888 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Phonograph Works.

1916 - Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.

1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.

1926 - The revival of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" opened in New York.

1926 - U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua and stayed until 1933.

1926 - In Britain, trade unions began a general strike.

1927 - Francis E.J. Wilde of Meadowmere Park, NY, patented the electric sign flasher.

1933 - The U.S. Mint was under the direction of a woman for the first time when Nellie Ross took the position.

1937 - Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With The Wind."

1944 - Wartime rationing of most grades of meats ended in the U.S.

1944 - Dr. Robert Woodward and Dr. William Doering produced the first synthetic quinine at Harvard University.

1945 - Indian ****** captured Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese.

1948 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities were legally unenforceable.

1952 - The first airplane landed at the geographic North Pole.

1966 - The game "Twister" was featured on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

1968 - After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retook Dai Do complex in Vietnam. They found that the North Vietnamese had evacuated the area.

1971 - Anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations in Washington, DC.

1971 - National Public Radio broadcast for the first time.

1971 - James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King's assassin, was caught in a jailbreak attempt.

1986 - In NASA's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff. Safety officers destroyed it by remote control.

1988 - The White House acknowledged that first lady Nancy Reagan had used astrological advice to help schedule her husband's activities.

1992 - Five days of rioting and looting ended in Los Angeles, CA. The riots, that ****** 53 people, began after the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King.

1997 - The "Republic of Texas" surrendered to authorities ending an armed standoff where two people were held hostage. The group asserts the independence of Texas from the U.S.

1998 - "The Sevres Road," by 18-century landscape painter Camille Corot, stolen from the Louvre in France.

1999 - Mark Manes, at age 22, was arrested for supplying a *** to Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold, who later ****** 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado.

1999 - Hasbro released the first collection of toys for the Star Wars movie "Episode I: The Phantom Menace."

1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 11,000 for the first time.

2000 - The trial of two Libyans accused of ******* 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 (over Lockerbie) opened.

2006 - In Alexandria, VA, Al-Quaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was given a sentence of life in prison for his role in the terrorist ****** on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.


Current Birthdays


Joseph Addai turns 26 years old today.

90 Pete Seeger
Folk singer


83 Ann B. Davis
Actress ("The Brady Bunch")


75 Frankie Valli
Singer (The Four Seasons)


67 C.L. "Butch" Otter
Governor of Idaho


66 Jim Risch
U.S. senator, R-Idaho


63 Greg Gumbel
Sports announcer


60 Ron Wyden
U.S. senator, D-Ore.


59 Mary Hopkin
Singer


58 Christopher Cross
Singer


52 Cactus Moser
Country musician (Highway 101)


50 David Ball
Rock musician (Soft Cell)


48 David Vitter
U.S. senator, R-La.


41 Shane *****
Country singer


39 Bobby Cannavale
Actor ("Cupid," "Third Watch")


38 Damon Dash
Actor, producer


38 John Hopkins
Country musician (Zac Brown Band)


38 John Neff
Country musician (Drive-By Truckers)


36 Brad Martin
Country singer


34 Dule' Hill
Actor ("The West Wing")


32 Eric Church
Country singer


25 Cheryl Burke
Dancer ("Dancing with the Stars")


19 Jill Berard
Actress

Historic Birthdays


Golda Meir

5/3/1898 - 12/8/1978
Russian-born Zionist; fourth prime minister of Israel

58 Niccolo Machiavelli
5/3/1469 - 6/21/1527
Italian writer, statesman and political theorist


56 Richard D'Oyly Carte
5/3/1844 - 4/3/1901
English impresario; founded the Savoy Theatre


84 E. W. Howe
5/3/1853 - 10/3/1937
American editor, essayist and novelist


80 Vito Volterra
5/3/1860 - 10/11/1940
Italian mathematician


85 Marcel Dupre
5/3/1886 - 5/30/1971
French organ virtuoso and influential teacher


83 Sir George Paget Thomson
5/3/1892 - 9/10/1975
English Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1937)


89 Septima P. Clark
5/3/1898 - 12/15/1987
American educator and civil rights activist


74 Bing Crosby
5/3/1903 - 10/14/1977
American singer, actor and songwriter


83 May Sarton
5/3/1912 - 7/16/1995
American poet, novelist and essayist


60 William Inge
5/3/1913 - 6/10/1973
American playwright; awarded Pulitzer Prize for "Picnic" in 1953


67 Sugar Ray Robinson
5/3/1921 - 4/12/1989
American boxer; world champion six times between 1946 and 1960

 

[thebear247]

you must of really paid attention in history class

 

[minidog]

1471 - In England, the Yorkists defeated the Landcastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in the War of the Roses.

1493 - Alexander VI divided non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal.

1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on Manhattan Island. Native Americans later sold the island (20,000 acres) for $24 in cloth and buttons.

1715 - A French manufacturer debuted the first folding umbrella.

1776 - Rhode Island declared its freedom from England two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

1795 - Thousands of rioters entered jails in Lyons, France, and massacre 99 Jacobin prisoners.

1814 - Napoleon Bonaparte disembarked at Portoferraio on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

1863 - The Battle of Chancellorsville ended when the Union Army retreated.

1886 - Chichester Bell and Charles S. Tainter patented the gramophone. It was the first practical phonograph.

1905 - Belmont Park opened in suburban Long Island. It opened as the largest race track in the world.

1916 - Germany agreed to limit its submarine warfare after a demand from U.S. President Wilson.

1930 - Mahatma Gandhi was arrested by the British.

1932 - Al Capone entered the Atlanta Penitentiary federal prison for income-tax evasion.

1942 - The Battle of the Coral Sea commenced as American and Japanese carriers launched their attacks at each other.

1942 - The United States began food rationing.

1946 - A two-day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended. Five people were ******.

1954 - The first intercollegiate court tennis match was played in the U.S. It was between Yale and Princeton.

1961 - Thirteen civil rights activists, dubbed "Freedom Riders," began a bus trip through the South.

1964 - "Another World" premiered on NBC-TV.

1970 - The Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on students during an anti-Vietnam war protest at Kent State University. Four students were ****** and nine others were wounded.

1979 - Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister.

1987 - Live models were used for the first time in Playtex bra ads.

1989 - Oliver North, a former White House aide was convicted of shredding documents and two other crimes. He was acquitted of nine other charges stemming from the Iran-Contra affair. The three convictions were later overturned on appeal.

1994 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a historic accord on Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1998 - Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, CA. The sentence was under a plea agreement that spared Kaczynski the death penalty.

1999 - Several severe tornadoes hit the Midwest U.S. overnight. At least 45 people were ******.

1999 - Manuel Babbitt was executed for ******* Leah Schendel in 1980. Babbitt had received a purple heart for his injuries in Vietnam while on death row.

2000 - Londoners elected their mayor for the first time.

2003 - Idaho Gem was born. He was the first member of the ***** ****** to be cloned.

Current Birthdays


Richard Jenkins turns 62 years old today.

81 Hosni Mubarak
President of Egypt


79 Roberta Peters
Opera singer


72 Ron Carter
Jazz bassist


72 Dick Dale
Rock musician


68 George F. Will
Columnist


67 Nick Ashford
Singer, songwriter (Ashford and Simpson)


65 Peggy Santiglia
Singer


60 Stella Parton
Country singer


59 Hilly Hicks
Actor, minister


59 Darryl Hunt
Rock musician (The Pogues)


58 Jackie Jackson
Singer


56 Oleta Adams
R&B singer


50 Randy Travis
Country singer


48 Mary McDonough
Actress ("The Waltons")


42 Ana Gasteyer
Comedian ("Saturday Night Live")


39 Will Arnett
Actor


39 Dawn Staley
College basketball coach


37 Mike Dirnt
Rock musician (Green Day)


37 Chris Tomlin
Singer


34 Kimora Lee Simmons
TV personality, fashion designer


32 Jose Castellanos
Trumpeter


30 Lance Bass
Singer ('N Sync)


15 Alexander Gould
Actor ("Weeds," "Finding Nemo")

Historic Birthdays


Frank Conrad

5/4/1874 - 12/11/1941
American engineer; helped establish the first commercial radio station

75 Bartolomeo Cristofori
5/4/1655 - 1/27/1731
Italian harpsichord maker; credited with the invention of the piano


63 Horace Mann
5/4/1796 - 8/2/1859
American educator and philanthropist


73 Sir William Cooke
5/4/1806 - 6/25/1879
English inventor; helped develop electric telegraphy


69 Julia Tyler
5/4/1820 - 7/10/1889
American wife of President John Tyler


70 T. H. Huxley
5/4/1825 - 6/29/1895
English biologist and educator


64 A. Mitchell Palmer
5/4/1872 - 5/11/1936
American attorney general (1919-21); helped touch off the "Red Scare" of 1919-20


71 Fritz von Opel
5/4/1899 - 4/8/1971
German automotive industrialist


88 Lincoln Kirstein
5/4/1907 - 1/5/1996
American dance impresario; director of the New York City Ballet (1948-89)


80 Emmanuel Robles
5/4/1914 - 2/22/1995
Algerian-French novelist and playwright


63 Audrey Hepburn
5/4/1929 - 1/20/1993
Belgian-born motion-picture and stage actress

 

[Skyraider22]

1471 - In England, the Yorkists defeated the Landcastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in the War of the Roses.

1493 - Alexander VI divided non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal.

1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on Manhattan Island. Native Americans later sold the island (20,000 acres) for $24 in cloth and buttons.

1715 - A French manufacturer debuted the first folding umbrella.

1776 - Rhode Island declared its freedom from England two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

1795 - Thousands of rioters entered jails in Lyons, France, and massacre 99 Jacobin prisoners.

1814 - Napoleon Bonaparte disembarked at Portoferraio on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.

1863 - The Battle of Chancellorsville ended when the Union Army retreated.

1886 - Chichester Bell and Charles S. Tainter patented the gramophone. It was the first practical phonograph.

1905 - Belmont Park opened in suburban Long Island. It opened as the largest race track in the world.

1916 - Germany agreed to limit its submarine warfare after a demand from U.S. President Wilson.

1930 - Mahatma Gandhi was arrested by the British.

1932 - Al Capone entered the Atlanta Penitentiary federal prison for income-tax evasion.

1942 - The Battle of the Coral Sea commenced as American and Japanese carriers launched their attacks at each other.

1942 - The United States began food rationing.

1946 - A two-day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay ended. Five people were ******.

1954 - The first intercollegiate court tennis match was played in the U.S. It was between Yale and Princeton.

1961 - Thirteen civil rights activists, dubbed "Freedom Riders," began a bus trip through the South.

1964 - "Another World" premiered on NBC-TV.

1970 - The Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on students during an anti-Vietnam war protest at Kent State University. Four students were ****** and nine others were wounded.

1979 - Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister.

1987 - Live models were used for the first time in Playtex bra ads.

1989 - Oliver North, a former White House aide was convicted of shredding documents and two other crimes. He was acquitted of nine other charges stemming from the Iran-Contra affair. The three convictions were later overturned on appeal.

1994 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a historic accord on Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1998 - Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, CA. The sentence was under a plea agreement that spared Kaczynski the death penalty.

1999 - Several severe tornadoes hit the Midwest U.S. overnight. At least 45 people were ******.

1999 - Manuel Babbitt was executed for ******* Leah Schendel in 1980. Babbitt had received a purple heart for his injuries in Vietnam while on death row.

2000 - Londoners elected their mayor for the first time.

2003 - Idaho Gem was born. He was the first member of the ***** ****** to be cloned.

Current Birthdays


Richard Jenkins turns 62 years old today.

81 Hosni Mubarak
President of Egypt


79 Roberta Peters
Opera singer


72 Ron Carter
Jazz bassist


72 Dick Dale
Rock musician


68 George F. Will
Columnist


67 Nick Ashford
Singer, songwriter (Ashford and Simpson)


65 Peggy Santiglia
Singer


60 Stella Parton
Country singer


59 Hilly Hicks
Actor, minister


59 Darryl Hunt
Rock musician (The Pogues)


58 Jackie Jackson
Singer


56 Oleta Adams
R&B singer


50 Randy Travis
Country singer


48 Mary McDonough
Actress ("The Waltons")


42 Ana Gasteyer
Comedian ("Saturday Night Live")


39 Will Arnett
Actor


39 Dawn Staley
College basketball coach


37 Mike Dirnt
Rock musician (Green Day)


37 Chris Tomlin
Singer


34 Kimora Lee Simmons
TV personality, fashion designer


32 Jose Castellanos
Trumpeter


30 Lance Bass
Singer ('N Sync)


15 Alexander Gould
Actor ("Weeds," "Finding Nemo")

Historic Birthdays


Frank Conrad

5/4/1874 - 12/11/1941
American engineer; helped establish the first commercial radio station

75 Bartolomeo Cristofori
5/4/1655 - 1/27/1731
Italian harpsichord maker; credited with the invention of the piano


63 Horace Mann
5/4/1796 - 8/2/1859
American educator and philanthropist


73 Sir William Cooke
5/4/1806 - 6/25/1879
English inventor; helped develop electric telegraphy


69 Julia Tyler
5/4/1820 - 7/10/1889
American wife of President John Tyler


70 T. H. Huxley
5/4/1825 - 6/29/1895
English biologist and educator


64 A. Mitchell Palmer
5/4/1872 - 5/11/1936
American attorney general (1919-21); helped touch off the "Red Scare" of 1919-20


71 Fritz von Opel
5/4/1899 - 4/8/1971
German automotive industrialist


88 Lincoln Kirstein
5/4/1907 - 1/5/1996
American dance impresario; director of the New York City Ballet (1948-89)


80 Emmanuel Robles
5/4/1914 - 2/22/1995
Algerian-French novelist and playwright


63 Audrey Hepburn
5/4/1929 - 1/20/1993
Belgian-born motion-picture and stage actress

Alright Minidog The battle of the Coral Sea would ld to one of my favorite battle stories The Battle of Midway.:thumbsup:

 

[minidog]

1494 - Christopher Columbus sighted Jamaica on his second trip to the Western Hemisphere. He named the island Santa Gloria.

1798 - U.S. Secretary of War William McHenry ordered that the USS Constitution be made ready for sea. The frigate was launched on October 21, 1797, but had never been put to sea.

1809 - Mary Kies was awarded the first patent to go to a woman. It was for technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.

1814 - The British ****** the American ****** at Ft. Ontario, Oswego, NY.

1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte died on the island of St. Helena, where he had been in exile.

1834 - The first mainland railway line opened in Belgium.

1847 - The AMA (American Medical Association) was organized in Philadelphia, PA.

1862 - The Battle of Puebla took place. It is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo Day.

1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery in the U.S.

1886 - A bomb exploded on the fourth day of a workers' strike in Chicago, IL.

1891 - Music Hall was dedicated in New York City. It was later renamed Carnegie Hall.

1892 - The U.S. Congress extended the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act for 10 more years. The act required Chinese in the U.S. to be registered or face deportation.

1901 - The first Catholic mass for night workers was held at the Church of St. Andrew in New York City.

1904 - The third perfect game of the major leagues was thrown by Cy Young (Boston Red Sox) against the Philadelphia Athletics. It was the first perfect game under modern rules.

1912 - Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda began publishing.

1916 - U.S. Marines invaded the Dominican Republic.

1917 - Eugene Jacques Bullard becomes the first African-American aviator when he earned his flying certificate with the French Air Service.

1920 - Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for ******.

1925 - John T. Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton, TN, was arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

1926 - Eisenstein's film "Battleship Potemkin" was shown in Germany for the first time.

1926 - Sinclair Lewis refused a 1925 Pulitzer for "Arrowsmith."

1936 - Edward Ravenscroft received a patent for the screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip.

1942 - General Joseph Stilwell learned that the Japanese had cut his railway out of China and was ****** to lead his troops into India.

1945 - The Netherlands and Denmark were liberated from **** control.

1945 - A Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon. A pregnant woman was ****** in the only fatal ****** of its kind during World War II.

1955 - "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway.

1955 - The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) became a sovereign state.

1956 - Jim Bailey became the first runner to break the four-minute mile in the U.S. He was clocked at 3:58.5.

1961 - Alan Shepard became the first American in space when he made a 15 minute suborbital flight.

1966 - Willie Mays broke the National League record for home runs when he hit his 512th.

1978 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds registered his 3,000th major league hit.

1981 - Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. It was his 66th day without food.

1987 - The U.S. congressional Iran-Contra hearings opened.

1991 - In New York, Carnegie Hall marked its 100th anniversary.

1994 - Michael Fay was caned in Singapore for vandalism. He received four lashes.

1997 - Dolores Hope received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1997 - Ivan Reitman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000 - The final episode of "Boy Meets World" aired on ABC.

Current Birthdays


Brian Williams turns 50 years old today.


82 Pat Carroll
Actress


75 Ace Cannon
Rock musician


75 John Sweeney
AFL-CIO president


71 Michael Murphy
Actor


71 Roni Stoneman
Country singer


69 Lance Henriksen
Actor


66 Michael Palin
Actor, comedian (Monty Python)


65 Roger Rees
Actor, director


65 John Rhys-Davies
Actor


64 Kurt Loder
Music journalist (MTV)


61 Bill Ward
Rock musician (Black Sabbath)


52 Richard E. Grant
Actor


51 John Miller
Assistant FBI director, former journalist


50 Ian McCulloch
Rock singer (Echo and the Bunnymen)


43 Shawn Drover
Rock musician (Megadeth)


39 Kyan Douglas
TV personality ("Queer Eye for the Straight Guy")


36 Tina Yothers
Actress ("****** Ties")


30 Vincent Kartheiser
Actor ("Mad Men")


28 Craig David
Rock singer


28 Danielle Fishel
Actress ("Boys Meet World")


26 Henry Cavill
Actor ("The Tudors")


21 Adele
Soul singer


21 Skye Sweetnam
Rock singer


20 Chris Brown
R&B singer


Historic Birthdays


Nellie Bly

5/5/1864 - 1/27/1922
American journalist and adventurer


77 Arthur L. Schawlow
5/5/1921 - 4/28/1999
American Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1981)


44 Leopold II
5/5/1747 - 3/1/1792
Holy Roman emperor (1790-92)


79 Frederick Barnard
5/5/1809 - 4/27/1889
American president of Columbia College (1864-1889)


42 Soren Kierkegaard
5/5/1813 - 11/11/1855
Danish religious philosopher


64 Karl Marx
5/5/1818 - 3/14/1883
German political philosopher and economist; wrote "The Communist Manifesto"


85 Hubert Howe Bancroft
5/5/1832 - 3/2/1918
American historian of the American West


60 Peter Cooper Hewitt
5/5/1861 - 8/25/1921
American electrical engineer; invented the mercury-vapor lamp


66 Christopher Morley
5/5/1890 - 3/28/1957
American novelist and columnist for the Saturday Review (1924-41)


76 Dorothy Garrod
5/5/1892 - 12/18/1968
English archaeologist


82 Sir Gordon Richards
5/5/1904 - 11/10/1986
English jockey and racehorse trainer


44 Tyrone Power
5/5/1914 - 11/15/1958
American motion-picture and stage actor

 

[minidog]

1527 - German troops began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance.

1529 - Babur defeated the Afghan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.

1576 - The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.

1682 - King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.

1835 - James Gordon Bennett published the "New York Herald" for the first time.

1840 - The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale in Great Britain.

1851 - The mechanical refrigerator was patented by Dr. John Gorrie.

1851 - Linus Yale patented the clock-type lock.

1861 - Arkansas became the ninth state to secede from the Union.

1877 - Chief Crazy ***** surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska.

1882 - The U.S. Congress ****** the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years.

1889 - The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the Eiffel Tower. Also at the exposition was the first automobile in Paris, the Mercedes-Benz.

1910 - Kind Edward VII of England died. He was succeeded by his second ***, George V.

1915 - Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox.

1937 - The German airship Hindenburg crashed and burned in Lakehurst, NJ. Thirty-six people (of the 97 on board) were ******.

1941 - Joseph Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership.

1941 - Bob Hope gave his first USO show at California's March Field.

1942 - During World War II, the Japanese seized control of the Philippines. About 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to the Japanese.

1945 - Axis Sally made her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

1946 - The New York Yankees became the first major league baseball team to travel by plane.

1954 - British runner Roger Banister broke the four minute mile.

1957 - U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Profiles in Courage".

1959 - The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid (at the time) for a painting by a living artist.

1960 - Britain's Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones. They were divorced in 1978.

1960 - U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

1962 - The first nuclear warhead was fired from the Polaris submarine.

1981 - A jury of international architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin's entry for the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1994 - The Chunnel officially opened. The tunnel under the English Channel links England and France.

1994 - Former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against U.S. President Clinton. The case alleged that he had sexually harassed her in 1991.

1997 - Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison for ****** six trainees at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

1997 - Four health-care companies agreed to a settlement of $600 million to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted ***** between 1978-1985.

1999 - Britain's Labour Party won the largest number of seats in the first elections for Scotland's new Parliament and Wales' new Assembly.

1999 - A parole board in New York voted to release Amy Fisher. She had been in jail for 7 years for shooting her lover's wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face.

2001 - Chandra Levy's parents reported her missing to police in Washington, DC. Levy's body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.

Current Birthdays


George Clooney turns 48 years old today.

78 Willie Mays
Baseball Hall of Famer


75 Richard Shelby
U.S. senator, R-Ala.


64 Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Singer


64 Bob Seger
Rock musician


62 Alan Dale
Actor


62 Ben Masters
Actor


57 Gregg Henry
Actor


56 Tony Blair
Former British prime minister


54 Tom Bergeron
TV host ("Dancing with the Stars")


49 Roma Downey
Actress ("Touched by an Angel")


49 John Flansburgh
Rock singer (They Might Be Giants)


45 Tony Scalzo
Rock musician (Fastball)


44 Leslie Hope
Actress


42 Mark Bryan
Rock musician (Hootie and the Blowfish)


38 Chris Shiflett
Rock musician (Foo Fighters)


37 Martin Brodeur
Hockey player


26 Adrianne Palicki
Actress ("Friday Night Lights")


Historic Birthdays


Orson Welles

5/6/1915 - 10/10/1985
American movie actor, director, producer and writer


36 Maximilien Robespierre
5/6/1758 - 7/28/1794
French Jacobin leader and a principal figure in the French Revolution


89 Abraham Jacobi
5/6/1830 - 7/10/1919
German-born physician and pioneer in the field of pediatric medicine


83 Sigmund Freud
5/6/1856 - 9/23/1939
Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis


63 Robert Peary
5/6/1856 - 2/20/1920
American arctic explorer; led the first expedition to the North Pole


79 John McCutcheon
5/6/1870 - 6/10/1949
American newspaper cartoonist and writer


84 William Leahy
5/6/1875 - 7/20/1959
American admiral; chief of staff during World War II


58 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
5/6/1880 - 6/15/1938
German Expressionist painter and printmaker


78 Stanley Morison
5/6/1889 - 10/11/1967
English typographer and scholar


31 Rudolph Valentino
5/6/1895 - 8/23/1926
Italian-born American silent screen actor


75 Lew Christensen
5/6/1909 - 10/9/1984
American dancer, teacher and choreographer


71 Theodore H. White
5/6/1915 - 5/15/1986
American journalist, historian and novelist

 

[minidog]

0558 - The dome of the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapsed. It was immediately rebuilt as ordered by Justinian.

1274 - The Second Council of Lyons opened in France to regulate the election of the pope.

1429 - The English siege of Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.

1525 - The German peasants' revolt was crushed by the ruling class and church.

1663 - The first Theatre Royal was opened in London.

1763 - Indian chief Pontiac began all out war on the British in New York.

1789 - The first U.S. Presidential Inaugural Ball was held in New York City.

1800 - The U.S. Congress divided the Northwest Territory into two parts. The western part became the Indiana Territory and the eastern section remained the Northwest Territory.

1847 - The AMA (American Medical Association) was founded in Philadelphia.

1898 - The first Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association meet was held in New Haven, CT.

1912 - Columbia University approved final plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories.

1912 - The first airplane equipped with a machine *** flew over College Park, MD.

1915 - The Lusitania, a civilian ship, was sunk by a German submarine. 1,198 people were ******.

1926 - A U.S. report showed that one-third of the nation's exports were motors.

1937 - The German Condor Legion arrived in Spain to assist Franco’s ******.

1939 - Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.

1940 - Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister.

1942 - In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese and American navies attacked each other with carrier planes. It was the first time in the history of naval warfare where two enemy fleets fought without seeing each other.

1943 - The last major German strongholds in North Africa, Tunis and Bizerte, fell to Allied ******.

1945 - Baseball owner Branch Rickey announced the organization of the United States Negro Baseball League. There were 6 teams.

1945 - Germany signed unconditional surrender ending World War II. It would take effect the next day.

1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp. was founded. The company was later renamed Sony.

1951 - Russia was admitted to participate in the 1952 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.

1954 - French Colonial ****** surrendered to the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu after 55 days of fighting.

1954 - The United States and the United Kingdom rejected the Soviet Union's bid to join NATO.

1958 - Howard Johnson set an aircraft altitude record in F-104.

1960 - Leonid Brezhnev became president of the Soviet Union.

1975 - U.S. President Ford declared an end to the Vietnam War.

1977 - Rookie Janet Guthrie set the fastest time on opening day of practice for the Indianapolis 500. Her time was 185.607.

1984 - A $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who claimed they had suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant while serving in the armed ******.

1987 - Shelly Long, as Diane Chambers, made her last appearance as a regular on the TV show "Cheers."

1992 - A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified as the 27th Amendment.

1994 - The Edvard Munch painting "The Scream" was recovered after being stolen 3 months earlier from an Oslo Museum. This version of "The Scream", one of four different versions, was painted on paper.

1996 - The trial of Serbian police officer Dusan Tadic opened in the Netherlands. He was later convicted on ******-******* charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

1997 - A report released by the U.S. government said that Switzerland provided **** Germany with equipment and credit during World War II. Germany exchanged for gold what had been plundered or stolen. Switzerland did not comply with postwar agreements to return the gold.

1998 - Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler Corp. for close to $40 billion. It was the largest industrial merger on record.

1998 - Residents of London voted to elect their own mayor for the first time in history. The vote would take place in May 2000.

1998 - Leeza Gibbons received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - A jury ruled that "The Jenny Jones Show" and Warner Bros. were liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure. He was ****** by another guest on the show. The jury's award was $25 million.

1999 - Jerry Moss received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens were ****** and 20 were wounded when a NATO plane mistakenly bombed the Chinese embassy.

1999 - In Guinea-Bissau, the government of President João Bernardo Vieira was ousted in a military coup.

2000 - Russian President Vladimir V. Putin named First Deputy Premier Mikhail Kasyanov as premier.

2003 - In Washington, DC, General Motors Corp. delivered six fuel cell vehicles to Capitol Hill for lawmakers and others to test drive during the next two years.

2003 - Roger Moore collapsed during a matinee performance of the Broadway comedy "The Play What I Wrote." He finished the show after a 10-minute break. He was fitted with a pacemaker the following day.

Current Birthdays


Dick Williams turns 80 years old today.


77 Pete Domenici
Former U.S. senator, R-N.M.


70 Johnny Maestro
Singer


70 Jimmy Ruffin
R&B singer


64 Robin Strasser
Actress


63 Bill Danoff
Singer, songwriter (The Starland Vocal Band)


63 Thelma Houston
R&B singer


63 Bill Kreutzmann
Rock musician (Grateful Dead)


59 Prairie Prince
Rock musician


58 Robert Hegyes
Actor ("Welcome Back, Kotter")


55 Amy Heckerling
Writer, director ("Clueless," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High")


50 Michael E. Knight
Actor ("All My ********")


48 Phil Campbell
Rock singer, musician (Motorhead)


46 Rick Schell
Country musician


44 Chris O'Connor
Rock musician (Primitive Radio Gods)


40 Traci Lords
Actress


38 Eagle-Eye Cherry
Rock singer


35 Breckin Meyer
Actor


25 Alex Smith
Football player


23 Matt Helders
Rock musician (Arctic Monkeys)


18 Taylor Abrahamse
Actor

Historic Birthdays


Eva Peron

5/7/1919 - 7/26/1952
Argentine wife of Juan Peron; developed independent political power base

86 Germain Boffrand
5/7/1667 - 3/18/1754
French architect; worked in the Baroque and Rococo styles


65 David Hume
5/7/1711 - 8/25/1776
Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and essayist


77 Robert Browning
5/7/1812 - 12/12/1889
English poet and writer


63 Johannes Brahms
5/7/1833 - 4/3/1897
German composer


78 Oskar von Miller
5/7/1855 - 4/9/1934
German engineer; founded the Munich Museum of Science and Technology


57 Marcus Loew
5/7/1870 - 9/5/1927
American film executive and movie theatre chain owner


89 Archibald MacLeish
5/7/1892 - 4/20/1982
American poet, playwright and government official


96 Kitty Godfree
5/7/1896 - 6/19/1992
English tennis player; won Olympic gold medal in 1920


60 Gary Cooper
5/7/1901 - 5/13/1961
American motion-picture actor


81 Edwin Herbert Land
5/7/1909 - 3/1/1991
American inventor and physicist; developed the Polaroid Land Camera

 

[minidog]

1096 - Peter the Hermit and his army reached Hungary. They ****** through without incident.

1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion-Kentishmen revolted against King Henry VI.

1541 - Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River. He called it Rio de Espiritu Santo.

1794 - Antoine Lavoisier was executed by guillotine. He was the French chemist that discovered oxygen.

1794 - The United States Post Office was established.

1846 - The first major battle of the Mexican War was fought. The battle occurred in Palo Alto, TX.

1847 - The rubber tire was patented by Robert W. Thompson.

1879 - George Selden applied for the first automobile patent.

1886 - Pharmacist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invented what would later be called "Coca-Cola."

1902 - Mount Pelee on Martinique erupted and ****** over 30,000 people and destroyed the town of St. Pierre.

1904 - U.S. Marines landed in Tangier to protect the Belgian legation.

1914 - The U.S. Congress ****** a Joint Resolution that designated the second Sunday in May as ******'s Day.

1915 - H.P. Whitney's Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby.

1919 - The first transatlantic flight took-off by a navy seaplane.

1921 - Sweden abolished capital punishment.

1933 - Gandhi began a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India.

1939 - Clay Puett's electric starting gate was used for the first time.

1943 - The Germans suppressed a revolt by Polish Jews and destroyed the Warsaw Ghetto.

1945 - U.S. President Harry Truman announced that World War II had ended in Europe.

1954 - Parry O'Brien became the first to toss a shot put over 60 feet. O'Brien achieved a distance of 60 feet 5 1/4 inches.

1956 - Alfred E. Neuman appeared on the cover of "Mad Magazine" for the first time.

1958 - U.S. President Eisenhower ordered the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green became the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school.

1960 - Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union resumed.

1961 - New Yorkers selected a new name for their new National League baseball franchise. They chose the Mets.

1967 - Muhammad Ali was indicted for refusing induction in U.S. Army.

1970 - Construction workers broke up an anti-war protest on New York City's Wall Street.

1973 - Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

1978 - David R. Berkowitz, known as the "*** of Sam," pled guilty to six ****** charges.

1984 - The Soviet Union announced that they would not participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics Games in Los Angeles.

1984 - Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) got married on ABC-TV's "Happy Days."

1985 - "New ****" was released to the public on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola.

1986 - Reporters were told that 84,000 people had been evacuated from areas near the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Soviet Ukraine.

1997 - Larry King received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - A pipe burst leaving a million residents without water in Malaysia's capital area. This added to four days of shortages that 2 million already faced.

1999 - The first female cadet graduated from The Citadel military college

Current Birthdays


Lovie Smith turns 51 years old today.


83 David Attenborough
Environmentalist


83 Don Rickles
Comedian


81 Ted Sorensen
Presidential adviser


72 Dennis DeConcini
Former U.S. senator, D-Ariz.


69 Toni Tennille
Singer (The Captain and Tennille)


67 Jack Blanchard
Country singer


65 Gary Glitter
Rock singer


64 Keith Jarrett
Jazz pianist


58 Philip Bailey
R&B singer (Earth, Wind and Fire)


58 Chris Frantz
Rock musician (Talking Heads)


56 Billy Burnette
Country musician


56 Alex Van Halen
Rock musician (Van Halen)


55 Stephen Furst
Actor


55 David Keith
Actor


52 Bill Cowher
Football coach, sportscaster


50 Ronnie Lott
Football Hall of Famer


45 Melissa Gilbert
Actress ("Little House on the Prairie")


45 Dave Rowntree
Rock musician (Blur)


41 Del Gray
Country musician (Little Texas)


37 Darren Hayes
Rock singer


34 Enrique Iglesias
Singer


24 Julia Whelan
Actress ("Once and Again")


Historic Birthdays


Harry Truman

5/8/1884 - 12/26/1972
American 33rd president of the United States

56 Edward Gibbon
5/8/1737 - 1/16/1794
English historian; wrote "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"


78 Thomas Hancock
5/8/1786 - 3/26/1865
English inventor; helped start the British rubber industry


82 Henri Dunant
5/8/1828 - 10/30/1910
Swiss humanitarian and founder the Red Cross; awarded Nobel Prize for Peace (1901)


79 James Rowland Angell
5/8/1869 - 3/4/1949
American psychologist and president of Yale University


80 Thomas Costain
5/8/1885 - 10/8/1965
Canadian-born American historical novelist


25 Joselito
5/8/1895 - 5/16/1920
Spanish bullfighter


77 Edmund Wilson
5/8/1895 - 6/12/1972
American essayist and literary critic


92 Friedrich von Hayek
5/8/1899 - 3/23/1992
Austrian-born English economist; awarded Nobel Prize in 1974


67 Fernandel
5/8/1903 - 2/26/1971
French comedian


71 Roberto Rossellini
5/8/1906 - 6/3/1977
Italian film director


66 Romain Gary
5/8/1914 - 12/2/1980
French novelist, war hero and diplomat


38 Sonny Liston
5/8/1932 - 12/30/1970
American world champion boxer from 1961 to 1964

 

[minidog]

1429 - Joan of Arc defeated the besieging English at Orleans.

1502 - Christopher Columbus left Spain for his final trip to the Western Hemisphere.

1671 - Thomas "Captain" ***** stole the crown jewels from the Tower of London.

1754 - The first newspaper cartoon in America showed a divided snake "Join or die" in "The Pennsylvania Gazette."

1785 - Joseph Bramah patented the ****-pump handle.

1825 - The Chatham Theatre opened in New York City. It was the first gas-lit theater in America.

1901 - In Australia, the Duke of Cornwall and York declared the First Commonwealth Parliament open.

1915 - German and French ****** fought the Battle of Artois.

1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett became the first men to fly an airplane over the North Pole.

1930 - A starting gate was used to start a Triple Crown race for the first time.

1936 - Fascist Italy took Addis Abba and annexed Ethiopia.

1936 - The first sheet of postage stamps of more than one variety went on sale in New York City.

1940 - Vivien Leigh debuted in America on stage in "Romeo and Juliet" with Lawrence Olivier.

1941 - The German submarine U-110 was captured at sea by Britain's Royal navy.

1945 - U.S. officials announced that the midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.

1946 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy abdicated and was replaced by Umberto.

1955 - West Germany joined NATO.

1958 - Richard Burton made his network television debut in the presentation of "Wuthering Heights" on CBS-TV.

1960 - The U.S. Food and **** Administration (FDA) approved for sale an oral birth-control pill for the first time.

1961 - Jim Gentile (Baltimore Orioles) set a major league baseball record when he hit a grand slam home run in two consecutive innings. The game was against the Minnesota Twins.

1962 - A laser beam was successfully bounced off Moon for the first time.

1974 - The House Judiciary Committee began formal hearings on the Nixon impeachment.

1978 - The bullet-riddled body of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was found in an automobile in the center of Rome. The Red Brigades had ******** him.

1980 - A Liberian freighter hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida. 35 motorists were ****** and a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapsed.

1987 - Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers were married.

1994 - Nelson Mandela was chosen to be South Africa's first black president.

1996 - In video testimony to a courtroom in Little Rock, AR, U.S. President Clinton insisted that he had nothing to do with a $300,000 loan in the criminal case against his former Whitewater partners.

2002 - In Bethlehem, West Bank, a deal was reached that would end the 38-day standoff at the Church of the Nativity. Thirteen suspected militants were to be deported to several different countries. The standoff had begun on April 2, 2002.

2002 - In Kaspiisk, Russia, 39 people were ****** and at least 130 were injurde when a remote-controlled bomb exploded during a holiday parade.

2002 - In Bahrain, people were allowed to vote for representatives for the first time in nearly 30 years. Women were allowed to vote for the first time in the country's history.

Current Birthdays


Billy Joel turns 60 years old today.


91 Mike Wallace
Broadcast journalist ("60 Minutes")


77 Geraldine McEwan
Actor


75 Alan Bennett
Actor, screenwriter


74 Nokie Edwards
Rock musician (The Ventures)


73 Albert Finney
Actor


73 Glenda Jackson
Actress


72 Sonny Curtis
Rock musician (Buddy Holly and the Crickets)


69 James L. Brooks
Director


67 John Aschroft
Former attorney general


67 Tommy Roe
Singer


65 Richie Furay
Rock musician (Buffalo Springfield, Poco)


63 Candice Bergen
Actress ("Murphy Brown")


63 Clint Holmes
Singer


62 Anthony Higgins
Actor


61 Calvin Murphy
Basketball Hall of Famer


60 Bob Margolin
Blues guitarist


59 Tom Petersson
Rock singer, musician (Cheap Trick)


58 Mike D'Antoni
Basketball coach


58 Alley Mills
Actress ("The Wonder Years")


53 Wendy Crewson
Actress


49 Tony Gwynn
Baseball Hall of Famer


48 John Corbett
Actor


47 Dave Gahan
Rock singer (Depeche Mode)


39 Ghostface Killah
Rapper (Wu-Tang Clan)


38 Mike Myerson
Country musician (Heartland)


34 Tamia
R&B singer


32 Dan Regan
Rock musician (Reel Big Fish)


30 Pierre Bouvier
Rock singer (Simple Plan)


30 Rosario Dawson
Actress


30 Brandon Webb
Baseball player


27 Rachel Boston
Actress ("American Dreams")


25 Prince Fielder
Baseball player


24 Audrina Patridge
TV personality ("The Hills")


Historic Birthdays


Howard Carter

5/9/1874 - 3/2/1939
English archaeologist


59 John Brown
5/9/1800 - 12/2/1859
American abolitionist; led raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in 1859


56 Belle Boyd
5/9/1844 - 6/11/1900
American actress and Confederate spy during the Civil War


67 Carl Gustaf Laval
5/9/1845 - 2/2/1913
Swedish scientist, engineer and inventor


77 Sir James Barrie
5/9/1860 - 6/19/1937
Scottish dramatist and novelist; wrote "Peter Pan"


63 Lilian Mary Baylis
5/9/1874 - 11/25/1937
English theatrical manager


85 Henry J. Kaiser
5/9/1882 - 8/24/1967
American industrialist; built dams, bridges and ships


72 Jose Ortega y Gasset
5/9/1883 - 10/18/1955
Spanish philosopher and humanist


76 William du Bois
5/9/1916 - 2/5/1993
American author and illustrator of ********'s books


67 Pancho Gonzales
5/9/1928 - 7/3/1995
American tennis player; U.S. Open single's champion 8 times between 1953 and 1961

 

[minidog]

1503 - Christopher Columbus discovered the Cayman Islands.

1676 - Bacon's Rebellion, which pits frontiersmen against the government, began.

1768 - The imprisonment of the journalist John Wilkes as an outlaw provoked ******** in London. Wilkes was returned to parliament as a member for Middlesex.

1773 - The English Parliament ****** the Tea Act, which taxed all tea in the U.S. colonies.

1774 - Louis XVI ascended the throne of France.

1775 - Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold led an ****** on the British Fort Ticonderoga and captured it from the British.

1794 - Elizabeth, the ****** of King Louis XVI, was ********.

1796 - Napoleon Bonaparte won a brilliant victory against the Austrians at Lodi bridge in Italy.

1840 - Mormon leader Joseph Smith moved his band of followers to Illinois to escape the hostilities they had experienced in Missouri.

1857 - The Seepoys of India revolted against the British Army.

1865 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops near Irvinville, GA.

1869 - Central Pacific and Union Pacific Rail Roads meet in Promontory, UT. A golden spike was driven in at the celebration of the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S.

1872 - Victoria Woodhull became the first woman nominated for the U.S. presidency.

1876 - Richard Wagner’s "Centennial Inaugural March" was heard for the first time at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, PA.

1898 - A vending machine law was enacted in Omaha, NE. It cost $5,000 for a permit.

1908 - The first ******'s Day observance took place during a church service in Grafton, West Virginia.

1924 - J. Edgar Hoover was appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1927 - The Hotel Statler in Boston, MA. became the first hotel to install radio headsets in each of its 1,300 rooms.

1928 - WGY-TV in Schenectady, NY, began regular television programming.

1930 - The Adler Planetarium opened to the public in Chicago, IL.

1933 - The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.

1940 - Germany invaded Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

1941 - England's House of Commons was destroyed by a German air raid.

1941 - Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy, parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission.

1942 - U.S. ****** in the Philippines began to surrender to the Japanese.

1943 - U.S. troops invaded Attu in the Aleutian Islands to expel the Japanese.

1960 - The U.S.S. Triton completed the first circumnavigation of the globe under water. The trip started on February 16.

1968 - Preliminary Vietnam peace talks began in Paris.

1969 - The National and American Football Leagues announced their plans to merge for the 1970-71 season.

1978 - Britain's Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.

1982 - Elliott Gould made his dramatic television debut after 30 movies in 17 years. He starred in "The Rules of Marriage" on CBS-TV.

1986 - Navy Lt. Commander Donnie Cochran became the first black pilot to fly with the Blue Angels team.

1994 - The state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the ******* of 33 young men and boys.

1994 - Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa’s first black president.

1997 - An earthquake in northeastern Iran ****** at least 2,400 people.

1999 - China broke off talks on human rights with the U.S. in response to NATO's accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

1999 - The Cezanne painting "Still Life With Curtain, Pitcher and Bowl of Fruit" sold for 60.5 million.

2000 - 11,000 residents were evacuated in Los Alamos, NM, due to a fire that was blown into a canyon. The fire had been deliberately set to clear brush.

2001 - Boeing Co. announced that it would be moving its headquarters to Chicago, IL.

2001 - In Ghana, 121 people were ****** in a stampede at a soccer game.

2002 - Robert Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole. Hanssen, an FBI agent, had sold U.S. secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

2002 - Taiwan test fired a locally made Sky Bow II surface-to-air missile for the first time. They also fired three U.S.-made Hawk missiles.

2002 - Dr. Pepper announced that it would be introducing a new flavor, Red Fusion, for the first time in 117 years.

Current Birthdays


Bono turns 49 years old today.


79 Pat Summerall
Sportscaster


76 Barbara Taylor Bradford
Author


71 Henry Fambrough
R&B singer (The Spinners)


70 Gary Owens
College basketball coach


67 Jim Calhoun
Announcer ("Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In")


66 David Clennon
Actor


65 Jim Abrahams
Writer, director ("Airplane!")


63 Donovan
Folk, rock singer


63 Dave Mason
Rock singer (Traffic)


62 Andrew Card
Former White House chief of staff


58 Ron Banks
R&B singer (The Dramatics)


52 Bruce Penhall
Actor ("CHiPs")


51 Rick Santorum
Former U.S. senator, R-Pa.


50 Victoria Rowell
Actress


48 Danny Carey
Rock musician (Tool)


46 Suzan-Lori Parks
Playwright


44 Linda Evangelista
Model


42 Young MC
Rapper


41 Erik Palladino
Actor


41 Richard Patrick
Rock singer (Filter)


37 David Wallace
Country musician


32 Jesse Vest
Rock musician


31 Kenan Thompson
Actor ("Saturday Night Live")


29 Jason Dalyrimple
R&B singer (Soul for Real)


26 Joey Zehr
Rock musician (The Click Five)


24 Ashley Poole
Singer (*****)


24 Odette Yustman
Actress

Historic Birthdays


David O. Selznick

5/10/1902 - 6/22/1965
American film producer


71 William Grace
5/10/1832 - 3/21/1904
Irish-born American shipowner; founder of W. R. Grace & Company


26 John Wilkes Booth
5/10/1838 - 4/26/1865
American actor; assassinated President Abraham Lincoln


81 Sir Thomas Lipton
5/10/1850 - 10/2/1931
Scottish-born English merchant; built Lipton tea empire


82 Karl Barth
5/10/1886 - 12/9/1968
Swiss theologian


90 Einar Gerhardsen
5/10/1897 - 9/19/1987
Norwegian politician; prime minister four times between 1945 and 1965


83 Ariel Durant
5/10/1898 - 10/25/1981
Russian-born American writer; co-wrote "The Story of Civilization"


88 Fred Astaire
5/10/1899 - 6/22/1987
American dancer and actor


69 Maybelle Carter
5/10/1909 - 10/23/1978
American singer, songwriter and guitarist


61 Ella Grasso
5/10/1919 - 2/5/1981
American politician; governor of Connecticut (1975-80)


69 Nancy Walker
5/10/1922 - 3/25/1992
American movie and television actress

 

[minidog]

0330 - Constantinople, previously the town of Byzantium, was founded.

1573 - Henry of Anjou became the first elected king of Poland.

1647 - Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor.

1689 - French and English naval battle takes place at Bantry Bay.

1745 - French ****** defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army at Fontenoy.

1792 - The Columbia River was discovered by Captain Robert Gray.

1812 - British prime Minster Spencer Perceval was shot by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the House of Commons.

1816 - The American Bible Society was formed in New York City.

1857 - Indian mutineers seized Delhi from the British.

1858 - Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.

1860 - Giuseppe Garibaldi landed at Marsala, Sicily.

1889 - Major Joseph Washington Wham takes charge of $28,000 in gold and silver to pay troops at various points in the Arizona Territory. The money was stolen in a train robbery.

1894 - Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company in Illinois went on strike.

1910 - Glacier National Park in Montana was established.

1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded.

1934 - A severe two-day dust storm stripped the topsoil from the great plains of the U.S. and created a "Dust Bowl." The storm was one of many.

1944 - A major offensive was launched by the allied ****** in central Italy.

1947 - The creation of the tubeless tire was announced by the B.F. Goodrich Company.

1949 - Siam changed its name to Thailand.

1960 - Israeli soldiers captured Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires.

1967 - The siege of Khe Sanh ended.

1985 - More than 50 people died when a flash fire swept a soccer stadium in Bradford, England.

1995 - The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was extended indefinitely. The treaty limited the spread of nuclear material for military purposes.

1996 - An Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades. All 110 people on board were ******.

1997 - Garry Kasparov, world chess champion, lost his first ever multi-game match. He lost to IBM's chess computer Deep Blue. It was the first time a computer had beat a world-champion player.

1998 - India conducted its first underground nuclear tests, three of them, in 24 years. The tests were in ********* of a global ban on nuclear testing.

1998 - A French mint produced the first coins of Europe's single currency. The coin is known as the euro.

2001 - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced his decision to approve a 30-day delay of the execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh had been scheduled to be executed on May 16, 2001. The delay was because the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had failed to disclose thousands of documents to McVeigh's defense team.

Current Birthdays


Matt Leinart turns 26 years old today.


82 Mort Sahl
Comedian


75 James Jeffords
Former U.S. senator, I-Vt.


68 Eric Burdon
Rock singer (The *******)


57 Shohreh Aghdashloo
Actress


57 Frances Fisher
Actress


56 Boyd Gaines
Actor


54 Mark Herndon
Country musician (Alabama)


50 Martha Quinn
Former MTV VJ


46 Tim Raybon
Country musician (The Raybon Brothers)


41 Jeffrey Donovan
Actor


41 Keith West
Country musician (Heartland)


34 Coby Bell
Actor ("Third Watch")


31 Perttu Kivilaakso
Rock musician (Apocalyptica)


27 Jonathan Jackson
Actor

Historic Birthdays


Martha Graham

5/11/1894 - 4/1/1991
American dancer, teacher and choreographer

76 Baron Munchhausen
5/11/1720 - 2/22/1797
German story-teller; his tales became "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"


91 Fanny Cerrito
5/11/1817 - 5/6/1909
Russian-born American composer for stage and screen musicals


66 Charles Warren Fairbanks
5/11/1852 - 6/4/1918
American politician; vice-president under Theodore Roosevelt (1905-09)


72 Frank Schlesinger
5/11/1871 - 7/10/1943
American astronomer


101 Irving Berlin
5/11/1888 - 9/22/1989
Russian-born American composer for stage and screen musicals


75 Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
5/11/1891 - 2/6/1967
American secretary of the treasury (1934-45)


80 Dame Margaret Rutherford
5/11/1892 - 5/22/1972
English stage and screen actress


83 William Grant Still
5/11/1895 - 12/3/1978
American composer and conductor


84 Salvador Dali
5/11/1904 - 1/23/1989
Spanish Surrealist painter and printmaker


78 Herbert Philbrick
5/11/1915 - 8/16/1993
American counterintelligence agent for the F.B.I.

 

[minidog]

1588 - King Henry III fled Paris after Henry of Guise triumphantly entered the city.

1780 - Charleston, South Carolina fell to British ******.

1831 - Edward Smith became the first indicted bank robber in the U.S.

1847 - William Clayton invented the odometer.

1870 - Manitoba entered the Confederation as a Canadian province.

1881 - Tunisia, in North Africa became a French protectorate.

1885 - In the Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebelled against the Canadian government.

1888 - Charles Sherrill of the Yale track team became the first runner to use the crouching start for a fast break in a foot race.

1926 - The airship Norge became the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.

1926 - In Britain, a general strike by trade unions ended. The strike began on May 3, 1926.

1932 - The ****** body of Charles and Anna Lindbergh's *** was found just a few miles from the Lindbergh home near Hopewell, NJ.

1937 - Britain's King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

1940 - The **** conquest of France began with the German army crossing Muese River.

1942 - The Soviet Army launched its first major offensive of World War II and took Kharkov in the eastern Ukraine from the German army.

1943 - The Axis ****** in North Africa surrendered during World War II.

1948 - The state of Israel and its provisional government was established.

1949 - The Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade.

1950 - The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.

1957 - A.J. Foyt won his first auto racing victory in Kansas City, MO.

1965 - West Germany and Israel exchanged letters establishing diplomatic relations.

1970 - Ernie Banks, of the Chicago Cubs, hit his 500th home run.

1975 - U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez was seized by Cambodian ****** in international waters.

1978 - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that they would no longer exclusively name hurricanes after women.

1982 - In Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul II.

1992 - Four suspects were arrested in the beating of trucker Reginald Denny at the start of the Los Angeles riots.

1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and named Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin as his successor.

2002 - Former U.S. President Carter arrived in Cuba for a visit with Fidel Castro. It was the first time a U.S. head of state, in or out of office, had gone to the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

2003 - In Texas, fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers went into hiding over a dispute with Republican's over a congressional redistricting plan

Current Birthdays


Gabriel Byrne turns 59 years old today.

84 Yogi Berra
Baseball Hall of Famer


84 John Simon
Critic


81 Burt Bacharach
Singer, songwriter


71 Millie Perkins
Actress


68 Jayotis Washington
R&B singer (The Persuasions)


67 Billy Swan
Country singer


66 Linda Dano
Actress


64 Ian McLagan
Rock musician (Small Faces, The Faces)


61 Lindsay Crouse
Actress


61 Dave Heineman
Governor of Nebraska


61 Steve Winwood
Rock musician (Traffic)


59 Bruce Boxleitner
Actor


59 Billy Squier
Rock musician


54 Kix Brooks
Country singer (Brooks and Dunn)


51 Kim Greist
Actress


50 Ving Rhames
Actor


48 Billy Duffy
Rock musician (The Cult)


47 Emilio Estevez
Actor


47 April Grace
Actress


46 Vanessa Williams
Actress


44 Eddie Kilgallon
Country musician


43 Stephen Baldwin
Actor


41 Tony Hawk
Skateboarder


41 Scott Schwartz
Actor


40 Kim Fields
Actress ("The Facts of Life")


39 Samantha Mathis
Actress


38 Jamie Luner
Actress


37 Christian Campbell
Actor


36 Mackenzie Astin
Actor


31 Malin Akerman
Actress


31 Jason Biggs
Actor ("American Pie" movies)


30 Steve Smith
Football player (Carolina Panthers)


23 Emily VanCamp
Actress


17 Malcolm David Kelley
Actor ("Lost")


14 Sawyer Sweeten
Actor ("Everybody Loves Raymond")


14 Sullivan Sweeten
Actor ("Everybody Loves Raymond")

Historic Birthdays


Florence Nightingale

5/12/1820 - 8/13/1910
English nurse; reformed nursing profession and medical care for soldiers

75 Edward Lear
5/12/1812 - 1/29/1888
English landscape painter and poet


53 Dante Gabriel Rossetti
5/12/1828 - 4/9/1882
English painter and poet


70 Jules Massenet
5/12/1842 - 8/13/1912
French composer; best remembered for his operas


79 Gabriel Faure
5/12/1845 - 11/4/1924
French composer


74 Henry Cabot Lodge
5/12/1850 - 11/9/1924
American statesman; Massachusetts senator from 1893 to 1924


54 Baron Clemens von Pirquet
5/12/1874 - 2/28/1929
Austrian physician; devised a skin test for tuberculosis


71 Lincoln Ellsworth
5/12/1880 - 5/26/1951
American explorer, engineer and scientist


85 Leslie Charteris
5/12/1907 - 4/15/1993
English novelist


84 Dorothy Hodgkin
5/12/1910 - 7/29/1994
English Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1964)


35 Julius Rosenberg
5/12/1918 - 6/19/1953
American engineer;executed with his wife for espionage in 1953

 

[minidog]

1607 - Jamestown, Virginia, was settled as a colony of England.

1648 - Margaret Jones of Plymouth was found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck.

1779 - The War of Bavarian Succession ended.

1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip left Britain for Australia. He successfully landed eleven ships full of convicts on January 18, 1788, at Botany Bay. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.

1821 - The first practical printing press was patented in the U.S. by Samuel Rust.

1846 - The U.S. declared that war already existed with Mexico.

1854 - The first big American billiards match was held at Malcolm Hall in Syracuse, NY.

1861 - Britain declared its neutrality in the American Civil War.

1864 - The Battle of Resaca commenced as Union General Sherman fought towards Atlanta during the American Civil War.

1865 - The last land engagement of the American Civil War was fought at the Battle of Palmito Ranch in far south Texas, more than a month after Gen. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, VA.

1867 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after spending two years in prison for his role in the American Civil War.

1873 - Ludwig M. Wolf patented the sewing machine lamp holder.

1880 - Thomas Edison tested his experimental electric railway in Menlo Park.

1888 - Slavery was abolished in Brazil.

1911 - The New York Giants set a major league baseball record. Ten runners crossed home plate before the first out of the game against St. Louis.

1912 - Royal Flying Corps was established in England.

1913 - Igor Sikorsky flew the first four engine aircraft.

1917 - Three peasant ******** near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.

1918 - The first airmail postage stamps were issued with airplanes on them. The denominations were 6, 16, and 24 cents.

1926 - In Warsaw, Joseph Pilsudski had President Wojciechowski arrested.

1927 - "Black Friday" occurred in Germany.

1940 - Winston Churchill made his first speech as the prime minister of Britain.

1949 - The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR.

1954 - U.S. President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.

1958 - French troops took control of Algiers.

1958 - U.S. Vice President Nixon's limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.

1967 - Mickey Mantle hit his 500th homerun.

1968 - Peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam began in Paris.

1975 - Hailstones the size of tennis balls hit Wenerville, TN.



1981 - Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

1982 - The Chicago Cubs became the first major league baseball team to win 8,000 games.

1985 - Tony Perez became the oldest major league baseball player to hit a grand slam home run at the age of 42 and 11 months.

1985 - A confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped an explosive onto the group's headquarters. 11 people died in the fire that resulted.

1996 - In Bangladesh 600 people were ****** by a tornado.

1998 - India did a second round of nuclear tests. The first round had been done 2 days earlier. Within hours the U.S. and Japan imposed tough economic sanctions. India claimed that the tests were necessary to maintain India's national security.

1999 - In Moscow, the impeachment of Russian President Boris Yeltsin began.


Current Birthdays


Harvey Keitel turns 70 years old today.

71 Buck Taylor
Actor


62 Charles Baxter
Author


60 Franklyn Ajaye
Actor


60 Zoe Wanamaker
Actress


59 Stevie Wonder
Singer, musician


45 Stephen Colbert
TV host ("The Colbert Report")


45 Tom Verica
Actor ("American Dreams")


44 Lari White
Country singer


43 Darius Rucker
Rock singer (Hootie and the Blowfish)


41 Susan Floyd
Actress


32 Samantha Morton
Actress


31 Barry Zito
Baseball player


30 Mickey Madden
Rock musician (Maroon 5)


22 Hunter Parrish
Actor ("Weeds")


Historic Birthdays


Joe Louis

5/13/1914 - 4/12/1981
American boxer; world champion from 1937 to 1949


55 Henry William Stiegel
5/13/1729 - 1/10/1785
German-born American ironmaster and glassmaker


67 William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st marquess of Lansdowne
5/13/1737 - 5/7/1805
British statesman and prime minister (July 1782 - April 1783)


85 Pius IX
5/13/1792 - 2/7/1878
Italian pope (1846-78)


58 Sir Arthur Sullivan
5/13/1842 - 11/22/1900
English composer; wrote operettas with W. S. Gilbert


75 Sir Ronald Ross
5/13/1857 - 9/16/1932
British bacteriologist; won the Nobel prize in 1902


81 Georges Braque
5/13/1882 - 8/31/1963
French Cubist painter


74 Charles Pahud de Mortanges
5/13/1896 - 4/7/1971
Dutch equestrian; won Olympic medals in 1924, 1928 and1932


81 Dame Daphne du Maurier
5/13/1907 - 4/19/1989
English novelist and playwright; wrote "Rebecca"


75 Gil Evans
5/13/1912 - 3/20/1988
Canadian-born composer and arranger


47 Jim Jones
5/13/1931 - 11/18/1978
American cult leader responsible for the Jonestown Massacre in 1978

 

[minidog]

1264 - King Henry III was captured by his ******* in law Simon deMontfort at the Battle of Lewes in France.

1509 - In the Battle of Agnadello, French defeated Venitians in Northern Italy.

1610 - French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) was assassinated by a fanatical monk, François Ravillac.

1643 - Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his ******, Louis XIII.

1727 - Thomas Gainsborough was born. He was an English painter.

1787 - Delegates began gathering in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution.

1796 - The first smallpox vaccination was given by Edward Jenner.

1804 - William Clark set off the famous expedition from Camp Dubois. A few days later, in St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis joined the group. The group was known as the "Corps of Discovery."

1811 - Paraguay gained independence from Spain.

1853 - Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk.

1862 - The chronograph was patented by Adolphe Nicole.

1874 - McGill University and Harvard met at Cambridge, MA, for the first college football game to charge admission.

1878 - The name Vaseline was registered by Robert A. Chesebrough.

1879 - Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Telephone Company of Europe.

1897 - "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time. It was at a ceremony where a statue of George Washington was unveiled.

1897 - Guglielmo Marconi made the first communication by wireless telegraph.

1904 - In St. Louis, the Olympic games were held. It was the first time for the games to be played in the U.S.

1913 - The Rockefeller Foundation was created by John D. Rockefeller with a gift of $100,000,000.

1935 - The Philippines ratified an independence agreement.

1940 - The Netherlands surrendered to **** Germany.

1942 - The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) was established by an act of the U.S. Congress.

1942 - "Lincoln Portrait" by Aaron Copland was performed for the first time by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

1942 - The British, while retreating from Burma, reached India.

1948 - Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the independent State of Israel as British rule in Palestine came to an end.

1955 - The Warsaw Pact, a Easter European mutual-defense treaty, was signed in Poland by eight communist bloc countries including the Soviet Union.

1961 - A bus carrying Freedom Riders was bombed and burned in Alabama.

1969 - Jacqueline Susann’s second novel, "The Love Machine," was published by Simon and Schuster.

1973 - Skylab One was launched into orbit around Earth as the first U.S. manned space station.

1975 - U.S. ****** raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia. About 40 U.S. servicemen were ****** in the military operation.

1980 - U.S. President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services.

1985 - The first McDonald's restaurant became the first fast-food business museum. It is located in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1989 - The final episode of "****** Ties" aired.

1992 - Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev addressed members of the U.S. Congress, appealing to them to pass a bill to aid the people of the former Soviet Union.

1996 - A tornado hit 80 villages in nothern Bangladesh. More than 440 people were ******.

1998 - The Associated Press marked its 150th anniversary.

1998 - The final episode of the TV series "Seinfeld" aired after nine years on NBC.

1999 - North Korea returned the remains of six U.S. soldiers that had been ****** during the Korean War.

1999 - Jess Marlow received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2005 - The art exhibit "Gumby and Friends: The First 50 Years" opened at the Lynn House Gallery in Antioch, CA

Current Birthdays


Cate Blanchett turns 40 years old today

84 Patrice Munsel
Opera singer


67 Byron Dorgan
U.S. senator, D-N.D.


67 Tony Perez
Baseball Hall of Famer


66 Jack Bruce
Rock musician (Cream)


65 George Lucas
Director, producer ("Star Wars" movies)


61 Meg ******
Actress


57 David Byrne
Rock singer (Talking Heads)


57 Robert Zemeckis
Director


48 Tim Roth
Actor


47 Ian Astbury
Rock singer (The Cult)


47 C.C. DeVille
Rock musician (Poison)


47 Danny Huston
Actor


43 Mike Inez
Rock musician (Alice In Chains)


43 Raphael Saadiq
R&B singer (Tony Toni Tone)


40 Danny Wood
Singer (New **** on the Block)


38 Sofia Coppola
Director ("Lost in Translation")


36 Natalie Appleton
Singer (All Saints)


36 Shanice
R&B singer


32 Roy Halladay
Baseball player


31 Henry Garza
Rock musician (Los Lonely Boys)


26 Frank Gore
Football player


26 Amber Tamblyn
Actress


28 Mike Retondo
Rock musician (Plain White T's)


16 Miranda Cosgrove
Actress ("iCarly," "Drake and Josh")

Historic Birthdays


Otto Klemperer

5/14/1885 - 7/6/1973
German conductor

61 Margaret of Valois
5/14/1553 - 3/27/1615
Queen consort of Navarre known mainly for her "Memoires"


71 Francois de Callieres
5/14/1645 - 3/5/1717
French author and diplomat


87 Robert Owen
5/14/1771 - 11/17/1858
Welsh manufacturer and social reformer


69 Sir Frederick Borden
5/14/1847 - 1/6/1917
Canadian statesman; helped create Canadian navy


73 Alton Parker
5/14/1852 - 5/10/1926
American politician; opposed Theodore Roosevelt in 1904


51 Kurt Eisner
5/14/1867 - 2/21/1919
German Socialist journalist and statesman


57 Julian Eltinge
5/14/1883 - 3/7/1941
American vaudeville star and famous female impersonator


87 Al White
5/14/1895 - 7/8/1982
American diver and Olympic gold medalist (1924)


66 Mohammad Ayub
5/14/1907 - 4/19/1974
President of Pakistan (1958-1969)

 

[gunslingingbird]

2005 - The art exhibit "Gumby and Friends: The First 50 Years" opened at the Lynn House Gallery in Antioch, CA

That's where I live!

 

[minidog]

:hatsoff:
GSB thanks for reading
:bowdown:

 

[Skyraider22]

Al White was a lead ringer for diving:thumbsup:

 

[minidog]

1602 - Cape Cod was discovered by Bartholomew Gosnold.

1614 - An aristocratic uprising in France ended with the treaty of St.Menehould.

1618 - Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law.

1702 - The War of Spanish Succession began.

1768 - Under the Treaty of Versailles, France purchased Corsica from Genoa.

1795 - Napoleon entered the Lombardian capital of Milan.

1849 - Neapolitan troops entered Palermo, and were in possession of Sicily.

1856 - Lyman Frank Baum, author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," was born.

1862 - The U.S. Congress created the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

1911 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in ********* of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

1916 - U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.

1918 - Regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service.

1926 - Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth were ****** down in Alaska after a four-day flight over an icecap. Ice had begun to form on the dirigible Norge.

1926 - The New York Rangers were officially granted a franchise in the NHL. The NHL also announced that Chicago and Detroit would be joining the league in November.

1930 - Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess.

1940 - Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.

1941 - Joe DiMaggio began his historic major league baseball hitting streak of 56 games.

1942 - Gasoline rationing began in the U.S. The limit was 3 gallons a week for nonessential vehicles.

1948 - Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence.

1951 - AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders.

1957 - Britain dropped its first hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.

1958 - Sputnik III, the first space laboratory, was launched in the Soviet Union.

1963 - The last Project Mercury space flight was launched.

1964 - The Smothers Brothers, Dick and Tom, gave their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.

1970 - U.S. President Nixon appointed America's first two female generals.

1970 - Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were ****** when police opened fire during student protests.

1972 - Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, MD while campaigning for the U.S. presidency. Wallace was ********* by the shot.

1975 - The merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.

1980 - The first transcontinental balloon crossing of the United States took place.

1988 - Soviet ****** began their withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet ****** had been there for more than eight years.

1990 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Doctor Gachet" was sold for $82.5 million. The sale set a new world record.

1997 - The Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia's orbiting Mir station.

1999 - The Russian parliament was unable a attain enough votes to impeach President Boris Yeltsin

Current Birthdays


Kathleen Sebelius turns 61 years old today.

91 Joseph Wiseman
Actor


83 Peter Shaffer
Playwright


73 Anna Maria Alberghetti
Actress


73 Wavy Gravy
Counterculture icon


72 Madeleine Albright
Former secretary of state


72 Trini Lopez
Singer


71 Lenny Welch
Singer


69 Roger Ailes
Chairman and CEO of Fox News


69 Lainie Kazan
Actress, singer ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding")


67 K.T. Oslin
Country singer


61 Brian Eno
Music producer, songwriter


59 Nicholas Hammond
Actor ("The Sound of Music")


57 Chazz Palminteri
Actor


56 George Brett
Baseball Hall of Famer


56 Michael Oldfield
Composer ("Tubular Bells")


54 Lee Horsley
Actor


48 Giselle Fernandez
TV personality ("Dancing With the Stars")


42 John Smoltz
Baseball player


40 Emmitt Smith
Football player


39 Prince Be
Singer, rapper (PM Dawn)


39 Brad Rowe
Actor


37 David Charvet
Actor


35 Ahmet Zappa
TV personality


34 Ray Lewis
Football player


31 David Krumholtz
Actor ("Numb3rs")


29 Josh Beckett
Baseball player


28 Justin Morneau
Baseball player


25 Nick Perri
Rock musician


Historic Birthdays


Richard Daley

5/15/1902 - 12/20/1976
American politician; powerful mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976


86 Klemens Metternich
5/15/1773 - 6/11/1859
Austrian statesman; minister of foreign affairs (1809-48)


62 Michael Balfe
5/15/1808 - 10/20/1870
Irish singer and composer; wrote "The Bohemian Girl"


87 Debendranath Tagore
5/15/1817 - 1/19/1905
Indian Hindu philosopher and religious reformer


71 Elie Metchnikoff
5/15/1845 - 7/16/1916
Russian zoologist and microbiologist; won Nobel Prize in 1908


62 Frank L. Baum
5/15/1856 - 5/6/1919
American writer; wrote " Wonderful Wizard of Oz" series


46 Pierre Curie
5/15/1859 - 4/19/1906
French chemist; won Nobel Prize for physics in 1903


69 Arthur Schnitzler
5/15/1862 - 10/21/1931
Austrian playwright and novelist


71 Edwin Muir
5/15/1887 - 1/3/1959
Scottish poet, literary critic and translator


69 William Hume-Rothery
5/15/1899 - 9/27/1968
English founder of scientific metallurgy


95 Clifton Fadiman
5/15/1904 - 6/20/1999
American editor, anthologist and writer


75 James Mason
5/15/1909 - 7/27/1984
English stage and screen actor


71 Tenzing Norgay
5/15/1914 - 5/9/1986
Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer; ascended Mt. Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953


80 Catherine East
5/15/1916 - 8/17/1996
American feminist

 

[minidog]

1770 - Marie Antoinette, at age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

1866 - The U.S. Congress authorized the first 5-cent piece to be minted.

1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson was acquitted during the Senate impeachment, by one vote.

1879 - The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England set up the Afghan state.

1881 - In Germany the first electric tram for the public started service.

1888 - The first demonstration of recording on a flat disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner.

1888 - The capitol of Texas was dedicated in Austin.

1910 - The U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1914 - The American Horseshoe Pitchers Association (AHPA) was formed in Kansas City, Kansas.

1920 - Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.

1929 - The first Academy Awards were held in Hollywood.

1939 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played under the lights in the American League.

1946 - "Annie Get Your ***" opened on Broadway.

1946 - Jack Mullin showed the world the first magnetic tape recorder.

1948 - The body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonika Bay in Greece. It had been a week after he'd disappeared.

1960 - A Big Four summit in Paris collapsed due to the American U-2 spy plane incident.

1960 - Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Research Laboratory in California, demonstrated the first working laser.

1963 - After 22 Earth orbits Gordon Cooper returned to Earth, ending Project Mercury.

1965 - Spaghetti-O's went on sale.

1969 - Venus 5, a Russian spacecraft, landed on the planet Venus.

1971 - U.S. postage for a one-ounce first class stamp was increased from 6 to 8 cents.

1975 - Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1977 - Five people were ****** when a New York Airways helicopter, idling on top of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.

1985 - Michael Jordan was named Rookie of the Year in the NBA.

1987 - The Bobro 400 set sail from New York Harbor with 3,200 tons of garbage. The barge travelled 6,000 miles in search of a place to dump its load. It returned to New York Harbor after 8 weeks with the same load.

1988 - A report released by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared that nicotine was addictive in similar was as heroin and *******.

1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police do not have to have a search warrant to search discarded garbage.

1991 - Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

1992 - The Endeavour space shuttle landed safely after its maiden voyage.

1996 - Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the nation's top Navy officer, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after some of his military awards were called into question.

1997 - In Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko gave control of the country to rebel ****** ending 32 years of autocratic rule.

2000 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office.

2003 - Adam Rich was placed on three years probation after he plead no contest to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He was also ordered to take part ina 60-day treatment program and pay about $1,200 in fines.

2005 - Sony Corp. unveiled three styles of its new PlayStation 3 video game machine.

Current Birthdays


John Conyers turns 80 years old today.


92 George Gaynes
Actor


88 Harry Carey Jr.
Actor


78 Lowell Weicker
Former Connecticut governor and U.S. senator


66 Dan Coats
Former U.S. senator, R-Ind.


65 Billy Cobham
Jazz drummer


62 Bill Smitrovich
Actor


56 Pierce Brosnan
Actor


54 Olga Korbut
Gymnast


54 Debra Winger
Actress


50 Mare Winningham
Actress


45 Boyd Tinsley
Rock musician (The Dave Matthews Band)


44 Krist Novoselic
Rock musician (Nirvana)


43 Janet Jackson
Singer


43 Scott Reeves
Actor, country singer


42 Brian F. O'Byrne
Actor


41 Ralph Tresvant
Singer (New Edition)


40 David Boreanaz
Actor


40 Tucker Carlson
Political correspondent


40 Tracey Gold
Actress ("Growing Pains")


39 Gabriela Sabatini
Tennis Hall of Famer


38 Simon Katz
Musician (Jamiroquai)


38 Rick Trevino
Country singer


36 Tori Spelling
Actress ("Beverly Hills 90210")


23 Megan Fox
Actress


32 Melanie Lynskey
Actress ("Two and a Half Men")


19 Marc John Jefferies
Actor ("The Tracy Morgan Show")

Historic Birthdays


Anne O'Hare McCormick

5/16/1882 - 5/29/1954
English-born American journalist; member of the New York Times editorial board

50 Sir Dudley North
5/16/1641 - 12/31/1691
English economist and merchant


71 William Henry Seward
5/16/1801 - 10/10/1872
American politician; secretary of state (1861-69)


89 Elizabeth Palmer Peabody
5/16/1804 - 1/3/1894
American educator; opened the first kindergarten in the United States


68 Philip Armour
5/16/1832 - 1/6/1901
American entrepreneur; headed the Armour meatpacking enterprises


65 Walter Yust
5/16/1894 - 2/29/1960
American editor in chief of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1938-1960)


77 Henry Fonda
5/16/1905 - 8/12/1982
American stage and film actor


68 H. E. Bates
5/16/1905 - 1/29/1974
English novelist and short-story writer


74 Woody Herman
5/16/1913 - 10/29/1987
American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader


61 Billy Martin
5/16/1928 - 12/25/1989
American professional baseball player and manager


68 Betty Carter
5/16/1930 - 9/26/1998
American jazz singer

 

[minidog]

1540 - Afghan chief Sher Khan defeated Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj.

1630 - Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi saw the belts on Jupiter's surface.

1681 - Louis XIV sent an expedition to aid James II in Ireland. As a result, England declares war on France.

1756 - Britain declared war on France, beginning the French and Indian War.

1792 - The New York Stock Exchange was founded at 70 Wall Street by 24 brokers.

1814 - Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden. Norway's constitution, which provided a limited monarchy, was signed.

1875 - The first Kentucky Derby was run at Louisville, KY.

1877 - The first telephone switchboard burglar alarm was installed by Edwin T. Holmes.

1881 - Frederick Douglass was appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, DC.

1926 - The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires was damaged by bombs that were believed set by sympathizers of Sacco and Vanzetti.

1932 - The U.S. Congress changed the name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico."

1939 - The first fashion to be shown on television was broadcast in New York from the Ritz-Carleton Hotel.

1940 - Germany occupied Brussels, Belgium and began the invasion of France.

1946 - U.S. President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.

1948 - The Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.

1954 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled for school integration in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. The ruling declared that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal.

1956 - The first synthetic mica (synthamica) was offered for sale in Caldwell Township, NJ.

1973 - The U.S. Senate Watergate Committee began its hearings.

1975 - NBC TV bought the rights to show "Gone With the Wind." The one time rights cost NBC $5,000,000.

1980 - Rioting erupted in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie. Eight people were ****** in the rioting.

1985 - Bobby Ewing died on the season finale of "Dallas" on CBS-TV. He returned the following season.

1987 - Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd of the Golden State Warriors set a playoff record for points in a single quarter with 29.

1987 - An Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf, ******* 37 American sailors. Iraq and the United States called the ****** a mistake.

1990 - Kelsey Grammer was sentenced to 30 days in jail for DWI.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. Megan's Law was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was ***** and ****** in 1994.

1997 - Rebel leader Kabila declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.

1997 - Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin were married in London.

1998 - New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game.

1999 - Eric Ford, a tabloid photographer, was sentenced to 6 months at a halfway house, 3 years probation and 150 hours of community service. The sentence stemmed from a charge that Ford had eavesdropped on a call between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and then sold a recording of the conversation.

1999 - Alex Trebek received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000 - Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and David Luker surrendered to police in Birmingham, AL. The two former Ku Klux Klan members were arrested on charges from the bombing of a church in 1963 that ****** four young black girls.

2000 - Austria, the U.S. and six other countries agreed on the broad outline of a plan that would compensate ****-Era ****** labor.

2000 - It was announced that Terra Networks SA and Lycos would be merging with the new name to be Terra Lycos. Terra made the deal happen with the purchase of $12.5 billion in stock.

2001 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp based on Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip.

2006 - The U.S. aircraft carrier Oriskany was sunk about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach. It was the first vessel sunk under a Navy program to dispose of old warships by turning them into diving attractions. It was the largest man-made reef at the time of the sinking.

Current Birthdays


Sendhil Ramamurthy turns 35 years old today

73 Dennis Hopper
Actor


69 Peter Gerety
Actor


68 Ben Nelson
U.S. senator, D-Neb.


67 Taj Mahal
Blues singer


65 Jesse Winchester
Singer, songwriter


60 Bill Bruford
Rock musician (Yes, King Crimson)


56 Kathleen Sullivan
TV personality


54 Bill Paxton
Actor


53 Sugar Ray Leonard
Boxing Hall of Famer


53 Bob Saget
Actor, comedian ("Full House")


50 Jim Nantz
Sports announcer


48 Enya
Singer


47 Craig Ferguson
TV host ("The Late Late Show")


46 Page McConnell
Rock musician (Phish)


44 O'Dell
R&B musician (Mint Condition)


44 Trent Reznor
Rock singer, musician Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)


44 Paige Turco
Actress ("The Agency")


43 Hill Harper
Actor ("CSI:NY")


40 Thom Filicia
TV personality ("Queer Eye for the Straight Guy")


39 Jordan Knight
Singer (New **** on the Block)


39 Darnell Van Rensalier
R&B singer (Shai)


36 Sasha Alexander
Actress


36 Josh Homme
Rock singer, musician (Queens of the Stone Age)


35 Andrea Corr
Rock singer (The Corrs)


33 Rochelle Aytes
Actress


33 Kandi Burruss
R&B singer


31 Kat ******
Actress (" 'Til Death")


27 Matt Cassel
Football player


23 Tahj Mowry
Actor


21 Nikki Reed
Actress ("The O.C.")


19 Leven Rambin
Actress


18 Samantha Browne-Walters
Actress


15 Justin Martin
Actor ("High School Musical 3")

Historic Birthdays


Maureen O'Sullivan

5/17/1911 - 6/22/1998
American movie actress


77 Albert
5/17/1490 - 3/20/1568
Prussian duke (1525-68) and last grand master of the Teutonic Knights (1510-1525)


73 Edward Jenner
5/17/1749 - 1/26/1823
English surgeon; helped develop smallpox vaccination


59 Erik Satie
5/17/1866 - 7/1/1925
French composer


52 Horace E. Dodge
5/17/1868 - 12/10/1920
American automobile manufacturer


84 Dorothy Richardson
5/17/1873 - 6/17/1957
English novelist


72 Jean Gabin
5/17/1904 - 11/15/1976
French film actor


66 Karl Schafer
5/17/1909 - 4/26/1976
Austrian ice skater; won Olympic gold medal winner in 1932 and 1936


60 Stewart Alsop
5/17/1914 - 5/26/1974
American journalist


64 Robin Maugham
5/17/1916 - 3/13/1981
English novelist, playwright and travel writer


65 Robin Howard
5/17/1924 - 6/12/1989
English balletomane; promoted modern dance in Britain