On This Day In History
May 19th
1536 Anne Boleyn, second wife of English King Henry VIII, is beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and treason
1643 Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form the United Colonies of New England
1649 England is declared a Commonwealth by an act of the Rump Parliament making England a republic for the next 11 years
1885 German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon and Togoland
1898 US Congress passes the Private Mailing Card Act, allowing private publishers and printers to produce postcards, had to be labelled “Private Mailing Cards” until 1901, known as “souvenir cards”
1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Black Sea coast, beginning the Turkish War of Independence
Did You Know?
About midday, near-total darkness descends on New England, now known to be caused by forest fires in Canada
Today in History in 1780
Would You Believe?
World’s youngest doctor, Balamurali Ambati, 17, graduates Mount Sinai
Today in History in 1995
May 20th
1498 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut, India becoming the first European to reach India by sea
1609 Shakespeare‘s Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe
1862 US President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act to provide cheap land for the settlement of the American West (80 million acres by 1900)
1864 Spotsylvania campaign in US Civil War ends after 10,920 killed or injured
1927 At 7:40 AM, Charles Lindbergh takes off from New York to cross the Atlantic for Paris, aboard Spirit of St Louis in the 1st solo nonstop transatlantic flight
1927 Treaty of Jeddah is signed between the United Kingdom and Ibn Saud recognizing the independence of the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
1990 Hubble Space Telescope sends its 1st photographs from space
Did You Know?
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent the first blue jeans with copper rivets
Today in History in 1873
Would You Believe?
The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others
Today in History in 1896
May 21st
1792 Mount Unzen on Japan’s Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000; Japan’s deadliest volcanic eruption
1832 1st US Democratic National Convention held in Baltimore
1871 -July 28] French regular troops attack Commune of Paris; 17,000 die
1927 Aviator Charles Lindbergh, in the Spirit of St Louis, lands in Paris after the first solo air crossing of Atlantic
1932 After flying for 17 hours from Newfoundland, Amelia Earhart lands near Londonderry, Northern Ireland, becoming the 1st transatlantic solo flight by a woman
Did You Know?
All My Children star Susan Lucci finally wins a Daytime Emmy after being nominated 19 times, the longest period of unsuccessful nominations in television history
Today in History in 1999
Would You Believe?
Stanislav Petrov awarded World Citizen Award for averting a potential nuclear war in 1983 after correctly guessing Russian early warning system at fault
Today in History in 2004
May 22nd
334 BC The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus
1570 1st atlas ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’ (Theatre of the World), published by Abraham Ortelius in Antwerp with 70 maps
1843 1st wagon train with 700 – 1000 migrants, departs Independence, Missouri for Oregon
1939 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini sign “Pact of Steel” in Berlin, Germany
1946 First US rocket (WAC Corporal) to reach edge of space fired from White Sands Missile Range New Mexico
2014 Royal Thai Armed Forces, led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha stage a coup in Thailand, suspending the kingdom’s constitution and taking control of the government, the 12th since the country’s first coup in 1932
Did You Know?
The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also kills one local resident.
Today in History in 2004
Would You Believe?
First modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster by Aldie and John Mackay saw “something resembling a whale”
Today in History in 1933
May 23rd
1618 Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary are thrown out of a window and amazingly are not seriously injured by the 70 foot (21m) fall. Triggers the Thirty Years’ War.
1785 Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals
1813 South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”)
1949 Federal Republic of [West] Germany created out of the American, British and French occupation zones
1958 Mao Zedong starts the “Great Leap Forward” movement in China
1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
Did You Know?
Canada’s North West Mounted Police Force forms (it didn’t get the “Royal” until 1904)
Today in History in 1873
Would You Believe?
Chinese archaeologists announce findings of earliest use of barley in China to make beer, Shaanxi province 3400-2900 BC
Today in History in 2016
May 24th
1595 Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library
1738 John Wesley is converted, launching the Methodist movement; celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day
1844 Samuel Morse taps out “What hath God wrought” in the world’s first telegraph message
1941 German battleship Bismarck sinks the British battle cruiser HMS Hood; 1,416 die, 3 survive
1988 Section 28 passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality. Repealed 2001/2004
Did You Know?
American management consultant Marilyn Loden first coins the term “glass ceiling” to describe invisible career barriers for women
Today in History in 1978
Would You Believe?
In the Judgment of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterparts, challenging the notion of France being the foremost producer of the world’s best wines
Today in History in 1976
May 25th
1720 The Ship “Le Grand St Antoine” reaches Marseille, bringing Europe’s last major plague outbreak. Kills around 100,000.
1810 In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Spanish Viceroy Cisneros during Semana de Mayo
1914 British House of Commons passes the Irish Home Rule Bill
1961 JFK announces US goal of putting a man on the Moon before the end of decade
2020 Video of African American George Floyd‘s arrest and murder while restrained in Minneapolis police custody shows he was pinned to the ground by police officer Derek Chauvin’s knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, ignites widespread condemnation and nationwide protests
2021 US CDC says half of all US adults are now fully vaccinated, with 61% having had their first shot
Did You Know?
Hands Across America – 6.5 million people hold hands from California to NY
Today in History in 1986
Would You Believe?
32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest
Today in History in 2001