On This Day In History
May 16th
1920 Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'arc) canonized a saint
1943 Operation Chastise: No. 617 Squadron RAF begins the famous Dambusters Raid, bombing the Möhne and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley with bouncing bombs
1944 1st of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz
1989 Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping meet in Beijing and formally end a 30-year rift
2013 Human stem cells are successfully cloned
Did You Know?
Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California
Today in History in 1960
Would You Believe?
US Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by one vote
Today in History in 1868
This day 75 years ago – 16 May 1945 – Éamon de Valera replied to Winston Churchill, who had criticised Ireland for remaining neutral while Britain was “alone.”
“There is a small nation that stood alone not for one year or two, but for several hundred years against aggression.” pic.twitter.com/pmJ5yVs782
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) May 16, 2020
#OTD in 1912, only a month after the Titanic sank, a new film—Saved From the Titanic—opened, written by and starring a survivor of the disaster, early movie star Dorothy Gibson, who had escaped in the first lifeboat; she wore the same clothes in the film. https://t.co/hP6MqJmkq3 pic.twitter.com/YWLAM0qnGj
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) May 16, 2022
On this day in 1956, white residents in Delray Beach, Florida burned a cross to terrorize and prevent Black residents from accessing the city’s segregated public beach. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/hSUrkgFmMt
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) May 16, 2022
16 May 1975. Japanese mountain climber, Junko Tabei (then aged 35), became the first woman to reach the 8,763 metre summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. pic.twitter.com/tO2Zku0YbN
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 16, 2022
16 May 1990. Puppeteer, animator and film director, Jim Henson, died (aged 53). He achieved worldwide fame as the creator of The Muppets and Fraggle Rock and as the director of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. pic.twitter.com/Cfp3PpSMwK
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 16, 2022
16 May 1990. All round entertainer, Sammy Davis Junior, died (aged 64). He had the nickname “Mr Show Business” and was part of the “Rat Pack” of singers including Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. His biggest hit, The Candy Man reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. pic.twitter.com/aTcT34loCI
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 16, 2022
May 17th
1527 Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men - by 1536 only 4 survive
1792 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street
1803 John Hawkins & Richard French patent the Reaping Machine
1973 Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings
2004 Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
2014 The center-right Hindu Nationalist Party, the BJP, wins landslide election victory in India
Did You Know?
World Health Organization takes homosexuality out of its list of mental illnesses
Today in History in 1990
Would You Believe?
Fidel Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers
Today in History in 1961
This day 46 years ago – 17 May 1974 – bombs planted by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) exploded in Dublin and Monaghan, killing 33 people. Among the dead were 80-year-old John Dargle, 21-year-old Collette Doherty, who was nine months pregnant, and 5-month-old Anne-Marie O’Brien. pic.twitter.com/FwBihWbFTx
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) May 17, 2020
In May 1681 Mary Beale painted this 'Portrait of a Young Girl'. A successful professional portrait painter, Beale also wrote a Discourse on Friendship (1667); her 1663 'Observations' is the earliest known instructional text by a female painter in England. https://t.co/0l9bEwdW7T pic.twitter.com/qCwj2W2ABp
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) May 17, 2022
On this day in 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education sparked massive resistance among white communities committed to segregation. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/Z6d4qNSGzW
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) May 17, 2022
17 May 2012. “Disco Queen” Donna Summer died (aged 63). She was hugely popular during the disco era of the late 1970s. She has sold over 100 million records, including: 4 US No.1 hits, making her one of the world’s best-selling pop artists of all time. pic.twitter.com/9EgRZSosZ1
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 17, 2022
17 May 1536. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared that the marriage between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was null and void. This sentence of “nullity” meant that it was as if the marriage had never happened, and made the couple’s daughter, Elizabeth, “illegitimate”. pic.twitter.com/GWteShEjlS
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 17, 2022
17 May 1536. Five “alleged” lovers of Anne Boleyn: Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton, Mark Smeaton and her brother, George (depicted), the latter also charged with incest, were ALL executed for adultery and treason, for plotting to kill Henry VIII. pic.twitter.com/BvJzXqDHAO
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 17, 2022
17 May 1875. The first Kentucky Derby was run at Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It was won by Aristides. Thirteen of the fifteen jockeys in the race, including the winning jockey, Oliver Lewis, were African-Americans. pic.twitter.com/NLbRatWrr7
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 17, 2022
17 May 1978. The coffin, containing the corpse of Charlie Chaplin, which was stolen from a cemetery in the Swiss village of Corsier-sur-Vevey, on 1 March 1978, was found. A ransom of $600,000 was demanded, but not paid. Two men: Roman Wardas and Gantscho Ganev were convicted. pic.twitter.com/W2kLJtoKI8
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 17, 2022
PHOTO OF THE DAY. Elvis Presley shot the TV set in his suite in the International Hotel In Las Vegas because he was irritated by singer Robert Goulet’s performance on the Mike Douglas Show (1974). pic.twitter.com/rGIyHf6Sef
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) May 17, 2022
May 18th
1291 After 100 years of Crusader control, Acre is the last Crusader stronghold reconquered and destroyed by the Mamluks under Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil
1804 Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate
1896 Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field, Moscow, during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, results in the deaths of 1,389 people
1974 India becomes the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb
2009 Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.