Events

• 585 BC - A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
• 1503 - James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married according to a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI. A Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England signed on that occasion results in a peace that lasts ten years.
• 1533 - The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.
• 1588 - The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port).
• 1644 - Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of the Earl of Derby.
• 1754 - French and Indian War: in the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
• 1774 - American Revolutionary War: the first Continental Congress convenes.
• 1830 - President Andrew Jackson signs The Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.
• 1863 - American Civil War: the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
• 1892 - In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
• 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Togo Heihachiro and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
• 1918 - The Democratic Republic of Armenia declares its independence.
• 1918 - The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declares its independence
• 1926 - 28th May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.
• 1930 - The Chrysler Building in New York City officially opens.
• 1934 - Near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Olivia and Elzire Dionne, later becoming the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
• 1934 - The Glyndebourne festival in England is inaugurated.
• 1936 - Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
• 1937 - The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC, who pushes a button signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the span.
• 1937 - Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister.
• 1940 - World War II: Belgium surrenders to Germany.
• 1940 - World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik. This is the first allied infantry victory of World War II.
• 1942 - World War II: in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1800 people.
• 1952 - Memphis Kiddie Park opens in Brooklyn, Ohio. The park's Little Dipper roller coaster would become the oldest operating steel roller coaster in North America.
• 1952 - The women of Greece are given the right to vote.
• 1955 - Henry Bolte becomes Premier of the state of Victoria.
• 1961 - Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
• 1964 - The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed.
• 1970 - The formerly united Free University of Brussels officially splits into two separate entities, the French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
• 1974 - Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
• 1975 - Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
• 1977 - In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
• 1978 - Second round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta. The election is won by incumbent Sangoulé Lamizana.
• 1979 - Constantine Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
• 1982 - Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
• 1987 - 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and is not released until August 3, 1988.
• 1987 - A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
• 1991 - The capital city of Addis Ababa, falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
• 1995 - The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, ? of total population.
• 1996 - U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James McDougal and Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
• 1998 - Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of Indian nuclear tests with five of its own, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions.
• 1999 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.
• 1999 - Two Swedish police officers are murdered with their own fire arms by the bank robbers Jackie Arklöv and Tony Olsson after a dramatic car chase.
• 2002 - NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
• 2003 - Peter Hollingworth becomes the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct.
• 2004 - The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, to become prime minister of Iraq's interim government.
• 2008 - The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

Births

• 1140 - Xin Qiji, Chinese poet (d. 1207)
• 1371 - John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1419)
• 1524 - Selim II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1574)
• 1582 - William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English statesman (d. 1662)
• 1588 - Pierre Seguier, Chancellor of France (d. 1672)
• 1641 - Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Slovenian polymath (d. 1693)
• 1660 - King George I of Great Britain (d. 1727)
• 1676 - Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (d. 1754)
• 1692 - Joseph Butler, English philosopher (d. 1752)
• 1738 - Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (d.1814)
• 1759 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
• 1779 - Thomas Moore, Irish poet (d. 1852)
• 1807 - Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born zoologist and geologist (d. 1873)
• 1818 - Pierre Beauregard, American Confederate general (d. 1893)
• 1836 - Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist (d. 1918)
• 1837 - George Ashlin, Irish architect (d. 1921)
• 1837 - Tony Pastor, American vaudeville performer (d. 1908)
• 1853 - Carl Larsson, Swedish painter (d. 1919)
• 1858 - Carl Rickard Nyberg, Swedish inventor (d. 1939)
• 1872 - Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist (d. 1917)
• 1878 - Paul Pelliot, French sinologist (d. 1945)
• 1883 - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian activist (d. 1966)
• 1883 - Clough Williams-Ellis, Welsh architect (d. 1978)
• 1884 - Edvard Bene?, Czech politician (d. 1948)
• 1886 - Santo Trafficante, Sr., Sicilian-born American mobster (d. 1954)
• 1888 - Jim Thorpe, American athlete (d. 1953)
• 1888 - Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian Prime Minister (d. 1942)
• 1889 - Richard Réti, Austrian-Czech chess grandmaster (d. 1929)
• 1892 - Sepp Dietrich, German SS officer (d. 1966)
• 1900 - Tommy Ladnier, American musician (d. 1939)
• 1908 - Ian Fleming, English author (d. 1964)
• 1909 - Red Horner, Canadian hockey player (d. 2005)
• 1910 - T-Bone Walker, American singer (d. 1975)
• 1910 - Lady Rachel Kempson, English actress (d. 2003)
• 1911 - Thora Hird, British actress (d. 2003)
• 1911 - Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian author (d. 1986)
• 1912 - Patrick White, Australian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d.1990)
• 1912 - Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist and politician (d. 1992)
• 1914 - W. G. G. Duncan Smith, British World War II pilot (d. 1996)
• 1915 - Joseph Greenberg, American linguist (d. 2001)
• 1916 - Walker Percy, American author (d. 1990)
• 1917 - Papa John Creech, American musician (d. 1994)
• 1918 - Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (Wayne and Shuster) (d. 1990)
• 1921 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)
• 1922 - Lou Duva, American boxing trainer
• 1923 - György Ligeti, Hungarian composer (d. 2006)
• 1923 - Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Indian actor and politician (d. 1998)
• 1925 - Bülent Ecevit, Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2006)
• 1925 - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German baritone
• 1931 - Carroll Baker, American actress
• 1934 - Dionne quintuplets (Emilie d. 1954, Marie d. 1970, Yvonne d. 2001)
• 1936 - Betty Shabazz, American civil rights activist (d. 1997)
• 1936 - Claude Forget, French-Canadian politician
• 1938 - Jerry West, American basketball player
• 1938 - Prince Buster, Jamaican musician
• 1941 - Beth Howland, American actress
• 1942 - Stanley B. Prusiner, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1943 - Terry Crisp, Canadian hockey coach
• 1943 - Elena Souliotis, Greek soprano (d. 2004)
• 1944 - Rudy Giuliani, American politician
• 1944 - Gladys Knight, American singer and actress
• 1944 - Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress
• 1944 - Billy Vera, American actor and musician
• 1944 - Faith Brown, British actress
• 1945 - John Fogerty, American musician (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• 1945 - Gary Stewart, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1945 - Hunter "Patch" Adams, American doctor
• 1945 - John N. Bambacus, American politician
• 1946 - Satchidanandan, Indian poet
• 1946 - Skip Jutze, American baseball player
• 1947 - Sondra Locke, American actress
• 1947 - Zahi Hawass, Egyptian Egyptologist
• 1947 - Lynn Johnston, Canadian cartoonist
• 1949 - Wendy O. Williams, American musician (The Plasmatics) (d. 1998)
• 1950 - Ian Bradley, British writer and academic
• 1950 - Jim Harris, American professional wrestler
• 1952 - Russell J. Wintner, American film executive
• 1953 - Arto Lindsay, American guitarist and singer
• 1954 - John Tory, Canadian politician
• 1954 - Youri Egorov, Soviet classical pianist (d.1988)
• 1955 - John McGeoch, Scottish musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees) (d. 2004)
• 1955 - Mark Howe, American ice hockey player
• 1956 - Julie Peasgood, British actress
• 1956 - Jerry Douglas, American dobro player
• 1956 - Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1980)
• 1957 - Kirk Gibson, American baseball player
• 1957 - Ben Howland, American college basketball coach
• 1959 - John Morgan, British etiquette expert (d. 2000)
• 1961 - Roland Gift, English musician (Fine Young Cannibals)
• 1962 - Brandon Cruz, American actor
• 1962 - James Michael Tyler, American actor
• 1963 - Houman Younessi, Iranian-born scientist
• 1963 - Gavin Harrison, British drummer (Porcupine Tree)
• 1964 - Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer
• 1964 - Christa Miller, American actress
• 1964 - David Baddiel, British comedian and television presenter
• 1964 - Phil Vassar, American country music singer
• 1965 - Chris Ballew, American musician
• 1967 - Glen Rice, American basketball player
• 1968 - Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer
• 1969 - Mike DiFelice, American baseball player
• 1969 - Justin Kirk, American actor
• 1970 - Morgan Fox, Canadian model and 1990 Playboy playmate
• 1970 - Ian Cashmore, English actor and paranormal investigator
• 1970 - Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (d. 2002)
• 1971 - Isabelle Carré, French actress
• 1971 - Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater
• 1972 - Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist
• 1972 - Guidoni Junior Doriva, Brazilian footballer
• 1974 - Alicia Minshew, American actress
• 1975 - Charmaine Sheh, Hong Kong actress
• 1976 - Liam O'Brien, American voice actor
• 1976 - Alexei Nemov, Russian gymnast
• 1976 - Glenn Morrison, Rugby League Player
• 1977 - Jeremy Borash, American professional wrestling announcer
• 1977 - Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American television panelist (The View)
• 1979 - Jesse Bradford, American actor
• 1979 - Ronald Curry, American football player
• 1979 - Joeri Jansen, Belgian athlete
• 1979 - Monica Keena, American actress
• 1980 - Mark Feehily, Irish musician (Westlife)
• 1980 - Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer
• 1981 - Adam Green, American singer and songwriter
• 1981 - Daniel Cabrera, Dominican baseball player
• 1982 - Alexa Davalos, American actress
• 1982 - Jhonny Peralta, Dominican baseball player
• 1983 - Steve Cronin, American soccer goalkeeper
• 1983 - Humberto Sanchez, Dominican baseball player
• 1984 - Beth Allen, New Zealand actress
• 1985 - Colbie Caillat, American folk singer-songwriter
• 1986 - Charles N'Zogbia, French footballer
• 1986 - Joseph Cross, American actor
• 1986 - Michael Oher, American football player at Ole Miss
• 1986 - Berrick Barnes, Australian Rugby player
• 1988 - David Perron, Canadian ice hockey player

Deaths

• 576 - Saint Germain of Paris (b. 496)
• 1357 - King Afonso IV of Portugal (b. 1291)
• 1556 - Sait? D?san, Japanese daimyo (b. 1494?)
• 1672 - John Trevor, English politician (b. 1626)
• 1747 - Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French writer (b. 1715)
• 1750 - Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1720)
• 1787 - Leopold Mozart, Austrian composer (b. 1719)
• 1805 - Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (b. 1743)
• 1808 - Richard Hurd, English bishop and writer (b. 1720)
• 1811 - Henry Dundas, British minister (b. 1742)
• 1816 - Ras Wolde Selassie, Ethiopian warlord
• 1828 - Daikokuya K?day?, Japanese castaway (b. 1751)
• 1843 - Noah Webster, American author, politician, and lexicographer (b. 1758)
• 1849 - Anne Brontë, English author (b. 1820)
• 1864 - Simion B?rnu?iu, Romanian philosopher and liberal politician (b. 1808)
• 1878 - John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
• 1916 - Ivan Franko, Ukrainian writer (b. 1856)
• 1927 - Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter (b. 1878)
• 1937 - Alfred Adler, Austrian psychologist (b. 1870)
• 1940 - Friedrich Karl von Hessen (b. 1868)
• 1947 - August Eigruber, Austrian war criminal (b. 1907)
• 1948 - Unity Mitford, English fascist sympathizer (b. 1914)
• 1953 - Hori Tatsuo, Japanese writer (b. 1904)
• 1968 - Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov, Yakut-born Soviet sniper (b. 1908)
• 1971 - Audie Murphy, American actor and war hero (b. 1924)
• 1971 - Jean Vilar, French actor (b. 1912)
• 1972 - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1894
• 1975 - Ezzard Charles, Heavyweight champion (b. 1921)
• 1976 - Steffan Danielsen, Faroese painter (b. 1922)
• 1978 - Arthur Brough, English actor (b. 1905)
• 1980 - Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)
• 1981 - Stefan Cardinal Wyszy?ski, Archbishop of Warsaw (b. 1901)
• 1982 - Lt Col 'H'. Jones VC, British soldier (Falklands War) (b. 1940)
• 1983 - Erastus Corning 2nd, American politician, 72^nd Mayor of Albany, New York (b. 1909)
• 1984 - Eric Morecambe, British comedian (Morecambe and Wise) (b. 1926)
• 1988 - Sy Oliver, Jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader (b. 1910)
• 1993 - Billy Conn, American boxer and actor (b. 1917)
• 1994 - Julius Boros, American golfer (b. 1920)
• 1994 - Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American writer (b. 1916)
• 1998 - Phil Hartman, Canadian actor, comedian (b. 1948)
• 2001 - Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
• 2001 - Joe Moakley, American politician (b. 1927)
• 2002 - Jean Berger, German-born composer (b. 1909)
• 2003 - Oleg Makarov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)
• 2003 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
• 2003 - Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)
• 2004 - Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-born automobile executive (b. 1934)
• 2006 - Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper (b. 1920)
• 2007 - Marquise Hill, American football player (b. 1982)
• 2007 - Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japanese politician (b. 1945)
• 2008 - David Mitton, Scottish-born director (b. 1938)
• 2008 - Robert Justman, American television producer (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Germain of Paris
  • Augustine of Canterbury
  • William of Gellone
  • Bernard of Menthon
  • Lanfranc
• Republic Day in Azerbaijan and Armenia (both 1918).
• National Flag Day in the Republic of the Philippines

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• On this day in Canada

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