26 May

47 BC Julius Caesar visits Tarsus on his way to Pontus, where he meets enthusiastic support, but where, according to Cicero, Cassius is planning to kill him at this point.

604     Augustine of Canterbury, Benedictine monk and archbishop

735     Bede (died), English monk, historian, and theologian (born 672)

818     Ali Al-Ridha (died), Saudi Arabian 8th of The Twelve Imams (born 766)

946     King Edmund I of England (born 921) is murdered by a thief whom he personally attacks while celebrating St Augustine’s Mass Day.

1135    Alfonso VII of León and Castile is crowned in the Cathedral of Leon as Imperator totius Hispaniae, “Emperor of all of Spain”.

1293   An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 30,000.

1328   William of Ockham, the Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing a death sentence from Pope John XXII.

1421    Mehmed I (died), Ottoman sultan (born 1389)

1538   Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.

1566   Mehmed III (born), Ottoman sultan (died 1603)

1602   Philippe de Champaigne (born), Dutch-French painter (died 1674)

1623   William Petty (born), English economist and philosopher (died 1687)

1637    A combined Protestant and Mohegan force under the English Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, massacring approximately 500 Native Americans.

1647   Alse Young (born 1600), hanged in Hartford, Connecticut, becomes the first person executed as a witch in the British American colonies.

1703   Samuel Pepys (died), English politician (born 1633)

1736   Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw soldiers repel a French and Choctaw attack on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. The French, under the governor of Louisiana, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to link Louisiana with Acadia and the other northern colonies of New France.

1783   A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut, celebrated end of fighting in American Revolution.

1799   James Burnett (died), Lord Monboddo, Scottish judge and scholar (born 1714)

1805   Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Duomo di Milano, the gothic cathedral in Milan.

1830   The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.

1857   Dred Scott is emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners.

1864   Montana is organized as a United States territory.

1865   American Civil War: the Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.

1869   Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

1883   Mamie Smith (born), American singer, dancer, pianist, and actress (died 1946)

1895   Dorothea Lange (born), American photographer and journalist (died 1965)

1896   Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

1896   Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.

1897   Dracula, a novel by the Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.

1904   Georges Gilles de la Tourette (died), French physician (born 1857)

1906   Vauxhall Bridge is opened in London.

1907   Ida Saxton McKinley, American wife of William McKinley, 25th First Lady of the United States (born 1847)

1907   Jean Bernard (born), French physician and haematologist (died 2006)

1907   John Wayne (born), American actor, singer, director, and producer (died 1979)

1908   At Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

1908   Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (died), Indian religious leader, founded the Ahmadiyya movement (born 1835)

1908   Robert Morley (born), English actor and screenwriter (died 1992)

1912    Jay Silverheels (born), Canadian-American actor (died 1980)

1913    Peter Cushing (born), English actor (died 1994)

1914    Jacob August Riis (died), Danish-American journalist, photographer, and reformer (born 1849)

1916    Moondog (born), American drummer, composer, and poet (died 1999)

1918   The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.

1920   Peggy Lee (born), American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2002)

1922   Troy Smith, American businessman, founded Sonic Drive-In (died 2009)

1923   24 Hours of Le Mans, was first held, and has since been run annually in June.

1923   James Arness (born), American actor and producer (died 2011)

1924   Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor, founded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (born 1859)

1926   Miles Davis (born), American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (Miles Davis Quintet) (died 1991)

1928   Jack Kevorkian (born), American pathologist, author, and activist (died 2011)

1933   Jimmie Rodgers (died), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1897)

1938   In the United States, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.

1939   Brent Musburger (born), American sportscaster

1939   Charles Horace Mayo (died), American medical practitioner, co-founder of Mayo Clinic (born 1865)

1940   Levon Helm (born), American singer-songwriter, drummer, producer, and actor (The Band) (died 2012)

1940   World War II: Battle of Dunkirk – Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.

1940   World War II: The Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French garrison.

1941    Reg Bundy (born), English drag queen performer, dancer, and actor (died 2003)

1943   Edsel Ford (died), American businessman (born 1893)

1944   Sam Posey (born), American race car driver and journalist

1945   Garry Peterson (born), Canadian-American drummer (The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive)

1946   Mick Ronson (born), English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (The Spiders from Mars and Mott the Hoople) (died 1993)

1948   Stevie Nicks (born), American singer-songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)

1948   The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557, which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.

1949   Hank Williams, Jr. (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1949   Philip Michael Thomas (born), American actor and singer

1949   Ward Cunningham (born), American computer programmer, developed the first wiki

1951    Sally Ride (born), American physicist and astronaut (died 2012)

1955    Alberto Ascari (died), Italian race car driver (born 1918)

1962   Bobcat Goldthwait (born), American actor, director, and screenwriter

1964   Lenny Kravitz (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor

1966   British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.

1966   Zola Budd (born), South African runner

1969 –Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing.

1969   Allan Haines Loughead (died), American engineer, co-founded the Lockheed Corporation (born 1889)

1970   The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.

1971    Matt Stone (born), American actor, animator, screenwriter, producer, and composer

1972   The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

1972   Willandra National Park is established in Australia.

1976   Martin Heidegger (died), German philosopher (born 1889)

1977    George Willig climbs the South Tower of New York City’s World Trade Center.

1977    William Powell (died), American singer (The O’Jays) (born 1942)

1983   A strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 104 people and injures thousands. Many people go missing and thousands of buildings are destroyedied

1986   The European Community adopts the European flag.

1998   The first “National Sorry Day” was held in Australia, and reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by over a million people.

1998   The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.

2004  The United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.

2005  Eddie Albert (died), American actor and singer (born 1906)

2008  Sydney Pollack (died), American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1934)

2010   Art Linkletter (died), Canadian-American radio and television host (born 1912)

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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