1707 The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1731 Johann Ludwig Bach (died), German violinist and composer (born 1677)
1751 The first cricket match is played in America.
1753 Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1759 Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.
1764 Benjamin Henry Latrobe (born), English-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (died 1820)
1785 Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaiʻi, defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
1786 In Vienna, Austria, Mozart’s the opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time.
1831 Emily Stowe (born), Canadian physician and activist (died 1903)
1840 The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.
1846 The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.
1851 Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London.
1852 Calamity Jane (born), American scout (died 1903)
1852 Santiago Ramón y Cajal (born), Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1934)
1855 Cecilia Beaux (born), American painter (died 1942)
1862 American Civil War: The Union Army completes the capture of New Orleans.
1864 Anna Jarvis (born), American founder of Mother’s Day (died 1948)
1869 The Folies Bergère opens in Paris.
1873 David Livingstone (died), Scottish missionary (born 1813)
1881 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (born), French-American priest, palaeontologist, and philosopher (died 1955)
1884 Francis Curzon (born), 5th Earl Howe, English politician, commander, and race car driver (died 1964)
1884 Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.
1884 Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
1885 The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business.
1886 Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day culminating in the Haymarket Affair.
1893 The World’s Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
1894 Coxey’s Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.
1898 Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay – the United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
1899 Ludwig Büchner (died), German physiologist and physician (born 1824)
1904 Antonín Dvořák (died), Czech composer (born 1841)
1907 Kate Smith (born), American singer (died 1986)
1910 J. Allen Hynek (born), American astronomer and ufologist (died 1986)
1913 Louis Nye (born), American actor (died 2005)
1913 Walter Susskind (born), Czech-English conductor (died 1980)
1915 The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans, rousing American sentiment against Germany.
1916 Glenn Ford (born), Canadian-American actor (died 2006)
1918 Jack Paar (born), American comedian, author, and talk show host (died 2004)
1923 Joseph Heller (born), American author and playwright (died 1999)
1924 Art Fleming (born), American actor and game show host (died 1995)
1924 Terry Southern (born), American author and screenwriter (died 1995)
1925 Scott Carpenter (born), American commander, pilot, and astronaut
1927 The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.
1930 Little Walter (born), American harmonica player (died 1968)
1930 The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.
1931 The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
1939 Judy Collins (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1940 Elsa Peretti (born), Italian jewelry designer
1940 The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.
1941 World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.
1945 Rita Coolidge (born), American singer
1945 World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany”. The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.
1945 World War II: Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are murdered by Magda by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths.
1946 John Woo (born), Hong Kong director, producer, and screenwriter
1948 The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-Sung as leader.
1949 Jim Clench (born), Canadian bass player (April Wine and Bachman–Turner Overdrive) (died 2010)
1950 Dann Florek (born), American actor and director
1950 Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
1954 Ray Parker, Jr. (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Raydio)
1956 A doctor in Japan reports an “epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system”, marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
1956 The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1960 U-2 incident – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
1961 The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.
1965 Spike Jones (died), American singer and bandleader (born 1911)
1967 Tim McGraw (born), American singer-songwriter and actor
1970 Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
1971 Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.
1978 Aram Khachaturian (died), Georgian-Armenian composer (born 1903)
1978 Japan’s Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
1982 Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.
1982 The 1982 World’s Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.
1987 Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1989 Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1991 Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics steals his 939th base, making him the all-time leader in this category. However, his accomplishment is overshadowed later that evening by Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, when he pitches his seventh career no-hitter, breaking his own record.
1994 Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna (born 1960) is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy.
1998 Eldridge Cleaver (died), American author and activist (born 1935)
1999 The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.
2003 In what becomes known as the “Mission Accomplished” speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”.
2005 Kenneth B. Clark (died), American psychologist (born 1914)
2009 Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.
2011 Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks is killed by United States Special Forces (Seal Team VI) in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
2011 Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.
2013 Stuart Wilde (died), English author (born 1946)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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