1515 Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk are officially married at Greenwich.
1568 Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
1588 Ole Worm (born), Danish physician (died 1654)
1619 Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason.
1655 Pope Innocent XIII (born) (died 1724)
1713 Alexis Clairaut (born), French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (died 1765)
1753 Lazare Carnot (born), French general, mathematician, and politician (died 1823)
1780 The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in early Tennessee.
1782 Daniel Solander (died), Swedish botanist (born 1736)
1787 Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the “First Fleet”) to establish a penal colony in Australia.
1792 Pope Pius IX (born) (died 1878)
1795 Gérard Paul Deshayes (born), French geologist and conchologist (died 1875)
1832 Georges Cuvier (died), French zoologist (born 1769)
1835 John Nash (died), English architect, designed the Royal Pavilion (born 1752)
1846 The United States declares war on Mexico.
1861 American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a “proclamation of neutrality” which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
1861 The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
1862 The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first former slave to command a United States ship.
1864 American Civil War: Battle of Resaca – the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta, Georgia.
1865 American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch in far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
1878 Joseph Henry (died), American scientist (born 1797)
1880 In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
1883 Georgios Papanikolaou (born), Greek-American pathologist, invented the pap smear (died 1962)
1884 Cyrus McCormick (died), American businessman, co-founded the International Harvester Company (born 1809)
1885 Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle (died), German physician, pathologist, and anatomist (born 1809)
1888 With the passage of the Lei Áurea (“Golden Law”), Brazil abolishes slavery.
1895 Nandor Fodor (born), Hungarian-American psychologist, parapsychologist, and author (died 1964)
1907 Daphne du Maurier (born), English author and playwright (died 1989)
1909 The first Giro d’Italia starts from Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna will be the winner.
1912 The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom.
1914 Joe Louis (born), American boxer (died 1981)
1917 Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.
1920 Gareth Morris (born), English flute player (died 2007)
1922 Bea Arthur (born), American actress and singer (died 2009)
1923 Red Garland (born), American pianist (Miles Davis Quintet) (died1984)
1930 Fridtjof Nansen (died), Norwegian scientist, explorer, and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1861)
1931 Jim Jones (born), American cult leader, founded the Peoples Temple (died 1978)
1938 Charles Édouard Guillaume (died), Swiss-French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1861)
1939 Harvey Keitel (born), American actor and producer
1939 The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.
1940 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
1940 World War II: Germany’s conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech to the House of Commons.
1941 Ritchie Valens (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1959)
1943 World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
1945 Magic Dick (born), American harmonica player (The J. Geils Band)
1950 Danny Kirwan (born), English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Fleetwood Mac)
1950 Stevie Wonder (born), American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1950 The first round of the Formula One World Championship is held at Silverstone.
1951 The 400th anniversary of the founding of the National University of San Marcos is commemorated by the opening of the first large-capacity stadium in Peru.
1954 The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography.
1956 Ravi Shankar (born), Indian spiritual leader, founded the Art of Living Foundation
1957 Michael Fekete (died), Hungarian-Israeli mathematician (born 1886)
1958 Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometers (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometers (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey
1958 During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
1958 May 1958 crisis: a group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.
1958 The trade mark Velcro is registered.
1960 Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Thirty-one students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.
1961 Gary Cooper (died), American actor and singer (born 1901)
1964 Stephen Colbert (born), American comedian, actor, and talk show host
1966 Darius Rucker (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Hootie & the Blowfish)
1969 Buckethead (born), American guitarist and songwriter (Guns N’ Roses, Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, Praxis, and Deli Creeps)
1972 Dan Blocker (died), American actor (born 1928)
1977 Mickey Spillane (died), American mobster (born 1934)
1979 Mickey Madden (born), American bass player (Maroon 5)
1985 Police storm MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
1989 Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.
1992 Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People’s Republic of China.
1994 Johnny Carson makes his last television appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.
1995 33-year-old British mother Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.
1998 India carries out two nuclear tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
1999 Gene Sarazen (died), American golfer (born 1902)
2005 Eddie Barclay (died), French record producer, founded Barclay Records (born 1921)
2012 Donald “Duck” Dunn (died), American bass player, songwriter, and producer (Booker T. & the M.G.’s, The Blues Brothers, and The Mar-Keys) (born 1941)
2013 Joyce Brothers (died), American psychologist, columnist, and actress (born 1927)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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