This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

May 7, 1718

The city of New Orleans is founded.

1763

Odawa war chief Pontiac attempts to seize Fort Detroit from the British, leading to Pontiac's War.

1824

World premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna.

1840

The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.

1915

The RMS Lusitania is sunk by the German sub U-20, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans.

1942

During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between the warring ships.

1974

Willy Brandt resigns as West German Chancellor.

1976

The Honda Accord is officially launched.

1998

Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.

2000

Russia inaugurates Vladimir Putin as President.

2004

American businessman Nick Berg, is beheaded by Islamic militants.

2007

The tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.

Births

1812 – Robert Browning; 1833 – Johannes Brahms; 1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; 1885 – George "Gabby" Hayes; 1892 – Archibald MacLeish; 1892 – Josip Broz Tito; 1901 – Gary Cooper; 1909 – Edwin H. Land (co-founded Polaroid Corp.); 1919 – Eva Perón; 1922 – Darren McGavin (Kolchak: The Night Stalker); 1923 – Anne Baxter; 1930 – Totie Fields; 1933 – Johnny Unitas; 1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, Jerry Nolan; 1948 – Susan Atkins (follower of Charles Manson); 1950 – Randall "Tex" Cobb (boxer), Tim Russert; 1951 – Bernie Marsden; 1961 – Phil Campbell (Motorhead); 1965 – Owen Hart (wrestler); 1968 – Traci Lords; 1969 – Eagle-Eye Cherry

Deaths

1896 – H. H. Holmes (serial killer); 1998 – Eddie Rabbitt; 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; 2007 – Yahweh ben Yahweh; 2011 – Seve Ballesteros; 2013 – Ray Harryhausen

[Gravdigr]

May 9

1662 - Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy, makes his first recorded appearance.

1763 - Chief Pontiac's siege of Fort Detroit begins.

1877 - An 8.8 earthquake off Peru kills 2,541 people, some as far away as Hawaii, and Japan.

1887 – Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London.

1941 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine.

1945 – World War II: Ratification in Berlin-Karlshorst of the German unconditional surrender of May 8 in Rheims, France.

The Channel Islands are liberated by the British after five years of German occupation.

1958 – The film "Vertigo" has its world premiere in San Francisco.

1960 – The United States FDA announced it would approve the use of Searle's Enovid for birth control, making it the first oral contraceptive pill.

1980 – In Florida, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse. Thirty-five people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die.

Births

1801 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood; 1837 – Adam Opel; 1860 – J. M. Barrie; 1873 – Anton Cermak; 1874 – Howard Carter (found King Tut's tomb); 1882 – Henry J. Kaiser; 1918 – Mike Wallace "The Grand Inquisitor"; 1921 – Daniel Berrigan; 1936 – Terry Downes, Albert Finney, Glenda Jackson; 1937 – Sonny Curtis, Dave Prater (Sam & Dave); 1940 – James L. Brooks ("The Simpsons" producer); 1942 – John Ashcroft, Tommy Roe; 1944 – Richie Furay; 1945 – Steve Katz; 1946 – Candice Bergen; 1949 – Billy Joel; 1950 – Tom Petersson; 1960 – Tony Gwynn; 1962 – Dave Gahan; 1984 – Prince Fielder

Deaths

1914 – C. W. Post (cereal guy); 1968 – Harold Gray (created "Little Orphan Annie"); 2010 – Lena Horne; 2012 – Vidal Sassoon; 2013 – George M. Leader (36th Governor of Pennsylvania)

[Gravdigr]

May 10

28 B.C. - The first recorded observation of a sunspot, by Chinese Han Dynasty astronomers.

70 - Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem.

1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.

1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz, Spain for his first voyage to the New World.

1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.

1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.

1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.

1865 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.

American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.

1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.

1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.

1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.

1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.

1954 – Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.

1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.

1972 – First flight of the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (a.k.a. "Warthog").

1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

2002 – F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for selling United States secrets to Moscow.

2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 65 feet (20 meters) from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.

2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Births

1838 – John Wilkes Booth; 1899 – Fred Astaire; 1902 – David O. Selznick; 1909 – Maybelle Carter "Mother Maybelle"; 1922 – Nancy Walker; 1933 – Barbara Taylor Bradford; 1940 – Wayne Dyer; 1946 – Donovan, Graham Gouldman, Dave Mason; 1955 – Mark David Chapman; 1957 – Sid Vicious; 1958 – Rick Santorum; 1960 – Bono; 1965 – Linda Evangelista; 1975 – Hélio Castroneves; 1978 – Kenan Thompson

Deaths

1774 – Louis XV of France; 1798 – George Vancouver (namesake of Vancouver Island, and Vancouver, British Columbia); 1818 – Paul Revere; 1863 – Stonewall Jackson; 1977 – Joan Crawford; 1994 – John Wayne Gacy; 1999 – Shel Silverstein; 2010 – Frank Frazetta; 2012 – Carroll Shelby; 2015 – Chris Burden

[Gravdigr]

May 11

Only 227 days til Christmas.

1820 – HMS Beagle, the ship that will take Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage, is launched.

1846 – President James K. Polk asked for and received a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.

1907 – Thirty-two Shriners are killed when their chartered train derails at a switch near Surf Depot in Lompoc, California.

1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.

1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.

1942 – William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.

1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of its crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under its own power.

1949 – Siam officially changes its name to Thailand, for the second time.

Israel joins the United Nations.

1960 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who is living under the alias of Ricardo Klement.

1972 – The United States performs a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site, which was part of the series Operation Grommet and Operation Toggle.

1984 – Eight people perish in a fire at Six Flags Great Adventure's Haunted Castle.

1985 – Bradford City stadium fire: Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in a flash fire at Valley Parade football ground during a match against Lincoln City in Bradford, England.

1987 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.

1996 – After the aircraft's departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.

The 1996 Mount Everest disaster: on a single day eight people die during summit attempts on Mount Everest.

2010 – David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after elections produced a hung parliament.

2014 – Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into the stand by police officers attempting to defuse a hostile incident.

Births

1799 – John Lowell, Jr. (Lowell Institute); 1811 – Chang and Eng Bunker; 1875 – Harriet Quimby; 1888 – Irving Berlin; 1904 – Salvador Dalí; 1911 – Phil Silvers; 1918 – Richard Feynman; 1920 – Denver Pyle; 1927 – Mort Sahl; 1932 – Valentino Garavani; 1934 – Jim Jeffords; 1941 – Eric Burdon; 1946 – Robert Jarvik; 1947 – Butch Trucks (Allman Brothers Band); 1953 – David Gest; 1959 – Martha Quinn; 1964 – Tim Blake Nelson; 1982 – Cory Monteith; 1989 – Cam Newton

Deaths

1889 – John Cadbury; 1891 – Edmond Becquerel; 1979 – Lester Flatt; 1981 – Bob Marley; 1985 – Chester Gould (created "Dick Tracy"); 2001 – Douglas Adams; 2003 – Noel Redding; 2006 – Floyd Patterson

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

May 11

Only 227 days til Christmas.

Fuck off. Just fuck right off.

[Gravdigr]

It's Way Back Wednesday! Lets take a look at a year ago. Ooh, look someone made a post:

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

May 10

28 B.C. - The first recorded observation of a sunspot, by Chinese Han Dynasty astronomers.

70 - Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem.

1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.

1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz, Spain for his first voyage to the New World.

1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.

1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.

1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.

1865 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.

American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.

1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.

1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.

1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG



is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.

1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.

1954 – Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.

1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.

1972 – First flight of the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (a.k.a. "Warthog").

1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

2002 – F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for selling United States secrets to Moscow.

2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 65 feet (20 meters) from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.

2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Births

1838 – John Wilkes Booth; 1899 – Fred Astaire; 1902 – David O. Selznick; 1909 – Maybelle Carter "Mother Maybelle"; 1922 – Nancy Walker; 1933 – Barbara Taylor Bradford; 1940 – Wayne Dyer; 1946 – Donovan, Graham Gouldman, Dave Mason; 1955 – Mark David Chapman; 1957 – Sid Vicious; 1958 – Rick Santorum; 1960 – Bono; 1965 – Linda Evangelista; 1975 – Hélio Castroneves; 1978 – Kenan Thompson

Deaths

1774 – Louis XV of France; 1798 – George Vancouver (namesake of Vancouver Island, and Vancouver, British Columbia); 1818 – Paul Revere; 1863 – Stonewall Jackson; 1977 – Joan Crawford; 1994 – John Wayne Gacy; 1999 – Shel Silverstein; 2010 – Frank Frazetta; 2012 – Carroll Shelby; 2015 – Chris Burden

Addendum:

May 10, 1869 - The Golden Spike (also known as The Last Spike)



is the ceremonial final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. Celebrated as Golden Spike Day in Promontory, Utah.

[Gravdigr]

May 10

1965 - The Rolling Stones recorded a version of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' at Chess Studios in Chicago, with Brian Jones on harmonica. The group re-recorded it two days later at RCA Studios in Hollywood, with a different beat and the Gibson Maestro fuzzbox that Keith Richards had recently aquired, adding sustain to the sound of the guitar riff.

1969 - Frank Sinatra's version of 'My Way' made the British Top ten for the first time. Over the next three years it re-entered the Top 50 singles chart on eight different occasions. Paul Anka re-wrote the original French song for Sinatra, after he told Anka he was quitting the music business. Anka changed the melodic structure and lyrics to the song with Sinatra in mind.

1969 - The Turtles gave a special performance at the White House as guests of Tricia Nixon. Stories circulate concerning members of the group allegedly snorted cocaine on Abraham Lincoln's desk.

1986 - Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee married TV star Heather Locklear in a courtyard in Santa Barbara California with five hundred guests. Tommy wore a white leather tuxedo.


1999 - American singer, songwriter, poet, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books, Shel Silverstein died of a heart attack aged 57. Wrote, 'A Boy Named Sue' for Johnny Cash (which Silverstein won a Grammy for in 1970) and many songs for Dr Hook including 'Sylvia's Mother' and 'The Cover of the Rolling Stone.'

2000 - Michael Bolton lost his appeal against a court ruling that he stole part of his 1991 hit 'Love Is a Wonderful Thing' from an Isley Brothers song. Bolton had asked for a retrial following a 1994 jury verdict that he had plagiarised parts of The Isley Brothers song of the same name, but, an appeals court panel upheld the ruling which awarded the group $5.4m (£3.37m) from the profits of Bolton's single - one of his biggest hits.