Today in History for May 2001

Months in 2001: January February March April June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 13 of 13

3rd - The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
4th - The Milwaukee Art Museum addition, the first Santiago Calatrava-designed structure in the United States, opens to the public.
6th - During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
9th - In Ghana 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium Disaster. The deaths were caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of teargas by police personnel at the stadium)that followed a controversial decision by the referee handling a crucial match between arch-rivals Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
10th - In Ghana, a stampede at a football game kills over 120 spectators.
13th - Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition wins the Italian general elections.
21st - French Taubira law officially recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
24th - Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
24th - The Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200 in Israel's worst-ever civil disaster.
24th - The Democrats gain control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont abandons the Republican Party and declares himself an independent.
25th - 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
29th - U.S. Supreme Court rules that disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
29th - International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers inaugurated.

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 3 of 3

6th - Actress-singer Billie Piper (18) weds media mogul Chris Evans (35) at the Little Church of the West in Las Vegas
11th - Actress Suzanne Pleshette (64) weds actor Tom Poston (79) at Manhattan's City Hall
12th - American actor Eddie Cibrian (28) weds TV personality Brandi Glanville (28) at the beachfront Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles

Famous Divorces

Divorces 1 - 1 of 1

22nd - Actress and former fitness guru Jane Fonda (63) divorces CNN founder Ted Turner (62) due to irretrievably broken marriage 10 years after getting married

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 24 of 24

2nd - Ted Rogers, British comedian (b. 1935)
2nd - Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (b. 1961)
3rd - Billy Higgins, American drummer (b. 1936)
4th - Bonnie Lee Bakley, American murder victim (b. 1956)
5th - Clifton Hillegass, American writer and publisher
5th - Raymond Kessler, American midget wrestler
9th - James E. Myers, American songwriter (Rock Around the Clock) and producer (b. 1919)
10th - Deborah Walley, American actress (b. 1943)
11th - Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
12th - Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)
12th - Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1925)
13th - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
13th - Jason Miller, American playwright (b. 1939)
16th - Brian Pendleton, English musician (The Pretty Things) (b. 1944)
17th - Frank G. Slaughter, American novelist and physician (b. 1908)
19th - Susannah McCorkle, American singer (b. 1946)
20th - Renato Carosone, Italian musician (b. 1920)
26th - Vittorio Brambilla, Italian racing driver (b. 1937)
26th - Anne Haney, American actress (b. 1934)
Author Douglas Adams (11th) 26th - Moven Enock Mahachi, Defence Minister of Zimbabwe (b. 1952)
27th - Ramon Bieri, American actor (b. 1929)
28th - Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
28th - Joe Moakley, American politician (b. 1927)
31st - Arlene Francis, American television personality (d. 1907)