This Day in History for 11th May

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All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 203

330 - Constantinople (Byzantium) becomes capital of Roman Empire
1189 - Emperor Frederik I Barbarossa & 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg
1310 - Fifty-four members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics.
1421 - Jews are expelled from Styria Austria
1502 - Columbus begins 4th & last trip to "Indies"
1548 - Start of great fire in Brielle
1625 - Boers besiege Frankenburg estate in Upper-Austria
1647 - Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam.
1674 - Netherlands & Cologne sign peace treaty
1678 - French admiral Jean d'Estrees' fleet runs aground on Aves-islands, Curaaao
1689 - Battle of Bantry Bay, French & English naval battle
1690 - English troops of W Phips conquer Port Royal Nova Scotia
1745 - Battle of Fontenoy (Doornik): Austrian Succession war
1749 - British parliament accept Consolidation Act: fleet reorganization
1751 - 1st hospital founded (Pennsylvania Hospital) in the 13 Colonies in America
1752 - 1st US fire insurance policy issued (Philadelphia)
1772 - Amsterdam theater destroyed by fire, 18 killed
1784 - England & Tippu Sahib van Mysore sign peace treaty
1792 - Columbia River discovered & named by US Capt Robert Gray
1812 - Waltz introduced into English ballrooms. Most observers consider it disgusting & immoral. No wonder it caught on!
1812 - Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
1813 - In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth, lead an expedition westwards from Sydney. Their route opens up inland Australia for continued expansion throughout the 19th century.
1814 - Americans defeat British at Battle of Plattsburgh
1816 - American Bible Society forms (NY)
Naturalist Charles Darwin 1820 - Launch of HMS Beagle the ship that took young Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.
1833 - "Lady-of-the-Lake" strikes iceberg & sinks in N Atlantic; kills 215
1841 - Lt. Charles Wilkes lands at Fort Nisqually in Puget Sound.
1850 - Work starts on 1st brick building in SF
1857 - Sepoy-revolt in Meerutkazerne, Delhi
1858 - Minnesota admitted as 32nd US state
1862 - Confederates scuttle CSS Virginia off Norfolk, VA
1864 - Battle of Yellow Tavern, VA (Sheridan's Raid, South Anna Bridge)
1864 - Gen J E B Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern
1865 - Jeff Thompson surrenders
1867 - Treaty of London drawn, concerning Luxembourg
1875 - George "Charmer" Zettlein pitches the 1st 9 inning shutout
1881 - Bedrich Smetana's opera "Libusa," premieres in Prague
1887 - 13th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Lewis aboard Montrose wins in 2:39.25
1888 - 16th Preakness: F Littlefield aboard Refund wins in 2:49
1891 - The Otsu Scandal takes place.
1892 - 18th Kentucky Derby: Lonnie Clayton aboard Azra wins in 2:41½
1893 - Henri Desgrange establishes 1st bicycle-world record (35.325 km)
1894 - American RR Union strikes Pullman Sleeping Car Co
1897 - Wash Senator catcher Charlie Farrell throws out 8 attempted stealers
1900 - James J Jeffries KOs James J Corbett in 23 for heavyweight boxing title
1904 - Andrew Carnegie donates $1.5M to build a peace palace
1907 - Bank of SF incorporated
1907 - A derailment outside Lompoc, California kills 32 Shriners when their chartered train jumps off the tracks at a switch near Surf Depot.
1910 - Montana's Glacier National Park forms
1911 - The United States becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1912 - 38th Kentucky Derby: Carol H Shilling aboard Worth wins in 2:09.4
1916 - Einstein's Theory of General Relativity presented
1917 - Britain grants Royal Letters Patent to New Zealand
1918 - 44th Kentucky Derby: William Knapp on Exterminator wins in 2:10.8
1919 - Cincinnati Reds Hod Eller no-hits St Louis Cards, 6-0
1919 - Yanks' Jack Quinn & Senators' Walter Johnson, 12 inning 0-0 tie
1921 - Tel Aviv is 1st all Jewish municipality
1923 - 10 HRs hit in Phillies 20-14 victory over St Louis Cards
1924 - Cartel des Gauches wins French parliamentary election
1924 - Pulitzer Prize awarded to Robert Frost (New Hampshire)
1924 - Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging the two companies.
1925 - Communist Party of Holland splits
1925 - Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Region constituted in RSFSR
1926 - Airship Norge leaves Spitsbergen for 1st air crossing of Arctic O
1927 - Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences forms
1927 - Belgium beats England 9-1 in soccer
1927 - Louis B Mayer forms Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
1928 - 54th Kentucky Derby: Chick Lang aboard Reigh Count wins in 2:10.4
1928 - 54th Preakness: Raymond Sonny Workman aboard Victorian wins in 2:00.2
1928 - 63rd British Golf Open: Walter Hagen shoots a 292 at Royal St George's
1928 - General Electric opens 1st TV-station (Schenectady, NY)
1929 - 1st regularly scheduled TV broadcasts (3 nights per week)
1929 - Dr Annie Webb Blanton forms Delta Kappa Gamma Society in Austin Tx
1931 - Credit-Anstalt, Austria's largest bank, fails beginning financial collapse of Central Europe
1935 - 61st Preakness: Willie Saunders aboard Omaha wins in 1:58.4
1940 - 66th Preakness: Fred A Smith aboard Bimelech wins in 1:58.6
1940 - NY World's Fair reopens
1941 - 1st Messerschmidt 109F shot down above England
1942 - Japanese troops conquer Kalewa
Author and Nobel Laureate William Faulkner 1942 - William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
1943 - Hermann Goering-division in Tunisia surrenders
1943 - US 7th div lands on Attu, Aleutian, (1st US territory recaptured)
1944 - Opposition group surprise attack post office Washer
1944 - Slomp Resistance fighter (Frits de Zwerver) freed from Arnhem prison
1945 - US marines conquer Awatsha Draw Okinawa
1946 - 1st night game at Boston Braves Field (Giants 5, Braves 1)
1946 - 72nd Preakness: Warren Mehrtens aboard Assault wins in 2:01.4
1946 - UMNO is created.
1947 - BF Goodrich announced the development of tubeless tire (Akron Ohio)
1947 - Laos accepts constitution for parliamentary democracy
1948 - Haganah takes control of Safed & port of Haifa
1948 - Luigi Einaudi elected president of Italy
1949 - 1st Polaroid camera sold $89.95 (NYC)
1949 - By a vote of 37-12, Israel becomes 59th member of UN
1949 - Siam renames itself Thailand
1950 - Belgium mine disaster at Borinage, 39 die
1950 - Eugene Ionesco's "La Cantatrice Chauve," premieres in Paris
1951 - Jay Forrester patents computer core memory
1953 - Tornado kills 114 in Waco Texas ($39M damage)
British war time Prime Minister Winston Churchill 1953 - Winston Churchill criticizes John Foster Dulles domino theory

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 238

1568 - Christian I, ruler of Anhalt-Bernburg (Battle of White Mountain)
1571 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (d. 1637)
1654 - Cornelis van Alkemade, Dutch historian
1720 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German adventurer (d. 1797)
1722 - Peter Camper, Leyden Holland, anatomist/professor (Amsterdam)
1731 - Johann Gottfried Seyfert, composer
1733 - Victoire of France, daughter of king Louis XV (d. 1799)
1752 - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (d. 1840)
1763 - János Batsányi, Hungarian poet (d. 1845)
1772 - Henri-Jean Rigel, composer
1791 - Jan Vaclav Hugo Vorisek, composer
1799 - John Lowell, American philanthropist (d. 1836)
1801 - Henri Labrouste, French architect (d. 1875)
1807 - Ira Aldridge, Great 19th century black Shakespearian actor (Othello)
1811 - Chang & Eng Bunker, Chinese Siamese twins
1811 - Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1893)
1817 - Fanny Cerrito, Italian ballet dancer (d. 1909)
1821 - [Carlos] Charles John Stolbrand, Brigadier General (Union volunteers)
1823 - Alfred Stevens, Belgian painter
1824 - Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter and sculptor (d. 1904)
1827 - Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (d. 1875)
1830 - John Converse Starkweather, Brigadier General (Union volunteers)
1835 - Kārlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (d. 1905)
1838 - Walter Goodman, British painter, illustrator and author (d. 1912)
1840 - Filippo Capocci, composer
1841 - Ernst von Possart, German actor/stage manager/reciter
1852 - Charles Warren Fairbanks, (R) 26th US VP (1905-09)
1854 - John Blackham, cricketer (Australia's 1st wicketkeeper)
1854 - Ottmar Mergenthaler, Hachtel Germany, inventor (linotype)
1855 - Anatol Konstantinovich Lyadov, Russian composer (Bewitched Lake)
1858 - Carl Hauptmann, writer
1861 - Frederick Russell Burnham, father of the international scouting movement (d. 1947)
1869 - Francisco Lacerda, composer
1871 - Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer (d. 1943)
1875 - Harriet Quimby, American aviator (d. 1912)
1878 - Jan Machiel Reyskens, oldest male resident of the Netherlands. Died 1990 aged 111.
1881 - Jan van Gilse, composer/resistance fighter (Frau Helga von Staveren)
1881 - Pascual Rogatis, composer
1881 - Al Cabrera, Spanish-born Cuban baseball player (d. 1964)
1881 - Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian physicist (d. 1963)
1882 - Joseph Marx, Austrian composer/critic
1888 - Irving Berlin, [Isadore Balin], Temum Siberia, composer (White Xmas)
1888 - P A J Losecaat Vermeer, leader of Dutch High Council
1888 - Willis A. Lee, World War II U.S. naval admiral (d. 1945)
1890 - Woodall Rodgers, mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1961)
1891 - Henry Morgenthau Jr, US Secretary of Treasury (1934-45)
1892 - Margaret Rutherford, England, actress (Murder Most Foul)
1894 - Anton A Mussert, Dutch nazi leader (NSB)
1894 - Florimond Cornellie, Belgium, yachting (Olympic-gold-1920)
1894 - Martha Graham, Allegheny Penn, choreographer (Appalachian Spring)
1895 - Jan Parandowski, writer
1895 - William Grant Still, Woodville Mississippi, composer (Afro-American)
1896 - Josip Slavenski, composer
1896 - Philippo de Pisis, Italian painter
1897 - Izak W van der Merwe, [Boerneef], S Afr writer (Tweetalige Woordeboek)
1897 - Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)
1899 - Paulino Masip, Spanish playwright (d. 1963)
1901 - Mari Sandoz, Nebraska, author (Cheyenne Autumn)
1902 - Kaarlo Sarkia, Finnish poet (Unen Kaivo)
1903 - Charlie Gehringer, Detroit Tigers' 2nd baseman (1924-42)
1904 - Guus Weitzel, Dutch radio-announcer
Painter Salvador Dali (1904) 1904 - Salvador Dali, Figueras Spain, surrealist artist (Crucifixion)
1905 - Marjorie Sykes, peace campaigner
1906 - Kent Taylor, [Louis Weiss], Iowa, actor (Boston Blackie, Rough Riders)
1907 - Rose Ausländer, German poet (d. 1988)
1907 - Rip Sewell, American baseball player (d. 1989)
1909 - Herbert Murrill, composer
1910 - Jorge Croner de Vasconcelos, composer
1911 - Doodles Weaver, LA California, comedian (Spike Jones & City Slickers)
1911 - Edgar Beck, president (John Mowlem)
1911 - Roy James Alfred Kaulback, soldier
1911 - Mitchell Sharp, Canadian politician (d. 2004)
1912 - Foster Brooks, Louisville Ky, comedian/actor (Miles-Mork & Mindy)
1912 - Phil Silvers, Bkln NY, comedian (Sgt Bilko-Phil Silvers Show)
1913 - Clare Grundman, composer
1913 - Tutti Camarata, Glen Ridge NJ, orchestra leader (Vic Damone Show)
1913 - Robert Jungk, Austrian publicist (d. 1994)
1914 - Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist (d. 1998)
1916 - C J Cela, writer
1916 - Camilo Jose Cela, Spain, author (La Colmena-1951)
1917 - Hon Montague Woodhouse, Greek resistance organiser
1918 - Richard P Feynman, physicist (Feynman-diagrams/Nobel prize 1965)
1918 - Robert Hunt, CEO (Dowty Group)
1920 - Beryl Bryden, jazz singer
1920 - Denver Pyle, Bethune Colo, actor (Dukes of Hazzard, Tammy, Doris Day)
1921 - Ian Percival, QC/MP
1921 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
1922 - Nestor Chylak, American baseball umpire (d. 1992)
1922 - Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
1923 - Joan Moriarty, Brigadier matron-in-chief/dir (Army Nursing Services)
1923 - Lord Gordon "Gordy" White, English industrialist/multi-millionaire
1923 - Vincent Gordon Lindsay White, tycoon
1924 - Antony Hewish, radio astronomer
1924 - Jackie Milburn, English soccer star (Newcastle United)
1924 - Eugene Dynkin, Russian mathematician
1925 - Rhodes Boyson, MP
1925 - Edward J. King, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
1926 - Ernest Harrison, CEO (Racal Electronics)
1926 - Frank Thring, Melbourne Australia, actor (El Cid, Ben-Hur)
1927 - Justice Hollis

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 3 of 3

1970 - Sammy Davis Jr weds Altovise
1996 - Fashion designer Cynthia Rowley (39) weds retail store designer Bill Keenan (43) at Manhattan City Hall in New York
2001 - Actress Suzanne Pleshette (64) weds actor Tom Poston (79) at Manhattan's City Hall

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 106

1304 - Mahmud Ghazan, Mongol ruler (b. 1271)
1610 - Matteo Ricci, Italian missionary (China), dies
1631 - Christoph Buel, composer, dies at 57
1672 - Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, English royalist (b. 1615)
1708 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
1723 - Jean Galbert de Campistron, French dramatist (b. 1656)
1742 - Francesco Stradivari, Ital violin maker/son of Antonius, dies at 70
1772 - Joseph Kerckhoff, Limburg surgeon/robber captain, hanged
1777 - George Pigot, Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (b. 1719)
1778 - William Pitt Sr, English premier (1756-61, 66-68), dies at 69
1779 - John Heart, US farmer (signed Decl of Independence), dies at about 68
1812 - Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (assassinated) (b. 1762)
1819 - Caspar Furstenau, composer, dies at 47
1845 - Karoly Filtsch, composer, dies at 14
1848 - Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
1849 - Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai, composer and conductor, dies at 38 of a stroke
1849 - Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier, French socialite (b. 1777)
1857 - E Francois Vidocq, French criminalogist/police officer, dies at 81
1871 - John Herschel, cataloguer of southern hemisphere stars, dies at 79
British Prime Minister (The Great Commoner) William Pitt the Elder (1778) 1881 - Henri-Frederic Amiel, Swiss/French writer (Journal Intime), dies at 59
1885 - Ferdinand Hiller, German pianist/composer/conductor, dies at 73
1887 - Jean Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist (b. 1802)
1891 - A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1820)
1895 - Feliks Jaronski, composer, dies at 71
1907 - John Albert Delany, composer, dies at 54
1916 - Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer (s-effect), dies
1916 - Max Reger, composer, dies at 43
1916 - Max [Johann BJM] Reger, German composer/pianist/organist, dies at 43
1917 - Otto Adolf Klauwell, composer, dies at 66
1920 - William D Howells, US author (A Woman's Reason), dies at 83
1927 - Henry Martyn Robert, (Robert's Rules of Order), dies at 90
1927 - Juan Gris, Spanish cubist painter, dies at 40
1929 - Jozef Murgaš, Slovak inventor (b. 1864)
1934 - Orest Khvolson, Russian physicist (b. 1852)
1935 - Edward H Thompson, US archaeologist (Mayan civilization), dies at 78
1937 - Viliam Figus, composer, dies at 62
1938 - Arnold Sauwen, Flemish poet (Hours of Solitude), dies at 81
1939 - Evgenii Miller, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1867)
1944 - Henk Hos, resistance fighter, executed at 37
1947 - Ture Rangstrom, composer, dies at 62
1949 - Adrianus PHA de Kleyn, throat/nose/otologist (ear doctor), dies at 65
1952 - Giovanni Tebaldini, composer, dies at 87
1953 - Jean Adair, dies at 80
1955 - G L Jessop, cricketer (match-winning batsman, brilliant field), dies
1956 - Walter S Adams, US astronomer/director of Mount Wilson, dies at 79
1960 - John D Rockefeller Jr, philanthropist, dies at 86
1963 - Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)
1965 - Ludovicus H "Lode" Baekelmans, Flemish playwright, dies at 86
1965 - Roger Vailland, French author, dies at 57
1970 - Johnny Hodges, American musician (b. 1906)
1973 - Grigory M Kosinzev, Russian director, dies
1973 - Lex Barker, American actor (b. 1919)
1976 - Alvar Aalto, architect (Finlandia House), dies at 78
1976 - Camille Schmit, composer, dies at 68
1976 - J Anaya, Bolivian military/ambassador to France, murdered
1978 - John Clinge Doorenbos, Dutch journalist/poet, dies at 93
1979 - Joan Chandler, dies at 55
1979 - Lester Raymond Flatt, musician (Ballad of Jed Clampett), dies at 64
Reggae Musician Bob Marley (1981) 1981 - Bob Marley, reggae singer, dies of brain & lung cancer at 36
1981 - Hoyt J Fuller, editor (1st World magazine), dies at 57
1982 - Leigh Snowden, actress (Hot Rod Rumble), dies at 51 of cancer
1982 - Piet van Egmond, organist/conductor, dies at 70
1983 - Zenna [Chlarson] Henderson, author (Anything Box), dies at 65
1985 - Chester Gould, cartoonist (Dick Tracy), dies at 84
1985 - Garmt Stuiveling, literatrary (Ego & Echo), dies at 77
1985 - Jorja Curtright, actor (Whistle Stop), dies of a heart attack
1985 - Samuel Frith, English co-founder of soccer team (Bradford City), dies
1986 - Henry P. McIlhenny, American philanthropist (b. 1910)
1986 - Fritz Pollard, American football player (b. 1894)
1988 - H A R (Kim) Philby, British double agent, dies
1991 - Filip J Field, dies at 67
1991 - Ho Dam, foreign minister North-Korea (1970-83), dies
1992 - Carlos Herrera, drink inventor (Margarita), dies at 90
1992 - Elizabeth McDonald, inventor (Spic & Span), dies at 98
1994 - Alfred James Broomhall, methodist Missionary, dies at 82
1994 - Danny Overbea, blues singer/guitarist, dies at 68
1994 - Leonard Friedman, violinist, dies at 63
1994 - Lewis B Puller, US writer (Pulitzer 1992), commits suicide at 48
1994 - Timothy Carey, dies of stroke at 64
1995 - Arthur Lubin, director (Francis The Talking Mule, Mr Ed), dies at 96
1995 - David Avidan, poet/writer, dies at 62
1995 - William John Phillips, actor (Nothing but a Man), dies at 80
1996 - Bruce Boyce, singer/teacher, dies at 85
1996 - Joan Thirkettle, journalist, dies at 48
1996 - Malcolm MacEwen, writer, dies at 84
1996 - Nnamdi Azikiwe, Pres of Nigeria (1963-66), dies
1996 - Walter Hyatt, #Musician, dies at 46
1996 - Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (b. 1922)
1997 - Brenda Carlin, TV producer/wife of comedian George Carlin, dies at 57
2000 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
Author Douglas Adams (2001) 2001 - Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
2002 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (b. 1905)
2002 - Renaude Lapointe, French Canadian journalist and senator (b. 1912)
2003 - Noel Redding, English bassist (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (b. 1945)
2004 - John Whitehead, American singer (McFadden & Whitehead) (b. 1949)
2004 - Mick Doyle, Irish rugby union footballer and coach
2005 - Michalis Genitsaris, Greek rebetiko singer and composer (b. 1917)
2006 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer (b. 1935)
2006 - Frankie Thomas, American actor (b. 1921)
2006 - Yossi Banai, Israeli singer (b. 1932)