This Day in History

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Today is May 2.


1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.

1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.

1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

1863 – American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson



is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He loses his left arm, and succumbs to pneumonia eight days later. Upon learning of Jackson's injury Robert E. Lee wrote to Jackson, saying "Could I have directed events, I would have chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead." While Jackson lay dying Lee sent him a message via the Chaplain, "Give General Jackson my affectionate regards, and say to him: he has lost his left arm, but, I, my right." Toward the end, and near death, Jackson stated "It is the Lord's Day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday."

Dr McGuire wrote of Jackson's last moments and words:

A few moments before he died he cried out in his delirium, "Order A.P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the front rapidly! Tell Major Hawks"—then stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said quietly, and with an expression, as if of relief, "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees."

1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.

1952 – The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.

1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. A North Vietnamese frogman had placed a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.

1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2



departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

1970 - One-hit-wonder Norman Greenbaum was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Spirit In The Sky.'

1972 - Bruce Springsteen auditioned for CBS Records A&R man John Hammond in New York. Springsteen played a short set for him in his office; Hammond was so impressed that he arranged a real audition that night at the Gaslight Club in New York for other Columbia executives. He passed the audition.

1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.

1989 - A security guard alerted the police after a man wearing a wig, fake moustache and false teeth walked into Zales Jewellers, California. Three squad cars arrived and police detained the man, who turned out to be Michael Jackson in disguise.

2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military. And there was much rejoicing.

2005 - Eric Clapton joined former Cream members drummer Ginger Baker and bass player Jack Bruce for the first of four nights at London's Royal Albert Hall 36 years after they had split up. Tickets were changing hands for more than £500 on eBay and fans had flown over from the USA to witness the reunion, which Clapton aged 60, is said to have agreed to because of the failing health of the other former members of the band.

2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. And there was much rejoicing.

2011 – An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak. Not a lot of rejoicing.

2012 – A pastel version of The Scream,



by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.



1729 – Catherine the Great, 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome, 1885 – Hedda Hopper, 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen "The Red Baron", 1903 – Benjamin Spock, 1907 – Pinky Lee, 1922 – Roscoe Lee Browne (The Cowboys), 1925 – John Neville (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen), 1929 – Link Wray, 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, 1945 – Bianca Jagger, 1946 – Lesley Gore, 1946 – David Suchet (Agatha Christie's Poirot), 1947 – James Dyson, 1948 – Larry Gatlin, 1950 – Lou Gramm (Foreigner), 1951 – John Glascock (Jethro Tull), 1972 – Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, 1975 – David Beckham, 1980 – Ellie Kemper (The Office), 1985 – Lily Allen, 1985 – Kyle Busch



1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser (of Anheuser-Busch, PBUH), 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, 1990 – David Rappaport (Time Bandits), 1999 – Oliver Reed, 2009 – Jack Kemp, 2010 – Lynn Redgrave, 2011 – Osama bin Laden, 2014 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., 2015 – Ruth Rendell, 2016 – Afeni Shakur (Black Panther, and Tupac's mother)