This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

April 25, 1847

The last survivors of The Donner Party leave the wilderness.

1859

Ground is broken for the Suez Canal.

1898

The U.S. declares war on Spain.

1915

The Battle of Gallipoli begins.

1916

Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time.

1944

The United Negro College Fund is established.

1953

Francis Crick and James Watson describe the structure of DNA.

1954

The first practical solar cell is demonstrated.

1959

The Saint Lawrence Seaway opens to shipping.

1960

The USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.

1961

Robert Noyce patents the integrated circuit.

1983

Pioneer 10 travels beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Yuri Andropov invites 11-year old Samantha Smith to visit the Soviet Union.

2015

Nepal is hit with a 7.8 earthquake that kills over 9,000 people.

Riots break out in Baltimore, Maryland following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.

Births

Oliver Cromwell-1599; Guglielmo Marconi-1874; Edward R. Murrow-1908; Ella Fitzgerald-1917; Albert King-1923; Paul Mazursky-1930; Meadowlark Lemon-1932; Jerry Leiber-1933; Al Pacino-1940; Stu Cook-1945; Steve Ferrone-1950; Joe Buck-1969; Tim Duncan-1976

Deaths

12th Dalai Lama-1875; Art Fleming, Ginger Rogers-1995; Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes-2002; Bobby Pickett-2007; Bea Arthur-2009

[Gravdigr]

April 26, 1777

Sixteen year old Sybil Ludington rides forty miles to alert Colonial forces to the approach of the British.

1865

Presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth is killed by Union forces.

1933

The Gestapo is established.

1962

Ranger 4, the first U.S. spacecraft to reach another celestial body, crashes into the far side of the moon.

1966

An earthquake destroys most of Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

1986

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explodes and burns, resulting in the world's worst nuclear power plant accident.

1989

A tornado strikes Bangladesh, killing 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving almost 80,000 homeless. It is the world's deadliest tornado.

1991

A tornado outbreak sees 70 tornadoes form over the central U.S..

Births

Marcus Aurelius-121; John James Audubon-1785; Frederick Law Olmsted-1822; Rudolf Hess-1894; Charles Francis Richter-1900; Carol Burnett-1933; Gary Wright-1943; Jet Li-1963

Deaths

John Wilkes Booth-1865; Gypsy Rose Lee-1970; Jim Davis-1981; Count Basie-1984; Broderick Crawford-1986; Lucille Ball-1989; A. B. Guthrie, Jr.-1991; George Jones-2013; Jayne Meadows-2015

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Sixteen year old Sybil Ludington rides forty miles to alert Colonial forces to the approach of the British.

And Paul Revere gets all the press because he was a well known businessman with connections.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Practical. When telling the story, if they say Sybil Ludington the response is, Who? Saying Paul Revere who everybody knows, they aren't interrupted and get on with it. Besides, it's in the national interest to promote a hero, instead of heroin. That shit's bad for kids, and other living things.

[BigV]

Hey, I like John Cena!

[Gravdigr]

Not like Sheldon!

[Gravdigr]

April 28, 1503

Battle of Cerignola, the first battle in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder (as opposed to black powder).

1789

Mutiny on the Bounty, Lt. Bligh and 18 others are set adrift, while the remaining crew return, temporarily, to Tahiti.

1869

Chinese and Irish laborers lay ten miles of railroad track in one day, a record that remains unbroken today.

1881

Billy The Kid escapes from the Lincoln County, New Mexico jail.

1932

A vaccine for yellow fever is announced.

1945

Benito Mussolini and his mistress are executed by firing squad.

1947

Thor Heyerdahl, and five crew, set out from Peru on the Kontiki, to prove ancient Peruvians could have settled in Polynesia.

1952

Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

U.S. occupation of Japan ends.

1967

Muhammad Ali refuses induction to the U.S. Army. He is stripped of his boxing championship and license.

1969

Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

1988

Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, to her death, when part of the 737's fuselage separates mid-flight.

1994

Former CIA officer/analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to espionage.

2001

Dennis Tito becomes the world's first space tourist.

Births

James Monroe-1758; Lionel Barrymore-1878; Jan Oort-1900; Oskar Schindler-1908; Ferruccio Lamborghini-1916; Harper Lee-1926; James Baker-1930; Tariq Aziz-1936; Saddam Hussein-1937; Ann-Margret-1941; Terry Pratchett-1948; Bruno Kirby, Indian Larry-1949; Jay Leno-1950; Chuck Leavell, Mary McDonnell-1952; Hal Sutton-1958; Elena Kagan-1960; John Daly-1966

Deaths

John "Jack" Russell-1883; Benito Mussolini-1945; Ed Begley (Sr.)-1970; Tommy Caldwell-1980; Steve Currie-1981; Ken Curtis-1991; Jim Valvano-1993; Rory Calhoun-1999; Dabbs Greer, Tommy Newsom-2007; Vern Gosdin "The Voice"-2009; Jack Ely-2015

[Gravdigr]

April 29, 1770

James Cook arrives at Botany Bay, Australia.

1945

The concentration camp at Dachau is liberated by U.S. troops.

1975

Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: U.S. troops begin evacuating U.S. citizens from Saigon.

2004

After 107 years of production, Oldsmobile builds its final car.

Births

William Randolph Hearst-1863; Duke Ellington-1899; Hirohito-1901; Lonnie Donegan-1931; Rod McKuen, Willie Nelson-1933; Otis Rush-1935; Bernard Madoff-1938; Tommy James, Johnny Miller-1947; Dale Earnhardt, Sr.-1951; Jerry Seinfeld-1954; Daniel Day-Lewis, Timothy Treadwell-1957; Jay Cutler-1983

Deaths

J. B. Lenoir-1967; Alfred Hitchcock-1980; Mike Royko-1997; Amarillo Slim-2012; Bob Hoskins-2014; Calvin Peete-2015

[Gravdigr]

April 30, 1492

Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.

1789

George Washington takes the Presidential Oath of Office and becomes the first President of the United States.

1803

The U.S. purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15,000,000, doubling the size of the nation.

1812

The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state, Louisiana.

1900

Hawaii becomes a U.S. territory.

Casey Jones drives his train through a thirty foot ditch.

1945

Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours.

1975

The People’s Army of Vietnam captures Saigon.

2009

Chrysler files Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Births

Alice B. Toklas-1877; Al Lewis-1923; Michael Waltrip-1963; Johnny Galecki-1975; Kunal Nayyar-1981

Deaths

Casey Jones-1900; Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun-1945; Alben W. Barkley-1956; George Balanchine, Muddy Waters-1983; Sergio Leone-1989; Darrell Sweet-1999; Tom Poston-2007; Ben E. King-2013

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

1803

The U.S. purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15,000,000, doubling the size of the nation.

This is obviously a lie because Clive Bundy told me his four-fathers carved out grazing land from the primordial soup with nothing but their teeth and toenails, as their hands were busy fending off dinosaurs and blood thirsty savage tribes of BLM agents.

[Gravdigr]

May 2, 1885

The magazine 'Good Housekeeping' goes on sale for the first time.

1918

General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company.

1952

The De Havilland Comet, the world's first jet airliner, makes its maiden flight.

1955

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

1969

The Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

1982

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

1986

The city of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the nuclear power plant there explodes and burns.

2000

President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

2011

Osama bin Laden is killed by U.S. Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Births

1729 – Catherine the Great; 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome; 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen 'The Red Baron'; 1903 – Dr. Benjamin Spock; 1907 – Pinky Lee; 1922 – Roscoe Lee Browne; 1929 – Link Wray; 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck; 1945 – Judge Dread (No, really); 1945 – Bianca Jagger; 1946 – Lesley Gore, David Suchet; 1947-James Dyson; 1948 – Larry Gatlin; 1950 – Lou Gramm; 1951 – John Glascock; 1955 – Donatella Versace; 1962 – Big Boss Man; 1967 – Mika Brzezinski; 1972 – Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson; 1975 – David Beckham; 1985 – Lily Allen, Kyle Busch

Deaths

1519 – Leonardo da Vinci; 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser; 1957 – Joseph McCarthy; 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover; 1984 – Jack Barry; 1990 – David Rappaport; 1999 – Oliver Reed; 2006 – Louis Rukeyser; 2009 – Jack Kemp; 2010 – Lynn Redgrave; 2011 – Osama bin Laden; 2012 – Junior Seau; 2014 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.; 2015 – Ruth Rendell

[Gravdigr]

May 3, 1715

A total solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Edmund Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.

1802

Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.

1915

The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

1937

Gone With The Wind wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

1952

The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time.

1973

The 108-story Sears Tower, in Chicago, is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world's tallest building.

1978

The first spam email is sent .

1987

Bobby Allison crashes at Talladega Superspeedway, leading NASCAR to develop restrictor plates for the Daytona, and Talledega races the next year.

1999

An F5 tornado strikes southwest Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, producing a wind speed of 301 mph (+/- 20 mph), the highest wind speed ever recorded. It is one of 66 tornadoes that day.

2000

Geocaching becomes a thing.

2003

New Hampshire's famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses.

Births

1849 – Jacob Riis; 1874 – François Coty; 1879 – Fergus McMaster; 1903 – Bing Crosby; 1906 – Mary Astor; 1917 – Betty Comden; 1919 – Pete Seeger; 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson; 1928 – Dave Dudley; 1932 – Robert Osborne; 1933 – James Brown, Brother Stair; 1934 – Frankie Valli; 1935 – Ron Popeil; 1944 – Pete Staples; 1947 – Doug Henning; 1951 – Christopher Cross; 1953 – Bruce Hall; 1975 – Willie Geist; 1975 – Christina Hendricks; 1981 – J. Tillman

Deaths

1972 – Bruce Cabot; 1986 – Robert Alda; 1996 – Jack Weston; 2006 – Earl Woods; 2007 – Wally Schirra; 2011 – Jackie Cooper

[Gravdigr]

May 4, 1776

Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.

1814

Napoléon Bonaparte arrives at the island of Elba, to begin his exile.

1904

Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce meet in Manchester, England.

1932

Al Capone begins serving an 11-year prison sentence for tax evasion.

1953

Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man And The Sea" wins the Pulitzer Prize.

1959

The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.

1961

American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

1970

Four dead in O-hi-o: The Ohio Nat'l Guard opens fire on students protesting the war in Vietnam, killing four and wounding nine.

1979

Margaret Thatcher, "The Iron Lady", becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1988

Tons of stored Space Shuttle fuel detonate in a gigantic explosion during a fire at the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada, near Henderson, Nevada. Video

2007

Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7 mi wide EF5 tornado. 95% of the city is leveled. The tornado was part of the May 2007 tornado outbreak.

Births

1796 – Horace Mann; 1916 – Richard Proenneke; 1919 – Dory Funk; 1923 – Ed Cassidy; 1928 – Thomas Kinsella, Hosni Mubarak; 1929 – Audrey Hepburn; 1939 – Paul Gleason; 1940 – Robin Cook; 1941 – George Will; 1942 – Nickolas Ashford; 1953 – Pia Zadora; 1959 – Randy Travis, Bob Tway; 1972 – Mike Dirnt; 1978 – Erin Andrews; 1989 – Rory McIlroy

Deaths

1975 – Moe Howard; 1980 – Josip Broz Tito; 1987 – Paul Butterfield; 2009 – Dom DeLuise; 2012 – Adam Yauch

[Gravdigr]

May 5, 1260

Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.

1494

Christopher Columbus lands at Jamaica.

1821

Napoleon dies, in exile, on the island of St. Helena.

1865

The first train robbery in the United States takes place, in North Bend, Ohio.

1866

Memorial Day is first celebrated in the United States, in Waterloo, New York.

1905

Fingerprints are used as evidence for the first time.

1920

Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.

1925

John T. Scopes is served an arrest warrant for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.

1934

The first Three Stooges short is released.

1961

Mercury-Redstone 3: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space.

1965

The Warlocks, later known as The Grateful Dead, make their first public appearance, in Menlo Park, CA.

1973

Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby in 1 minute 59 2⁄5 seconds, a record that still stands.

Births

1813 – Søren Kierkegaard; 1818 – Karl Marx; 1830 – John B. Stetson (the hat guy); 1864 – Nellie Bly; 1901 – Blind Willie McTell; 1914 – Tyrone Power; 1926 – Ann B. Davis (Alice on the Brady Bunch); 1934 – Ace Cannon; 1942 – Tammy Wynette; 1943 – Michael Palin; 1944 – John Rhys-Davies; 1944 – Roger Rees; 1945 – Kurt Loder; 1948 – Bill Ward; 1988 – Adele

Deaths

1821 – Napoleon; 2008 – Irv Robbins (co-founded Baskin-Robbins); 2015 – Craig Gruber (bassist for Rainbow and Elf)

[Gravdigr]

May 6, 1840

The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom.

1861

Arkansas secedes from the Union.

1877

Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse surrenders to U.S. troops.

1889

The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public.

1910

George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of Edward VII.

1915

Babe Ruth hits first major league home run.

1935

Works Progress Administration is created.

First flight of the Curtiss P-36 Hawk.

1937

The Hindenburg catches fire at Lakehurst, New Jersey and is destroyed in less than 60 seconds. 36 people die.

1940

John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" wins the Pultizer Prize.

1941

Bob Hope performs his first USO show.

1945

Axis Sally delivers her last broadcast.

1954

Roger Bannister runs the mile in under four minutes.

1989

Magnum XL-200, the first roller coaster to break the 200 ft height barrier, opens, igniting the coaster wars.

1994

The Channel Tunnel opens.

Paula Jones files a sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton.

After missing for 8 days, former CIA director William Colby's body is found.

2013

Three women missing for more than a decade are found alive in the U.S. city of Cleveland, Ohio. Their captor is taken into custody.

Births

1856 – Sigmund Freud, Robert Peary; 1895 – Rudolph Valentino; 1903 – Toots Shor; 1913 – Stewart Granger; 1915 – Orson Welles; 1931 – Willie Mays; 1945 – Bob Seger; 1950 – Jeffery Deaver, Robbie McIntosh; 1953 – Tony Blair; 1960 – Roma Downey; 1961 – George Clooney

Deaths

1862 – Henry David Thoreau; 1902 – Bret Harte; 1910 – Edward VII; 1919 – L. Frank Baum; 1952 – Maria Montessori; 1983 – Kai Winding; 1987 – William J. Casey; 2004 – Barney Kessel