May 18......

May 18 is the 138th (139th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 227 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Gay and Lesbian "No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody." — Rita Mae Brown

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Inanity "They misunderestimated me." — George W. Bush {aka the Shrub}

Thought for the day: "Inflation is when the buck doesn't stop anywhere."

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 526 - St John I ends his reign as Catholic Pope

● 1096 - Crusaders massacre Jews of Worm

● 1268 - The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch; Baibars' destruction of the city of Antioch was so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.

● 1291 - Acre, the last territory in Palestine taken by the first Crusaders, fell to invading Moslem armies. It signalled the end of a Christian "military presence" in the Near East. (Afterwards, friars sought to spread the gospel by preaching instead.)

● 1302 - The weaver Peter de Coningk led a massacre of the Flemish oligarchs.

● 1385 - Peace of Doornik: Gent & Louis van Thoughts

● 1498 - Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India

● 1593 - Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.

● 1596 - Willem Barents leaves Amsterdam for Novaya Zemlya

● 1619 - Hugo the Great sentenced to life in prison

● 1631 - The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed that 'no man shall be admitted to the body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits' of the colony. (Separation of church and state was an unthinkable concept in early American colonialism.)

● 1631 - In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.

● 1642 - Montréal Canada founded

● 1643 - Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, was granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king's will.

● 1652 - Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.

● 1703 - Dutch & English troops occupy Cologne

● 1756 - England declares war on France

● 1765 - Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec.

● 1766 - The Church of the United Brethren in Christ was organized in Lancaster, PA, under the leadership of Martin Boehm, 41, and Philip William Otterbein, 39. (It became a branch of the Evangelical United Brethren in 1946.)

● 1781 - Tupa Amaru II, leader of Inca Rebellion, executed in the same Peruvian square as his ancestor two centuries before.

● 1783 - First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.

● 1792 - Russian troops invaded Poland.

● 1794 - 2nd battle of Bouvines (France-Austria)

● 1798 - The first Secretary of the U.S. Navy was appointed. He was Benjamin Stoddert.

● 1803 - Britain declares war on France after General Napoleon Bonaparte continues interfering in Italy & Switzerland

● 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.

● 1811 - Las Piedras Battle first great military triumph of the liberating revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay leaded by Jose Artigas.

● 1814 - In Philadelphia, the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions was established -- the first national organization of Baptists in the U.S. It was later called the Triennial Convention because it met every three years.

● 1814 - Birth of anarchist activist/philosopher Mikhail Bakunin, Prjamuchino, Russia. Karl Marx's chief nemesis.

● 1825 - Theodoros Kolokotronis, general in the Greek War of Independence is released from prison.

● 1827 - Josiah Warren opens Time Store in Cincinnati -- first commercial cooperative.

● 1828 - Battle of Las Piedras, ends conflict between Uruguay & Brazil

● 1830 - Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, the lawn mower - Saturdays are destroyed forever

● 1843 - United Free Church of Scotland forms

● 1846 - US troops attack Rio Grande occupying Matamoros

● 1848 - Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.

● 1851 - Amsterdam-Nieuwediep telegraph connection linked

● 1852 - Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school

● 1855 - Anarchist agitator George Speed born; active in Haymarket defense, Coxey's Army, Pullman Strike, and as an IWW organizer.

● 1860 - Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president

● 1861 - Battle of Sewall's Point VA-1st Federal offense against South

● 1863 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins, ending on July 4.

● 1864 - Battle of Yellow Bayou LA (Bayou de Glaize, Old Oaks)

● 1866 - French Government of De Putte resigns

● 1869 - Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan.

● 1869 - The Public Credit Act is passed by Ulysses S. Grant, one of his first actions as President of the United States. The Act endorsed the payment of the national debt after the American Civil War in gold currency instead of greenbacks.

● 1872 - Birth of Bertrand Russell, British philosopher of peace, author of (among many, many works) "Why I Am Not A Christian."

● 1876 - Wyatt Earp starts work in Dodge City, Kansas under Marshal Larry Deger.

● 1895 - Birth of Augusto Sandino, hero of Nicaraguan independence.

● 1896 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional. {Probably the second worst decision ever by the Supreme Court, the first being the selection of George W. Shrub.}

● 1896 - Khodynka Tragedy: a mass panic on Khodynka Field during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II resulted in the deaths of 1389 people.

● 1897 - Frank Capra, the American motion-picture director whose portrayal of the common man and American democracy endeared him to millions, was born.

● 1900 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.

● 1904 - Brigand Raizuli kidnapped American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco.

● 1910 - Passage of Earth through tail of Halley's Comet causes near-panic

● 1911 - Composer Gustav Mahler died in Vienna, Austria.

● 1911 - President/dictator José Porfirio Diaz of México term ends

● 1916 - US pilot Kiffin Rockwell shoots down German aircraft

● 1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription. Rally for rights of conscientious objection, New York City.

● 1918 - Netherlands Indian Volksraad installed in Batavia

● 1918 - TNT explosion in chemical factory in Oakdale PA kills 200

● 1920 - Pope John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland..

● 1922 - Dutch 2nd Chamber agrees to 48 hour work week (was 45 hours)

● 1924 - 170,000 Chinese workers demonstrate for the eight-hour day in Guangzhou.

● 1926 - Popular evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, 34, disappeared while on a beach outing. Turning up five weeks later, she claimed to have been kidnapped and held prisoner, before escaping from her abductors. {Authorities did not take this story very seriously and no culprits were ever found.}

● 1927 - Bath, Michigan School Disaster. Andrew Kehoe, seeking revenge against the community for taxes imposed on his farm to pay for a new school, set off a bomb in the school, killing 43 people, including 39 grade-school children. After the explosion, Kehoe killed his wife, then drove his truck back, loaded with dynamite and nails, to the school, and set it off, killing himself and the school superintendent.

● 1927 - "Slide Lake" in Gros Ventre WY collapses

● 1928 - Big Bill Haywood, IWW and labor activist, dies in lonely exile, Moscow, U.S.S.R.

● 1931 - Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashed his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He was picked up seven hours later by a passing ship.

● 1933 - New Deal: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

● 1934 - The U.S. Congress approved an act, known as the "Lindberg Act," that called for the death penalty in interstate kidnapping cases.

● 1934 - TWA begins commercial service

● 1940 - German troops conquer Brussels

● 1941 - An Egyptian steamer sinks

● 1941 - Italian army under General Aosta surrenders to Britain in Ethiopia

● 1941 - Jewish veterans honor their dead

● 1943 - Allied bombers attack Pantelleria in the Mediterranean Sea

● 1944 - Expulsion of more than 200,000 Tartars from Crimea by Soviet Union begins, they are accused of collaborating with the Germans

● 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.

● 1944 - World War II: SS troops burn down six villages in the Brkini hills in south western Slovenia.

● 1948 - The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.

● 1948 - Arab Legion captures fort on Mount Scopus

● 1948 - Saudi Arabia joins invasion of Israel

● 1950 - US and Europe agree NATO aims; Twelve nations agree on a permanent defence organisation for the US and Europe.

● 1951 - UN moves HQ to NYC

● 1951 - US General Collins predicts use of atom bomb in Korea

● 1951 - American hobo, 1894's Industrial Army of the Poor ("Coxey's Army") organizer, Jacob Coxey dies.

● 1952 - Professor W.F. Libby said Stonehenge dates back to 1848 BC

● 1953 - Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier (she flew in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour (1049.835 km/h) at Rogers Dry Lake, California).

● 1954 - European Convention on Human Rights goes into effect

● 1955 - 28.7 cm rain falls at Lake Maloya NM (state record)

● 1956 - Hungarian party leader Matyas Rákosi enforces his own policy

● 1958 - In the face of Pres. Eisenhower's denials that the U.S. is aiding anti-Sukarno rebels in Indonesia, an American B-26 was shot down by Indonesia while bombing Sumatra. U.S. dismisses the pilot as a "soldier of fortune," but he was eventually unmasked as a CIA employee. The U.S.-backed coup in 1964 that eventually unseated Sukarno, replacing him with Suharto, was one of the bloodiest massacres in the 20th century.

● 1959 - Launching of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.

● 1964 - Supreme Court rules unconstitutional to deprive naturalized citizens of citizenship if they return to home country for more than 3 years

● 1964 - Mods and Rockers jailed after seaside riots; Scores of youths are given prison sentences following violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers.

● 1965 - Gene Roddenberry suggests 16 names--including Kirk--for Star Trek Captain.

● 1967 - Tennessee Governor Ellington repeals "Monkey Law", upheld in 1925 Scopes Trial

● 1968 - Ten thousand march in Madrid, Spain, erecting barricades, in solidarity with revolt in France.

● 1969 - The Klamath tribe wins $4.1 million for loss of Oregon lands during fraudulent government surveys in 1880s.

● 1969 - Apollo 10 (Stafford/Cernan/Young) launched toward lunar orbit

● 1970 - Black protesters occupy administration offices at Seattle Univ.

● 1971 - Bulgarian constitution goes into effect

● 1971 - President Nixon rejects the 60 demands of Congressional Black Caucus

● 1971 - Vampire rapist Wayne Boden's last victim found

● 1972 - Duke too ill for tea with the Queen; Doctors say the Duke of Windsor must remain in his bedroom throughout the Queen's visit to his home in Paris.

● 1972 - Founding of radical senior advocacy group Gray Panthers.

● 1973 - Russian party leader Brezhnev visits West Germany

● 1974 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.

● 1974 - Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It later collapses on August 8, 1991.

● 1977 - A nightclub fire in Cincinnati killed 164

● 1977 - Menachem Begin becomes Israel's Prime Minister

● 1978 - Italy legalizes abortion

● 1978 - Russian dissident Yuri Orlov exiled to compulsory work

● 1979 - Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee case establishes corporations are responsible for the people they irradiate.

● 1980 - Liberty City section of Miami erupts in riots when four cops are acquitted after killing an innocent black man in his home. 14 killed, 200 injured.

● 1980 - Massive eruption of Mount St. Helens. in southwest Washington state, kills at least 70, destroying 160,000 acres of forest. Portland, Yakima, and Spokane are paralyzed by ashfall in subsequent days.

● 1980 - Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.

● 1980 - Belgium 3rd Government of Martens forms

● 1980 - China People's Republic launch 1st intercontinental rocket

● 1980 - Fernando Belaunde Terry elected President of Peru

● 1982 - Unification Church founder Reverend Sun Myung Moon convicted of tax evasion

● 1983 - Senate revises immigration laws, gives millions of illegal aliens legal status under an amnesty program

● 1986 - South African army occupies Botswana, Zimbabwe & Zambia

● 1990 - East and West Germany sign a monetary union treaty

● 1991 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

● 1991 - USSR launches 2 cosmonauts to MIR space station

● 1991 - Sharman becomes first Briton in space; Britain's first astronaut, 27-year-old Helen Sharman from Sheffield, has blasted into orbit.

● 1991 - Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland however it is unrecognised by the international community.

● 1992 - The Archivist of the United States issues a proclamation to officially announce that the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been ratified, despite more than 200 years for completion of the ratification process by the state legislatures.

● 1992 - Supreme Court rules states could not force mentally unstable criminal defendants to take anti-psychotic drugs

● 1993 - Danish people vote in favor of ratifying the Maastricht Treaty

● 1993 - Italian police arrest Mafia boss Benedetto "Nitto" Santapaola

● 1994 - Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip

● 1995 - Alain Juppé becomes Prime Minister of France.

● 1998 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.

● 1998 - U.S. federal officials arrested more than 130 people and seized $35 million. This was the end to an investigation of money laundering being done by a dozen Mexican banks and two drug-smuggling cartels.

● 2006 - The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.

BIRTHS

● 1048 - Omar Khayyám, Persian poet (d. 1131)

● 1186 - Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (d. 1218)

● 1474 - Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (d. 1539)

● 1610 - Stefano della Bella, Italian printmaker (d. 1664)

● 1616 - Johann Jakob Froberger, German composer (d. 1667)

● 1662 (O.S.) - George Smalridge, English bishop of Bristol (d. 1719)

● 1692 (O.S.) - Joseph Butler, English bishop and philosopher (d. 1752)

● 1711 - Ruđer Josip Bošković, Serbian atomic theorist (d. 1787)

● 1778 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (d. 1854)

● 1785 - John Wilson, Scottish writer (d. 1854)

● 1797 - Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)

● 1846 - Peter Carl Faberge, Russian goldsmith, designer and jeweler (d. 1920)

● 1850 - Oliver Heaviside, English physicist (d. 1925)

● 1867 - Elisabeth Cary, American art critic for the New York Times (d. 1936)

● 1868 - Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov, Nicholas II, Last Emperor of Russia (d. 1918)

● 1872 - Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1970)

● 1876 - Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)

● 1882 - Babe Adams, Baseball player (d. 1968)

● 1883 - Eurico Gaspar Dutra, President of Brazil (d. 1974)

● 1883 - Walter Gropius, German architect (d. 1969)

● 1885 - Eurico Dutra, Brazilian soldier and president; helped restore constitutional democracy (d. 1974)

● 1887 - Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)

● 1889 - Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (d. 1944)

● 1891 - Rudolf Carnap, German philosopher (d. 1970)

● 1892 - Ezio Pinza, Italian-born bass (d. 1957)

● 1897 - Frank Capra, American producer, director, and writer (d. 1991)

● 1901 - Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)

● 1902 - Meredith Willson, American composer (d. 1984)

● 1905 - Hedley Verity, English cricketer (d. 1943)

● 1907 - Carl Mydans, American photographer (d. 2004)

● 1911 - Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (d. 1985)

● 1912 - Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)

● 1912 - Richard Brooks, American film director, writer and producer (d. 1992)

● 1912 - Walter Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 2003)

● 1913 - Jane Birdwood, British anti-Semitic activist (d. 2000)

● 1913 - Charles Trenet, French singer and songwriter (d. 2001)

● 1913 - Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Fifth President of India (d. 1996)

● 1914 - Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer (d. 1982)

● 1918 - George Welch, American pilot and war hero (d. 1954)

● 1919 - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (d. 1991)

● 1920 - Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)

● 1920 - Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)

● 1922 - Bill Macy, Actor (Maude)

● 1922 - Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (d. 2005)

● 1922 - Kai Winding, Danish-born musician (d. 1983)

● 1923 - Hugh Shearer, Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)

● 1923 - Jean-Louis Roux, French Canadian actor and artistic director

● 1924 - Priscilla Pointer, American actress

● 1926 - Dirch Passer, Danish actor (d. 1980)

● 1928 - Pernell Roberts, American actor

● 1929 - Jack Sanford, baseball player (d. 2000)

● 1930 - Warren Rudman, Former U.S. senator, R-N.H.

● 1931 - Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)

● 1931 - Robert Morse, American actor

● 1934 - Dwayne Hickman, American actor and television executive

● 1937 - Brooks Robinson, baseball player and Hall of Fame member

● 1937 - Jacques Santer, Luxembourg statesman

● 1939 - Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate (d. 1992)

● 1942 - Rodney Dillard, Bluegrass musician (The Dillards)

● 1942 - Albert Hammond, British musician and composer

● 1942 - Nobby Stiles, English footballer

● 1943 - James Reiher, American professional wrestler

● 1946 - Reggie Jackson, baseball player and Hall of Fame member

● 1946 - Andreas Katsulas, American actor (d. 2006)

● 1947 - Candice Azzara, Actress

● 1947 - John Bruton, ninth Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland

● 1948 - Joe Bonsall, Country singer (The Oak Ridge Boys)

● 1949 - Rick Wakeman, English composer and musician (Yes)

● 1949 - Bill Wallace, Canadian musician (The Guess Who)

● 1950 - Thomas Gottschalk, German television show host

● 1950 - Rodney Milburn, American athlete (d. 1997)

● 1950 - Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer, musician, and singer (Devo)

● 1952 - George Strait, American musician

● 1952 - Diane Duane, American writer

● 1953 - Butch Tavares, R&B singer

● 1955 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor

● 1957 - Michael Cretu, German musician (Enigma)

● 1959 - Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1960 - Page Hamilton, Rock singer, musician (Helmet)

● 1960 - Jari Kurri, Finnish hockey player and Hall of Fame member

● 1960 - Yannick Noah, French tennis player

● 1962 - Nanne Grönvall, Swedish singer

● 1962 - Sandra Cretu, German singer

● 1965 - Ingo Schwichtenberg, German drummer (d. 1995)

● 1966 - Michael Tait, American musician (dc Talk, Tait)

● 1967 - Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German F1 driver

● 1969 - Martika, Cuban-American singer

● 1970 - Tina Fey, American comedian/actress ("30 Rock," "Saturday Night Live")

● 1970 - Daniel Sonenberg, American composer and performer

● 1971 - Brad Friedel, American soccer player

● 1973 - Brian Heffron, wrestler better known as the "Blue Meanie"

● 1974 - Special Ed, Rapper

● 1975 - John Higgins, Scottish snooker player

● 1975 - Jack Johnson, American musician

● 1975 - Peter Iwers, Swedish bass player (In Flames)

● 1976 - Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian ice hockey player

● 1977 - Lee Hendrie, English footballer

● 1977 - Danny Mills, English footballer

● 1978 - Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer

● 1979 - Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer

● 1980 - Darryl Allen, R&B singer (Mista)

● 1980 - Matt Long, Actor

● 1980 - Jeff Roehl, American football player

● 1981 - Mahamadou Diarra, Malian footballer

● 1982 - Eric West, American singer and actor

● 1983 - Vince Young, American football player

● 1983 - Gary O'Neil, English footballer

● 1988 - Ryan Cooley, Canadian television actor

● 1992 - Spencer Breslin, Actor

DEATHS

● 1450 - Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1397)

● 1550 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (b. 1498)

● 1584 - Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1559)

● 1675 - Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer (b. 1623)

● 1675 - Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (b. 1637)

● 1692 - Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (b. 1617)

● 1733 - Georg Böhm, German organist (b. 1761)

● 1780 - Charles Hardy, British governor of Newfoundland

● 1781 - Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian Indian revolutionary, a descendant of the last Inca ruler, Túpac Amaru (b. 1742)

● 1799 - Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French playwright (b. 1732)

● 1800 - Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)

● 1807 - John Douglas, Scottish Anglican bishop and man of letters (b. 1721)

● 1808 - Elijah Craig, American minister and inventor (b. 1738?)

● 1889 - Isabella Glyn Dallas, British Shakepearean actress (b. 1823)

● 1900 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)

● 1909 - George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)

● 1909 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)

● 1910 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot, French mezzo-soprano and composer (b. 1821)

● 1911 - Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (b. 1860)

● 1922 - Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)

● 1927 - Andrew Kehoe, American mass murderer (b. 1872)

● 1941 - Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)

● 1955 - Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)

● 1956 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)

● 1967 - Andy Clyde, American actor (b. 1892)

● 1971 - Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)

● 1973 - Jeannette Rankin, first U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1880)

● 1975 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)

● 1980 - Ian Curtis, British musician, singer and lyricist (Joy Division) (b. 1956)

● 1981 - William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)

● 1988 - Daws Butler, American voice actor (b. 1916)

● 1990 - Jill Ireland, British actress (b. 1936)

● 1992 - Marshall Thompson, American actor (b. 1925)

● 1995 - Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (b. 1903)

● 1995 - Alexander Godunov, Russian ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)

● 1995 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)

● 1999 - Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer (b. 1954)

● 1999 - Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)

● 2000 - Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian musician and arranger (b. 1946)

● 2002 - Davey Boy Smith, wrestler

● 2003 - Anna Santisteban, Puerto Rican beauty contest organizer (b. 1914)

● 2003 - Barb Tarbox, Canadian anti-smoking crusader (b. 1961)

● 2004 - Elvin Jones, American jazz drummer (b. 1927)

● 2006 - Andrew Martinez, U.C. Berkeley's "Naked Guy" (b. 1972)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Alexandra
● St. Dioscorus
● St. Elgiva
● St. Eric IX of Sweden
● St. Felix of Cantalice
● St. Felix of Spoleto
● St. Feredarius
● St. Pope John I
● St. Merililaun
● St. Theodotus
● St. Venantius of Camerino

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for May 5 (Civil Date: May 18)
● Great-Martyr Irene of Thessalonica.
● Martyrs Neophytus, Gaius and Caianus.
● St. Micah, disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
● St. Adrian, abbot of Monza Monastery.
● Opening of the Relics of St. James, abbot of Zheleznoborov.

● Greek Calendar:
● St. Euthymius, Bishop of Maditos in Thrace, the wonderworker.

● Festival of the god Pan in Ancient Greece

● Festival of Faunus in Ancient Rome

● International Museum Day

● Haiti : Flag Day/University Day

● Uruguay : Battle of Las Piedras (1828)

● These Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● Canada : Victoria Day (1819) - ( Monday )
● US : Armed Forces Day - ( Saturday )


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

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