May 22......

May 22 is the 142nd (143rd in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 223 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Greed "To have and not give is often worse than to steal." — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Neo-Fascism "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals by making them realize that they could be killed, too. Otherwise they will turn into outright traitors." — Ann Coulter, referring to the young American who was captured after joining the Taliban {The blind spot in her/his so called logic is that the Taliban are one of the most conservative and anti-liberal organizations in the world.}

Thought for the day: "One disadvantage of having nothing to do: You can't stop and rest."

{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

● 334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.

● 12 BC - A daytime meteor shower, possibly Zeta Perseid observed in China

● 760 - 14th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

● 1176 - Murder attempt by the Hashshashin (Assassins) on Saladin near Aleppo.

● 1200 - Peace of Goulet

● 1246 - Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.

● 1370 - Jews are expelled/massacred from Brussels Belgium

● 1377 - Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.

● 1455 - Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.

● 1526 - Pope Clemens VII, France, Genoa, Venice, Florence & Milan form Anti-French League of Cognac

● 1541 - In Germany, the Ratisbon (Regensburg) Conference ended, its mission to reunify the Catholic Church having failed. From this time on, the Protestant movement is permanent.

● 1570 - 1st modern atlas, with 70 maps, published by Abraham Ortelius in Belgium.

● 1594 - Earl Mauritius & Willem Louis begin siege of Groningen

● 1629 - Emperor Ferdinand II & Danish King Christian IV sign Peace of Lübeck

● 1659 - France, England & Netherlands sign "Hedges Concerto" treaty

● 1703 - British author Daniel Defoe is fined, imprisoned, and later pilloried for his ill-timed satire, "The Shortest Way with Dissenters."

● 1712 - Emperor Karel VI crowned king of Hungary

● 1740 - English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'We must all have the spirit of martyrdom, though we may not all die martyrs.'

● 1746 - Russia & Austria signs treaty of cooperation

● 1761 - 1st life insurance policy in US, issued in Philadelphia

● 1762 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.

● 1784 - Ceylonese student leader Pieter Quint Ondaatje demands democracy

● 1798 - Chippewa cede 28,000 acres in Ontario, including the present-day site of Toronto, for 101 British pounds.

● 1807 - Former U.S. Vice-Pres. Aaron Burr on trial for treasonably "assembling an armed force...to seize the city of New Orleans...and to separate the Western from the Atlantic states." (He is acquitted of the charges.)

● 1807 - Townsend Speakman 1st sells fruit-flavored carbonated drinks (Philadelphia)

● 1809 - Second and last Day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna), Napoleon was repelled by an enemy army for the first time.

● 1813 - Composer Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany.

● 1819 - The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20.

● 1828 - Birth of Albrecht Grafe, pioneer eye surgeon, founded modern ophthalmology.

● 1840 - The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.

● 1841 - Henry Kennedy received a patent for the first reclining chair.

● 1842 - Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns, when they stumble upon a large gaping hole in the ground.

● 1843 - Thousands of people and their cattle headed west via wagon train from Independence, Missouri to what would later become the Oregon Territory. It was part of the Great Migration. They followed what is now known as the Oregon Trail.

● 1844 - Persian Prophet The Báb announces His revelation, founding Bábism. He announced to the world of the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest." He is considered the forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.

● 1849 - Abraham Lincoln received a patent for the floating dry dock.

● 1851 - Mariposa Battalion captures Tenaya while exterminating native Californians.

● 1856 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina visited the floor of the U.S. Senate and beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts unconscious with a gutta-percha cane, as two Georgia senators stood idly by. Sumner was incapacitated for three and a half years, during which time the people of Massachusetts were ably served.

● 1858 - Confederación Granadina (now Colombia) forms

● 1859 - Arthur Conan Doyle, the British writer best known for his creation of the detective Sherlock Holmes , was born.

● 1863 - General Grant begins siege on Vicksburg

● 1863 - War Department establishes Bureau of Colored Troops

● 1864 - Battle of North Anna River VA (Totopotamy River, Haw's Shop, Hanovertown)

● 1868 - Birth of William R. Newell, American clergyman and devotional writer. He published expository works on the Bible, and is remembered today as author of the hymn, "At Calvary" (a.k.a. "Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride").

● 1868 - First reported train robbery in the world, in Indiana. The Reno gang makes off with $98,000.

● 1872 - Reconstruction: U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.

● 1882 - The U.S. formally recognized Korea.

● 1888 - Leroy Buffington patents a system to build skyscrapers

● 1892 – Dr. Washington Sheffield, a British dentist, invents toothpaste tube

● 1894 - The Florence, Italy trial of Oreste Lucchesi and his companions concludes. These anarchists were charged with assassinating the Livourne editor of "Il Telegrafo," a newspaper whose articles resulted in the repression and arrest of numerous anarchists. Lucchesi and Amerigo Franchi received prison sentences of 30 years each.

● 1895 - Eugene V. Debs imprisoned for his role in the Pullman railway strike.

● 1900 - Associated Press organizes in NYC as non-profit news cooperative

● 1900 - A. DeVilbiss, Jr. patented his pendulum-type computing scale.

● 1900 - Edwin S. Votey received a patent for the pianola (a pneumatic piano player). It could be attached to any piano.

● 1901 - Gaetano Bresci found dead in prison, "suicided" by his guards. An Italian-American anarchist who assassinated Umberto I, King of Italy in revenge for the army's crushing of the 1898 worker's insurrection in Milan.

● 1902 - Limited recognition of conscientious objection to military service, Norway.

● 1906 - Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".

● 1907 - Actor-director Laurence Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England.

● 1909 - 1st San Francisco fireboat, David Scannell, launched

● 1915 - Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain to erupt other than Mount St. Helens in the continental US during the 20th century.

● 1915 - Five trains collide in the Quintinshill rail crash near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246; the accident is found to be the result of non-standard operating practices during a shift change at a busy junction.

● 1916 - French troops occupy parts of Fort Douaumont Verdun

● 1923 - Stanley Baldwin succeeds Andrew Bonar Law as British premier

● 1926 - Chiang Kai-shek replaces communists in Guomindang China

● 1926 - Dutch Communist Party expels David Wijnkoop

● 1927 - 8.3 earthquake strikes Nan-Shan China, 200,000 killed

● 1928 - US Congress accept Jones-White Merchant Naval Act

● 1930 - Harvey Milk, gay rights activist and San Francisco city Supervisor, born as Glimpy Milch. Woodmere, Long Island, New York.

● 1931 - Canned rattlesnake meat 1st goes on sale in Florida

● 1933 - Loch Ness Monster is 1st reportedly sighted by John Mackay

● 1933 - World Trade Day/National Maritime Day 1st celebrated

● 1936 - Aer Lingus (Aer Loingeas) is founded by the Irish government as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland.

● 1939 - Hitler and Mussolini sign "Pact of Steel."

● 1940 - Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with Nazis

● 1940 - Prime Minister Winston Churchill flies to Paris

● 1941 - British troops attack Baghdad

● 1942 - Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies.

● 1942 - The Steel Workers Organizing Committee disbands, and a new trade union, the United Steelworkers, is formed.

● 1943 - Dissolution of the Comintern.

● 1943 - 1st jet fighter is tested

● 1943 - RAF scatters 1st copies of "The Flying Hollander"

● 1944 - The Gospel Mission of South America was founded by William M. Strong in Concepcion, Chile. An interdenominational Protestant missions agency, its headquarters moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1975.

● 1945 - 6th Marine division reaches suburbs of Naha Okinawa

● 1945 - NSB-Führer Rost van Tonningen attempts & fails at suicide

● 1947 - 1st US ballistic missile fired

● 1947 - Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs an act into law that will later be called the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.

● 1950 - Celal Bayar elected president of Turkey

● 1953 - President Eisenhower signs Offshore Oil Bill

● 1954 - Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan is Bar Mitzvahed

● 1955 - Cops in Bridgeport, Conn. cancel a scheduled dance headlined by Fats Domino, because, authorities say, "rock and roll dances might be featured." They justify their action noting "a recent near riot at the New Haven Arena," where rock and roll dances were featured.

● 1957 - A ten-megaton hydrogen bomb accidentally fell from a bomber in an uninhabited area near Albuquerque owned by the Univ. of New Mexico. Non-nuclear explosives detonated, creating a crater 12 feet deep and 25 feet across. No one was injured, but radiation was detected in the crater.

● 1957 - South Africa Government approves race separation in universities

● 1959 - Benjamin O Davis Jr becomes 1st black general-major in USAF

● 1960 - An earthquake measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale, now known as the Great Chilean Earthquake, hits southern Chile. It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Virtually all coastal towns between 37th & 44th parallels severely damaged by a quake caused tsunami that strikes Hilo HI at 01:04 AM

● 1962 - Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode.

● 1962 - Netherlands telephone net becomes completely automated

● 1962 - Robert A Rushworth, USAF major, takes X-15 to 30,600 meters

● 1963 - Assassination attempt of Greek left-wing politician Gregoris Lambrakis, who will die five days afterwards.

● 1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an "end to poverty and racial injustice" in America.

● 1967 - Premiere of Public Broadcasting System's longest-running children's program, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood".

● 1967 - The General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS) adopted the Confession of 1967. It was the first major declaration of faith adopted by this branch of Protestantism since the Westminster Confession of 1647.

● 1967 - The Innovation department store in the centre of Brussels, Belgium, burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, which results in 323 dead and missing and 150 injured.

● 1967 - Egyptian president Nasser closes Straits of Tiran to Israel

● 1968 - New York City police raid of student occupations at Columbia University results in 998 arrested, over 200 injured.

● 1968 - Police and students clash in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

● 1968 - H. Rap Brown of SNCC convicted for carrying weapon across state lines.

● 1968 - The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.

● 1969 - Langston Hughes ("I, Too, Sing America") dies in New York. A foremost champion of the black experience in the United States and poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

● 1969 - Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface.

● 1970 - Bomb discovered at the new Paddington police station in London - during the later trial, the prosecution claim that this is the first "Angry Brigade" action. Major Yallop (head of laboratories at Woolwich Arsenal) admits to forensic work on 1,100 bombings in England between 1968 and 1971. Other bombs discovered this day at the Scotland Yard computer room, Tintagel House, London; simultaneous attacks take place on BR, Rolls Royce, and Rover offices in Paris.

● 1970 - Arab terrorists kill 9 children & 3 adults on a school bus

● 1970 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

● 1971 - Shoalwater Bay tribe is recognized by federal government.

● 1972 - Pres. Nixon becomes first U.S. President to visit Moscow. A week of talk culminated in a strategic arms pact.

● 1972 - Ceylon adopts a new constitution, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

● 1973 - President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up

● 1974 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1976 - NASA launches space vehicle S-179

● 1977 - Final European scheduled run of the Orient Express (94 years)

● 1978 - Four thousand protesters occupy Trident nuclear submarine base site, Bangor, Kitsap County, Wash. state.

● 1979 - Canadians elect conservatives, Joseph Clark replaces Pierre Trudeau

● 1981 - Yorkshire Ripper jailed for life; Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, is sentenced to life imprisonment after the judge describes him as "an unusually dangerous man".

● 1981 - Soyuz 40 returns to Earth

● 1984 - Declaration of Five Continent Peace Initiative.

● 1985 - US sailor Michael L Walker arrested for spying for USSR

● 1987 - 30 killed in a Texas tornado

● 1988 - Károly Grósz succeeds party leader János Kádár in Hungary

● 1989 - Univ. of Calif.-Berkeley chancellor calls People’s Park a “vacuum for anarchy” after riot three days previous. (Alas, nobody thinks to name the solidarity encampment “Hooverville”…)

● 1990 - North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.

● 1991 - Roh Jai Bong resigns as premier of South Korea

● 1992 - India launches its Agni rocket

● 1992 - Brazilian activist Assis Araujo shot dead after 12 years of defending indigenous land.

● 1995 - Bangladesh Shahityacharcha Kendro established.

● 1997 - Kelly Flinn, the U.S. Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepted a general discharge. She thereby avoided court-martial on charges of adultery, lying and disobeying an order.

● 1998 - After 33 years of terror, U.S.-backed Gen. Suharto is "eased" out of power in Indonesia by weeks of student protests culminating in riots (some instigated by the Army so they could come in and maintain control) in Jakarta and other major cities. Suharto's hand-picked and U.S.-approved successor leaves much of Suharto's cabinet, his financial corruption, and the brutal military repression intact.

● 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: A federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton.

● 1998 - Bolivia was hit with a series of powerful earthquakes. At least 18 were killed. The quakes ranged in magnitude from 5.9 to 6.8.

● 1998 - New information came to light about the June 1996 bombing that killed 19 American airmen. The information indicated that Saudi citizens had been responsible and not Iranians as once believed.

● 1998 - Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland turned out to cast ballots giving approval to a Northern Ireland peace accord.

● 2000 - Hezbollah makes gains in Lebanon; Lebanese Hezbollah fighters split Israel's southern occupation zone into two as they approach the common border.

● 2002 - In Washington, DC, the remains of the missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park.

● 2002 - American civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. (Cherry was sentenced to life in prison and died in 2004.)

● 2003 - The U.N. Security Council gave the U.S. and Britain a mandate to rule Iraq, ending 13 years of economic sanctions.

● 2004 - The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also killed one local resident.

● 2006 - Results from the Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006 are announced. 55.4% of voters voted to become independent from the Serbia and Montenegro Union.

BIRTHS

● 1622 - Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor of New France (d. 1698)

● 1715(17? NYT) - François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1794)

● 1772 - Ram Mohan Roy, Hindu reformer (d. 1833)

● 1808 - Gérard de Nerval, French writer (d. 1855)

● 1813 - Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)

● 1823 - Solomon Bundy, American politician (d. 1889)

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

● 1828 - Albrecht von Grafe, German surgeon and pioneering ophthalmologist (d. 1870)

● 1841 - Catulle Mendès, French poet (d. 1909)

● 1844 - Mary Cassatt, American artist (d. 1926)

● 1849 - Louis Perrier, Swiss politician (d. 1913)

● 1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British physician and writer (d. 1930)

● 1874 - Daniel François Malan, Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)

● 1879 - Warwick Armstrong, Australian cricketer (d. 1947)

● 1879 - Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born actress, scriptwriter, and producer (d. 1945)

● 1885 - Giacomo Matteotti, Italian politician (d. 1924)

● 1885 - Toyoda Soemu, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)

● 1891 - Johannes Becher, German poet, critic, editor and government official (d. 1958)

● 1891 - Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (d. 1963)

● 1902 - Al Simmons, baseball player (d. 1956)

● 1903 - Yves Rocard, French physicist (d. 1992)

● 1907 - Hergé, Belgian comic book creator (d. 1983)

● 1907 - Lord Laurence Olivier, prolific English stage and screen actor and director (d. 1989)

● 1910 - Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (d. 1985)

● 1911 - Anatol Rapoport, Russian-born mathematical psychologist, and pianist (d. 2007)

● 1912 - Herbert C. Brown, English-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)

● 1914 - Vance Packard, American author (d. 1996)

● 1914 - Sun Ra, American musician (d. 1993)

● 1917 - Georg Tintner, Austrian-born conductor (d. 1999)

● 1917 - Nathan Davis, American actor

● 1920 - Thomas Gold, Austrian astrophysicist (d. 2004)

● 1922 - Judith Crist, Film critic

● 1922 - Quinn Martin, American television producer (d. 1987)

● 1924 - Charles Aznavour, French singer, actor, and composer

● 1925 - James King, American tenor (d. 2005)

● 1925 - Jean Tinguely, Swiss artist (d. 1991)

● 1927 - Michael Constantine, Actor ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding")

● 1927 - George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

● 1927 - Phil Tucker, American director

● 1930 - John Barth, American writer

● 1930 - Harvey Milk, American politician and civil rights activist (d. 1978)

● 1930 - Kenny Ball, British musician

● 1934 - Peter Nero, American musician

● 1936 - M. Scott Peck, American psychiatrist and writer (d. 2005)

● 1938 - Frank Converse, Actor

● 1938 - Richard Benjamin, American actor

● 1938 - Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)

● 1940 - Bernard Shaw, American television journalist

● 1940 - Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor

● 1941 - Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)

● 1941 - Sir Menzies Campbell, UK Politician, Leader of the Liberal Democrats

● 1942 - Theodore Kaczynski, American terrorist (The Unabomber)

● 1942 - Calvin Simon, American musician (P Funk)

● 1942 - Barbara Parkins, Canadian actress

● 1943 - Tommy John, baseball player

● 1943 - Betty Williams, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

● 1946 - Howard Kendall, English footballer and football manager

● 1946 - George Best, Northern Irish footballer (d. 2005)

● 1950 - Bernie Taupin, English songwriter

● 1955 - Jimmy Lyon, American guitarist (Eddie Money)

● 1955 - Dale Winton, UK radio DJ and television presenter

● 1926 - Al Corley, Actor, producer

● 1957 - Lisa Murkowski, US senator, R-Alaska

● 1957 - Gary Sweet, Australian actor

● 1958 - Eric Carlson, American guitarist (The Mentors)

● 1959 - Morrissey, English singer

● 1960 - Hideaki Anno, Japanese director

● 1961 - Ann Cusack, Actress

● 1961 - Dana Williams, Country musician (Diamond Rio)

● 1962 - Jesse Valenzuela, Rock musician (Gin Blossoms)

● 1962 - Brian Pillman, American professional wrestler (d. 1997)

● 1964 - Ashley Renee, American fetish model

● 1966 - Johnny Gill, R&B singer (New Edition)

● 1966 - Kenny Hickey, American guitarist (Type O Negative)

● 1966 - Jose Mesa, Dominican baseball player

● 1967 - Dan Roberts, Rock musician (Crash Test Dummies)

● 1968 - Kevin Carolan, American actor and comedian

● 1970 - Naomi Campbell, English model and actress

● 1970 - Pedro Diniz, Brazilian Formula 1 Driver

● 1971 - Manuel Ortiz, wrestler

● 1972 - Anna Belknap, Actress ("CSI: NY", "Sliders")

● 1972 - Alison Eastwood, Actress

● 1972 - Annabel Chong, Singapore actress

● 1973 - Donell Jones, R&B singer

● 1973 - Danny Tiatto, Australian footballer

● 1974 - A.J. Langer, Actress

● 1974 - Sean Gunn, American actor

● 1975 - Janne Niinimaa, Finnish ice hockey player

● 1975 - Tracy Brookshaw, American Professional Wrestler and Valet

● 1977 - Alastair Ralphs, Canadian professional wrestler

● 1977 - Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Irish GAA Hurler

● 1978 - Jordan, English model and media personality

● 1978 - Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress

● 1980 - Rhett Fisher, actor/musician (lead singer for Manic Mind)

● 1981 - Bryan Danielson, American professional wrestler

● 1981 - Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player

● 1982 - Apolo Anton Ohno, American short track speed skater

● 1985 - Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1986 - Stevie Scott, American Singer

● 1987 - Novak Đoković, Serbian tennis player

● 1992 - Chinami Tokunaga, Japanese singer

DEATHS

● 337 - Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor (b. 272)

● 1068 - Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (b. 1025)

● 1455 - Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (killed in battle)

● 1455 - Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (killed in battle) (b. 1406)

● 1457 - Saint Rita of Cascia, Italian saint (b. 1381)

● 1538 - John Forrest, English Franciscan friar (martyred) (b. 1471)

● 1540 - Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian (b. 1483)

● 1666 - Gaspar Schott, German scientist (b. 1608)

● 1667 - Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)

● 1745 - François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (b. 1671)

● 1746 - Thomas Southerne, Irish dramatist (b. 1660)

● 1760 - Israel ben Eliezer, Polish-born mystical rabbi (b. 1700)

● 1772 - Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (b. 1687)

● 1795 - Ewald Friedrich, Count von Hertzberg, Prussian statesman (b. 1725)

● 1859 - King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (b. 1810)

● 1868 - Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)

● 1885 - Victor Hugo, French author (b. 1802)

● 1910 - Jules Renard, French author (b. 1864)

● 1932 - Lady Gregory, Irish playwright (b. 1852)

● 1939 - Ernst Toller, German author (b. 1893)

● 1939 - Jiri Mahen, Czech author (b. 1882)

● 1965 - Christopher Stone, first disc jockey in the United Kingdom (b. 1882)

● 1966 - Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)

● 1967 - Langston Hughes, American writer (b. 1902)

● 1972 - Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet and writer (b. 1904)

● 1972 - Margaret Rutherford, English actress (b. 1892)

● 1983 - Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)

● 1988 - Giorgio Almirante, Italian politician (b. 1914)

● 1990 - Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1922)

● 1992 - Zellig Harris, American linguist (b. 1909)

● 1997 - Alfred Hershey, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1908)

● 1998 - José Enrique Moyal, mathematical physicist (b. 1910)

● 2003 - Ousmane Zongo, Burkinabé shooting victim

● 2004 - Richard Biggs, American actor (b. 1960)

● 2004 - Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)

● 2005 - Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician, long-time General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (b. 1914)

● 2005 - Julia Randall, American poet (b. 1924)

● 2005 - Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (b. 1914)

● 2006 - Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organisation (b. 1945)

● 2006 - Heather Crowe, Canadian activist (b. 1945)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Aigulf
● St. Atto
● St. Ausonius
● St. Basiliscus
● St. Bobo
● St. Boethian
● Sts. Castus & Emilius
● St. Conall
● St. Faustinus
● St. Fulk
● St. Helen
● St. Humilita
● St. John Baptist Machado
● St. Julia of Corsica
● St. Lupus
● St. Marcian of Ravenna
● St. Michael Ho-Dinh-Hy
● St. Peter Pareuzi
● St. Quiteria
● St. Renata of Bavaria
● St. Rita of Cascia
● St. Romanus of Subiaco
● Bl. John of Cetina
● Bl. John Forest
● Bl. Matthias of Arima
● Bl. Peter of the Assumption

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for May 9 (Civil Date: May 22)
● Translation of the Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from Myra to Bari.
● Prophet Isaiah.
● Martyr Christopher of Lycia, and with him Martyrs Callinica and Aquilina.
● Martyr Epimachus the New of Alexandria.
● Martyr Gordion at Rome.
● Translation of the Relics of Child-martyr Gabriel of Slutsk.
● Monk-martyr Nicholas who lived in Vuneni, of Larissa in Thessaly.
● St. Shio, monk, of Georgia.
● Repose of Schemahieromonk Joseph of Optina (1911).

● World Biodiversity Day.

● Republic of Yemen - National Day.

● Angel's Camp CA : Jumping Frog Jubilee Day

● Haiti : National Sovereignty Day

● Sri Lanka : Republic Day (1972)

● US : National Maritime Day

● This Holiday is only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● Canada : Victoria Day (1819) - ( Monday )


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

Permanent Backlink to Post