May 23......

May 23 is the 143rd (144th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 222 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On The Green Party "We are building a democratic movement that will take this country back from the corporate hooligans who have hijacked it from us." — David Cobb

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Obtuseness "Canada is a left-wing socialist basketcase. What kind of friends are they?" — Sean Hannity, co-host of a talk show on the Fox News Channel

Thought for the day: "Real love stories have no endings."

{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

● 1059 - Henri I crowns his son compassionate King Philip I of France

● 1275 - King Edward I of England orders cessation of persecution of French Jews

● 1420 - Jews of Syria & Austria expelled

● 1421 - Jews of Austria imprisoned & expelled

● 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne, who then sell her to the English.

● 1493 - King Charles VIII & Maximilian I of Austria signs Peace of Senlis

● 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake, in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI

● 1533 - The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.

● 1536 - Pope Paul III installs Portugese inquisition

● 1541 - Jacques Cartier leaves St-Malo, France on his third voyage.

● 1544 - German emperor Charles V recognizes king Christian III of Denmark

● 1555 - Giampietro Caraffa elected Pope Paul IV

● 1568 - Netherlands declared independence from Spain.

● 1568 - Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years' War.

● 1576 - Tycho Brahe given Hveen Island to build Uraniborg Observatory

● 1609 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.

● 1611 - Matthias von Habsburg chosen king of Bohemia

● 1618 - The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War.

● 1618 - Imperial civil servants thrown out a window of Prague Castle

● 1633 - By French edict, only Catholic settlers were permitted permanent residence within the country known as New France (called "Canada" today), thus ending 30 years of attempted colonization by Huguenots (Protestants).

● 1644 - Johan Mauritius van Nassau resigns as head of Civil rights activists

● 1647 - Willem II sworn in as viceroy of Holland

● 1660 - King Charles II returns from exile sails from Scheveningen to England

● 1667 - King Afonso VI of Portugal flees

● 1701 - After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.

● 1706 - Battle of Ramillies - the John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeats a French army under Marshal Villeroi; 17,000 killed

● 1774 - Chestertown tea party occurs (tea dumped into Chester River)

● 1785 - Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals

● 1788 - South Carolina becomes the 8th U.S. state to ratify the United States Constitution.

● 1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Cathedral of Milan.

● 1810 - Birth of Margaret Falfer, feminist theorist.

● 1813 - South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator").

● 1827 - First nursery school in the U.S. established in New York City. Developed "to relieve parents of the laboring classes from the care of their children...offering the children protection from weather, from idleness and contamination of evil example."

● 1832 - Jamaican national hero Samuel Sharpe hanged. Instigator of the 1831 Slave Rebellion which began on the Kensington Estate in Saint James and was largely instrumental in bringing about the abolition of Jamaican slavery.

● 1838 - Beginning of roundup of first group of Cherokees for the "Trail of Tears" forced march by U.S. Army, leading by the following winter to the deaths of over 4,000 dislocated Cherokee.

● 1844 - over the prior night the Persian Prophet the Báb announces his revelation, founding Bábísm. 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.

● 1846 - Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb) was born. She was the first woman in the U.S. to pass the bar exam, though she never used her law degree.

● 1846 - Mexican-American War: Mexico declares war on the United States.

● 1853 - Buenos Aires gains independence from Argentina. (reunited 1859)

● 1861 - 3 fleeing slaves enter Fort Monroe VA

● 1861 - Virginia citizens vote 3 to 1 in favor of secession

● 1862 - Battle at Front Royal VA

● 1862 - Valley Campaign-Stonewall Jackson takes Front Royal VA

● 1862 - Birth of Hermann Gunkel, the German Protestant biblical scholar who pioneered the analytical approach to understanding Scripture afterward known as "form criticism." Gunkel applied its formulas primarily to the Old Testament, in his commentaries on Genesis (1901) and on the Psalms (1926-28).

● 1863 - German General Workers' Association founded in Leipzig, based on the political ideas of Ferdinand LaSalle.

● 1863 - Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.

● 1863 - The Siege of Port Hudson starts.

● 1864 - Battle of Dallas GA

● 1864 - Battle of North Anna VA, 1st of 3 days of fighting

● 1865 - Flag flown at full staff over White House, 1st time since Lincoln shot

● 1865 - Victory parade in Washington DC (Grand Review)

● 1867 - Jesse James-gang rob bank in Richmond MO (2 die, $4,000 taken)

● 1873 - Postal cards sold in San Fransisco for 1st time

● 1873 - The Canadian Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

● 1875 - Alfred Sloan, the American philanthropist who headed General Motors for more than a quarter of a century, was born.

● 1878 - Attorney John Henry Smyth named minister to Liberia

● 1879 - The first U.S. veterinary school was established by Iowa State University.

● 1882 - 6" of snow falls in eastern Iowa

● 1887 - 1st transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver British Columbia

● 1889 - Birth of Mary Susanne Edgar, a Canadian YWCA leader who wrote a number of hymns during her years of leading a Christian camping ministry with girls. Her best-remembered hymn: "God, Who Touchest Earth with Beauty."

● 1894 - William Love hosts ground breaking ceremonies for Love Canal

● 1898 - 1st Philippine Expeditionary Troops sail from San Fransisco

● 1900 - American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner. {It is almost another fifty years before the military is fully integrated and this award takes over thirty-five years to occur. Progress was never fast in coming. Today it means that people of color are over represented in the military enlisted and non-com ranks.}

● 1901 - Ottawa Mint Act receives Royal Assent

● 1901 - US captures leader of Philippine rebels, Emilio Aguinaldo

● 1903 - 1st automobile trip across US from San Fransisco to New York, ended April 1

● 1903 - 1st direct primary election law in US adopted, by Wisconsin

● 1903 - Death of American Congregational missionary Henry Blodget, 78. He served 40 years in China (1854-94), and helped translate the New Testament into the colloquial Mandarin language of Peking.

● 1906 - The Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen, died.

● 1908 - Dirigible explodes over San Fransisco Bay, 16 passengers fall, none die

● 1908 - Part of the Great White Fleet arrives in Puget Sound WA

● 1909 - New York Police break up Emma Goldman's Sunday lecture series, claiming that she did not follow the subject of her lecture on "Henrik Ibsen as the Pioneer of Modern Drama"; two arrests made. When Goldman attempts to give the talk instead in East Orange, New Jersey, police prevent her from entering the lecture hall. The crowd relocates to a nearby barn where Goldman finally gives her talk.

● 1911 - New York Public Library building at 5th Avenue dedicated by President Taft

● 1915 - World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.

● 1916 - Heavy battles at Fort Douaumont Verdun

● 1917 - Dutch 2nd Chamber okays 1908 conscription draft

● 1918 - King Oil/Shell refinery on Curaçao officially opens

● 1920 - Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical Pacem Dei

● 1923 - Launch of Belgium's SABENA airline.

● 1926 - The French captured the Moroccan Rif capital.

● 1926 - Lebanese constitution is established under French mandate

● 1926 - Birth of Wilbur Nelson, Christian broadcast personality and for many years the host of "The Morning Chapel Hour," a radio ministry originating in Paramount, California.

● 1928 - Bomb attack on Italians embassy in Buenos Aires, 22 die

● 1934 - Wallace Carothers manufactures 1st nylon (polymeer 66)

● 1934 - In Bienville Parish, LA, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and killed by Texas Rangers. The bank robbers were riding in a stolen Ford Deluxe.

● 1934 - In the Battle of Toledo, 10,000 strikers at Ohio's Auto-Lite plant drive away police. The company hired its own guards and today's battle began when one of them beat an old man. The next day, National Guard machine gun units will open fire on the demonstrators, killing two strikers and wounding 15.

● 1937 - Industrialist John D. Rockefeller died at age 97.

● 1939 - British decoration, George Cross, 1st presented

● 1939 - British parliament plans to make Palestine independent by 1949

● 1939 - Dmitri Shostakovich appointed professor at conservatory of Leningrad

● 1939 - Hitler proclaims he wants to move into Poland

● 1939 - The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 26 sailors. The remaining 32 crewmen and one passenger are rescued the following day.

● 1940 - 1st great dogfight between Spitfires

● 1943 - 826 Allied bombers attack Dortmund

● 1944 - British/Canadian troops occupy Pontecorvo Italy

● 1944 - Chinese counter offensive at Hunan front

● 1944 - Operation-Buffalo: Allied jailbreak out Anzio-bridgehead

● 1945 - German island of Helgoland in North Sea surrenders to British

● 1945 - Lord Haw-Haw arrested at Danish boundary

● 1945 - Winston Churchill resigns as British PM

● 1945 - World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, commits suicide while in Allied custody.

● 1945 - World War II: The Flensburg government under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz was dissolved when its members were captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.

● 1946 - U.S. railroad strike starts, later crushed when Democratic Pres. Harry Truman threatens to draft strikers.

● 1948 - Ramat Rahel gateway to Jerusalem is repossessed by Israel

● 1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established, and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany proclaimed.

● 1956 - Presbyterian Church begins accepting women ministers

● 1956 - World Trade Center dedicated in Ferry Building, San Fransisco

● 1958 - Mao Tse Tung starts "Great leap forward" movement in China

● 1958 - Explorer I ceases transmission.

● 1960 - Adolf Eichmann kidnapped by Israeli agents in Argentina. As head of the Nazi S.S. Jewish section, he dispatched millions of Jews to death camps. Brought to trial in Jerusalem, he claimed only to be following orders. Convicted and hanged.

● 1960 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.

● 1962 - OAS leader General Raoul Salan sentenced to life

● 1962 - Scott Carpenter orbits Earth 3 times in US Aurora 7

● 1963 - Congress passes first bill intended to ensure women equal pay for equal work. The legislation was originally submitted in 1947. {Still today lack of enforcement means the average woman makes 70% for the same work as a man.}

● 1965 - Three hundred thousand in the Third Marathon March for peace and justice, Greece.

● 1965 - General strike crushed in Bolivia.

● 1965 - Franz Jonas elected president of Austria

● 1965 - Pontoon ferry overturned on Shire River Malawi, kills 150

● 1966 - Emergency laws over seamen's strike; The British government declares a state of emergency a week after the nation's seamen strike begins.

● 1967 - Government bans submarines near South Africa

● 1967 - Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, laying the foundations for the Six Day War.

● 1968 - New confrontations emerge in Paris' Latin Quarter, between students and CRS, with government attempts to shut down or muzzle radio stations.

● 1970 - An outbreak of fire occurs in the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits in north Wales contributing to its partial destruction and amounting to approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.

● 1970 - USSR performs nuclear test (underground)

● 1974 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1974 - Italian Red Brigade officer Mario Sossi freed

● 1977 - Benin adopts its constitution

● 1977 - Moluccan extremists hold 105 schoolchildren & 50 others hostage on a hijacked train in Netherlands, children released May 27, siege ends June 11

● 1977 - Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of Watergate wrong doers H R Halderman, John Ehrlichman & John Mitchell

● 1978 - U.N. Disarmament Session's Mobilization for Survival convenes.

● 1978 - General strike in Peru

● 1979 - West-Germany elects Karl Carstens president

● 1981 - Barcelona fascists take 200 people hostage

● 1981 - NASA launches Intelsat V

● 1982 - BBC warns Britain will bomb Argentina

● 1982 - Pope John Paul II declares "Peerke" Donders divine

● 1982 - Four hundred thousand demonstrate for peace and disarmament, Tokyo.

● 1982 - Ten thousand march against Falklands War, London.

● 1982 - The Central London chapter of the British Musicians Union resolution proposed to ban synthesizers and rhythm machines from all recording sessions and live engagements. Defeated.

● 1983 - Radio Moscow announcer Vladimir Danchev praises Afghánistán Muslims standing up to Russia; he is removed from the air

● 1984 - Villagers die in water plant blast; At least four people are dead and dozens more injured in an explosion at a Lancashire water treatment plant.

● 1984 - Right-wing Contra fascist Eden Pastora admits receiving illegal CIA aid during Reagan/Oliver North adminstration.

● 1985 - Acting Pres. Reagan reaches compromise with Senate that limits the number of MX missiles to "only" 50.

● 1985 - U.S. engineer Thomas Patrick Cavanagh is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to sell stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.

● 1986 - US & West Europeans veto heavier sanctions against South Africa

● 1988 - Maryland stops sale of cheap pistols on Jan 1, 1990

● 1989 - Lincoln Square in the Bronx is named

● 1990 - Cost of rescuing savings & loan failures is put at up to $130 billion

● 1991 - Last Cubans troops leave Angola

● 1991 - US Supreme Court bars subsidized clinics from discussing abortion

● 1992 - In Lisbon, Portugal , the U.S. and four former Soviet republics signed an agreement to implement the START missile reduction treaty that had been agreed to by the Soviet Union before it was dissolved.

● 1992 - President Bush orders Coast Guard to intercept boats with Haitian refugees

● 1992 - Ex-general escapes death sentence; A military court in Paris imposes a life sentence on Raoul Salan, leader of an extremist group violently opposed to Algerian independence.

● 1994 - 270 pilgrims dies in bustle round Mina Saudi-Arabia

● 1994 - Roman Herzog elected President of Germany

● 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, what remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is imploded.

● 1997 - Iranians elected a moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, over hard-liners in the ruling Muslim clergy.

● 1998 - Love & Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation dissolves itself in New York City. Love & Rage began as a continental anarchist newspaper at a conference in Chicago in 1989.

● 1998 - The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum, with a high margin of three-fourth 'yes' votes to Northern Ireland.

● 1999 - Gerry Bloch, at age 81, became the oldest climber to scale El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He broke his own record that he set in 1986 when he was 68 years old.

● 2001 - Jack S. Zucker dies, aged 91, in Philadelphia. Former labor organizer famous for sparring with Sen. Joe McCarthy during the bitter 1950s witch hunts.

● 2001 - In a case that came to symbolize police tactics during the demonstrations, a binding arbitrator awards King County (Seattle) Sheriff's Deputy John Vanderwalker his job back, with full back pay. Vanderwalker had been fired after ordering two women who had been videotaping 1999's WTO demonstrations from a car to roll down their car window, and then, saying "Tape this, bitch!," spraying both in the face at close range with pepper spray. The arbitrator ruled that in that, and in another incident in which Vanderwalker, without apparent provocation, kicked a woman lying in the street, the deputy used "appropriate force."

● 2002 - Golfer Sam Snead died at age 89.

● 2002 - The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.

● 2003 - Congress sent President George W. Bush a $330 billion package of tax cuts - the third of his presidency.

● 2003 - The Euro exceeds its initial trading value as it hits $1.18 for the first time since its introduction in 1999.

● 2003 - 25-year-old Nepalese Sherpa, Pemba Dorjie Sherpa, makes the fastest-ever ascent of Mount Everest, in 12 hours 45 minutes. This is broken by his rival Sherpa Lakpa Gelu only three days later.

● 2004 - Part of Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.

● 2006 - Former senator, vice-presidential candidate and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen died at age 85.

BIRTHS

● 1052 - King Philip I of France (d. 1108)

● 1100 - Emperor Qinzong of China (d. 1161)

● 1606 - Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish writer (d. 1682)

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

● 1707 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (d. 1778)

● 1718 - William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (d. 1783)

● 1729 - Giuseppe Parini, Italian writer (d. 1799)

● 1734 - Franz Anton Mesmer, Austrian physician/hypnotist (d.1815)

● 1741 - Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (d. 1801)

● 1790 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (d. 1842)

● 1795 - Charles Barry , English architect (d. 1860)

● 1799 - Thomas Hood, English poet (d. 1845)

● 1810 - Margaret Fuller, American journalist and feminist (d. 1850)

● 1820 - James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (d. 1887)

● 1824 - Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general (d. 1881)

● 1834 - Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (d. 1890)

● 1844 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Successor to Prophet of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1921)

● 1848 - Otto Lilienthal, German aviation pioneer (d. 1896)

● 1865 - Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian president (d. 1942)

● 1873 - Leo Baeck, German rabbi and theologian (d. 1956)

● 1875 - Alfred P. Sloan, American long-time president and chairman of General Motors (d. 1966)

● 1879 - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966)

● 1883 - Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (d. 1939)

● 1884 - Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist (d. 1965)

● 1887 - Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1963)

● 1888 - Zack Wheat, baseball player (d. 1972)

● 1889 - Ernst Niekisch, German politician (d. 1967)

● 1890 - Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1966)

● 1891 - Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)

● 1893 - Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1977)

● 1898 - Scott O'Dell, American author (d. 1989)

● 1900 - Hans Frank, German Nazi war criminal (d. 1946)

● 1908 - John Bardeen, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)

● 1910 - Margaret Wise Brown, American author (d. 1952)

● 1910 - Sir Hugh Casson, British architect and painter (d. 1999)

● 1910 - Scatman Crothers, American actor and musician (d. 1986)

● 1910 - Artie Shaw, American clarinetist and bandleader (d. 2004)

● 1912 - Jean Françaix, French composer (d. 1997)

● 1912 - Betty Astell, British actress (d. 2005)

● 1912 - John Payne, American actor (d. 1989)

● 1917 - Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist

● 1918 - Denis Compton, English cricketer (d. 1997)

● 1919 - Betty Garrett, American actress and dancer ("All in the Family," "Laverne and Shirley")

● 1920 - Helen O'Connell, American singer (d. 1993)

● 1921 - James Blish, American author (d. 1975)

● 1921 - Humphrey Lyttelton, British musician

● 1923 - Alicia de Larrocha, Pianist

● 1923 - Walter Wolfrum, German fighter pilot

● 1925 - Joshua Lederberg, American molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

● 1925 - Mac Wiseman, American musician

● 1928 - Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)

● 1928 - Nigel Davenport , English actor

● 1928 - Pauline Julien, French Canadian singer (d. 1998)

● 1931 - Barbara Barrie, American actress

● 1933 - Joan Collins, English actress ("Dynasty")

● 1934 - Robert Moog, American inventor (d. 2005)

● 1936 - Ingeborg Hallstein, German opera singer

● 1936 - Charles Kimbrough, American actor ("Murphy Brown")

● 1938 - Peter Preston, British journalist and author

● 1939 - Reinhard Hauff, German film director

● 1939 - Michel Colombier, French composer and songwriter (d. 2004)

● 1942 - K. Raghavendra Rao, Indian film director

● 1943 - General Norman Johnson, American rock vocalist with Chairman of the Board

● 1944 - John Newcombe, Australian tennis player and Hall of Fame member

● 1945 - Lauren Chapin, Actress ("Father Knows Best")

● 1945 - Misty Morgan, Country singer

● 1945 - Padmarajan, Indian film director (d. 1991)

● 1946 - Frederik de Groot, Dutch actor

● 1947 - Bernard Comrie, English linguist

● 1947 - Ann Hui, Hong Kong film director

● 1948 - Reggie Cleveland, baseball player

● 1951 - Judy Rodman, Country singer

● 1951 - Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player

● 1952 - Anne-Marie David, French singer

● 1952 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American boxer

● 1954 - Marvin Hagler, Boxer

● 1955 - Luka Bloom, Irish singer/songwriter

● 1956 - Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician

● 1956 - Buck Showalter, baseball player and manager

● 1957 - Baltimora, British singer (d. 1995)

● 1958 - Shelly West, Country singer

● 1958 - Mitch Albom, American writer

● 1958 - Drew Carey, American actor and comedian

● 1960 - Linden Ashby, Actor

● 1962(61? NYT) - Karen Duffy, American actress

● 1963 - Wally Dallenbach Jr., American race car driver and announcer

● 1963 - Gregg "Opie" Hughes, American radio personality (The Opie and Anthony Show)

● 1964 - Allan Kayser, American actor

● 1964 - Ruth Metzler-Arnold, member of the Swiss Federal Council

● 1967 - Phil Selway, English drummer (Radiohead)

● 1967 - Anna Ibrisagic, Swedish politician

● 1970 - Matt Flynn, Rock musician (Maroon 5)

● 1970 - Yigal Amir, Israeli assassin of the Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin

● 1970 - Bryan Herta, American race car driver

● 1971 - Laurel Holloman, Actress ("The L Word")

● 1971 - Charmaine Sinclair, Playboy model

● 1972 - Lorenzo, R&B singer

● 1972 - Brian McComas, Country singer

● 1972 - Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian formula 1 driver

● 1973 - Maxwell, R&B singer

● 1974 - Ken Jennings, American game show contestant

● 1974 - Jewel, American singer

● 1974 - Monica Naranjo, Spanish singer

● 1974 - Charlie Yeung, Hong Kong actress and singer

● 1975 - Kim Sung-soo, South Korean actor

● 1976 - Kelly Monaco, American actress

● 1976 - Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer

● 1977 - Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater

● 1978 - Scott Raynor, original drummer for Blink-182

● 1979 - Brian Campbell, Canadian Hockey Player currently with the Buffalo Sabres

● 1980 - Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer

● 1982 - Malene Mortensen, Danish singer

● 1982 - Cyrill Gloor, Swiss footballer

● 1982 - Tristan Prettyman, American musician

● 1983 - Patrick Martin, professional wrestler, more commonly known as Alex Shelley

● 1983 - Heidi Range, British singer (Sugababes)

● 1984 - Adam Wylie, American actor

● 1986 - Ruben Zadkovich, Australian footballer

● 1993 - Shizuka Umemoto, Japanese child model

DEATHS

● 1125 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)

● 1304 - Jehan de Lescurel, French poet and composer

● 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (b. 1452)

● 1523 - Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (b. 1466)

● 1524 - Ismail I, Shah of Persia (b. 1487)

● 1662 - John Gauden, English bishop and writer (b. 1605)

● 1670 - Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)

● 1691 - Adrien Auzout, French astronomer (b. 1622)

● 1701 - Captain Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)

● 1752 - William Bradford, British-born printer (b. 1663)

● 1754 - John Wood, the Elder, English architect (b. 1704)

● 1783 - James Otis, American lawyer and patriot (b. 1725)

● 1786 - Móric Beňovský, Slovak explorer

● 1813 - Geraud Duroc, French general (b. 1772)

● 1825 - Ras Gugsa of Yejju, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia

● 1841 - Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)

● 1846 - Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (b. 1778)

● 1855 - Charles Robert Malden, English explorer (b. 1797)

● 1857 - Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (b. 1789)

● 1868 - Kit Carson, American trapper, scout, and Indian agent (b. 1809)

● 1886 - Leopold von Ranke, German historian (b. 1795)

● 1893 - Anton von Schmerling, Austrian statesman (b. 1805)

● 1895 - Franz Ernst Neumann, German mineralogist and physicist (b. 1798)

● 1906 - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer (b. 1828)

● 1908 - François Coppée, French poet and novelist (b. 1842)

● 1920 - Svetozar Boroević, Austrian field marshal (b. 1856)

● 1934 - Clyde Barrow, American outlaw (b. 1909)

● 1934 - Bonnie Parker, American outlaw (b. 1910)

● 1937 - John D. Rockefeller, American entrepreneur (b. 1839)

● 1945 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official (b. 1900)

● 1965 - Earl Webb, baseball player (b. 1897)

● 1966 - Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (b. 1902)

● 1967 - Lionel Groulx, French Canadian priest and historian (b. 1878)

● 1975 - Moms Mabley, American comedian (b. 1894)

● 1981 - George Jessel, American actor (b. 1898)

● 1981 - David Lewis (politician), Canadian labour lawyer and politician (b. 1909)

● 1981 - Gene Green, baseball player (b. 1933)

● 1986 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)

● 1989 - Georgy Tovstonogov, Russian theatre director (b. 1915)

● 1991 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)

● 1992 - Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge (b. 1939)

● 1994 - Ray Candy, professional wrestler (b. 1951)

● 1999 - Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1965)

● 2002 - Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)

● 2003 - Jean Yanne, French actor and director (b. 1933)

● 2006 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (b. 1921)

● 2006 - Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer (b. 1921)

● 2006 - Frits Bernard, American activist (b. 1920)

● 2006 - Clifford Antone, American businessman (b. 1949)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● Martyrs of Cappadocia
● Martyrs of Mesopotamia
● St. Crispin of Viterbo
● St. Desiderius
● St. Didier
● St. Epiphanius and Basileus
● St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk
● St. Eutychius & Florentius
● St. Goban
● St. Guibert of Gemblours
● St. Ivo
● St. John Baptist Rossi
● St. Julia
● St. Leontius
● St. Michael of Synnada
● St. Montana
● St. Quintian
● St. William of Rochester

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for May 10 (Civil Date: May 23)
● Apostle Simon Zelotes.
● St. Isidore the Fool of Tabenna in Egypt.
● Blessed Thais (Taisia) of Egypt.
● Martyr Hesychius of Antioch.
● Martyrs Philadelphus, Cyprian, Alphius, Onesimus, Erasmus, and 14 others in Sicily.
● St. Laurence, monk of Egypt.
● Blessed Simon of Yurievits, fool-for-Christ.
● Translation of the Relics of Blessed Martyr Basil of Mangazea in Siberia.
● Repose of Blessed Synesius of Irkutsk, friend of St. Sophronius (1787), and Eldress Thais (Taisia) of Voronezh (1840).

● Bahá'í Faith: Declaration of the Báb

● World Turtle Day

● Discordianism: Day of Disunity

● Bermuda : Empire Day

● German Federal Republic : Republic Day (1949)

● Jamaica : Labour Day

● Rye, Sussex England : Mayoring Day

● South Carolina : Ratification Day (1788)

● 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

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