Historical Events on May 18 1652 Rhode Island enacts 1st law declaring slavery illegal 1703 Dutch & English troops occupy Cologne 1756 Great Britain declares war on France at the start of the Seven Years' War 1765 Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec 1783 First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States 1794 Battle of Tourcoing; French Republican army defeats a Habsburg coalition bear Lille, France, during War of the First Coalition
The assassination of Spencer Perceval Spencer Perceval had a rapid rise to power in the British government, first being a member of parliament in 1796 before successively being appointed to the positions of Solicitor General, Attorney General, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons by 1807. In 1809 he became Prime Minister in what was considered a fairly weak government, and he faced a number of crises at home including the madness of King George III, riots by Luddites, and economic depression. His ministry was looking fairly stable in 1812, having largely overcome these problems, but his time in office was not to last much longer. In the lobby of the House of Commons, on May 11, 1812, he was shot by John Bellingham and died minutes later. Bellingham was a merchant, born in Liverpool, who was angry with the British government over a perceived lack of help when he had been imprisoned while working in Russia. Bellingham had shot Perceval through the chest once. After the assassination, it appeared much of the public was generally supportive of the assassination, Bellingham having been met by crowds wishing to shake his hand when he was transferred to Newgate Prison. Perceval was particularly unpopular with the working class, who felt they had received nothing from his government. Bellingham was tried four days later at the Old Bailey. His attorney attempted to use the insanity defence, but the judge rejected this, an action which Bellingham himself agreed with. Less than eight hours later and after only 15 minutes of deliberation the jury found him guilty and the judge sentenced him to death. He was executed on Monday, May 18, 1812. Perceval remains to this day the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated. Amazingly, descendants of both - Henry Bellingham and Roger Percival (different spelling) later stood for the same seat in Parliament at the same time but neither won.
Presidential Convention 1860 US Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president 16th US President Abraham Lincoln Regularly regarded as one of the great American presidents, Abraham Lincoln became president in 1861, amid a crisis over slavery in the Union. Shortly after his election, seven Southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States, beginning the American Civil War. An incredibly astute politician, Lincoln outmaneuvered several political enemies in his time. His oratory and writing appealed to the American people, particularly his Gettysburg Address, which became an iconic endorsement of democracy and republicanism. As the war came to an end Lincoln made several moves to abolish slavery. In 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which made more than 3 million slaves free. In early 1865 he pushed Congress to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution which permanently ended slavery. Shortly before the end of the conflict, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln as he watched a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Lincoln's actions preserved the Union and pulled the United States through its greatest political, military and moral crisis. Born: February 12, 1809 Birthplace: Hodgenville, Kentucky, USA Star Sign: Aquarius Died: April 15, 1865 (aged 56) Cause of Death: Assassination
Today in History May 19th 1536 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, is beheaded on Tower Green. 1588 The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal. 1780 Near total darkness descends on New England at noon. No explanation is found. Note: There was a drought in western New England in 1780, and scientists theorize lightning sparked forest fires was the source of the darkened skies. 1962 Marilyn Monroe performs her famous rendition of Happy Birthday 1974 Erno Rubik invented the puzzle what would later become known as the Rubik's Cube. 1992 In Massapequa, NY, Mary Jo Buttafuoco was shot and seriously wounded by Amy Fisher. Fisher was her husband Joey's teen-age lover. 1994 Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis dies at age 64. 1997 The first outbreak of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus in humans occurred in Hong Kong Note: The outbreak was halted by the slaughter of more than 1.5 million chickens. Note: The H5N1 has a mortality rate of 60% and it can only be spread from birds/game fowl to humans If it could ever be transmitted from human to human, it would make the coronavirus seem like the common cold by comparison
2016 May 19 EgyptAir flight 804 disappears over the Mediterranean Sea a month to find the wreckage. At first the flight was thought to be a casualty of terrorism, but the true cause was revealed the next year. After debate and investigation, French authorities discredited the Egyptian claim that explosive materials were found in the remains, and that a fire had caused the plane to go down. According to records from the black box, the flight was about 40 minutes from its destination when smoke was detected by onboard fire alarms. Just a minute later, more smoke was reportedly observed in the electronics and computers below the cockpit. The plane then made a 90-degree turn, circled and plummeted, breaking up in midair before crashing into the ocean below. After the flight went down, investigation teams from several countries searched for the remains. While some of the belongings of passengers and pieces of the plane washed up days later, it wasn’t until June that the full plane was found underwater. While the Egyptian investigation team claimed that explosive materials were found in the wreckage, French investigators countered that there were signs of a fire and a midair break up, not an explosion. The flight’s disappearance, along with an incident involving a Russian passenger plane being brought down over the Sinai Peninsula just a few months earlier, renewed security concerns and fears of terrorism.
MAY 19th: 1960 : American DJ Alan Freed was indicted along with seven others for accepting $30,650 in payola from six record companies. Two years later, he was convicted and given a suspended sentence and a $300 fine.
MAY 19th: 1980 : Ringo Starr and his future wife were involved in a car crash less than half a mile from where Marc Bolan was killed. The car was a write-off but Starr and Bach were not seriously injured.
Today in History May 20th 1506 In Spain, Christopher Columbus died in poverty. 1862 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which provided 160 acres of public land virtually free of charge to those who had lived on and cultivated the land for at least five years. 1873 - Levi Strauss began marketing blue jeans with copper rivets. 1927 First nonstop solo transatlantic flight made by Charles Lindbergh traveling from New York to Paris in the monoplane Spirit of Saint Louis in about 33.5 hours. 1916 - Norman Rockwell’s first cover on "The Saturday Evening Post" appeared. 1932 Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. 1990 The Hubble Space Telescope sent back its first photographs.
In 1927 Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean non-stop solo. In 1930 Amelia Earhart was the first WOMAN to do the same thing.
Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian) Born May 20, 1946 American singer, Oscar-Emmy-Grammy winning actress, singer. Teamed with partner and husband Sonny Bono, they sold 40 million records between 1965 and 1967 and became "Rock's 'it' couple". Music: I Got You Babe (1965, #1, with Sonny Bono), Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves (1971, #1), and If I Could Turn Back Time (1989). Film: Silkwood, Mask, Moonstruck. TV: The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971-74) and The Sonny & Cher Show (1976-77).
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeans San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis are given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world’s most famous garments: blue jeans. In San Francisco, Strauss established a wholesale dry goods business under his own name and worked as the West Coast representative of his family’s firm. His new business imported clothing, fabric and other dry goods to sell in the small stores opening all over California and other Western states to supply the rapidly expanding communities of gold miners and other settlers. By 1866, Strauss had moved his company to expanded headquarters and was a well-known businessman and supporter of the Jewish community in San Francisco. Jacob Davis, a tailor in Reno, Nevada, was one of Levi Strauss’ regular customers. In 1872, he wrote a letter to Strauss about his method of making work pants with metal rivets on the stress points—at the corners of the pockets and the base of the button fly—to make them stronger. As Davis didn’t have the money for the necessary paperwork, he suggested that Strauss provide the funds and that the two men get the patent together. Strauss agreed enthusiastically, and the patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings”–the innovation that would produce blue jeans as we know them–was granted to both men on May 20, 1873. Strauss brought Davis to San Francisco to oversee the first manufacturing facility for “waist overalls,” as the original jeans were known. At first they employed seamstresses working out of their homes, but by the 1880s, Strauss had opened his own factory. The famous 501 brand jean—known until 1890 as “XX”—was soon a bestseller, and the company grew quickly. By the 1920s, Levi’s denim waist overalls were the top-selling men’s work pant in the United States. As decades passed, the craze only grew, and now blue jeans are worn and beloved by men and women, young and old, around the world
On This Day - 20th May 1867Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the Royal Albert Hall. 10,000 people pack the vast marquee, built especially for the occasion The marquee was built to hold 7,000 people, but it is estimated that upwards of 10,000 onlookers packed in to see the ceremony, causing chaos for the police team managing the event. Queen Victoria arrived on a train at Paddington station with the Prince of Wales (who became King Edward VII following his mother’s death), before being driven across Hyde Park for the ceremony, which one of her very rare public appearances since the death of her beloved Prince Albert in 1861. Reports at the time said the Queen spoke “indistinctly, slowly and under great emotional strain”, before using an especially-made trowel to lay the stone, as well as a glass ‘time-capsule’ underneath it containing an inscription and a collection of gold and silver coins. It was at this moment when she famously announced that the building was to be called the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, in memory of her beloved ‘Bertie’, deviating from its original name, The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences. Once the stone was lowered into place, the canvas of the great marquee shook as a 21-gun salute from Hyde Park marked the moment. The Archbishop of Canterbury read the Lord’s Prayer and then the orchestra and band of the Royal Italian Opera in Covent Garden played a special piece of music composed by the late Prince Albert. Following the laying of the stone, work on the newly-named Royal Albert Hall continued over the following years, with the building being officially opened by Queen Victoria 29 March 1871. The foundation stone, a block of reddish Aberdeen granite, although barely visible, is still in place; sitting proudly underneath the back row of the Stalls seating at Door 6. If you are ever sat in seating block Stalls K, spare a thought for the very special part of the building lying just metres beneath you. The time capsule laid by Queen Victoria has never been retrieved and little is known of its contents; the inscription that adorns it is also unknown to us. As for the special ceremonial royal trowel – this was held by the Royal Albert Hall but sadly went missing at some point in the 1980s!
Today in History May 21st 1602 Martha's Vineyard 1st sighted by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold 1792 Mount Unzen on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000 people. Note: 20,000 were killed in the 2011 Earthquake and tsunami 1856 Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and sacked by pro-slavery forces 1861 Richmond, Virginia, is designated the Confederate Capital 1881 American Red Cross founded by Clara Barton 1918 US House of Representatives passes amendment allowing women to vote 1924 Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb kidnap and kill 14 year old Bobby Franks to demonstrate their intellectual superiority by committing a "perfect crime" Note: It would have been the perfect crime except Nathan Leopold's glasses fell out of his suit pocket while moving the body. 1941 SS Robin Moor becomes the first US ship sunk by a U-boat during World War II 1945 Nazi SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler captured Note: Once in custody Himmler bit into a hidden potassium cyanide pill and died within minutes. 1956 US explodes 1st airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll Note: The bomb tested was 15 megatons 1969 Robert F. Kennedy's murderer Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment 1980 "Star Wars Episode V - Empire Strikes Back", opened in cinemas 1983 David Bowie's "Let's Dance" single goes #1
True, but what better way to extend life than to learn about everything that happened in the past. When you reach your final resting place after 80, 90, maybe 100 years, you'll feel as if you've lived countless generations from the birth of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago up to the present.
MAY 21st: 1970 : Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released the protest single Ohio, written and composed by Neil Young in reaction to the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, when unarmed college students were shot by the Ohio National Guard. Ohio- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - YouTube The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.
MAY 21st: 1982 : The Hacienda Club was opened in Manchester, England. . . . Madonna made her UK TV debut at the club when C4 music show The Tube was broadcast live. Home to many Manchester acts including Oasis, Happy Mondays, U2, The Smiths, Charlatans, James, M People who all played at the club, . . . (The club closed in 1997).
