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Today May 24th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
1276 – Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
1487 – Lambert Simnel is crowned as King Edward VI at Dublin, Ireland.
1595 – Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
1621 – The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.
1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
1689 – The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants. Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded.
1738 – John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.
1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.
1822 – Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.
1830 – Mary Had a Little Lamb by Sarah Josepha Hale is published.
1830 – The first revenue trains in the United States begin service on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road between Baltimore, Maryland and Ellicott s Mills, Maryland.
1832 – The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
1844 – Samuel F. B. Morse sends the message What hath God wrought (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland.
1846 – Mexican-American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
1856 – John Brown and his men murder five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.
1861 – American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
1881 – Turkey cedes Thessaly and Arta back to Greece.
1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
1895 – Henry Irving becomes the first personage from the theatre to be knighted.
1900 – Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
1901 – Seventy-eight miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales.
1915 – World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.
1921 – The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti opens.
1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
1935 – The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 at Crosley Field.
1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
1941 – World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks the HMS Hood killing all but three crewmen on what was the pride of the Royal Navy.
1943 – Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
1949 – The Soviet Union ends the 11-month Berlin Blockade.
1956 – Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500 year anniversary after the Lord Buddha s Parinibbana.
1958 – United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
1961 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for disturbing the peace after disembarking from their bus.
1961 – Cyprus enters the Council of Europe.
1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
1968 – FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.
1970 – The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union.
1973 – Earl Jellicoe resigns as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Lords.
1976 – The London to Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
1976 – In the Judgment of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterparts, challenging the notion of France being the foremost producer of the world s best wines.
1980 – The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran. The hostages would not be freed until the following January.
1982 – Liberation of Khorramshahr, Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.
1988 – Section 28 is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
1989 – Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, is awarded £600,000 in damages (later reduced to £60,000 on appeal) after winning a libel action against Private Eye.
1990 – A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both.
1991 – Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
1992 – The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
1993 – Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
1994 – Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
1999 – Venezuela enters the Antarctic Treaty System.
2000 – Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
2001 – Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
2001 – The Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200 in Israel s worst-ever civil disaster.
2001 – The Democrats gain control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont abandons the Republican Party and declares himself an independent.
2002 – Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
2004 – Communications in North Korea: North Korea bans mobile phones.
Births
15 BC – Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commander (d. 19)
1494 – Pontormo, Italian painter (d. 1557)
1522 – John Jewel, English bishop (d. 1571)
1544 – William Gilbert, English natural philosopher (d. 1603)
1616 – John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale (d. 1682)
1671 – Gian Gastone de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1737)
1686 – Gabriel Fahrenheit, inventor and thermometer maker (d. 1736)
1689 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician (d. 1769)
1743 – Jean-Paul Marat, French revolutionary (d. 1793)
1794 – William Whewell, English scientist and philosopher (d. 1866)
1803 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish zoologist (d. 1866)
1810 – Charles Clark, Governor of Mississippi (d. 1877)
1810 – Abraham Geiger, German rabbi and scholar (d. 1874)
1816 – Emanuel Leutze, German-born painter (d. 1868)
1819 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1901)
1830 – Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter (d. 1897)
1836 – Joseph Rowntree, British social reformer (d. 1925)
1854 – John Riley Banister, American law officer and cowboy (d. 1918)
1855 – Arthur Wing Pinero, English playwright (d. 1934)
1863 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (d. 1938)
1868 – Charles E. Taylor, First aircraft maintenance professional (d. 1956)
1870 – Benjamin Cardozo, American jurist (d. 1938)
1870 – Jan Christiaan Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1950)
1878 – Lillian Moller Gilbreth, American engineer (d. 1972)
1879 – H. B. Reese, American inventor of Reese s and founder (d. 1956)
1885 – Susan Sutherland Isaacs, English educational psychologist (d. 1948).
1886 – Paul Paray, French conductor and composer (d. 1979)
1887 – Edward Mick Mannock, Irish WWI flying ace (d. 1918)
1891 – William F. Albright, American archeologist and Biblical scholar (d. 1971)
1895 – Samuel Irving Newhouse, American publisher (d. 1979)
1899 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (d. 1938)
1899 – Henri Michaux, French poet (d. 1984)
1900 – Lionel Conacher, Canadian athlete and politician (d. 1954)
1900 – Eduardo De Filippo, Italian actor and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1901 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1968)
1905 – Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
1908 – Sam Giancana, American gangster (d. 1975)
1909 – Wilbur Mills, American politician (d. 1992)
1911 – Barbara West, English survivor of the Titanic sinking (d. 2007)
1914 – Lilli Palmer, German-born actress (d. 1986)
1914 – Giuseppe Valdengo, Italian baritone (d. 2007)
1916 – Roden Cutler, Australian diplomat (d. 2002)
1923 – Siobhán McKenna, Irish actress (d. 1986)
1925 – Mai Zetterling, Swedish-born entertainer (d. 1994)
1926 – Stanley Baxter, Scottish actor
1928 – William Trevor, Irish writer
1930 – Hans-Martin Linde, German conductor
1931 – Michael Lonsdale, French actor
1932 – Arnold Wesker, English dramatist
1933 – Aharon Lichtenstein, Orthodox Jewish rabbi
1934 – Jane Byrne, American politician
1934 – Barry Rose, English choir-trainer and organist
1935 – Joan Micklin Silver, American director
1936 – Harold Budd, American musician
1938 – Tommy Chong, Canadian-born actor and comedian
1938 – David Viscott, American psychiatrist (d. 1996)
1940 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
1941 – Bob Dylan, American singer and songwriter
1941 – George Lakoff, American linguist and political activist
1942 – Ali Bacher, South African Cricket player and administrator
1943 – Gary Burghoff, American actor
1944 – Patti LaBelle, American singer
1945 – Priscilla Presley, American actress
1946 – Irena Kirszenstein-Szewinska, Russian-born Polish athlete
1947 – Martin Winterkorn, German automotive executive
1949 – Jim Broadbent, English actor
1950 – Larry Seidlin, American judge
1953 – Alfred Molina, London-born Spanish-Italian actor
1955 – Rosanne Cash, American singer
1955 – David Leonard, American musician
1956 – Michael Jackson, Northern Irish clergyman
1959 – Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish hockey player (d. 1985)
1960 – Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress
1960 – Guy Fletcher, British keyboardist (Dire Straits)
1960 – Doug Jones, American actor
1962 – Gene Anthony Ray, American actor (d. 2003)
1963 – Ivan Capelli, Italian racing driver
1963 – Michael Chabon, American author
1963 – Joe Dumars, American basketball player
1963 – Kathy Leander, Swiss singer
1963 – Rich Rodriguez, American football coach
1964 – Adrian Moorhouse, British swimmer
1964 – Pat Verbeek, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – John C. Reilly, American actor
1965 – Shinichiro Watanabe, Japanese anime director
1966 – Eric Cantona, French footballer
1966 – Ricky Craven, American NASCAR driver
1966 – Russell Kun, Nauruan politician
1967 – Carlos Hernández, Venezuelan baseball player
1967 – Eric Close, American actor
1967 – Steve McDonald, American bassist (Redd Kross)
1968 – Mo Willems, American author and screenwriter
1969 – Rich Robinson, American musician (Black Crowes)
1970 – Tommy Page, American singer
1971 – Kris Draper, Canadian ice hockey player (Detroit Red Wings)
1972 – Greg Berlanti, American television writer and producer
1973 – Bartolo Colón, Dominican baseball player
1973 – Dermot O Leary, English television presenter
1973 – Ruslana, Ukrainian singer
1973 – Vladimír Šmicer, Czech footballer
1974 – Will Sasso, Canadian actor and comedian
1974 – Masahide Kobayashi, Japanese baseball player
1974 – Sébastien Foucan, French actor and free-runner
1975 – Marc Gagnon, Canadian short track speed skater
1975 – Maria Lawson, British Singer
1975 – Yannis Goumas, Greek footballer
1976 – Alessandro Cortini, Italian musician
1976 – Catherine Cox, Australian netballer
1976 – Bob Maesen, Belgian flatwater canoer
1977 – Kym Valentine. Australian actress
1978 – Brian Ching, American footballer
1978 – Bryan Greenberg, American actor
1978 – Brad Penny, American baseball player
1978 – Johan Holmqvist, Swedish hockey player
1979 – Tracy McGrady, American basketball player
1979 – Frank Mir, American UFC fighter
1980 – Cecilia Cheung, Hong Kong actress and singer
1981 – Marketa Janska, Czech model and Playboy Playmate
1982 – Issah Ahmed, Ghana football player
1982 – DaMarcus Beasley, American footballer
1983 – Ben Yahtzee Croshaw, Anglo-Australian videogame creator and critic
1984 – Sarah Hagan, American actress
1984 – Brodney Pool, American football player
1985 – Tim Bridgman, British racing driver
1986 – Jordan Metcalfe, English actor
1986 – Mark Ballas, professional dancer
1987 – Guillaume Latendresse, French-Canadian hockey player
1988 – Billy Gilman, American singer
1989 – Tara Correa-McMullen, American actress (d. 2005)
1990 – Joey Logano, American racecar driver
1991 – Erika Umeda, Japanese singer
1992 – Travis T. Flory, American actor
1995 – Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein
Deaths
1153 – King David I of Scotland (b. 1084)
1351 – Abu al-Hasan Ali, Sultan of Morocco (b. c. 1297)
1408 – Taejo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1335)
1425 – Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, Scottish politician (b. 1362)
1456 – Ambroise de Loré, French military commander (b. 1396)
1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer (b. 1473)
1612 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English statesman (b. 1563)
1627 – Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet (b. 1561)
1632 – Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (b. 1553)
1725 – Jonathan Wild, English criminal (b. 1682)
1734 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
1749 – Graf Valentin Potocki, Polish nobleman
1792 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, British naval officer (b. 1718)
1806 – John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, British field marshal (b. 1723)
1843 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician (b. 1765)
1861 – Elmer E. Ellsworth, American Civil War officer (b. 1837)
1872 – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter (b. 1794)
1876 – Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1843)
1879 – William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist and publisher (b. 1805)
1881 – Samuel Palmer, English artist (b. 1805)
1883 – Abdel Kadir, Algerian leader (b. 1808)
1908 – Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1821)
1919 – Amado Nervo, Mexican poet (b. 1870)
1941 – Lancelot Holland, British admiral, died in sinking of the HMS Hood (51) (b. 1887)
1945 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German field marshal (b. 1892)
1947 – C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
1948 – Jacques Feyder, Belgian director and screenwriter (b. 1885)
1949 – Aleksey Shchusev, Russian architect (b. 1873)
1950 – Archibald Wavell, British general (b. 1883)
1959 – John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
1963 – Elmore James, American musician (b. 1918)
1969 – Willy Ley, German-born rocket scientist (b. 1906)
1972 – Ismail Yasin, Egyptian comedian and actor (b. 1915)
1974 – Duke Ellington, American composer and musician (b. 1899)
1984 – Vincent J. McMahon, American pro wrestling promoter (b. 1914)
1991 – Gene Clark, American singer and songwriter (The Byrds) (b. 1944)
1991 – Miriam di San Servolo, Italian actress (b. 1912)
1992 – Hitoshi Ogawa, Japanese racing driver (b. 1956)
1995 – Harold Wilson, British politician (b. 1916)
1997 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (b. 1923)
2000 – Kurt Schork, American reporter (b. 1947)
2002 – Wallace Markfield, American writer (b. 1926)
2003 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (b. 1910)
2004 – Henry Ries, American photographer (b. 1917)
2004 – Milton Shulman, Canadian author and critic (b. 1913)
2004 – Edward Wagenknecht, American literary critic (b. 1900)
2005 – Carl Amery, German writer (b. 1922)
2005 – Arthur Haulot, Belgian journalist (b. 1913)
2005 – Vivian Liberto, first wife of Johnny Cash (b. 1934)
2006 – Henry Bumstead, American art director (b. 1915)
2006 – Michal Zyczkowski, Polish technician (b. 1930)
2007 – Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer (b. 1922)
2008 – Dick Martin American comedian (b. 1922)
2008 – Robert Knox British actor (b. 1989)
Holidays and observances
Canada: Victoria Day, on this date if it falls on a Monday or the Monday before it. In Quebec, it is known as National Patriotes Day (Journée nationale des patriotes).
Saints Cyril and Methodius Day in Eastern Orthodox tradition. In addition, the following secular observances are recognized, in the association with the works of Cyril and Methodius Day
Republic of Macedonia: Saints Cyril and Methodius, Slavonic Enlighteners Day
Bermuda: Bermuda Day.
Eritrea: National Day.
Aldersgate Day (Methodism).
Saint Sarah is celebrated in Camargue, France by the Roma people (or Gypsies).
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