21st MAY
Albrecht Dürer (b. 1471)
Alexander Pope (b. 1688)
Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater (b. 1736)
Elizabeth Fry (b. 1780)
Mikhail Glinka (b. OS 1804)
Edwin P Christy (b. 1815)
Auguste Bonheur (b. 1824)
Henri Rousseau (b. 1844)
Armand Hammer (b. 1898)
Fats Waller (b. 1904)
Robert Montgomery (b. 1904)
Dandy Nichols (b. 1907)
Harold Robbins (b. 1916)
Raymond Burr (b. 1917)
Andrei Sakharov (b. 1921)
Kay Kendall (b. 1926)
Robert Creeley (b. 1926)
Albert Grossman (b. 1926)
Tom Donahue (b. 1928)
Richard Snell (b. 1930)
Vincent Crane (b. 1943)
Jeffrey Dahmer (b. 1960)
Notorious B.I.G. (b. 1972)
Henry VI, King of England (d. 1471)
Hernando de Soto (d. 1542)
James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose (d. 1650)
Christopher Smart (d. 1771)
Thomas Warton the Younger (d. 1790)
Edwin P Christy (d. 1862)
Franz von Suppé (d. 1895)
Ronald Firbank (d. 1926)
Archibald Primrose, Earl of Rosebery (d. 1929)
Flora Thompson (d. 1947)
Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (d. 1965)
Lord (Kenneth) Clark (d. 1983)
Rajiv Gandhi (d. 1991)
Elizabeth David (d. 1992)
Sir John Gielgud (d. 2000)
Dame Barbara Cartland (d. 2000)
Shohei Imamura (d. 2006)
Juão da Nova discovers St Helena, 1502
Lady Jane Grey forced to marry Lord Guildford Dudley, 1553
The Standard 1st published, 1827
New Zealand declared colony of UK, 1840
Gold 1st discovered in Australia, 1851
American Red Cross founded, 1881
Auguste Bartholdi completes Statue of Liberty, France, 1884
Manchester Ship Canal officially opened, 1894
FIFA founded, 1904
Summer Time begins, UK, 1916
Charles Lindbergh completes 1st non-stop solo transatlantic flight, Paris, 1927
Amelia Earhart completes 1st women's transatlantic flight, Londonderry, 1932
Robin Moor is 1st US ship sunk by U-boat, 1941
Heinrich Himmler captured by British, Bremervörde, 1945
1st transatlantic solo round trip flight, sunrise-sunset, takes place, 1955
1st airborne hydrogen bomb tests begin over Bikini Atoll, 1956
The musical Gypsy, inspired by Gypsy Rose Lee, opened, Broadway, New York NY, 1959
The Who perform Anyway Anyhow Anywhere on Ready Steady Go!, 1965
Elton John becomes 1st western rock star to perform in USSR, 1975
Trial of Baader-Meinhof gang begins, 1975
Mitterrand elected President, France, 1981
43 die when HMS Ardent and Sea King helicopter lost, Falklands, 1982
Hacienda club opened by Bernard Manning, Manchester, 1982
Joe Strummer defects from the Clash on the eve of their tour, 1982

22nd MAY
John Kyrle, Man of Ross (b. 1637)
Cyril Fagan (b. na)
Gérard de Nerval (b. 1808)
Richard Wagner (b. 1813)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (b. 1859)
Eva Gore-Booth (b. 1870)
Jiddu Krishnamurtu (b. 1895)
Jeanne De Casalis (b. 1897)
Lord (Laurence) Olivier (b. 1907)
Sun Ra (b. 1914)
Vance Packard (b. 1914)
Lois Rodden (b. 1928)
Jill Tweedie (b. 1936)
George Best (b. 1946)
Constantine the Great (d. 337)
Martha Washington (d. 1802)
Maria Edgeworth (d. 1849)
Alessandro Manzoni (d. 1873)
Victor Hugo (d. 1885)
Lady (Augusta) Gregory (d. 1932)
Ernst Toller (d. 1939)
Cecil Day-Lewis (d. 1972)
Dame Margaret Rutherford (d. 1972)
Rocky Graziano (d. 1990)
Max Wall (d. 1990)
John Derek (d. 1998)
Constantine I ends record 30-year reign in Roman occupation of mainland UK, 337
Louis VIII invades England, landing at Stonor, 1216
Wars of the Roses begin, Battle of St Albans, 1455
James I ennobles 18 men, creating 1st baronets, 1611
7 members of Reno gang steal $96,000, Great Train Robbery, Marshfield IN, 1868
Bon Marché, 1st UK purpose-built department store, opened, Brixton, 1877
Great Bell delivered, St Paul's, London, 1882
Motion pictures 1st publically shown, Edison's lab, US, 1891
Blackwall Tunnel officially opened, Thames, 1897
Strand Theatre opened, London, 1905
Wilbur Wright patents his aeroplane, 1906
227 die in worst UK train collision, Gretna Green, 1915
Italy declares war on Austria, 1915
Stanley Baldwin 1st becomes prime minister, UK, 1923
Whipsnade Zoo, 1st open-plan zoo, opened, 1927
Italo-German alliance signed, Berlin, 1939
Battle for the Bismarck begins, 1941
Battle of Anzio begins, 1944
Bob Dylan's bar-mitzvah, 1954
Jerry Lee Lewis arrives for 1st UK tour with 14-year old wife, Myra, Heathrow, 1958
100s die in tidal wave, Chile, 1960
New public telephones introduced, UK, 1961
Goya's stolen Duke of Wellington portrait found in a BR carriage, Birmingham, 1965
300 die in department store fire, Brussels, 1967
England cricket tour of South Africa cancelled over apartheid, 1970
1,000 die in 20-second earthquake, Brigol, Turkey, 1972
Pierre Trudeau replaced by Joe Clark as president of Canada, 1972
Ceylon becomes Sri Lanka Republic within Commonwealth, 1972
Peter Sutcliffe, Yorkshire Ripper, sentenced to 30 years, UK, 1981
Duke of Westminster & Princess Margaret record The Archers appearance, 1984
North Yemen and South Yemen merge to form the Republic of Yemen, 1990
Johnny Carson presents The Tonight Show for final time, NBC, Burbank CA, 1992

23rd MAY
Elias Ashmole (b. OS 1617)
Carolus Linnaeus (b. OS 1707)
Franz Mesmer (b. NS 1734)
Jules Sébastien Dumont D'Urville (b. NS 1790)
Sir Charles Barry (b. 1795)
Thomas Hood (b. 1799)
Douglas Fairbanks (b. 1883)
Herbert Marshall (b. 1890)
Georges Rémi (b. 1907)
Hélène Boucher (b. 1908)
Sir Hugh Casson (b. 1910)
Marius Goring (b. 1912)
Alexander Ruperti (b. 1913)
Bumps Blackwell (b. 1918)
Denis Compton (b. 1918)
Humphrey Lyttelton (b. 1921)
Arthur Gunter (b. 1926)
Rosemary Clooney (b. 1928)
Robert Moog (b. 1934)
Robert Sangster (b. 1936)
Girolamo Savonarola (d. OS 1498)
John Wood the Elder (d. OS 1754)
Kit Carson (d. 1868)
Henrik Ibsen (d. 1906)
Clyde Barrow (d. 1934)
Bonnie Parker (d. 1934)
Henri de Regnier (d. 1936)
John D Rockefeller (d. 1937)
Lord (Herbert) Austin (d. 1941)
Heinrich Himmler (d. 1945)
Sterling Hayden (d. 1986)
Wilhelm Kempff (d. 1991)
Will Sinnott (d. 1991)
Joe Pass (d. 1994)
Patrick Cargill (d. 1996)
Rachel Kempson (d. 2003)
Joan of Arc captured by the Burgundians, who sell her to the English, 1430
Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon judged null and void by Cranmer, 1533
Defenestration of Prague begins 30-Years War, 1618
Charles II sails for England from exile, Scheveningen, 1660
Battle of Ramillies, War of the Spanish Succession, 1706
South Carolina, the Palmetto State, becomes 8th State of the Union, 1788
Mutiny on the Nore begins, 1797
Benjamin Franklin reveals his invention of bi-focal spectacles, in a letter, US, 1785
French Crown Jewels sold for 6 million francs, 1887
North West (later Royal Canadian) Mounted Police founded, 1873
Associated Press News Service founded, New York NY, 1900
Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, 1915
Whipsnade Zoo opened to public, 1931
Bismarck 1st spotted by Royal Navy cruisers, 2032 hr, 1941
German Federal Republic comes into being, 1949
Israel announces capture of Adolf Eichmann, 1960
UK debut of Grateful Dead, Hollywood Music Festival, Newcastle under Lyme, 1970
Tubular Bells, 1st record on Virgin label, released, 1973
1st recording of Lunar Transient Phenomena on surface of Moon, 1985
Saxon human skeleton pottery discovered, Covent Garden piazza, 1985
BBC1 Six O'Clock News disrupted by Clause 28 protesters, 1988
Fleming Koch & Nina Tolgard married in 1st underwater wedding ceremony, 1988
Doctors allowed to advertise for 1st time in 30 years, UK, 1990
Brett Greenwood, most premature baby (17 weeks, weighing 1lb 5oz), born, 1992
Judge Giovanni Falcone assassinated by Mafia, 1992
1st spectacled warbler in UK sighted, Filey, 1992
Gorbachev elected inaugural president of International Green Cross, The Hague, 1993
Noel Gallagher walks out of Oasis world tour, Paris, 2000
Blashford-Snell team finds lost Inca city of Paititi in La Paz, Bolivia, 2001

24th MAY
Jacopo da Pontorma (b. OS 1494)
Jean-Paul Marat (b. 1743)
Victoria, Queen and Empress (b. 1819)
Prince Louis Mountbatten (b. 1854)
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (b. 1855)
Suzanne Lenglen (b. 1899)
Mikhail Sholokhov (b. 1905)
Dame Joan Hammond (b. 1912)
Lilli Palmer (b. 1914)
Mai Zetterling (b. 1925)
Harold Melvin (b. 1939)
David I, King of Scots (d. 1153)
Nicolaus Copernicus (d. 1543)
Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury (d. 1612)
Samuel Palmer (d. 1881)
Elmore James (d. 1963)
Duke Ellington (d. 1974)
Jack Warner (d. 1981)
Gunnar Björnstrand (d. 1986)
Hermione Gingold (d. 1987)
Gene Clark (d. 1991)
John Wain (d. 1994)
Lord (Harold) Wilson of Rievaulx (d. 1995)
Jimmy McGriff (d. 2008)
Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland, 1153
Lambert Simnel, pretender to English throne, crowned, Dublin, 1487
Battle of the Dunes, 1658
Dartmoor Prison opened, Princetown, 1809
Lachlan River discovered by George Evans, Australia, 1815
Baltimore & Ohio Railway, 1st US passenger railway service, opened, 1830
Morse sends 1st public telegraph, Washington-Baltimore, 1844
Westminster Bridge opened, London, 1862
Brooklyn Bridge opened over East River, New York NY, 1883
Henry Irving becomes 1st theatrical knight, 1895
1st auto repair shop opened, Boston MA, 1899
1st celebration of Empire Day, UK, 1902
Ritz Hotel opened by César Ritz, Piccadilly, 1906
Bristol University granted Royal Charter, 1909
Conscription begins, UK, 1916
Etienne Oehmichen achieves 1st helicopter flight, 1924
1st film by Marx Bros, The Cocoanuts, opened, New York, 1929
Amy Johnson becomes 1st woman to fly solo London-Australia, Darwin, 1930
HMS Hood sunk by the Bismarck, 1941
1st rocket exceeds 150 mile altitude, White Sands NM, 1954
1st Eurovision Song Contest held, Lugano, Switzerland, 1956
Empire Day renamed Commonwealth Day, 1959
301 die in football riot, National Stadium, Lima, Peru, 1964
Spaghetti Junction opened, Gravelly Hill, 1972
Bob Marley & Wailers record In Concert for Radio One, London, 1973
d'Estaing becomes president of France, 1974
Bob Dylan visits the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, 1976
Princess Margaret divorces Lord Snowdon, 1978
Tate Gallery opened, Liverpool, 1988
Albert Dock re-opened by Prince of Wales, Liverpool, 1988
Local Authorities Bill passes into law, UK, 1988
Temple Bridge, longest UK hardwood footbridge, opened across Thames, Marlow, 1989

25th MAY
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Baron Lytton (b. 1803)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (b. 1803)
Max Aitken, Baron Beaverbrook (b. 1879)
Miles Malleson (b. 1888)
Igor Sikorsky (b. 1889)
Theodore Roethke (b. 1908)
Donald Maclean (b. 1913)
Richard Dimbleby (b. 1913)
Jeanne Crain (b. 1925)
Miles Davis (b. 1926)
Norman Petty (b. 1927)
Robert Ludlum (b. 1927)
Beverly Sills (b. 1929)
Raymond Carver (b. 1938)
Bob Payton (b. 1944)
St Bede the Venerable (d. 735)
Gaspard Poussin (d. 1675)
Edmund Kean (d. 1833)
Rosa Bonheur (d. 1899)
Gustav Holst (d. 1934)
Jacques Feyder (d. 1948)
Edmund Dulac (d. 1953)
Sonny Boy Williamson (d. 1965)
Roy Brown (d. 1981)
Hamish Hamilton (d. 1988)
Dany Robin (d. 1995)
Ismail Merchant (d. 2005)
Glastonbury Abbey destroyed by fire, 1184
Puritanism ends when Charles II rows ashore from Royal Charter, Dover, 1660
Miss Kelly's (later Royalty) Th opened, London, 1840
1st hippopotamus seen in UK, London Zoo, 1850
Lloyd's insurance society receives Royal Charter, 1871
Bank Holiday Act passed, House of Commons, 1871
1st mutton arrives from New Zealand, UK, 1882
Oscar Wilde convicted of morals charge and sentenced to prison, London, 1895
Diaz overthrown, Mexico, 1911
Irish Home Rule Act passed, UK, 1914
Battle of Aubers Ridge & 2nd Battle of Ypres end, 1915
1st UK woman barrister qualifies, 1921
Jordan (as Transjordan) becomes independent, 1923
Model T Ford production ceases to make way for Model A, US, 1927
Jesse Owen breaks 6 world records in 45 mins, Ann Arbor, 1935
Jesse Owen breaks 5 world records, Olympic Games, Berlin, 1936
Battle of Anzio ends, 1944
Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean go missing, UK, 1951
World's 1st atomic shell fired, Frenchman Flat NV, 1953
Chris Chataway (UK) sets 2-mile record of 8 min 49_6 secs, 1953
Kangchenjunga 1st climbed, by UK expedition led by Charles Evans, 1955
New Coventry Cathedral consecrated, 1962
Glasgow Celtic 1st UK team to win European Cup, 1967
Ronnie Scott's original jazz club, The Old Place, closed, Gerrard St, 1968
Peter Green leaves Fleetwood Mac, 1970
Joy Division (as Warsaw) debut, Electric Circus, Manchester, 1977
Star Wars released, US, 1978
Laservision Videodisc launched by Philips, UK, 1982
Return Of The Jedi released, US, 1983
30 million run to raise money for Sport Aid, 1986
Siouxsie and Budgie marry, 1991
Jay Leno succeeds Johnny Carson as host of Tonight Show, NBC-TV, US, 1992
Dylan hospitalised with heart infection, US, 1997
Andy Kershaw broadcasts his final Radio 1 show, 2000
Phoenix lander touches down on Mars, 1953 EDT, 2008

26th MAY
Charles d'Orleans (b. 1391)
Susanna Shakespeare (bapt. OS 1583)
John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (b. OS 1650)
Nicolaus Zinzendorf (b. 1700)
Aleksandr Pushkin (b. 1799)
John Wesley Hardin (b. 1853)
Mary, Queen Consort of George V (b. 1867)
Al Jolson (b. 1886)
Vivian E Robson (b. 1890)
Sir Eugene Goossens (b. 1893)
Norma Talmadge (b. 1893)
George Formby (b. 1904)
John Wayne (b. 1907)
Robert Morley (b. 1908)
Sir Matt Busby (b. 1909)
Peter Cushing (b. 1913)
Moondog (b. 1916)
Jay Silverheels (b. 1919)
Peggy Lee (b. 1920)
Mick Ronson (b. 1946)
St Augustine, 1st Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 604)
Edmund I, King of England (d. 946)
Samuel Pepys (d. 1703)
Jacques Laffitte (d. 1844)
Jimmie Rodgers (d. 1933)
Edsel Ford (d. 1943)
Little Willie John (d. 1968)
Jacques Lipchitz (d. 1973)
Mimi Baudains (d. 1975)
Martin Heidegger (d. 1976)
Don Revie (d. 1989)
Sonny Sharrock (d. 1994)
Gerald Hawkins (d. 2003)
Sydney Pollack (d. 2008)
Pequot Indian stronghold razed by John Mason, Connecticut, 1637
Napoleon crowned King of Italy, Milan Cathedral, 1805
Kaspar Hauser, wild boy, found in market place, Nuremberg, 1828
American Civil War ends with Confederate surrender, Texas, 1865
Michael Barrett is last in UK to be publically executed, Newgate, London, 1868
Mt Etna begins series of serious eruptions, 1870
Vauxhall Bridge officially opened, 1906
Emily Duncan, 1st UK woman magistrate, appointed, West Ham, 1913
1st 24 hour Le Mans Grand Prix takes place, 1923
Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrians, San Francisco, 1937
1st Volkswagen car completed, Wolfsburg, Germany, 1938
Hi, Gang! 1st broadcast, BBC, 1940
Petrol rationing ends, UK, 1950
Chuck Berry records Roll Over Beethoven, US, 1956
Dylan admitted with a viral infection to St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, 1965
Guyana becomes independent, 1966
Bob Dylan & the Band begin 2 nights at Royal Albert Hall, London, 1966
Apollo 10 splashes down in Pacific, 25 seconds late, 1969
John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin Bed-In For Peace, Hotel de la Reine, Montreal, 1969
UK trawler shelled and holed, Icelandic cod war, 1973
14-year old girl crushed to death at David Cassidy concert, White City, 1974
33 die when HMS Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor sunk, 1982
10,000th episode of The Archers broadcast, 1989
Alexander Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia, 1994
1st Trident missile fired from UK submarine after Greenpeace protest, Florida, 1994
Astronomers announce proof of existence of super-massive black hole, US, 1994
Michael Jackson marries Lisa Marie Presley, La Vega, Dominican Republic, 1994

27th MAY
Amelia Bloomer (b. 1818)
Julia Ward Howe (b. 1819)
Wild Bill Hickok (b. 1837)
Arnold Bennett (b. 1867)
Georges Rouault (b. 1871)
Isadora Duncan (b. 1878)
Dashiell Hammett (b. 1894)
Vincent Price (b. 1911)
Hubert Humphrey (b. 1911)
Doc Pomus (b. 1925)
Jeffrey Bernard (b. 1932)
Mal Evans (b. 1935)
Elizabeth Harwood (b. 1938)
Lisa (Left Eye) Lopes (b. 1971)
John Calvin (d. 1564)
Niccolò Paganini (d. 1840)
Robert Koch (d. 1910)
Jawarhalal (Pandit) Nehru (d. 1964)
Lord (Joe) Gormley (d. 1993)
Luciano Berio (d. 2003)
Fay Godwin (d. 2005)
John accedes to English throne, 1199
Habeus Corpus Act passed by Royal Assent, 1679
St Petersburg (Leningrad) founded as capital of Russia, 1703
Broadmoor Asylum established, Crowthorne, 1863
Bubonic Plague breaks out, San Francisco CA, 1907
1st transatlantic flight with 5-man crew ended, Trepassey, Newfoundland-Lisbon, 1919
August Piccard 1st ascends into stratosphere, 52,462 ft in balloon, 1931
Queen Mary begins maiden voyage, Southampton-New York NY, 1936
1st open prison opened, New Hall, nr Wakefield, 1936
Golden Gate Bridge dedicated, San Francisco CA, 1937
You Can Nearly Touch It, 1st 3D colour talkie short, premiered, Berlin, 1937
Evacuation of troops begins, Operation Dynamo, Dunkirk, 1940
Bismarck sunk by torpedo, 1101 hr, 1941
1st record by Buddy Holly & Crickets released, US, 1957
Fairport Convention debut, St Michael's, Golders Green, 1967
Declan McManus 1st billed as Elvis Costello, The Nashville, London, 1977
Liverpool wins European Cup against Real Madrid, 1981
Lloyds of London building opened, London, 1986
20,000 Moslems stage anti-Salman Rushdie demonstration, London, 1989
1st Atlantic sighting of ancient murrulet auk, Lundy Island, 1990
Stone Roses play Spike Island Festival, Cheshire, 1990
Helen Sharman returns to Earth after 3 million mile journey, 1991
1st UK digital mobile phone service introduced, 1992
Uffizi Gallery damaged by bomb, Florence, 1993
Christopher Reeve paralysed in riding accident, Culpeper VA, 1995

28th MAY
Joseph Guillotin (b. 1738)
William Pitt the Younger (b. 1759)
Thomas Moore (b. 1779)
Charles Voysey (b. 1857)
Vanessa Bell (b. 1879)
Ian Fleming (b. 1908)
T-Bone Walker (b. 1910)
Rachel Kempson (b. 1910)
Dame Thora Hird (b. 1911)
Frank Middlemass (b. 1919)
György Ligeti (b. 1923)
John McGeoch (b. 1955)
Leopold Mozart (d. 1787)
Luigi Boccherini (d. 1805)
Noah Webster (d. 1843)
Anne Brontë (d. 1849)
Lord (John) Russell (d. 1878)
Sir George Grove (d. 1900)
Hardwick Drummond Rawnsley (d. 1920)
Alfred Adler (d. 1937)
Audie Murphy (d. 1971)
Edward, Duke of Windsor (d. 1972)
Eric Morecambe (d. 1984)
Reginald Bosinquet (d. 1984)
Sy Oliver (d. 1988)
Jean Muir (d. 1995)
Oscar Brown Jr (d. 2005)
Beryl Cook (d. 2008)
Lydians & Medes battle due to solar eclipse predicted by Thales of Miletus, BC 585
Edinburgh founded, 1329
1st known purchase of malt, by Friar John Cor, for making whisky, Scotland, 1494
Hernando de Soto lands at Florida, 1539
Battle of Southwold Bay, 1672
Bevis 1st to observe occultation of 2 planets (Venus-Mercury), Greenwich, 1737
1st indoor Pleasure or Swimming Bath opened, London, 1742
1st public library opened, Salford, 1842
Erasmus Bond patents tonic water, London, 1858
Government troops crush Communards, Paris, 1871
1st weight-lifting championship, Café Monico, Piccadilly, 1891
1st Isle of Man motor cycle TT race held, 1907
On With The Show, 1st all-colour talking picture, premiered, New York NY, 1929
Schirri dies in plan to shoot Mussolini, Rome, 1931
Zuider Zee becomes inland lake as 20 mile dyke closed, 1932
Coalition ministry appointed under Chamberlain, UK, 1937
Belgian Army surrenders to Germany, 1940
Mermaid Theatre opened, Puddle Dock, London, 1959
Crazy People (later The Goon Show) 1st broadcast, BBC Radio, 1951
Melody, 1st technicolor 3D cartoon premiered, US, 1953
Mermaid Th opened, Puddle Dock, London, 1959
Orient Express (Paris-Bucharest) ceases to run, 1961
Donovan and Joan Baez lead anti-Vietnam war march to Trafalgar Sq, 1965
Chichester completes round-world solo voyage in Gipsy Moth IV, Plymouth, 1967
John Paul II makes 1st Papal visit to UK, Gatwick, 1982
UK troops recapture Port Darwin & Goose Green, Falklands, 1982
Mathius Rust illegally lands Cessna, Red Square parade, Moscow, 1987
All-women yacht crew win Whitbread Round The World Race, 1990

29th MAY
Charles II, King of Gt Britain & Ireland (b. 1630)
Isaac Albéniz (b. 1860)
GK Chesterton (b. 1874)
Oswald Spengler (b. 1880)
Sir Basil Blackwell (b. 1889)
Beatrice Lillie (b. 1894)
Joseph von Sternberg (b. 1894)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (b. 1897)
Sir Leonard Huxley (b. 1902)
Bob Hope (b. 1903)
Ben Warriss (b. 1905)
TH White (b. 1906)
Tenzing Norgai (b. 1914)
Karl Münchinger (b. 1915)
John F Kennedy (b. 1917)
Charles Denner (b. 1926)
Bartolomeu Diaz (d. 1500)
Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais (d. 1814)
Sir Humphry Davy (d. 1829)
Alexander & Draga, King & Queen of Serbia (d. OS 1903)
Sir William Gilbert (d. 1911)
John Barrymore (d. 1942)
Fanny Brice (d. 1951)
Juan Jiménez (d. 1956)
James Whale (d. 1957)
Mary Pickford (d. 1979)
Romy Schneider (d. 1982)
Roy Plomley (d. 1985)
Coral Browne (d. 1991)
Erich Honecker (d. 1994)
Jeff Buckley (d. 1997)
Barry Goldwater (d. 1998)
Jack Rosenthal (d. 2004)
Constantinople falls to the Turks, 1453
Spanish Armada sets sail, Lisbon, NS 1588
Monarchy restored as Charles II returns to London, 1660
Rhode Island, the Ocean State, becomes 13th state of the Union, 1790
Wisconsin, the Badger State, becomes 30th state of the Union, 1848
Whit Monday becomes 1st Bank Holiday in UK, 1871
HMS Lightning, 1st purpose built torpedo-boat, delivered, 1877
1st steam cable tram in Europe begins to operate, Highgate, 1884
Derby is 1st horse-race to be filmed, 1895
1023 die when Emperor of Ireland wrecked, St Lawrence River, 1914
Pop-up toaster patented, 1919
Normandie leaves on maiden voyage to New York, Le Havre, 1935
Evacuation of Dunkirk begins, 1940
Bing Crosby records White Christmas, world's best selling record, US, 1942
The Archers 1st broadcast, UK, 1950
Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgai become 1st to reach summit of Everest, 1953
Poor People campaigners storm Supreme Court, Washington DC, 1968
John Paul II becomes 1st Pope on UK soil in 450 years, 1982
44 die in riots, European Cup Final, Heysel Stadium, Brussels, 1985
Paul Boateng becomes 1st black UK cabinet minister, 2002

30th MAY
Peter the Great (b. OS 1672)
Alfred Austin (b. 1835)
Alexander Archipenko (b. 1887)
Immanuel Velikovsky (b. OS 1895)
Howard Hawks (b. 1896)
Stepin Fetchit (b. 1902)
Leslie Dawson (b. 1906)
Mel Blanc (b. 1908)
Benny Goodman (b. 1909)
Julian Symons (b. 1912)
Tooter Boatman (b. 1936)
St Joan of Arc (d. 1431)
Charles IX, Duc D'Orléans (d. 1574)
Christopher Marlowe (d. 1593)
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (d. 1640)
Alexander Pope (d. 1744)
François Boucher (d. 1770)
Voltaire (d. 1778)
Wilbur Wright (d. 1912)
Boris Pasternak (d. 1960)
Claude Rains (d. 1967)
Marcel Dupré (d. 1971)
Michel Simon (d. 1975)
Rev Robert T Wilkins (d. 1987)
Ella Raines (d. 1988)
John Cipollina (d. 1989)
Sun Ra (d. 1993)
Mickie Most (d. 2003)
Christopher Columbus sets sail on 3rd expedition, 1498
Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour, Queen's Church, Whitehall, 1536
Grenadier Guards formed, 1656
Theatre Royal, Bristol (oldest theatre still in use in UK), opened, 1766
Napoleon annexes Tuscany, 1808
John Francis makes attempt on life of Victoria, Constitution Hill, London, 1842
Seige of Lucknow begins, Indian Mutiny, 1857
Memorial Day (Decoration Day) 1st observed, US, 1869
Gt Chadwick 6, 1st supercharged car, sets climbing record, Giant's Despair Hill PA, 1908
Indianopolis 500 car race inaugurated, US, 1911
Balkan War ends with Treaty of London, 1913
1st skywriting ("London Daily Mail") created, Epsom, 1922
RAF launches 1st 1000-bomber raid, on Cologne, 1942
1st major league network baseball game, Cleveland v Chicago, takes place, 1953
1st hovercraft flight takes place, Cowes, Isle of Wight, 1959
Eastern Nigeria proclaims itself independent Republic of Biafra, 1967
State of anarchy declared at sit-in, Hornsey College of Art, 1968
British Trans-Arctic Expedition completes 1st surface crossing of continent, 1969
Mariner 9 launched for Mars, Cape Kennedy, 1971
Cliff Richard releases 100th single, 1989
Paul Simon marries Edie Brickell, Montauk, 1992
Duke and Duchess of York granted an uncontested decree ending their marriage, 1996

31st MAY
Walt Whitman (b. 1819)
Walter Sickert (b. 1860)
William Heath Robinson (b. 1872)
Athene Seyler (b. 1889)
Helen Waddell (b. 1889)
Fred Allen (b. 1894)
Don Ameche (b. 1908)
ET Mensah (b. 1919)
Denholm Elliott (b. 1922)
Prince Rainier III of Monaco (b. 1923)
John Bonham (b. 1948)
Martin Hannett (b. 1948)
Tintoretto (d. 1594)
Franz Joseph Haydn (d. 1809)
Joseph Grimaldi (d. 1837)
Adolf Eichmann (d. 1962)
Jack Dempsey (d. 1983)
Sir Angus Wilson (d. 1991)
Sidney Gilliat (d. 1994)
Timothy Leary (d. 1996)
Johnnie Taylor (d. 2000)
Robert Quine (d. 2004)
Anne Boleyn crowned Henry VIII's 2nd Queen, 1533
Samuel Pepys discontinues his diary, 1669
Lady Godiva rides naked through Coventry, 1678
Royal Bank of Scotland founded, 1727
Reign of Terror begins, France, 1793
1st scuba-diving device patented by William James, UK, 1825
Battle of Bosenden Wood (last battle on English soil), 1838
Universal right to vote abolished, France, 1850
Big Ben 1st begins recording time, UK, 1859
Battle of Fair Oaks begins, American Civil War, 1862
1st recorded bicycle race, Paris, 1868
2,200 die in great floods, Pennsylvania, 1889
Trans-Siberian railway begun, 1891
Boer War ends with Peace of Vereeniging, 1902
Union of South Africa formed, Cape Town, 1910
Girl Guides founded, 1910
Titanic launched, Belfast, 1911
Olympic, sister ship of Titanic, begins maiden voyage, 1911
Harry Hawker flies to record height of 11,450 ft, 1913
1st air raid takes place, London, 1915
Battle of Jutland begins, 1916
Last 'Tin Lizzie' comes off production line, 1927
Daily Chronicle and Daily News combine to become News Chronicle, 1930
Donald Bradman becomes 1st Australian to score 1,000 runs in England, 1930
1st BBC panel game, Spelling Bee, introduced, 1938
Gothic (Black Letter) type officially abandoned in favour of Roman, Germany, 1941
Volga-Don Canal opened, 1952
South Africa becomes a republic and withdraws from Commonwealth, Pretoria, 1961
Gaumont Cinema destroyed by fire, Edinburgh, 1962
The Monkees begin filming TV series, NBC TV, US, 1966
Arkle put down, 1970
18,000 die in earthquake, Yungay Huascaran, Peru, 1970
People's March For Jobs arrives to GLC welcome, Trafalgar Square, 1981
The Rolling Stones perform at the 100 Club to 300 people, London, 1982
Viv Richards scores record international 1-day innings total of 189 not out, 1984
1st episode of Seinfeld broadcast, NBC TV, US, 1990
Oasis signed to Creation by Alan McGee on 1st sight, Glasgow, 1993
Geri Halliwell announces she has left Spice Girls, UK, 1998

Last updated: June 11, 2008