What Happened on May 5

Historical Events

  • 1955 West Germany is granted full sovereignty by its three occupying powers
  • 1965 First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
  • 1980 Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as the SAS and police storm the building
  • 1981 After 66 days on hunger strike, 26 year old Provisional IRA member and British MP Bobby Sands dies in the Maze Prision. Nine more hunger strikers die in the next 3 months.
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May 5 in Film & TV

  • 2018 Childish Gambino [Donald Glover] releases the music video to new single "This is America" to wide acclaim

May 5 in Music

  • 1891 Music Hall (now Carnegie Hall) opens in New York City, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as guest conductor of teh New York Music Society Orchestra

May 5 in Sport

  • 1904 Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in "modern" baseball as the Boston Americans beat Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0
  • 1969 Milwaukee Bucks sign #1 NBA Draft pick, star UCLA center Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

Did You Know?

Perfume Chanel No. 5 released by fashion designer Coco Chanel

On May 5, 1921

Would You Believe?

"West Side Story" soundtrack album goes #1 & stays #1 for 54 weeks which is more than 20 weeks longer than any other album

On May 5, 1962

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