Historical Events on May 5

553 Second Council of Constantinople (5th ecumenical council) opens

Historic Event

1260 Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire

1430 Jews are expelled from Speyer, Germany

Voyage of Discovery

1494 On 2nd voyage to New World Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay

1640 English Short Parliament rises

Victory in Battle

1646 King Charles I surrenders in Scotland

1665 Nicolaas Witsen visits patriarch Nikon in Moscow
1726 Marie de Camargo (16) premieres at Opera of Paris
1762 Russia & Prussia sign Treaty of Saint Petersburg ending the Seven Years' War
1764 Smolny Institute forms in St Petersburg for noble girls

Historic Event

1778 George Washington appoints Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Inspector General of the Continental Army

Meeting of Interest

1789 French Estates-General meets for the first time since 1614 at Versailles, summoned King Louis XVI

Historic Event

1792 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre commissioned to measure the meridian between Dunkerque to Rodez to calculate accurate length of the metre

1809 Citizenship is denied to Jews of Aargau Canton, Switzerland
1809 Mary Kies is 1st woman issued a US patent for weaving straw
1814 British attack Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York
1816 American Bible Society organized in New York
1835 King Leopold I of Belgium opens Brussels-Mechelen railway

Historic Event

1840 Thomas Carlyle begins his famous lecture series "The Hero as Divinity", later collected in his book "On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History"

1842 City-wide fire burns for over 100 hours in Hamburg, Germany
1847 American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
1854 British Commodore James Plumridge attacks Finnish settlements in Gulf of Bothnia, killing civilans and destroying British-owned goods.
1855 New York State Commission on Emigration assumes lease of Castle Garden (now known as Castle Clinton), at the lower tip of Manhattan, to be used for immigration [1]
1861 Alexandria, Virginia - Confederate troops abandon the city
1862 French army intervenes in Puebla, Mexico: Cinco de Mayo
1862 Peninsular Campaign-Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia
1863 Irish boxer Joe Coburn KOs American Mike McCoole in the 67th round in his first defence of Heavyweight C'ship of America in Charlestown, Maryland
1864 Atlanta Campaign: 5 days fighting begins at Rocky Face Ridge
1864 Battle between Confederate & Union ships at mouth of Roanoke
1864 Battle of Wilderness, Virginia (Germanna Ford, Wilderness Tavern)
1864 Campaign in Northern Georgia - Chattanooga to Atlanta
1865 1st US train robbery (North Bend, Ohio)
1870 The British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind adopts Braille as best format for blind people
1874 Dutch 2nd Chamber passes child labor law

Historic Event

1877 Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles

1881 Anti-Jewish rioting in Kyiv, Ukraine
1886 The Bay View Tragedy occurs, as militia fires upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven.

Music History

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

Panic of 1893

1893 Panic of 1893 causes a large crash on the NY Stock Exchange

The panicked scene at the New York Stock Exchange on the infamous morning of Friday, 5 May, 1893

1900 "The Billboard" began weekly publication

Baseball Record

1904 Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in "modern" baseball as the Boston Americans beat Philadelphia Athletics, 3-0

1905 Robert S Abbott published 1st issue of newspaper "Chicago Defender"
1908 34th Kentucky Derby: Arthur Pickens aboard 66-1 chance Stone Street wins in muddy track conditions; 2:15.20 slowest Derby in history

Great White Fleet

1908 US Great White Fleet arrives in San Francisco

American naval ships leave Virginia on December 16, 1907, the first day of their two-year voyage

1912 Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing (4/22 OS)
1915 German U-20 captures and sinks Britsih schooner Earl of Lathom
1916 US Marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924

Historic Event

1917 Eugene Bullard gains his pilot's license from Aéro-Club de France and becomes the 1st African-American military pilot (French Air Service)

1917 St Louis Browns pitcher Ernie Koob no-hits Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at Sportsman's Park III
1920 German-Latvian peace treaty signed
1920 Italian migrant anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti charged with murder of a paymaster at a US shoe factory in Massachusetts, both are later executed
1920 Polish troops occupy Kiev

Historic Event

1920 US President Woodrow Wilson makes Communist Labor Party illegal

1921 1st ranger for Cleveland Metroparks hired
1921 Miniature newspaper published (Brighton Gazette 10 x 13 cm)

Historic Event

1921 Perfume Chanel No. 5 released by fashion designer Coco Chanel

1922 After sharing the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants for 10 years construction begins on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NYC
1924 Unions terminate Twentse textile strike
1925 Afrikaans is established as an official language in South Africa.

Historic Event

1925 Dayton teacher John T. Scopes arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee

Sports History

1925 Detroit center fielder Ty Cobb goes 6 for 6 with 4 runs, 5 RBI and 16 TBs in Tigers' 14-8 win over the Browns at Sportsman's Park III, St. Louis

1925 Yankee Everett Scott is benched, ending his 1,307-game playing streak
1926 Sinclair Lewis refuses his Pulitzer Prize for "Arrowsmith"

Music Premiere

1927 Dmitri Shostakovich's 1st Symphony premieres in Berlin

Historic Event

1930 Amy Johnson takes off - first woman to fly solo from England to Australia

Cricket History

1930 Australian cricket batting prodigy Don Bradman scores an unbeaten 185 in a tour match for Australia v Leicestershire at Aylestone Road, Leicester

1932 Japan & China sign a peace treaty
1934 60th Kentucky Derby: Mack Garner aboard Cavalcade wins in 2:04
1936 Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip
1936 Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa
1938 Phillies Harold Kelleher faces 16 batters in 6th, as Cubs score 12 runs, both marks are NL records off one hurler in a single inning
1940 Norwegian government-in-exile forms in London
1941 2 Fokker employees flee Nazi occupied Netherlands to England

Historic Event

1941 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa

1941 Pulitzer prize awarded to Robert E Sherwood (There shall be no night)
1942 British assault on Diego Suarez, Madagascar
1942 US begins rationing sugar during WW II
1943 Postmaster General Frank C Walker invents Postal Zone System

Historic Event

1944 Mahatma Gandhi freed from prison

1944 Soviet offensive against Sebastopol, Crimea
1945 Mauthausen Concentration camp in Austria liberated by US forces from 41st Reconnaissance Squadron
1945 Netherlands & Denmark liberated from Nazi control
1945 Premier Gerbrandy on Radio Orange tells Dutch they are liberated
1945 Uprising against occupying SS troops in Prague

Battle of Interest

1945 World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases

1947 Mississippi Valley flooding kills 16 & causes $850M in damage
1947 Pulitzer prize awarded to Robert Penn Warren for his novel "All the King's Men"
1948 1st squadron of jet aircraft aboard a carrier
1949 Detroit Tigers second baseman Charlie Gehringer is elected in the Baseball Hall of Fame
1949 KGO TV channel 7 in San Francisco, California (ABC) begins broadcasting
1949 Statute of Council of Europe drawn up

Royal Coronation

1950 Bhumibol Adulyadej crowned King Rama IX of Thailand in the Royal Palace in Bangkok

1951 "Out of This World" closes at New Century Theater NYC after 157 performances
1951 77th Kentucky Derby: Conn McCreary aboard Count Turf wins in 2:02.6
1952 "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" (also known as "Vitameatavegamin") episode of "I Love Lucy" premieres, garnering 68% of US television viewers
1952 Pulitzer prize awarded to Herman Wouk for this novel "The Caine Mutiny"

Coup d'état

1954 General Alfredo Stroessner leads a military coup in Paraguay, overthrowing the government of President Federico Chávez

1955 "Damn Yankees" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 1022 performances
1955 Indian parliament accepts Hindu divorce
1955 US performs nuclear test at Nevada test Site
1955 West Germany is granted full sovereignty by its three occupying powers
1956 82nd Kentucky Derby: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:03.4
1956 Broekster Boys soccer team forms in Damwoude
1956 Jim Bailey (US) runs mile a record 3:58.6 in LA Calif
1956 World championships of judo are 1st held in Tokyo
1957 Adolf Scharf elected president of Austria
1958 KNME TV channel 5 in Albuquerque, NM (PBS) begins broadcasting
1958 Pulitzer prize awarded to James Agee for Death in the Family
1958 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands

Historic Event

1961 Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7)

#1 in the Charts

1962 "West Side Story" soundtrack album goes #1 & stays #1 for 54 weeks which is more than 20 weeks longer than any other album

Choreographer, Director and Theater Producer Jerome Robbins

1962 88th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Decidedly wins in 2:00.4
1964 Separatists riot in Quebec
1965 First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
1966 Borussia Dortmund of West Germany win 6th European Cup Winner's Cup against Liverpool of England 2-1 in Glasgow
1966 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Montreal Canadiens earn back-to-back titles; beat Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 in OT for a 4-2 series victory

Sports History

1966 Willie Mays hit his 512th HR

1967 The Kinks release "Waterloo Sunset" as a single; peaks at #2 on the British charts
1969 23rd NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 3

Sports History

1969 Milwaukee Bucks sign #1 NBA Draft pick, star UCLA center Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

Historic Event

1969 Pulitzer prize awarded to Norman Mailer (Armies of the Night)

1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada test Site
1971 Courtney, Courtney, and Link's musical "Earl of Ruston" opens at Billy Rose Theater, NYC, runs for 5 performances
1971 Race riot in Brownsville section of Brooklyn (NYC)
1972 Alitalia DC-8 crashes west of Palermo Sicily; killing 115

Sports History

1973 99th Kentucky Derby: Ron Turcotte aboard Secretariat wins in 1:59.4 - fastest Kentucky Derby ever

Album Release

1973 Columbia Records releases "There Goes Rhymin' Simon", the third solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon; it features songs "Loves Me Like a Rock", "Kodachrome", and "American Tune"

1975 A's release pinch runner Herb Washington, who played 104 games without batting, pitching, or fielding. He did steal 30 bases and score 33 runs.
1975 Pulitzer prize awarded to Michael Shaara for historical novel "Killer Angels"
1976 Train collision at Schiedam, Netherlands, kills 24

Baseball Record

1978 Cincinnati Red Pete Rose becomes 14th player to get 3,000 hits

1979 105th Kentucky Derby: Ron Franklin on Spectacular Bid wins in 2:02.4
1979 Masterpiece Radio Theater begins broadcasting
1979 Voyager 1 fly-bys Jupiter
1980 Konstantinos Karamanlis is elected for the first time President of Greece
1980 Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as the SAS and police storm the building
1981 16th and final MLB pre-season Mayor's Trophy Game prior to inter-league play; NY Mets beat NY Yankees, 4-1 to hold 8-7-1 edge
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.
1983 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

Sports History

1984 110th Kentucky Derby: Laffit Pincay Jr.aboard Swale wins in 2:02.4

1984 29th Eurovision Song Contest: Herreys for Sweden wins singing "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" in Luxembourg
1984 NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: New York Islanders beat Montreal Canadians, 4 games to 2
1986 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announces Cleveland, Ohio chosen as the site of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum
1987 Congress begins Iran-Contra hearings
1987 Detroit Tigers are 11 games back in AL, but go on to win AL East
1987 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
1988 Eugene A. Marino installed as 1st African American archbishop, in Atlanta, Georgia

Sports History

1989 Mike Tyson gets 2nd speeding ticket for drag racing in Albany, New York

1990 116th Kentucky Derby: Craig Perret aboard Unbridled wins in 2:02
1990 35th Eurovision Song Contest: Toto Cutugno for Italy wins singing "Insieme: 1992" in Zagreb
1990 ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Chris Warren
1991 A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after Salvadoran man is shot by police

Music History

1992 American country singer Tammy Wynette hospitalized with bile duct infection

1994 "Sally Marrand Her Escorts" opens at Helen Hayes NYC for 50 performances
1994 Labour beats Conservatives in British local elections
1994 North-Yemen air force bombs Aden South Yemen
1995 Last basketball game at Boston Garden; Celtics eliminated from playoffs by Orlando Magic, 95-92
1996 "Jack-Night on Town with J Barrymore" closes at Belasco after 12 performances
1996 Renette Cruz, Vancouver, wins Miss Canadian Universe
1997 "Married With Children" final episode on Fox TV
1997 Iridium-1 Delta 2 Launch, Successful

Academy of Country Music Awards

1999 34th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks, Faith Hill & Tim McGraw win

2000 Conjunction of Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon
2001 127th Kentucky Derby: Jorge Chavez aboard Monarchos wins in 1:59.97

Election of Interest

2002 Jacques Chirac wins the French Presidential election for a second term defeating Jean-Marie Le Pen leader of the far-right National Front

Election of Interest

2005 Tony Blair's Labour Party is re-elected for a third consecutive term in UK general election

2006 The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army

Sports History

2007 133rd Kentucky Derby: Calvin Borel aboard 9-2 favourite Street Sense wins on his home track in front of special guest, Queen Elizabeth II

2007 Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 crashes in Cameroon.

Album Release

2008 American/Columbia Records releases "Home Before Dark", the twenty-seventh studio album by Neil Diamond; tops charts in US, UK and NZ

2012 138th Kentucky Derby: Mario Gutierrez aboard Ill Have Another wins in 2:01.83
2012 17 people are killed and 47 missing after a flash flood in Nepal
2012 English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (89,102): Chelsea beats Liverpool, 2–1; Didier Drogba scores winner for Blues' 7th title
2012 Japan shuts down its nuclear reactors leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970
2013 10 people are killed in a church attack in Njilan, Nigeria
2013 5 people are killed after a limousine catches fire in Hayward, California
2014 China announces it will upgrade Ethiopia's infrastructure in an effort to improve a China-Africa strategic partnership

Sports History

2014 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Briton Mark Selby beats countryman Ronnie O'Sullivan 18-14, the first of 3 world titles

2015 "Traveller" debut album by Chris Stapleton is released (Grammy Award Best Country Album, 2016; Billboard Album of the Year, 2016)
2015 Archaeornithura meemannae, the oldest known prehistoric bird, is discovered
2015 Scientists announce the discovery of the oldest & most distant galaxy known to man, EGS-zs8-1
2016 Fort McMurray wildfires: Canadian province of Alberta declares a state of emergency as evacuation of 80,000 people continues

Knighthood

2017 Anna Wintour, the editor of US Vogue, is made a dame by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace

2018 144th Kentucky Derby: 52 year old Mike Smith wins his second Derby aboard Justify in a time of 2:04.20 over a sloppy track

Music Single

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

2018 Electric cigarette explodes killing a man in St. Petersburg, Florida, first death from a vaping product

Sports History

2018 Former Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson suffers a brain haemorrhage and is hospitalised; recovers

2019 At least 41 people die when a Russian Aeroflot plane catches fire after an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport, Moscow
2019 King Vajiralongkorn is crowned King of Thailand, first monarch to be crowned in nearly seven decades during a three-day celebration in Bangkok
2019 Oil tanker explosion kills 55 in Niamey, Niger
2019 Violent clashes between Israel and Gaza militants over three days have left 4 Israelis and 23 Palestinians dead
2020 Global confirmed cases of COVID-19 reach 3.65 million, US cases pass 70,000 while the UK becomes the most affected in Europe with 29,427 known deaths
2020 São Luis, in Maranhão state becomes the first Brazilian city to enter lockdown because of COVID-19 as its health services struggle to cope
2021 A week of mass protests and demonstrations against government tax reform and poverty in Colombia leaves 24 dead
2021 Baltimore Orioles pitcher John Means no-hits Seattle Mariners, 6-0 at T-Mobile Park, Seattle
2021 Canada is the first country to authorize the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 12-15 year olds

Historic Event

2021 Donald Trump's ban from Facebook upheld by the company's Oversight Board for a further six months

2021 Evidence of Africa's earliest burial, a three-year-old boy, 78,000 years ago, in a cave in Kenya published [1]
2021 The possible eviction of Palestinian families from a Jerusalem neighborhood begins days of unrest in the city, injuring hundreds