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Almanac May 31 :: John Bonham

John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music by many drummers, other musicians, and commentators in the industry. Over 30 years after his death, Bonham continues to garner awards and praise, including a Rolling Stone readers' pick in 2011 placing him in first place of the magazine's "best drummers of all time".

Events

1279 BC – Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
526 – A devastating earthquake strikes Antioch, Turkey, killing 250,000.
1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River – Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans.
1578 – Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1578 – King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris.
1669 – Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
1678 – The Godiva procession through Coventry begins.
1775 – American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolutions are allegedly adopted in the Province of North Carolina.
1790 – Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
1790 – French Revolution: the Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
1805 – French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock
1813 – In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
1854 – The civil death procedure is abolished in France.
1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
1862 – American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks) – Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G. W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor – The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant & George G. Meade.
1866 – In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded.
1879 – New York, New York's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
1884 – Arrival at Plymouth of Tawhiao, King of Maoris, to claim protection of Queen Victoria
1889 – Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1902 – Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
1909 – The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the NAACP, convenes for the first time.
1910 – Creation of the Union of South Africa.
1911 – The hull of the ocean liner RMS Titanic is launched.
1911 – President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.
1916 – World War I: Battle of Jutland – The British Grand Fleet under the command of Sir John Jellicoe & Sir David Beatty engage the Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Reinhard Scheer & Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
1921 – Tulsa Race Riot: A civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
1924 – The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect.
1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
1929 – The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, "The Karnival Kid", is released.
1935 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead.
1941 – A Luftwaffe air raid in Dublin, Ireland, claims 38 lives.
1941 – Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
1961 – The Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa.
1961 – In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
1962 – The West Indies Federation dissolves.
1962 – Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.
1970 – The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
1973 – The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed.
1981 – Burning of Jaffna library, Sri Lanka, It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century.
1985 – 1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
1991 – Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II mission.
2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat.
2009 – Anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder shoots and kills physician George Tiller during church services in Wichita, Kansas.
2010 – In international waters, armed Shayetet 13 commandos, intending to force the flotilla to anchor at the Ashdod port, boarded ships trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, resulting in 9 civilian deaths.

Births

1162 – Genghis Khan, Khagan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1227)
1443 – Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
1469 – Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
1557 – Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)
1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
1640 – Michael of Poland (d. 1673)
1641 – Dositheos, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
1656 – Marin Marais, French composer (d. 1728)
1732 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian Roman Catholic Archbishop (d. 1812)
1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French statesman (d. 1793)
1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817)
1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German writer (d. 1853)
1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)
1818 – John Albion Andrew, American politician (d. 1867)
1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892)
1835 – Hijikata Toshizo, Japanese military leader (d. 1869)
1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900)
1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentine explorer (d. 1919)
1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
1863 – Francis Younghusband, British explorer (d. 1942)
1872 – W. Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944)
1879 – Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian operatic soprano (d. 1952)
1882 – Sándor Graf Festetics, Hungarian politician (d. 1956)
1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician (d. 1942)
1885 – Alois Hudal, Austrian Roman Catholic bishop (d. 1963)
1887 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (d. 1968)
1892 – Erich Neumann, German Nazi politician (d. 1951)
1892 – Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian writer (d. 1968)
1892 – Gregor Strasser, German Nazi politician (d. 1934)
1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)
1898 – Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
1901 – Alfredo Antonini, American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
1902 – Billy Mayerl, English pianist and composer (d. 1959)
1905 – Florence Desmond, English actress and comedian (d. 1993)
1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
1908 – Nils Poppe, Swedish actor (d. 2000)
1909 – Art Coulter, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2000)
1909 – Aurore Gagnon, French Canadian child abuse victim (d. 1920)
1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
1912 – Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
1914 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (d. 2006)
1916 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (d. 1997)
1916 – Bernard Lewis, British-American historian
1919 – Robie Macauley, American novelist and literary critic (d. 1995)
1921 – Alida Valli, Italian actress (d. 2006)
1921 – Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer (d. 2008)
1922 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
1923 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)
1930 – Clint Eastwood, American film director and actor
1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano (d. 2010)
1932 – Ed Lincoln, Brazilian musician and album producer
1932 – Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994)
1933 – Henry B. Eyring, American religious figure; son of Henry Eyring
1934 – Jim Hutton, American actor (d. 1979)
1935 – Jim Bolger, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer (d. 2003)
1938 – John Prescott, English politician
1938 – Peter Yarrow, American folk singer (Peter, Paul and Mary)
1939 – Terry Waite, British humanitarian
1940 – Gilbert Shelton, American underground comics illustrator
1941 – Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
1943 – Joe Namath, American football player
1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German film director (d. 1982)
1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, Fourth President of Côte d'Ivoire
1945 – Bernard Goldberg?, American journalist
1946 – Ted Baehr, American media critic
1946 – Steve Bucknor, West Indian Cricket Umpire
1947 – Junior Campbell, British musician and songwriter (The Marmalade)
1948 – John Bonham, British musician (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)
1948 – Duncan Hunter, American politician
1948 – Lynda Bellingham, Canadian-born English actress and broadcaster
1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor
1949 – Nancy Shade, American opera singer
1950 – Gregory Harrison, American actor
1950 – Jean Chalopin, film producer and director, founder of DiC Entertainment
1952 – Karl Bartos, German musician (Kraftwerk, Electronic)
1953 – Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor
1954 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American singer (d. 2000)
1954 – Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer
1955 – Bruce Adolphe, U.S. composer and music scholar, the author of several books on music, and pianist
1955 – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian Guitarist CGP
1955 – Susie Essman, American actress
1956 – Fritz Hilpert, German musician and sound engineer (Kraftwerk)
1957 – Jim Craig, American hockey player
1959 – Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver
1960 – Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Chris Elliott, American comedian
1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English Rugby player
1961 – Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress
1961 – Justin Madden, Australian politician and footballer
1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian musician
1962 – Sebastian Koch, German actor
1963 – Hugh Dillon, Canadian musician and actor
1963 – Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician
1963 – Wesley Willis, American musician (d. 2003)
1964 – Leonard Asper, Canadian businessman
1964 – Scotti Hill, American rock guitarist
1964 – Darryl McDaniels, American musician (Run-D.M.C.)
1965 – Giorgos Gasparis, Greek basketball player
1965 – Brooke Shields, American actress and supermodel
1966 – Jeremy Hotz, Canadian stand-up comedian
1966 – Nick Scotti, American actor and singer
1967 – Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress
1967 – Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television personality
1967 – Kenny Lofton, American baseball player
1967 – Vampiro, Canadian professional wrestler
1968 – John Connolly, Irish author
1969 – Mindi Abair, American smooth jazz saxophonist
1971 – Diana Damrau, German soprano
1972 – Frode Estil, Norwegian cross-country skier
1972 – Sarah Murdoch, Australian model
1972 – Karl Geary, Irish actor
1972 – Dave Roberts, American baseball player
1972 – Archie Panjabi, English actress
1972 – Antti Niemi, Finnish footballer
1973 – Dominique Van Roost, Belgian tennis player
1974 – Chad Campbell, American golfer
1974 – Zsolt Erdei, Hungarian light heavyweight boxer
1974 – Adrian Tomine, American cartoonist
1974 – Sean Kent, American stand-up comedian, actor and writer
1975 – Yiasoumis Yiasoumi, Greek-Cypriot footballer
1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor
1976 – Matt Harpring, American basketball player
1976 – Tonka Tomicic, Chilean model and television presenter
1977 – Eric Christian Olsen, American actor
1977 – Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-born Greek volleyball player
1977 – Scott Klopfenstein, American musician (Reel Big Fish)
1977 – Phil Devey, Canadian baseball player
1977 – Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer
1977 – Greg Leeb, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Joachim Olsen, Danish athlete
1977 – Joel Ross, British disc jockey
1977 – June Sarpong, British television presenter
1977 – Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer
1977 – Petr Tenkrát, Czech ice hockey player
1979 – Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer
1980 – Craig Bolton, Australian rules footballer
1980 – Andy Hurley, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
1981 – Jake Peavy, American baseball player
1981 – Tasha Reid, Korean rapper
1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
1982 – Jonathan Tucker, American actor
1983 – David Hernandez, American singer
1983 – Dustin Wells, New Zealand footballer
1983 – Reggie Yates, English television presenter
1984 – Andrew Bailey, American baseball player
1984 – Milorad Cavic, Serbian swimmer
1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player
1984 – Jason Smith, Australian actor
1985 – Ian Vougioukas, Greek basketball player
1985 – Navene Koperweis, American musician
1986 – Waka Flocka Flame, American rapper
1986 – Melissa McIntyre, Canadian actress
1989 – Marco Reus, German footballer
1990 – Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player

Deaths

455 – Petronius Maximus, emperor of the Western Roman Empire
1162 – Géza II of Hungary (b. 1130)
1246 – Isabella of Angouleme, queen of John of England (b. 1188)
1349 – Thomas Wake, English politician (b. 1297)
1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1358)
1410 – King Martin I of Aragon (b. 1356)
1495 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1415)
1558 – Philip Hoby, English politician (b. 1505)
1567 – Guido de Bres, Belgian theologian (b. 1522)
1594 – Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518)
1680 – Joachim Neander, German clergyman (b. 1650)
1740 – King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)
1747 – Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
1799 – Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)
1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
1809 – Jean Lannes, French marshal (b. 1769)
1831 – Samuel Bentham, British mechanical engineer (b. 1757)
1832 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)
1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, British clown (b. 1779)
1846 – Philip Marheineke, German clergyman (b. 1780)
1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor (b. 1780)
1848 – Eugénie de Guérin, French writer (b. 1805)
1908 – Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet (b. 1839)
1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (b. 1821)
1931 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, French Canadian cardinal (b. 1866)
1945 – Odilo Globocnik, Austrian Nazi officer (b. 1904)
1954 – Antonis Benakis, Greek politician and art collector (b. 1873)
1957 – Stefanos Sarafis, Greek Greek Resistance figure (b. 1890)
1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
1960 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882)
1960 – Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)
1961 – Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)
1962 – Henry Fountain Ashurst, American politician (b. 1874)
1962 – Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi official (b. 1906)
1967 – Billy Strayhorn, American composer, pianist and arranger (b. 1915)
1970 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
1972 – Walter Freeman, American physician (b. 1895)
1976 – Jacques Monod, French biologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
1977 – William Castle, American film director (b. 1914)
1978 – József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
1985 – Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer (b. 1921)
1986 – Jane Frank (Jane Schenthal Frank), American artist (b. 1918)
1986 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
1987 – John Abraham (director), Indian film director (b. 1937)
1992 – Walter Neugebauer, Croatian comic book author (b. 1921)
1993 – Francis Lynch, American state legislator (b. 1920)
1994 – Herva Nelli, Italian-born soprano (b. 1909)
1996 – Timothy Leary, American professor and LSD advocate (b. 1920)
1997 – James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (b. 1905)
1998 – Charles Van Acker, Belgian racing driver (b. 1912)
2000 – Tito Puente, American musician (b. 1923)
2000 – Johnnie Taylor, American singer (b. 1938)
2001 – Arlene Francis, American television personality (b. 1907)
2004 – Robert Quine, American guitarist (b. 1941)
2004 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2006 – Ryan Bennett, American sportscaster (b. 1970)
2006 – Miguel Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (b. 1933)
2006 – Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
2006 – Lula Mae Hardaway, American songwriter, mother of singer Stevie Wonder (b. 1930)
2009 – Millvina Dean, British survivor of the RMS Titanic sinking (b. 1912)
2009 – George Tiller, American doctor (b. 1941)
2009 – Danny La Rue, British entertainer (b. 1927)
2010 – Louise Bourgeois, French-born American sculptor (b. 1911)
2010 – Brian Duffy, British photographer and film producer (b. 1933)
2010 – William A. Fraker, American cinematographer (b. 1923)
2010 – Rubén Juárez, Argentine bandoneonist (b. 1947)
2010 – Benjamin Lees, American composer (b. 1924)
2010 – Merata Mita, New Zealander filmmaker (b. 1942)

Holidays and observances

Anniversary of Royal Brunei Malay Regiment (Brunei)
Castile–La Mancha Day (Castile–La Mancha)
Christian Feast Day:

Almanac May 30 :: Howard Hawks

Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896–December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. He is popular for his films from a wide range of genres such as Scarface (1932), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948), The Thing from Another World (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and Rio Bravo (1959). In 1975, Hawks was awarded the Honorary Academy Award as "a master American filmmaker whose creative efforts hold a distinguished place in world cinema," and in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Sergeant York. Howard Hawks was born in Goshen, Indiana on May 30, 1896.

Events

70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometers.
1416 – The Council of Constance, called by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.
1431 – Hundred Years' War: in Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal. Because of this the Catholic Church remember this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc.
1434 – Hussite Wars (Bohemian Wars): Battle of Lipany – effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Borek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilate Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.
1536 – King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.
1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.
1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
1631 – Publication of La Gazette, first French newspaper.
1635 – Thirty Years' War: the Peace of Prague (1635) is signed.
1642 – From this date all honors granted by Charles I are retrospectively annulled by Parliament.
1806 – Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition – the Treaty of Paris (1814) is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled to Elba.
1815 – The East Indiaman ship Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, present-day South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives.
1832 – End of the Hambach Festival in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
1832 – The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario is opened.
1834 – Joaquim António de Aguiar issue a law extinguishing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses of the regular religious orders", earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer".
1842 – John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill, London with Prince Albert.
1854 – The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
1859 – Westminster's Big Ben rang for the first time in London.
1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (By "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5).
1871 – The Paris Commune falls.
1876 – Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
1883 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede that crushes twelve people.
1899 – Female Old West outlaw Pearl Hart robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.
1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
1913 – First Balkan War: the Treaty of London, 1913 is signed ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
1914 – The new and then largest Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.
1917 – Alexander I becomes king of Greece.
1922 – In Washington, D.C. the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
1925 – May 30 Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shot 13 protesting workers to death.
1941 – World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb on the Athenian Acropolis, tear down the Nazi swastika.
1942 – World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
1958 – Memorial Day: the remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Lord Cobham.
1961 – Long time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
1963 – A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.
1966 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Evariste Kimba and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.
1966 – Launch of Surveyor 1 the first US spacecraft to achieve landing on an extraterrestrial body.
1967 – The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.
1968 – Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 in France.
1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.
1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.
1972 – In Tel Aviv, Israel members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
1998 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
1998 – Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt.
2003 – Depayin massacre: at least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi fled the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.

Births

1010 – Emperor Renzong of China (d. 1063)
1423 – Georg Purbach, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1461)
1623 – John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (d. 1686)
1653 – Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Empress consort of Germany (d. 1676)
1713 – Princess Caroline Elizabeth of Great Britain (d. 1757)
1718 – Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, English politician (d. 1793)
1719 – Roger Newdigate, English politician (d. 1806)
1757 – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, British statesman (d. 1844)
1768 – Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty, French cavalry commander (d. 1815)
1768 – Karl Friedrich Naumann, German mineralogist and geologist (d. 1873)
1800 – Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose French archbishop of Rouen and senator (d. 1883)
1814 – Mikhail Bakunin, Russian anarchist (d. 1876)
1814 – Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian mathematician (d. 1894)
1819 – William McMurdo, British army officer (d. 1894)
1820 – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, French Canadian politician (d. 1890)
1844 – Félix Arnaudin, French poet and folklorist (d. 1921)
1845 – King Amadeo I of Spain (d. 1890)
1846 – Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian goldsmith and jeweler (d. 1920)
1858 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (d. 1941)
1871 – Olga Engl, Austrian actress (d. 1946)
1874 – Ernest Duchesne, French physician (d. 1912)
1875 – Giovanni Gentile, Italian philosopher (d. 1944)
1878 – Mike Donlin, American baseball player (d. 1933)
1879 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (d. 1917)
1881 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (d. 1968)
1882 – Wyndham Halswelle, Scottish runner (d. 1915)
1886 – Laurent Barré, Quebec author and politician (d. 1964)
1886 – Randolph Bourne, American writer (d. 1918)
1887 – Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian artist (d. 1964)
1890 – Roger Salengro, French politician (d. 1936)
1892 – Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (d. 1972)
1894 – Hubertus van Mook, Acting Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1942 to 1948 (d. 1965)
1895 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (d. 1956)
1896 – Howard Hawks, American film director (d. 1977)
1899 – Irving Thalberg, American film producer (d. 1936)
1901 – Cornelia Otis Skinner, American writer and actress (d. 1979)
1902 – Stepin Fetchit, American dancer and actor (d. 1985)
1906 – Bruno Gröning, German mystic (d. 1959)
1907 – Elly Beinhorn, German pilot (d. 2007)
1907 – Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist, member of French Resistance (d. 2008)
1908 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
1908 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
1909 – Benny Goodman, American clarinetist and bandleader (d. 1986)
1909 – Jacques Canetti, French talent-spotter (d. 1997)
1910 – Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete (d. 1978)
1910 – Inge Meysel, German actress (d. 2004)
1910 – Harry Bernstein, British-born American writer (d. 2011)
1912 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1912 – Erich Bagge, German physicist (d. 1996)
1912 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (d. 1980)
1912 – Joseph Stein, American playwright (d. 2010)
1914 – Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 37th Yokozuna (d. 1979)
1916 – Justin Catayée, French politician (d. 1962)
1918 – Guadalupe "Pita" Amor, Mexican poet (d. 2000)
1918 – Bob Evans, American restaurateur (d. 2007)
1919 – René Barrientos, President of Bolivia (d. 1969)
1920 – Franklin Schaffner, American film director (d. 1989)
1922 – Hal Clement, American writer (d. 2003)
1926 – Christine Jorgensen, American transsexual activist (d. 1989)
1927 – Clint Walker, American actor
1928 – Agnès Varda, French director
1928 – Kevin Charles "Pro" Hart, Australian artist (d. 2006)
1929 – Georges Gilson, French Catholic bishop
1930 – Mark Birley, British nightclub owner (d. 2007)
1930 – Robert Ryman, American painter
1932 – Pauline Oliveros, American composer and accordionist
1934 – Aleksei Leonov, Russian cosmonaut
1934 – Alketas Panagoulias, Greek footballer and coach
1935 – Lee Gunther, American television producer and editor (d. 1998)
1935 – Guy Tardif, Canadian politician (d. 2005)
1936 – Keir Dullea, American actor
1936 – Ruta Lee, Canadian actress
1937 – Harry Statham, American basketball coach
1939 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor
1939 – Dieter Quester, Austrian racing driver
1940 – Gilles Villemure, Canadian ice hockey player
1943 – James Chaney, American civil rights activist (d. 1964)
1943 – Gale Sayers, American football player
1944 – Lenny Davidson, English guitarist (The Dave Clark Five)
1944 – Meredith MacRae, American actress (d. 2000)
1944 – Stav Prodromou, American technology executive
1945 – Norman Eshley, English actor
1946 – Allan Chapman, English historian of science
1947 – Jocelyne Bourassa, French Canadian golfer
1948 – Michael Piller, American screenwriter (d. 2005)
1949 – P.J. Carlesimo, American basketball coach
1949 – Klaüs Flouride (né Geoffrey Lyall), American musician (Dead Kennedys)
1950 – Bertrand Delanoë, French politician
1950 – Dann Glenn, American Bassist and Composer
1950 – Paresh Rawal, Indian actor
1951 – Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor
1951 – Zdravko Colic, Yugoslav-Bosnian singer
1951 – Fernando Lugo, Paraguayan politician
1952 – Kerry Fraser, Canadian ice hockey referee and analyst
1952 – Scott Holmes, American actor
1953 – Colm Meaney, Irish actor
1955 – Jake "The Snake" Roberts, American wrestler
1955 – Topper Headon, British musician (The Clash)
1958 – Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer and songwriter (Roxette)
1958 – Steve Israel, American politician
1958 – Ted McGinley, American actor
1958 – Michael Lopez-Alegria, Spanish American astronaut
1959 – Phil Brown, English football manager
1959 – Randy Ferbey, Canadian curler
1959 – Frank Vanhecke, Belgian politician
1961 – Harry Enfield, British comedian
1961 – Ralph Carter, American actor
1961 – Bob Yari, Iranian-born American film producer
1962 – Kevin Eastman, American comic book creator (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
1962 – Tonya Pinkins, American actress
1963 – Michel Langevin, Canadian musician (Voivod)
1963 – Élise Lucet, French journalist and television host
1963 – Helen Sharman, British chemist, the first Briton in space
1964 – Wynonna Judd, American country singer
1964 – Tom Morello, American guitarist (Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine)
1964 – Andrea Montermini, Italian racing driver
1965 – Billy Donovan, American college basketball coach
1965 – Iginio Straffi, founder and CEO of Rainbow S.r.l. (Winx Club)
1966 – Stephen Malkmus, American musician (Pavement)
1967 – Tim Burgess, English singer (The Charlatans)
1968 – Kelley Armstrong, Canadian author
1968 – Jason Kenney, Canadian politician
1968 – Zacarias Moussaoui, French convicted terrorist
1969 – Ryuhei Kitamura, Japanese filmmaker
1969 – Naomi Kawase, Japanese film director
1970 – Flora Chan, Hong Kong television actress
1970 – Ness Wadia, Indian industrialist
1971 – Duncan Jones, English film director, son of David Bowie
1971 – Idina Menzel, American actress and singer
1971 – Jiri Slegr, Czech ice hockey player
1972 – Manny Ramírez, Dominican Republic baseball player
1972 – Soichiro Hoshi, Japanese voice actor
1973 – Leigh Francis, British comedian
1974 – Cee-Lo Green, American musician
1974 – Big L, American rapper (d. 1999)
1974 – Konstantinos Chalkias, Greek footballer
1974 – Shin Ha-kyun, South Korean actor
1974 – David Wilkie, American ice hockey player
1975 – Evan Eschmeyer, American basketball player
1975 – Brian Fair, American singer
1975 – Andrew Farrell, English rugby league and union footballer
1976 – Rasho Nesterovic, Slovenian basketball player
1976 – Magnus Norman, Swedish tennis player
1976 – Margaret Okayo, Kenyan athlete
1976 – Leonel Grave de Peralta, Cuban dissident
1977 – Akwá, Angolan footballer
1977 – Marc Dos Santos, Canadian soccer manager
1977 – Rachael Stirling, British actress
1978 – Eric Searle American Musician
1978 – Cyrus King, American actor
1978 – Lyoto Machida, Brazilian mixed martial artist
1979 – Mike Bishai, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Rie Kugimiya, Japanese voice actress
1979 – Clint Bowyer, American NASCAR driver
1979 – Francis Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Steven Gerrard, English footballer
1981 – Devendra Banhart, American singer and songwriter
1981 – Blake Bashoff, American actor
1981 – Gianmaria Bruni, Italian racing driver
1981 – Ahmad Elrich, Australian footballer
1981 – Remy Ma, American rapper
1981 – Lars Møller Madsen, Danish handball player
1981 – Hisanori Takada, Japanese footballer
1982 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (d. 2007)
1982 – James Simpson-Daniel, English rugby player
1983 – Jennifer Ellison, English actress, model, singer
1984 – Matt Maguire, Australian rules footballer
1984 – Jordan Palmer, American football player
1984 – Sham Kwok Fai, Hong Kong footballer
1984 – Alexander Sulzer, German ice hockey player
1985 – Aaron Volpatti, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Joyce Cheng, Hong Kong musician, writer, actress
1988 – Antonio Winterstein, Australian rugby league footballer
1988 – Kelvin Etuhu, Nigerian footballer
1989 – Ailee, American-Korean singer and actress
1989 – Hyomin, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (T-ara)
1989 – Kevin Covais, American singer and actor
1989 – Lesia Tsurenko, Ukrainian tennis player
1990 – Dean Collins, American actor
1990 – Andrei Loktionov, Russian ice hockey player
1990 – Im Yoona, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (Girls' Generation)
1992 – Liam Mower, English actor and dancer
1997 – Jake Short, American actor
2000 – Jared S. Gilmore, American actor

Deaths

1159 – Wladislaus II the Exile of Poland (b. 1105)
1252 – King Ferdinand III of Castile (b. 1199)
1416 – Jerome of Prague, Czech theologian (b. 1379)
1431 – Joan of Arc, French military figure and Catholic saint (b. 1412)
1434 – Prokop the Great, Hussite general
1469 – Lope de Barrientos, Spanish bishop (b. 1382)
1574 – King Charles IX of France (b. 1550)
1576 – Harada Naomasa, Japanese retainer and samurai
1593 – Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (b. 1564)
1640 – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (b. 1577)
1696 – Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty (b. 1638)
1712 – Andrea Lanzani, Italian painter of the Baroque period (b. c. 1645)
1718 – Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle, Dutch noble (b. 1670)
1730 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1648)
1744 – Alexander Pope, English writer (b. 1688)
1770 – François Boucher, French painter (b. 1703)
1778 – Voltaire, French philosopher and author (b. 1694)
1829 – Philibert Jean-Baptiste Curial, French military figure (b. 1774)
1832 – James Mackintosh, Scottish jurist, politician and historian (b. 1765)
1865 – John Catron, American jurist (b. 1786)
1868 – Okita Soji, Japanese law enforcement figure (b. 1823)
1901 – Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician (b. 1841)
1911 – Milton Bradley, American game pioneer (b. 1836)
1912 – Wilbur Wright, American aviatior (b. 1867)
1918 – Georgi Plekhanov, Russian Marxist theoretician (b. 1856)
1925 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian (b. 1876)
1926 – Vladimir Steklov, Russian physicist (b. 1864)
1934 – Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (b. 1848)
1939 – Floyd Roberts, American race car driver (b. 1904)
1941 – King Prajadhipok of Thailand (b. 1893)
1946 – Louis Slotin, Canadian scientist (b. 1910)
1947 – Georg Ludwig von Trapp, Austrian submarine commander (b. 1880)
1948 – József Klekl, Slovene politician (b. 1874)
1949 – Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (b. 1874)
1951 – Hermann Broch, Austrian author (b. 1886)
1953 – Dooley Wilson, American musician and actor (b. 1886)
1955 – Bill Vukovich, American race car driver (b. 1918)
1960 – Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
1961 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, Dominican Republic dictator (b. 1891)
1964 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Olubadan of Ibadan (b. 1882)
1964 – Leó Szilárd, Hungarian nuclear physicist (b. 1898)
1964 – Eddie Sachs, American auto racer (b. 1927)
1964 – Dave MacDonald, American auto racer (b. 1936)
1965 – Louis Hjelmslev, Danish linguist (b. 1899)
1967 – Claude Rains, English actor (b. 1889)
1967 – Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Austrian film director (b.1885)
1971 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (b. 1886)
1975 – Steve Prefontaine, American distance runner (b. 1951)
1975 – Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese martial artist (b. 1908)
1975 – Michel Simon, French actor (b. 1895)
1976 – Max Carey, American baseball player (b. 1890)
1978 – Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1909)
1980 – Carl Radle, American bass guitarist (b. 1942)
1981 – Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
1981 – Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi statesman (b. 1936)
1986 – Perry Ellis, American fashion designer (b. 1940)
1988 – Robert O'Reilly, Australian singer (b. 1940)
1993 – Sun Ra, American musician (b. 1914)
1994 – Ezra Taft Benson, American religious figure (b. 1899)
1994 – Marcel Bich, French industrialist (b. 1914)
1994 – Agostino Di Bartolomei, Italian footballer (b. 1955)
1995 – Ted Drake, English footballer (b. 1912)
1995 – Lofty England, English automotive engineer (b. 1911)
1995 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (b. 1951)
1996 – Léon-Etienne Duval, French Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1903)
2000 – Tex Beneke, American bandleader and musician (b. 1914)
2000 – Doris Hare, Welsh actress (b. 1905)
2001 – Denis Whitaker, Canadian soldier and author (b. 1915)
2003 – Mickie Most, English record producer (b. 1938)
2005 – Fazal Mahmood, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1927)
2005 – Tomasz Pacynski, Polish writer (b. 1958)
2005 – Alma Ziegler, American baseball player (b. 1918)
2006 – Shohei Imamura, Japanese film director (b. 1926)
2006 – Robert Sterling, American actor (b. 1917)
2006 – David Lloyd, New Zealand biologist (b. 1938)
2007 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and author (b. 1933)
2007 – Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet (b.1927)
2008 – Lorenzo Odone, American medical figure (b. 1978)
2008 – Noel Moore, British civil servant (b. 1928)
2008 – Auguste Legros, French politician (b.1922)
2009 – Torsten Andersson, Swedish painter (b. 1926)
2009 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli biophysicist and politician (b. 1916)
2010 – Duff Roblin, Canadian politician (b. 1917)
2010 – Joan Rhodes, British performer and stuntwoman (b. 1921)
2010 – Peter Orlovsky, American poet (b. 1933)
2011 – Clarice Taylor, American actress (b. 1917)