Today May 18th 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
1152 – Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.
1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch.
1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
1498 – Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India.
1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd s accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
1652 – Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
1765 – Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec.
1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay lead by Jose Artigas.
1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Vicksburg begins.
1869 – Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan.
1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional.
1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
1897 – Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
1910 – The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.
1927 – The Bath School Disaster: Forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino – Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) evacuate Monte Cassino.
1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
1958 – An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 2,259.82 km/h (1,404.19 mph).
1959 – Launching of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
1974 – Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
1974 – Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It later collapses on August 8, 1991.
1980 – 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
1980 – Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
1983 – In Ireland, the government launches a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h.
1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is unrecognised by the international community.
1992 – The Archivist of the United States officially announces the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1993 – EU-riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets were fired.
1998 – United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
Births
1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, poet and philosopher (d. 1131)
1186 – Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (d. 1218)
1474 – Isabella d Este, Marquise of Mantua (d. 1539)
1610 – Stefano della Bella, Italian printmaker (d. 1664)
1616 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German composer (d. 1667)
1662 (O.S.) – George Smalridge, English bishop of Bristol (d. 1719)
1692 (O.S.) – Joseph Butler, English bishop and philosopher (d. 1752)
1711 – Ruder Josip Boškovic, Croatian atomic theorist (d. 1787)
1777 – John George Children, British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist (d. 1852)
1778 – Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (d. 1854)
1785 – John Wilson, Scottish writer (d. 1854)
1797 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
1850 – Oliver Heaviside, English physicist (d. 1925)
1851 – James Budd, Governor of California (d. 1908)
1854 – Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and music teacher (d. 1924)
1868 – Nicholas II of Russia, Tsar of Russia (d. 1918)
1872 – Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, English mathematician, writer and philosopher, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
1876 – Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)
1882 – Babe Adams, American baseball player (d. 1968)
1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, President of Brazil (d. 1974)
1883 – Walter Gropius, German architect (d. 1969)
1887 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
1889 – Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (d. 1944)
1891 – Rudolf Carnap, German philosopher (d. 1970)
1892 – Ezio Pinza, Italian-born bass (d. 1957)
1897 – Frank Capra, American film producer, director, and writer (d. 1991)
1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1978)
1902 – Meredith Willson, American composer (d. 1984)
1904 – Jacob K. Javits, American politician (d. 1986)
1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer (d. 1943)
1907 – Carl Mydans, American photographer (d. 2004)
1909 – Fred Perry, British former tennis player (d. 1995)
1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (d. 1985)
1912 – Richard Brooks, American film director, writer and producer (d. 1992)
1912 – Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)
1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 2003)
1913 – Jane Birdwood, British anti-Semitic activist (d. 2000)
1913 – Charles Trenet, French singer and songwriter (d. 2001)
1913 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Fifth President of India (d. 1996)
1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer (d. 1982)
1918 – George Welch, American pilot and war hero (d. 1954)
1918 – Massimo Girotti, Italian actor (d. 2003)
1919 – Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (d. 1991)
1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
1920 – Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
1922 – Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (d. 2005)
1922 – Bill Macy, American actor
1922 – Kai Winding, Danish-born musician (d. 1983)
1923 – Hugh Shearer, Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, French Canadian actor and artistic director
1924 – Priscilla Pointer, American actress
1924 – Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster
1926 – Dirch Passer, Danish actor (d. 1980)
1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor
1929 – Jack Sanford, American baseball player (d. 2000)
1930 – Warren Rudman, American politician
1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
1931 – Robert Morse, American actor
1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician
1934 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor and television executive
1937 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player
1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourg statesman
1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate (d. 1992)
1939 – Gordon O Connor, Canadian politician
1940 – Gaston Laperse, Belgian stone sculptor
1941 – Lobby Loyde, Australian guitarist and songwriter (d. 2007)
1941 – Miriam Margolyes, British actress
1942 – Albert Hammond, British musician and composer
1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer
1943 – James Reiher, American professional wrestler
1944 – W. G. Sebald, German-born writer (d. 2001)
1946 – Bruce Gilbert, English musician (Wire)
1946 – Frank Hsieh, former Premier of Taiwan
1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player
1946 – Andreas Katsulas, American actor (d. 2006)
1947 – John Bruton, ninth Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland
1948 – Tom Udall, American politician
1949 – Rick Wakeman, English composer and musician (Yes)
1949 – Bill Wallace, Canadian musician (The Guess Who)
1950 – Thomas Gottschalk, German television show host
1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer, musician, and singer (Devo)
1951 – Jim Sundberg, American baseball player
1952 – Diane Duane, American writer
1952 – George Strait, American musician
1952 – Jeana Yeager, American aviator
1954 – Reinhold Heil, German composer
1955 – Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
1957 – Michael Cretu, German musician (Enigma)
1958 – Toyah Willcox, English actor and singer
1959 – Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player
1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player
1962 – Mike Whitmarsh, American Volleyball Player
1962 – Nanne Grönvall, Swedish singer
1962 – Sandra Cretu, German singer
1962 – Mike Darnell, American television executive
1965 – Ingo Schwichtenberg, German drummer (d. 1995)
1966 – Michael Tait, American musician (dc Talk, Tait)
1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German F1 driver
1967 – Rob Base, American rapper
1969 – Martika, Cuban-American singer
1970 – Tina Fey, American writer/actress
1971 – Brad Friedel, American soccer player
1971 – Desiree Horton, American helicopter pilot/television reporter
1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese racing driver
1972 – Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Dario Franchitti, Scottish racecar driver
1974 – Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player
1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
1975 – Jack Johnson, American musician
1975 – Peter Iwers, Swedish bass player (In Flames)
1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian ice hockey player
1977 – Lee Hendrie, English footballer
1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer
1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
1978 – Marcus Giles, American baseball player
1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
1979 – Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoiest
1979 – Julián Speroni, Argentine footballer
1979 – Milivoje Novakovic, Slovenian footballer
1980 – Jeff Roehl, American football player
1980 – Ali Zafar, Pakistani singer and model
1980 – Aileen Campbell, Scottish Politician
1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian footballer
1982 – Jason Brown, English-born footballer
1982 – Eric West, American singer and actor
1983 – Gary O Neil, English footballer
1983 – Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player
1983 – Vince Young, American football player
1984 – Scarlett Keegan, Playboy Playmate
1984 – Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player
1984 – Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist
1986 – Ryan Lamb, English rugby union player
1987 – Luisana Lopilato, Argentine actress and model
1988 – Ryan Cooley, Canadian television actor
1992 – Spencer Breslin, American actor
1997 – Alana Etheridge, American actress
Deaths
1401 – Wladyslaw Opolczyk (German: Ladislaus von Oppel, count palatine of Hungary 1367-1372, governor of Halych-Volhynia 1372 – 1378, count palatine of Poland
1450 – Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1397)
1550 – John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (b. 1498)
1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter (d. 1486)
1584 – Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1559)
1675 – Stanislaw Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer (b. 1623)
1675 – Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
1692 – Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (b. 1617)
1733 – Georg Böhm, German organist (b. 1761)
1780 – Charles Hardy, British governor of Newfoundland
1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian Indian revolutionary, a descendant of the last Inca ruler, Túpac Amaru (b. 1742)
1799 – Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French playwright (b. 1732)
1800 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
1807 – John Douglas, Scottish Anglican bishop and man of letters (b. 1721)
1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister and inventor
1829 – Maria Josepha of Saxony, queen consort of Spain (b. 1803)
1844 – Richard McCarty, American politician (b. 1780)
1889 – Isabella Glyn Dallas, Scottish Shakepearean actress (b. 1823)
1900 – Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
1909 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
1910 – Pauline Garcia-Viardot, French mezzo-soprano and composer (b. 1821)
1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish novelist (b. 1841)
1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)
1927 – Andrew Kehoe, American mass murderer (b. 1872)
1941 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
1963 – Ernie Davis, American football player (b. 1939)
1967 – Andy Clyde, American actor (b. 1892)
1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
1973 – Jeannette Rankin, first U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1880)
1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)
1980 – Ian Curtis, English musician, singer and lyricist (Joy Division) (b. 1956)
1980 – Harry Truman, victim of Mount St. Helens eruption (b. 1896)
1980 – David A. Johnston, a U.S. Volcanoligist was also a victim of Mount St. Helens eruption (b. 1949)
1980 – Reid Blackburn, a photojournalist for National Geographic was also a victim of Mount St. Helens eruption (b. 1952)
1981 – Arthur O Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
1981 – William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
1988 – Daws Butler, American voice actor (b. 1916)
1990 – Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
1992 – Skip Stephenson, American TV personality (b. 1940)
1992 – Marshall Thompson, American actor (b. 1925)
1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
1995 – Alexander Godunov, Russian ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
1997 – Bridgette Andersen, American actress (b. 1975)
1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer (b. 1954)
1999 – Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)
2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian musician and arranger (b. 1946)
2000 – Maulana Yousuf Ludhianvi, Muslim scholar
2002 – Davey Boy Smith, English professional wrestler (b. 1962)
2003 – Anna Santisteban, Puerto Rican beauty contest organizer (b. 1914)
2003 – Barb Tarbox, Canadian anti-smoking crusader (b. 1961)
2004 – Elvin Jones, American jazz drummer (b. 1927)
2004 – Serge Turgeon, Quebec actor and union leader (b. 1946)
2006 – Andrew Martinez, U.C. Berkeley s Naked Guy (b. 1972)
2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist (b. 1932)
2007 – Yoyoy Villame, Philippine novelty singer and movie actor (b. 1932)
2008 – Joseph Pevney, American television director
Holidays and observances
International Museum Day
Renascence, Unity and Poetry Day of Makhtumkuli in Turkmenistan
Festival of the god Pan in Ancient Greece
Festival of Faunus in Ancient Rome
Liturgical feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
Saint Eric of Sweden
Saint Dioscorus
St. Felix of Cantalice
Pope John I
Venantius of Camerino
Feast day of Saint Alexandra in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Flag Day in Haiti
