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Historical Events on May 24

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Events 1 - 200 of 228

  • 1086 Abbott Dauferio/Desiderius becomes Pope Victor III
  • 1153 Malcolm IV becomes King of Scots
  • 1218 The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt
  • 1276 Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral

Philip IV Occupies Flanders

1300 French King Philip IV occupies Flanders and captures the Count of Flanders, Guy of Dampierre

  • 1370 Hanzesteden signs peace treaty with Danish king Waldemar IV
  • 1487 Imposter Lambert Simnel ceremony crowned as King Edward VI in Dublin
  • 1595 Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library
  • 1621 The Protestant Union is formally dissolved
  • 1660 English king Charles II visits Netherlands
  • 1667 French troops attack into Southern Netherlands
  • 1689 English Parliament guarantees freedom of religion for Protestants
  • 1697 English King William III travels through northern Europe

Aldersgate Day

1738 John Wesley is converted, launching the Methodist movement; celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day

Louis Mandrin Sentenced

1755 Smuggler Louis Mandrin considered the French Robin Hood is sentenced to be broken on the wheel, a medieval form of torture and execution that breaks the bones of the subject

President Hancock

1775 John Hancock is unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress

  • 1798 Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins

Beethoven and Bridgewater Perform

1803 Ludwig van Beethoven and black violinist George Bridgewater perform a concert together at the Augarten, Vienna [1]

  • 1815 English surveyor George Evans is the first European to discover the Lachlan River, Australia

Jackson Captures Pensacola

1818 General Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola, Florida

Battle of Pichincha

1822 Battle of Pichincha, Simón Bolívar secures the independence of Ecuador from Spain

  • 1824 Pope Leo XII proclaims a universal jubilee
  • 1829 Pope Pius VIII issues his program for pontificate
  • 1830 "Mary Had A Little Lamb" by Sarah Josepha Hale is first published by Boston firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon
  • 1830 1st regular passenger rail service on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line, horse-drawn rail cars connect Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills
  • 1832 The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference

1st Telegraph Message

1844 Samuel Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" in the world's first telegraph message

Patron's Medal for Ludwig Leichhardt

1847 German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt is awarded the Patron's Medal by the Royal Geographical Society, London in recognition of 'the increased knowledge of the great continent of Australia' gained by his Moreton Bay-Port Essington journey

  • 1854 Escaped slave Anthony Burns is arrested by US Deputy marshals in Boston under the Fugitive Slave Act

Pottawatomie Massacre

1856 Pottawatomie Massacre: John Brown and abolitionist settlers kill five pro-slavery settlers in Franklin County, Kansas

  • 1861 Alexandria, Virginia, occupied by Union troops

Butler Declares Slaves Contraband

1861 Union Major General Benjamin Butler declares escaped slaves "contraband of war", after three slaves escaped to Fort Monroe - will become Union policy and change the course of the war [1]

  • 1862 Beardslee field telegraph used for 1st time

Westminster Bridge Defies King and Church

1862 Westminster Bridge across The Thames in London opens, becoming the second such bridge after an earlier bridge fell into decay

  • 1866 Berkeley, California named (for George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne)
  • 1870 Memoria of Jackson Kemper, 1st Missionary Bishop in US

Alexandra Palace Opens

1873 Alexandra Palace opens on Queen Victoria's 54th birthday with a grand celebration including concerts, recitals and fireworks

  • 1873 Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit" ("The King Has Spoken") premieres at the Opéra-Comique in Paris
  • 1878 CA Parker (Harvard) wins 1st American bike race at Beacon Park in Boston
  • 1881 Overloaded Canadian river ferry "Princess Victoria" sinks near London, Ontario, 180 die
  • 1881 Turkey cedes Thessaly and Arta back to Greece.
  • 1884 Anti-Monopoly party & Greenback Party forms People's Party in US
  • 1887 Sultan Bargash of Zanzibar grants E African Association at East African harbors
  • 1890 Geo Train & Sam Wall circle world in record 67 days, Tacoma-Tacoma

Leo von Caprivi Chancellor

1890 Leo von Caprivi succeeds Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor of Germany

  • 1890 Tivoli Theater of Varieties opens in London

Lowell Observatory Views Mars

1894 Lowell Observatory, Arizona, first begins observations of Mars with an eighteen-inch telescope, leads its builder Percival Lowell to conclude there are canals on Mars

  • 1895 Henry Irving becomes the first actor to receive a knighthood
  • 1899 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston)
  • 1901 Seventy-eight miners die in the Caerphilly pit disaster in South Wales
  • 1902 Cleve's Bill Bradley is 1st ALer to hit a HR run in 4 consecutive games, not duplicated until Babe Ruth does it June 25, 1918
  • 1902 Empire Day 1st celebrated in Britain
  • 1908 Belgium Catholic socialist/liberal parliamentary election
  • 1908 John Masefields "Tragedy of Nan" premieres in London
  • 1909 Bristol University granted Royal Charter

Edison Invents Telescribe

1915 Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations

  • 1916 Conscription begins in Britain
  • 1916 French driven out of Fort Douaumont after 500 killed or injured
  • 1916 Last British-Indian contract workers arrive in Suriname
  • 1916 US pilot William Thaw shoots down a German Fokker
  • 1918 British officer General Poole lands at Murmansk, the Russian port on the Barents Sea
  • 1918 Cleveland starter Stan Coveleski sets club record for most innings pitched (19) in a complete game as the Indians beat the New York Yankees, 3-2 at the Polo Grounds, NYC
  • 1921 1st parliament for Northern Ireland elected
  • 1921 Bulhoek Massacre: police commissioner Colonel Theodore Truter leads 6 squadrons and artillery detachment against Israelite religious sect collected at annual gathering on land of leader Enoch Mgijima at Ntabalanga; 190 killed
  • 1922 Record temperature in Netherlands for May recorded: 35.6°C (96°F)
  • 1922 Russian-Italian trade agreement signed

Stanley Baldwin Prime Minister

1923 Stanley Baldwin succeeds Andrew Bonar Law as British Prime Minister

  • 1924 Canada grants women the right to vote in federal elections, though First Nations women still unable to without giving up their status [1]

Paavo Nurmi Sets Record

1926 Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi sets world 3000m record (8:25.4) in Berlin, Germany

  • 1928 Italian aviator Umberto Nobile flies airship Italia over North Pole again (crashes onto ice pack a day later)

Twelve Famers on One Field

1928 Record 12 future Baseball Hall of Famers take the field as NY Yankees beat Philadelphia A's, 9-7 at Shibe Park; managers Miller Huggins & Connie Mack, umpire Tom Connolly also HOF'ers

  • 1929 Chicago WS pitcher Ted Lyons and Detroit's George Uhle go 21 innings before Tigers get a run to win, 6-5; longest game (3 hours, 31 mins) ever at Comiskey Park, Chicago

Bradman's Double Century at 21

1930 21-year-old Australian cricket master batsman Don Bradman scores 252 not out in a tour match for Australia v Surrey at Kennington Oval, London

1st Woman Flies UK to Australia

1930 Amy Johnson becomes the 1st woman to fly solo from United Kingdom to Australia

Nine HRs in One Week

1930 NY Yankees' legendary slugger Babe Ruth homers in both games of a doubleheader (beat Philadelphia A's 10-6 & 11-1); gives him 9 HR's in one week

  • 1931 1st air-conditioned train installed-B&O Railroad

Shostakovich's Preludes

1933 Dmitri Shostakovich's Preludes premieres in Moscow

  • 1934 Colombia & Peru sign accord about harbor city Leticia
  • 1935 1st major league night baseball game, in Cincinnati (Reds 2, Philadelphia 1)
  • 1936 Dutch bishops forbid membership of Nazi party
  • 1936 Tony Lazerri 2 grand slams (11 RBIs); Ben Chapman sets record by reaching 1st 7 times safely, Yanks beat A's 25-2
  • 1940 1st night game at St Louis Sportsman Park (Indians 3, Browns 2)

Germany Issues Halt Order

1940 Adolf Hitler and General von Rundstedt issue a Halt Order stopping German armed divisions and allowing British and French armies to evacuate through Calais and Dunkirk

  • 1940 Dutch army demobilizes

Queen Wilhelmina's BBC Address

1940 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina speaks on BBC radio

  • 1940 German tanks reach Arras, France
  • 1940 NY Giants swat Boston Bees, 8-1, in 1st night game at Polo Grounds, NYC
  • 1941 German athlete Rudolf Harbig runs world record 1,000m in 2:21.5 at Dresden, Germany
  • 1941 German battleship Bismarck sinks the British battle cruiser HMS Hood; 1,416 die, 3 survive

Stroop Report

1943 Final entry in the Stroop Report, detailing the destruction of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto, compiled by Nazi officers, later used as evidence in the Nuremberg trials

German U-boats Stopped

1943 German Admiral Donitz stops U-boat operations in the Atlantic Ocean - turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic

  • 1943 U-441 shoots Sunderland seaplane down over Gulf of Biskaje

Enver Hoxha

1944 Enver Hoxha becomes head of Albania's anti fascists

  • 1944 Icelandic voters severe all ties with Denmark

Bill Dickey for the Yankees

1946 Bill Dickey replaces Joe McCarthy as New York Yankees manager

Beggar's Opera

1948 Benjamin Britten's "Beggar's Opera" premieres at Arts Theatre, Cambridge, England

  • 1951 Racial segregation in Washington, D.C. restaurants ruled illegal
  • 1951 US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests)

Catholic Encyclical

1953 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Doctor Mellifluus

  • 1954 1st rocket attains 150 mi (241 km) altitude, White Sands, New Mexico
  • 1954 Dr Peter Murray Marshall becomes 1st African American to head an American Medical Association unit (New York County)
  • 1954 German airline Lufthansa forms
  • 1954 IBM announces vacuum tube "electronic" brain that could perform 10 million operations an hour
  • 1956 1st Eurovision Song Contest: Lys Assia for Switzerland wins singing "Refrain" in Lugano
  • 1956 Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500 year anniversary after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbāna
  • 1957 Anti-American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan
  • 1957 Heavy earthquake strikes Colombia

Battle of Interest

1958 Cuban President Fulgencio Batista opens military offensive against Fidel Castro's armed rebellion

  • 1958 United Press Association and International News Service merge to form United Press International
  • 1959 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited (Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania)
  • 1959 Empire Day renamed Commonwealth Day in Great Britain
  • 1960 1 millionth Dutch telephone installed
  • 1961 27 Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson, Mississippi
  • 1961 Cyprus joins the Council of Europe.
  • 1961 NASA Explorer Ionosphere research mission fails to reach Earth orbit

Contract of Interest

1962 The Beatles record "Sweet Georgia Brown" & "Swanee" in Hamburg, Germany to close out their contract with producer Bert Kaempfert; Tony Sheridan later dubs vocal over tracks

Event of Interest

1962 US astronaut Scott Carpenter aboard Aurora 7 (Mercury-Atlas 7) orbits the Earth three times in a flight just under five hours [1]

  • 1963 1st Lockheed A-12 to crash, CIA pilot Ken Collins ejects safely

Meeting of Interest

1963 Barbra Streisand performs "Happy Days Are Here Again" at White House Press Correspondents Dinner, and meets US President John F. Kennedy

  • 1964 18th Tony Awards: "Luther" (play) & "Hello, Dolly!" (musical) win

Sports History

1964 Longest HR (471') in Baltimore Memorial Stadium (Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota Twins)

  • 1964 Panic in Lima Peru soccer stadium, kills 300

The Beatles on Ed Sullivan

1964 The Beatles' 4th appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show", features an interview and pre-recorded performance of "You Can't Do That"

  • 1965 Supreme Court declares federal law allowing post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional
  • 1967 AFL grants a franchise to Cincinnati Bengals
  • 1968 American boxer Bob Foster defeats holder Dick Tiger for the world light-heavyweight Championship at Madison Square Gardens, New York (goes on to defend title x 14)
  • 1968 FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City

Event of Interest

1968 French President Charles De Gaulle proposes referendum & students set fire to Paris bourse

  • 1968 Haiti closes down shortwave station 4VEH for 40 days

Music History

1968 Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull arrested for drug possession in England

  • 1969 "Sugar, Sugar" single released by cartoon band The Archies (Billboard Song of the Year, 1969)
  • 1969 Beatles' "Get Back" single goes #1 and stays #1 for 5 weeks
  • 1970 Peter Green quits Fleetwood Mac to join a religious cult
  • 1970 The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union
  • 1971 A commuter bus plunges into Panama Canal, killing 38 of 43 aboard
  • 1972 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • 1973 George [Earl] Jellicoe resigns as British Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords

Television Finale

1974 "The Dean Martin Show" last airs on NBC-TV

Cannes Film Festival

1974 27th Cannes Film Festival: "The Conversation" directed by Francis Ford Coppola wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film

Diamond Dogs

1974 RCA releases "Diamond Dogs", David Bowie's 8th studio album, recorded in London and the Netherlands, with cover design by artist Guy Peellaert, it peaks in the U.S. charts at No. 5, and goes to No. 1 in the U.K. and Canada

  • 1975 Dutch government of De Uyl decides to obtain an F-16
  • 1976 1st commercial SST flight to North America (Concorde to Washington, D.C.)
  • 1976 In the Judgment of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterparts, challenging the notion of France being the foremost producer of the world's best wines

Boxing Title Fight

1976 Muhammad Ali TKOs Richard Dunn in 5 for heavyweight boxing title in Munich

  • 1977 USSR President Podgorny resigns
  • 1978 American management consultant Marilyn Loden first coins the term "glass ceiling" to describe invisible career barriers for women
  • 1978 Dutch Investment bill (WIR) law goes into effect
  • 1979 32nd Cannes Film Festival: "Apocalypse Now" directed by Francis Ford Coppola and "Die Biechtrommel" directed by Volker Schlondorff jointly awarded the Palme d'Or

Sports History

1979 Billy Martin issues a public apology to Reno sportswriter Ray Hagar

  • 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan

Cannes Film Festival

1980 "Kagemusha" directed by Akira Kurosawa wins the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival

  • 1980 "Rock Lobster" by B-52s hits #56
  • 1980 Iran rejects a call to World Court to release US hostages
  • 1980 Stanley Cup Final, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: In first Finals appearance, NY Islanders beat Philadelphia Flyers, 5-4 in OT for a 4 games to 2 series win
  • 1981 Hostage situation ends at Central Bank in Barcelona, Spain
  • 1982 Liberation of Khorramshahr; Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq War
  • 1983 Fred Sinowatz succeeds Bruno Kreisky as Chancellor of Austria
  • 1983 Supreme Court rules government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students
  • 1984 Det Tigers win AL record 17th straight road game

Event of Interest

1986 Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British Prime Minister to visit Israel

  • 1986 Reginald Huffstetler trod water for 985 hrs
  • 1986 Stanley Cup Final, Saddledome, Calgary, AL: Montreal Canadiens beat Calgary Flames, 4-3 for 4-1 series victory
  • 1987 Golden Gate Bridge 50th anniversary: Over 800K people show up, 300K walk on bridge at same time, span temporarily flattens from weight (San Francisco, California)
  • 1988 John Moschitta set record for fast talking: 586 words per minute
  • 1988 Power outage in Boston Garden in NHL's Stanley Cup finals
  • 1988 Section 28 passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality. Repealed 2001/2004

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

1989 "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford, and produced by George Lucas' Lucasfilms premieres

  • 1989 French Nazi war criminal Paul Touvier arrested at the Society of Saint Pius X monastery in Nice

Sports History

1989 NHL's NY Rangers fire GM & coach Phil Esposito

  • 1989 NY Yankee hurler Lee Gutterman sets record of pitching 30-2/3 innings before giving up his 1st run of season
  • 1989 Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, is awarded £600,000 in damages after winning a libel action against satirical magazine Private Eye (later reduced to £60,000 on appeal).

Music Recording

1989 Weird Al Yankovic records three tracks for his UHF soundtrack

  • 1990 A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both
  • 1990 Stanley Cup Final, Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Edmonton Oilers beat Boston Bruins, 4-1 for a 4-1 series win; Oilers' 5th Cup win in 7 years
  • 1992 Despite trailing 7-1, NY Yanks tie Milwaukee Brewers & then score 1 in 9th to avoid 5th straight extra inning game

Film & TV History

1993 46th Cannes Film Festival: "Ba wang bie ji" directed by Chen Kaige and "The Piano" directed by Jane Campion jointly awarded the Palme d'Or

  • 1993 Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after 30-year civil war

Film & TV History

1993 Kim Basinger files for bankruptcy to avoid paying $7.4M settlement

  • 1993 Kurd rebellion kills 33 soldiers and 5 citizens in Turkey

TV Show Appearance

1993 Star Trek episode "Second Chances" airs guest starring Mae Jemison, the 1st real life astronaut to appear on the show

  • 1994 Poison singer Bret Michaels is involved in a car crash
  • 1996 "Spy Hard" starring Leslie Nielsen is released

Film & TV History

1997 Actor Tim Allen arrested for drunk driving in Michigan

  • 1997 STS 84 (Atlantis 19), lands
  • 1997 Telstar-5 Proton Launch, Successful
  • 1998 51st Cannes Film Festival: "Mia aioniotita kai mia mera / Eternity and a Day" by Theo Angelopoulos wins the Palme d'Or
  • 1999 Venezuela enters the Antarctic Treaty System.
  • 2000 Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
  • 2001 Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
  • 2001 The Democrats gain control of the US Senate for the first time since 1994 when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont abandons the Republican Party and declares himself an independent
  • 2001 The Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200 in Israel's worst-ever civil disaster.
  • 2002 Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.

Music Concert

2003 Paul McCartney performs in his first-ever concert in Russia, in Moscow's Red Square, to a crowd of over 100,000 people

  • 2003 Super Rugby Final, Eden Park, Auckland: Auckland Blues beat defending champion Canterbury Crusaders, 21-17 for their 3rd title
  • 2004 North Korea bans mobile phones.
  • 2009 62nd Cannes Film Festival: "The White Ribbon" directed by Michael Haneke wins the Palme d'Or
  • 2009 Manchester United wins 1-0 at Hull City Stadium to win English Premier League title for 3rd consecutive season, for a second time; equals Liverpool's record of 18 league titles
  • 2010 Andrew Wakefield, doctor at the center of MMR vaccination scare, struck off the UK medical register after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct
  • 2013 Rafael Correa is sworn into a third term as President of Ecuador