| Today May 16th |
EasyNews, UseNet made Ea .. |
| ::darkshadows:: (blood@thirsty.net) |
2008/05/16 16:23 |
On The Way To Today... May 16th
1532 - Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro landed with a small band
of soldiers on the northern coast of Peru.
1568 - Mary, Queen of Scots, fled to England after her defeat at
Langsides, Glasgow.
1763 - Samuel Johnson, British writer and lexicographer, met his
future biographer and traveling companion James Boswell for the first
time in Tom Davie's bookshop in London.
1770 - At Versailles, the French Dauphin (who would become Louis XVI)
married Marie Antoinette, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of
Austria.
1811 - In the Peninsular War, the French under Marshal Nicolas Soult
were held by an allied force of 46,000 at the battle of Albuhera.
1868 - In the United States, the Senate voted on one count in the
impeachment proceedings of President Andrew Johnson. The vote fell one
short of the two-thirds majority needed to take action. On May 26,
further charges similarly failed and he was acquitted.
1881 - The first electric tram went into public service in Germany,
near Berlin.
1888 - Emile Berliner gave the first demonstration of flat disc
recording and reproduction before the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia.
1910 - The U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
1914 - The AHPA was formed in Kansas City, Kansas. AHPA is the
American Horseshoe Pitchers Association.
1920 - Joan of Arc, the French national heroine, was canonized by Pope
Benedict XV. A 14th century peasant girl who grew up to lead a
victorious French army against English troops at Orleans, she was
later captured and burned by the English and their French
collaborators as a heretic. Her example was a decisive factor in the
awakening of French national consciousness.
1929 - The first Oscar awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences were presented during a quiet dinner-and-ceremony
presentation in Los Angeles. The first Academy Awards went to actress
Janet Gaynor and actor Emil Jannings. The best film was "Wings." The
awards were named Oscars in 1931.
1929 - Paul Whiteman and his orchestra backed Bing Crosby for the tune
1932 - Japan's Premier Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated in Tokyo
1938 - The first animal breeding society was organized in three New
Jersey counties.
1939 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at
Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played
under the lights in the American League. The Indians beat Philly 8-3
in 10 innings.
1941 - The Icelandic parliament ended a treaty with Denmark and
proclaimed independence.
1943 - In World War II, British Lancaster aircraft succeeded in
bombing the Mohne and the Eder dams in Germany's industrial Ruhr basin
using a bouncing bomb.
1946 - The musical, Annie Get Your Gun, featuring songs by Irving
Berlin and starring Ethel Merman, debuted on Broadway.
1953 - Bill Haley and His Comets made it to the "Billboard" music
charts for the first time with "Crazy Man Crazy". The tune went to
music chart.
were over three times more effective than black and white commercials.
1961 - Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee staged a military coup in South Korea
and ruled until his intelligence chief assassinated him in 1979.
1963 - U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper in his Mercury-Atlas craft
splashed down near Midway in the Pacific after orbiting the Earth 22
times in a mission lasting just over 34 hours -- the longest American
space mission so far.
1965 - "The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd", a
Broadway musical starring Anthony Newley, made its premiere at the
Shubert Theatre in New York City. Cyril Ritchard appeared in the
production which entertained audiences for 231 performances.
1967 - French President Charles De Gaulle spoke of "formidable
obstacles" in Britain's application to join the EEC, a virtual veto.
1969 - The Russian spacecraft Venus 5 landed on the planet Venus.
1969 - Singers Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey were charged with
assault after Townshend kicked a cop offstage at New York's Filmore
East. The plainclothesman was trying to clear the hall because of a
fire next door.
1971 - An ounce of first-class mail rocketed to eight cents for
delivery -- two cents more than the previous stamp.
1974 - Helmut Schmidt was sworn in as new chancellor of West Germany,
after the resignation of Willy Brandt.
1975 - Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei became the first woman to
climb Everest.
1976 - Civil war in Lebanon reached a new peak of violence.
1981 - Bette Davis Eyes, by Kim Carnes, rocketed to the Number 1 spot
on Billboard's record charts on this date, and remained there for 9
weeks. Carnes received a personal thank-you letter for the song from
actress Bette Davis, saying that it had impressed her young grandson.
1984 - Despite the fact that he was a non-smoker and was a
practitioner of health food eating, comedian Andy Kaufman died in Los
Angeles only a few months after lung cancer was detected. Kaufman,
best-known for his role of Latka Gravas on the TV sitcom, Taxi, was
only 35 at the time of his death.
National Basketball Association. Jordan of the Chicago Bulls was the
number three draft choice. At the time, Michael Jordan was third in
the league scoring with a 28.2 average and fourth in steals with 2.39
per game.
1986 - The members of the military junta which lead Argentina to
defeat in the 1982 Falklands war with Britain were sentenced to
between eight and 14 years imprisonment and stripped of their rank.
Former President Leopold Galtieri was sentenced to 12 years
imprisonment.
1987 - It was a grand day in New York Harbor. "Bobro 400", a huge
barge, set sail within eyesight of the Statue of Liberty with 3,200
tons of garbage that nobody wanted. The floating trash heap soon
eight-week, 6,000 mile odyssey in search of a willing dumping site.
"Bobro 400" returned to New York Harbor after the lengthy journey -
and brought all that garbage back with it!
1989 - The Vatican released a report condemning pornography and
violence in films, specifically mentioning Kung Fu movies.
1989 - Madonna's hit single Like a Prayer was certified platinum.
1989 - A car bomb in Beirut killed the religious leader of Lebanon's
Sunni Muslims, Sheikh Hassan Khaled, and at least 21 others. The Grand
Mufti of the Republic was 68.
1989 - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng
Xiaoping met in Beijing in the first Sino-Soviet summit in 30 years,
formally ending the feud between the two countries.
1990 - Sammy Davis Jr, American entertainer, died of throat cancer.
1990 - Hungarian Prime Minister-designate Jozsef Antall named a
center-right coalition Cabinet after 40 years of Communist rule.
1990 - Jim Henson, the beloved creator of the Muppets and the voice of
Kermit the Frog, died of pneumonia at age 53. He was misdiagnosed
earlier that week, and had he been diagnosed and put on antibiotics
only eight hours earlier, Henson would have survived. He was
completing negotiations with the Disney company to include his Muppets
at the world-famous fantasy amusement parks.
1991 - Queen Elizabeth, on a tour of the United States, became the
first monarch to address Congress.
1993 - Suleyman Demirel was sworn in as Turkey's ninth president,
succeeding Turgut Ozal, who died on April 17.
1993 - Maoist rebels bombed a bridge in Lima, Peru, capping a
three-day offensive that killed seven.
1995 - Japanese police arrested doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahar in
connection with the nerve-gas attack that killed 12 on Tokyo's subways
two months earlier.
1996 - Romano Prodi, leader of the victorious Olive Tree alliance in
the Italian elections, was asked to form the new government.
1997 - Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko left Kinshasa and said he was
giving up executive powers but keeping the title of president.
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