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MAY 12



Contents
Events
Births
Deaths
Holidays and observances
References
External links

Events



1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre.

1264 - The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins.

1328 - Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.

1364 - Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, was founded in Kraków, Poland.

1551 - National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, was founded in Lima, Peru.

1588 - French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city.

1689 - King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.

1780 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.

1797 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.

1821 - The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.

1862 - U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".

1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Conferderate victory.

1870 - The Manitoba Act was given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.

1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned King of Sweden.

1881 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.

1885 - North-West Rebellion: The four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel Métis against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.

1890 - The first-ever official County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scores the first century in the competition.

1926 - UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a nine-day general strike by trade unions ends.

1932 - Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.

1937 - Coronation of King George VI of Britain at Westminster Abbey.

1941 - Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer in Berlin.

1942 - World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov – In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.

★ 1942 - 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.

1949 - The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.

1949 - The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state - the Federal Republic of Germany

1952 - Gaj Singh crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.

1955 - The last portion of the IRT Third Avenue Elevated in Manhattan closes.

1958 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.

1962 - Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "" valedictory speech at West Point.

1965 - The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

★ 1965 - West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.

1966 - Busch Memorial Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals major league baseball team and until 1987, the NFL team of the same name, opens in St. Louis, Missouri.

1967 - At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert.

1970 - Ernie Banks becomes the ninth member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

1971 - Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger marries Bianca Perez Morena de Macias after a row with the media nearly halts proceedings.

1975 - Mayagüez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS ''Mayaguez'' in international waters.

1978 - In Zaïre, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba. The government of Zaïre asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.

1981 - Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison in a republican campaign for political status to be granted to IRA prisoners.

1982 - During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, decided that the Pope must be killed for being an "agent of Moscow."

1989 - A Southern Pacific Railroad freight train derails on the very steep Cajon Pass in San Bernardino, California, killing four people.

1994 - UK opposition leader John Smith dies in a London hospital after two serious heart attacks.

1999 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

2000 - The Tate Modern art gallery opens in London.

2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

2003 - The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26.

★ 2003 - Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.

2005 - Kaspars Petrovs is convicted of the strangulation murder and robberies of thirteen elderly women in Riga, Latvia.

2006 - Justin Gatlin ties the 100 metres sprint world record with a time of 9.77 seconds in Doha, Qatar.

2007 - Serbia win the Eurovision Song Contest with their debut entry.

★ 2007 - 33 people killed in political violence in Karachi, Pakistan.

Births



1401 - Emperor Shōkō (d. 1428)

1496 - Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560)

1590 - Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621)

1622 - Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor General of New France (d. 1698)

1626 - Louis Hennepin, Flemish missionary (d. 1705)

1670 - Frederick Augustus I of Poland (d. 1733)

1700 - Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect (d. 1773)

1725 - Louis Philip I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1785)

1767 - Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (d. 1851)

1803 - Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873)

1804 - Robert Baldwin, Canadian politician (d. 1858)

1806 - Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (d. 1881)

1812 - Edward Lear, English author and poet (d. 1888)

1820 - Florence Nightingale, English nurse (d. 1910)

1828 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet (d. 1882)

1829 - Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (d. 1896)

1842 - Jules Massenet, French composer (d. 1912)

1845 - Gabriel Fauré, French composer (d. 1924)

1850 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman (d. 1924)

1867 - Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)

1874 - Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician (d. 1928)

1880 - Lincoln Ellsworth, American scientist (d. 1951)

1889 - Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980)

1892 - Fritz Kortner, Austrian-born director (d. 1970)

1895 - William Giauque, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)

1899 - Indra Devi, yogi (d. 2002)

1900 - Helene Weigel, German actress (d. 1971)

1903 - Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (d. 1991)

1907 - Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)

★ 1907 - Leslie Charteris, British author and screenwriter (d. 1993)

1910 - Charles B. Fulton, American jurist (d. 1996)

★ 1910 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, British biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)

1912 - Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General (d. 2004)

1914 - Bertus Aafjes, Dutch poet (d. 1993)

★ 1914 - Howard K. Smith, American journalist (d. 2002)

1915 - Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (d. 2001)

1917 - Frank Clair, Canadian football coach (d. 2005)

1918 - Julius Rosenberg, American spy (d. 1953)

1921 - Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)

★ 1921 - Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist

1922 - Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (d. 1998)

1924 - Tony Hancock, English comedian (d. 1968)

★ 1924 - Alexander Esenin-Volpin, Russian mathematician

1925 - Yogi Berra, American baseball player

1928 - Burt Bacharach, American composer

1929 - Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player

★ 1929 - Sam Nujoma, first President of Namibia

1930 - Jesús Franco, Spanish film director

1933 - Andrey Voznesensky, Russian poet

1935 - Felipe Alou, Dominican baseball player and manager

★ 1935 - Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player

1936 - Frank Stella, American painter

★ 1936 - Guillermo Endara, President of Panama

★ 1936 - Tom Snyder, American television personality (d. 2007)

1937 - George Carlin, American comedian

★ 1937 - Beryl Burton, English cyclist (d. 1996)

★ 1937 - Susan Hampshire, English actress

1938 - Millie Perkins, American film actress

1939 - Ron Ziegler, White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)

1942 - Ian Dury, English musician (d. 2000)

★ 1942 - Billy Swan, American songwriter and singer

★ 1942 - Michel Fugain, French singer and songwriter

1944 - James Purify, American singer

1945 - Alan Ball, English footballer (d. 2007)

★ 1945 - Ian McLagan, English keyboardist (The Small Faces)

1947 - Michael Ignatieff, Canadian politician

★ 1947 - Micheline Lanctôt, American film actor, director and screenwriter

1948 - Steve Winwood, English musician

1950 - Bruce Boxleitner, American actor

★ 1950 - Billy Squier, American singer

★ 1950 - Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor

1955 - Kix Brooks, American musician

1956 - Bernie Federko, Canadian ice hockey player

★ 1956 - Glenn Robbins, Australian comedian

1957 - Lou Whitaker, American baseball player

1958 - Eric Singer, American drummer

1959 - Ving Rhames, American actor

1960 - Ian Khan, British racing driver

1961 - Bruce McCulloch, Canadian actor

★ 1961 - Lar Park Lincoln, American actress

★ 1961 - Billy Duffy, British rock guitarist (The Cult)

1962 - Emilio Estevez, American actor

★ 1962 - Brett Gurewitz, American songwriter and record producer (Bad Religion) (Epitaph)

1963 - Vanessa A. Williams, American actress

★ 1963 - Deborah Kara Unger, Canadian actress

★ 1963 - Jerry Trimble, American actor

★ 1963 - Stefano Modena, Italian racing driver

★ 1963 - Panagiotis Fasoulas, Greek basketball player, Mayor of Piraeus

1966 - Stephen Baldwin, American actor

★ 1966 - Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian singer

1967 - Paul D'Amour, American bass guitarist (ex-Tool)

1968 - Tony Hawk, American skateboarder

★ 1968 - Mark Clark, American baseball player

★ 1968 - Catherine Tate, English comedian

1969 - Cesar Millan, professional dog trainer

★ 1969 - Kim Fields, American actress

1970 - Mike Weir, Canadian golfer

★ 1970 - Jim Furyk, American golfer

★ 1970 - Samantha Mathis, American actress

1971 - Doug Basham, American professional wrestler

1973 - Kendra Kassebaum, American stage actress

★ 1973 - Travis Lutter, Mixed Martial Arts Fighter

1975 - Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby union footballer

1977 - Graeme Dott, Scottish snooker player

★ 1977 - Doug Basham, American professional wrestler

★ 1977 - Rebecca Herbst, American actress

1978 - Hossein Reza Zadeh, Iranian weightlifter

★ 1978 - Jason Biggs, American actor

★ 1978 - Wilfred Le Bouthillier, Acadian singer

★ 1978 - Josh Phelps, American baseball player

1979 - Erdinç Saçan, Turkish-Dutch politician

1981 - Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer

1983 - Charilaos Pappas, Greek footballer

1984 - Cheryl Burke, Filipino-American ballroom dancer

1986 - Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress

1988 - Marcelo, Brazilian footballer

1991 - Bradford N. Smith, American actor

1992 - Malcolm David Kelley, American actor

1995 - Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten, American actors

2003 - Madeleine McCann, Missing toddler

Deaths



1003 - Pope Silvester II

1012 - Pope Sergius IV

1382 - Queen Joan I of Naples (b. 1327)

1399 - Demetrius I Starshiy (killed in battle) (b. 1327)

1465 - Thomas Palaeologus, Despot of the Despotate of Morea

1634 - George Chapman, English writer

1641 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, English statesman (b. 1593)

1684 - Edme Mariotte, French physicist and priest

1699 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (b. 1626)

1700 - John Dryden, English writer (b. 1631)

1708 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1658)

1748 - Thomas Lowndes, English astronomer (b. 1692)

1759 - Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (b. 1700)

1784 - Abraham Trembley, Swiss naturalist (b. 1710)

1792 - Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist (b. 1710)

1796 - Johann Peter Uz, German poet (b. 1720)

1801 - Nicholas Repnin, Russian statesman (b. 1734)

1845 - János Bacsanyi, Hungarian poet (b. 1763)

1856 - Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (b. 1786)

1859 - Sergei Aksakov, Russian writer (b. 1791)

1860 - Charles Barry, English architect (b. 1795)

1864 - J. E. B. Stuart, American soldier from Virginia and a Confederate Army general (b. 1833)

1867 - Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard, German archaeologist (b. 1795)

1871 - Anselme Payen, French physicist (b. 1795)

1876 - Georgi Benkovski, Bulgarian revolutionary, brutally killed by the Turks (b. 1843)

1884 - Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer (b. 1824)

1889 - John Cadbury, English chocolate entrepreneur (b. 1801)

1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (b. 1848)

1916 - James Connolly, Irish socialist (b. 1868)

1925 - Amy Lowell, American poet (b. 1874)

1931 - Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (b. 1858)

1935 - Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman (b. 1867)

1944 - Max Brand, American author (b. 1892)

★ 1944 - Arthur Quiller-Couch, English writer (b. 1863)

1956 - Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)

1957 - Erich von Stroheim, film director and actor (b. 1885)

1963 - Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882)

1967 - John Masefield, British writer (b. 1878)

1970 - Nelly Sachs, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

1971 - Heinie Manush, American baseball player (b. 1901)

1973 - Art Pollard, American racecar driver (b. 1927)

1985 - Jean Dubuffet, French painter (b. 1901)

1986 - Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)

1990 - Chen Kenmin, Japanese chef (b. 1912)

1992 - Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932)

★ 1992 - Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and lyricist (b. 1911)

1994 - Erik Erikson, German psychoanalyst (b. 1902)

★ 1994 - John Smith, British politician (b. 1938)

1995 - Mia Martini, real name: Domenica Bertè, Italian singer and song-writer (b. 1947)

1999 - Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz, Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia 1993-1999 (b. 1910)

★ 1999 - Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (b. 1914)

2000 - Adam Petty, American race car driver (b. 1980)

2001 - Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)

★ 2001 - Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1925)

2002 - Erich Kulas, ECW Wrestler (Mass Transit)

2003 - Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)

2005 - Martin Lings, English Islamic scholar (b. 1909)

★ 2005 - Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1937)

2006 - Gillespie V. Montgomery, former U.S. representative from Mississippi (b. 1920)

2007 - Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Taliban military leader (b. 1966?)

Holidays and observances



International Nurses Day, commemorating the birthday of Florence Nightingale in 1820.

★ Day of Finnishness in Finland; Commemoration day of J. V. Snellman.
===Religious feast days===

Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:


Saints Achilleus and Nereus[1]


Saint Pancras (died 304), second of the Ice Saints


Saint Epiphanius


Saint Modoald


Saint Domitilla


Saint Joan of Portugal


Blessed Imelda


★ Saint Philip of Agira

References


1.
★ Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

External links



BBC: On This Day



On This Day in Canada
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