Anne Bronte (British novelist and poet) dies at age 29 in Scarborough England from complications of influenza (1849) - 5/28
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain after Stanley Baldwin retired upon Edward VIII's abdication (1937) - 5/28
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declares its independence from the Russian Empire (1918) - May 28
Bolton Massacre occurs during the English Civil War during which 1,600 of Bolton's defenders and citizens were slaughtered by Royalist forces (1644) - May 28
Dionne quintuplets (only female identical set of five ever recorded) are born 2 months premature just outside Callander, Canada (1934) - May 28
Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) dies from throat cancer at age 77 in his Paris home (1972) - May 28
Flag Day (Republic of Philippines) - May 28
King George I of Great Britain is born in Osnabruck, then part of the Holy Roman Empire (1660) - May 28
Ian Fleming (English author and journalist best remembered for for his James Bond books) is born in Mayfair London (1908) - May 28
Leopold Mozart (father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) dies in Salzburg, Austria at age 67 (1787) - May 28
Neftegorsk, Russia (an oil-producing urban-type settlement is devastated by an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killing 2,000 of the 3,500 living there (1995) - 5/28
Phil Hartman (Canadian-born American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist) is fatally shot twice in the head and once in his side by his wife Brynn (1998) - May 28
Battle of the Eclipse takes place at the Halys River in Turkey when the battle ended abruptly due to a total solar eclipse perceived as an omen (585 BC) - May 28
Thomas Cranmer (Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII) proclaims the King's marriage to Anne Boleyn is valid (1533) - May 28
Wreck of the USS Monitor is discovered on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Cape Hatteras, NC by a robot probe (1973) - May 28
Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is put back on display after a 21 year restoration (1999) - 5/28
Mother's Day (Sweden) celebrated on the last Sunday in May (2017) - 5/28
Indy 500 - one of the three most prestigious motorsports events in the world held over Memorial Day weekend (2017) - May 28
Ascension Day (Catholic Church in England and Wales) - celebrated on the Sunday before Pentecost Sunday (2017) - May 28
May 29, 2017
Alexander I of Serbia (age 26) and his consort (Queen Draga, age 41) are shot to death in their palace (1903) - May 29 (O.S.)
Ascension of Bahaullah commemorates the anniversary of the death of Bahaullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, at 3am in the morning (1892) - 5/29
Dennis Hopper (American actor, filmmaker and artist) dies at his home in the L.A. suburb of Venice at age 74 due to complications from prostate cancer (2010) - May 29
Boris Yeltsin is elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian (1990) - 5/29
Charles II (son of Charles I) is restored to the throne of England on his 30th birthday (1660) - May 29
Charles II (eldest surviving son of King Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France) is born at St. James's Place (1630) - May 29
John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca Cola in the Atlanta Journal (1886) - May 29
France rejectes the proposed Constitution of the European Union (2005) - May 29
Fanny Brice (American comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress) dies at age 59 as the result of a stroke (1951) - May 29
Harvey Korman (American comedic TV and film actor) dies as the result of complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm at age 81 (2008) - May 29
Heysel Stadium Disaster refers to the deaths of 39 and 600 or more injured before the European Cup Final held in the Heysel Stadium, Brussels (1985) - May 29
STS-96 involves the Space Shuttle Discovery docking with the International Space Station (1999) - May 29
John F. Kennedy (35th President of the USA) is born in Brookline, MA as the 2nd son of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitgerald (1917) - 5/29
John Barrymore (American stage and film actor) collapses while appearing on Rudy Vallee's radio show and died later in his hospital room (1942) - May 29
Mary Pickford (Academy Award-winning Canadian motion picture star and co-founder of United Artists) dies from a cerebral hemmorhage at age 87 (1979) - 5/29
Michael Obrenovich, Prince of Serbia is assassinated along with his neice Katarina Konstantinovich while strolling through a park in Belgrade (1868) - May 29 (O.S.)
Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzig Norgay are the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1953) - May 29
Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as the 12th President of Nigeria, the first elected civilian head of state after 16 years of military rule (1999) - May 29
Peter II of Russia is proclaimed sovereign autocrat of Russia (May 18 O.S. - 1727) - May 29 N.S.
John Paul II becomes the first reigning pope to travel to the UK where he meets Queen Elizabeth and kneels in prayer with Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (1982) - May 29
Rhode Island becomes the last of the original U.S. colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as 13th U.S. state (1790) - May 29
Oak Apple Day (Great Britain and Ireland) commemorates the restoration of the monarchy with Charles II entrance into London (1660) - May 29
RMS Empress of island is struck by a Norwegian collier (coal freighter) and sinks claiming 1,012 lives as the worst maritime disaster in Canadian history (1914) - May 29
St. Roch (Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner) becomes the first vessel to circumnavigate North America from Halifax, NS to Vancouver, BC via the Panama Canal (1950) - 5/29
T.H. White (English author best known for his Arthurian novel "The Once and Future King") is born in Bombay, India (1906) - May 29
Wisconsin is admitted into the union as the 30th state (1848) - 5/29
National WWII Memorial (located on the National Mall in Washington, DC) is dedicated by President George W. Bush (2004) - May 29
Dennis Hopper (American actor, filmmaker and artist) dies at his home in the L.A. suburb of Venice at age 74 due to complications from prostate cancer (2010) - May 29
The Council of Constance (an ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church) ends the Western Schism by electing Pope Martin V (1414)
Bob Hope (British-born American comedian and actor) is born in Eltham, London, England the 5th of 7 sons (1903) - May 29
Memorial Day (U.S. holiday observed the last Monday in May) commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in military service (2017) - May 29
Spring Bank Holiday (UK - 2017) - May 29
May 30, 2017
Afghanistan earthquake is 6.9 tremor that occurs in the Takhar Province killing approximately 4,500 people and damaging an estimated 16,000 buildings (1998) - May 30
Alexander I of Greece becomes the King (1917) - May 30
Alexander Pope (one of the greatest poets of the 18th Century) dies from what is believed to be complications from tuberculosis at age 56 (1744) - May 30
Brooklyn Bridge Panic occurs when 1 week after opening a rumor circulated that the Bridge was going to collapse and the resulting stampede caused 12 deaths (1883) - 5/30
Charles IX of France dies from tuberculosis at age 23 (1574) - 5/30
Christopher Marlowe (English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era) is killed during an altercation over a bar bill at age 29 (1593) - May 30
Peter Carl Faberge (Russian jeweler best known for his famous Faberge eggs made with precious metals and gemstones) is born in St. Petersburg, Russia (1846) - May 30
Georg Ludwig von Trapp (head of the Austrian singing family portrayed in "The Sound of Music") dies from lung cancer in Stowe, Vermont at age 67 (1947) - May 30
Goddess of Democracy and Freedom (10-meter-tall statue created during the Tiananmen Square protests) constructed out of foam and papier-mache is unveiled (1989) - May 30
Henry III of France becomes King upon the death of his brother Charles IX (1574) - 5/30
Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour (28 year-old lady in waiting to Henry's previous two wives) eleven days after the execution of Anne Boleyn (1536) - May 30
Jerome of Prague (one of the chief followers and friends of John Hus) is condemned and burned at the stake for heresy by the Council of Constance (1416) - May 30
Joan of Arc (national heroine of France and a Catholic saint) is burned at the stake for heresy in Rouen France (then England) at age 19 (1431) - May 30
Lincoln Memorial is dedicated by William Howard Taft along with Lincoln's only surviving child, Robert Todd Lincoln (1922) - 5/30
Gilmore Gardens building (26th Street - Madison Avenue) is renamed Madison Square Garden (1879) - May 30
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish Baroque painter) dies from gout at age 62 in Antwerp, Southern Netherlands (1640) - May 30
RMS Aquitania (Cunard Line ship with Captain William Turner at the helm) sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City (1914) - May 30
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier received the caskets of 2 unknown soldiers from WWII and the Korean War who were each awarded the Medal of Honor (1958) - May 30
Vanport, Oregon is dramatically destroyed when a section of the dike holding back the Columbia River collapsed during a flood (1948) - May 30
Voltaire (French Enlightenment writer, essayist and philosopher) became ill and died in Paris, France at age 83 (1778) - May 30
Ziaur Rahman (8th President of Bangladesh) is assassinated during a failed military coup (1981) - May 30
Indianapolis 500 has its first Memorial Day race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Ray Harroun and his Marmon "Wasp" was declared the winner (1911) - May 30
Idina Menzel (Tony Award-winning actress) is born on Long Island, NY (1971) - May 30
CD Day - May 30
May 31, 2017
Ancash earthquake is an undersea earthquake that results in a landslide making it the worst catastrophic natural disaster ever recorded in the history of Peru (1970) - 5/31
Cecily Neville (mother of Edward IV and Richard III of England) dies at age 80 in Berkhamsted Castle, Hertfordshire (1495) - May 31
Confederation Bridge (spans the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, linking Prince Edward Island with New Bruswick, Canada) opens (1997) - May 31
Johnstown Flood occurs as a result of a South Fork Dam failure in Pennsylvania unleasing 20 million tons of water killing over 2,200 people (1889) - May 31
Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of King Henry VII and daughter of John Beaufort and Margaret Beauchamp) is born at Bletsoe Castle, Befordshire (1443) - May 31
Lady Godiva (Anglo-Saxon noblewoman) makes her legendary naked ride through the streets of Coventry in objection to her husband's oppressive taxation (1678) - 5/31
Guatemala City Sinkhole (200-foot-deep) opens up in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agatha, pulling in a 3-story building and residential home (2010) - May 31
U.S.-Canadian tornado outbreak results in 43 tornados occurring in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, Canada (1985) - May 31
Rameses II (3rd Egyptian pharaoh of the 19th dynasty and believed to be the pharoah of the Exodus) assumes the throne of Egypt while in his early twenties (1279 BC) - May 31
Republic of South Africa is formed when South Africa separates from the British Commonwealth (1961) - May 31
Samuel Pepys (English Naval Administrator and Member of Parliament best known for his diary) makes his last entry citing failing eyesight (1669) - 5/31
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (800 mile U.S. oil pipeline connecting oil fields in Alaska's north slope to the Gulf of Alaska) is completed (1977) - 5/31
Union of South Africa occurs (1910) - May 31
Walter Sickert (German-born English impressionist painter espoused to have been Jack the Ripper by author Patricia Cornwall) is born in Munich Germany (1860) - May 31
World No Tobacco Day (created by the WHO 1987) - May 31
Shavuot (Jewish holiday commemorating the anniversary of the day God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses) observed on the 6th day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (2017) - 5/31-6/2
June 1, 2017
Andy Griffith (American actor, director, producer and writer) is born in Mount Airy, NC (1926) - 6/1
Anne Boleyn is crowned as queen consort to Henry VIII at Westminster Abbey with a sumptuous banquet afterwards (1533) - June 1
BOAC Flight 777 (civilian airline flight from Lisbon, Portugal to Bristol, UK) is attacked by 8 German Junkers Ju 88s in an effort to kill Winston Churchill (1943) - June 1
International Children's Day - June 1
CNN (Cable News Network) is launched anchored by husband and wife team David Walker and Lois Hart (1980) - June 1
Dolphinarium discotheque suicide bombing is a terrorist by the Palestinian group Hamas suicide bomber blows himself up killing 21 teenagers and injuring 132 (2001) - June 1
Flixborough disaster occurs when a chemical plant, close the the village of Flixborough, England experiences an explosion killing 28 people (1974) - June 1
Henry Heimlich first published his findings about the maneuver in the June issue of Emergency Medical (1974) - June 1
Helen Adams Keller (American author, political activist and lecturer and first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree) dies in her sleep (1968) - June 1
Ion Antonescu (Romanian soldier, politician and convicted war criminal) is executed by a military firing squad (1946) - June 1
Arctic explorer James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole (1831) - June 1
Kentucky is admitted to the union as the 15th state (1792) - June 1
Leslie Howard (English stage and Academy Award-nominated film actor, director and producer) is killed in the BOAC Flight 777 incident (1943) - June 1
Mary Dyer is hanged for defying a law banning Quakers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1660) - June 1
Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial (Napoleon IV) is killed during the Zulu War by the Zulus (1879) - 6/1
Norma Jeane Mortenson (aka Marilyn Monroe - American actress, singer and model) is born in the Los Angeles County Hospital (1926) - June 1
Richard Greene (noted English movie and television actor best known for playing Robin Hood) dies at age 66 from cardiac arrest (1985) - June 1
The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album is released in the UK (1967) - 6/1
Stand for Children Day - June 1
Tennessee is admitted as the 15th state of the United States (1796) - June 1
Reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam begins by the People's Republic of China (2003) - June 1
Trooping of the Colour Guardsman faints during rehearsal (1961) - June 1
Universal Studios Hollywood has a 3-alarm backlot fire that destroys 40 to 50,000 archived digital video and film copies (2008) - June 1
Battle of Boston Harbor is fought between HMS Shannon and the USS Chesapeake during which the Chesapeake is captured (1813) - 6/1
GM (General Motors) files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy making it the 4th largest U.S. bankruptcy in history (2009) - June 1
Jack Kavorkian is given parole for good behavior after spending eight years and two and a half months in prison (2007) - June 1
June 2, 2017
Air Canada Flight 797 (trans-border flight between US and Canada) develops an in-flight fire resulting in a flashover when the landed plane's doors open killing 23 (1983) - 6/2
Bridget Bishop becomes the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials (1692) - June 2
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom's coronation in Westminster Abbey becomes the first to be televised (1953) - 6/2
Epsom Derby is held for the first time (1780) - June 2
I Love My Dentist Day - June 2
Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! (2004) - 6/2
Lou Gehrig (U.S. professional baseball player) dies in his home from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS - confirmed on his 36th birthday) at age 37 (1941) - June 2
Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italian military and political figure) dies in Caprera, Italy at age 74 (1882) - June 2
Marquis de Sade (French aristocrate, revolutionary and novelist best known for his sado-masochistic literature) is born in the Conde Palace, Paris (1740) - June 2
Martha Washington (the wife of the 1st U.S. President George Washington, nee Dandridge) is born on her parents' estate Chestnut Grove (1731) - June 2
Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornados in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio killing 12 people (1990) - June 2
Grover Cleveland (22nd President of the United States) marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion (1886) - 6/2
P.T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States (1835) - June 2
Quatering Act allows a colonial American governor to put British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns or other buildings when necessary (1774) - June 2
Surveyor 1 lands on the moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on another world (1966) - June 2
Thomas Hardy (English author of the naturalist movement) is born at Higher Brockhampton in Dorset England (1840) - June 2
Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the terrorist Oklahoma City bombing (1997) - 6/2
Vandals enter Rome and plunder the city for two weeks (455) - 6/2
Rex Harrison (Tony and Academy award-winning English actor of stage and screen) dies of pancreatic cancer at age 82 in his Manhattan home (1990) - June 2
Biosphere 2 (3.15-acre facility designed as a man-made, materially-closed ecological system) is managed by the University of AZ and finally opened to the public (2007) - June 2
Mel Ferrer (American actor, film director and film producer) dies at the result of heart failure at age 90 in a convalescent home in California (2008) - June 2
Family Day
Bhutan Broadcasting Service brings television transmission to the kingdom for the first time (1999) - June 2
Thomas Hardy (English author of the naturalist movement) is born at Higher Brockhampton in Dorset England (1840) - June 2
June 3, 2017
Peter Abelard (medieval French scholastic philosopher) is found guilty of heresy (1140) - June 3
Air France chartered Boeing 707-328 flying from Paris, France to Atlanta, GA USA crashes at Orly during takeoff killing 130 of the 132 aboard (1962) - June 3
Barbara Graham (U.S. convicted murderess with a 2-year-old son) professing her innocence to the end, is executed in the San Quentin CA State Prison gas chamber (1955) - June 3
Charles II (Archduke of Austria, 3rd son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anna of Bohemia) is born in Vienna (1540) - June 3
Confederate Memorial Day (observed by the southern U.S. states) commemorating confederates who died during the American Civil War, is observed on Jefferson Davis birthday - 6/3
Duke of Windsor (Edward VIII after abdication) marries Wallis Simpson in a private ceremony at Chateau de Cande near Tours, France (1937) - June 3
Gemini IV (2nd manned Gemini flight) launches with Ed White performing the first American spacewalk while in orbit (1965) - June 3
Eschede train disaster (German InterCity Express train) derails causing the world's dealiest high-speed train accident with 101 dead and 88 injured (1998) - June 3
Franz Kafka (Bohemian author of modern, existentialistic works) dies in a sanatorim near Vienna from tuberculosis and starvation (1924) - June 3
USS Frank E Evans (U.S. Navy destroyer) collides with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne of the Royal Australian Navy cutting the Evans in two and killing 74 (1969) - June 3
Johann Strauss II (Austrian composer aka "The Waltz King") dies in Vienna from double pneumonia at age 73 (1899) - June 3
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (the pioneer of historical romance with her novel "The Flame and the Flower" is born in Alexandria, LA (1939) - June 3
George V of the UK (1st son of Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, and his consort Alexandra) a grandson of Victoria, is born at Marlborough House London (1865) - June 3
Love Conquers All - 6/3
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo is founded in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (1770) - June 3
Mount Unzen (Kyushu, Japan volcano) erupts killing 43 people, all of them either researchers of journalists (1991) - June 3
Nepotianus (Roman usurper of the Constantinian dynasty) proclaims himself Roman Emperor and enters Rome heading a group of gladiators (350) - June 3
Northwest Airlines Flight 293 (Military Air Transport Service) crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Annette Island, Alaska killing 101 aboard (1963) - June 3
Pope John XXIII (261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church) dies at the Vatican from peritonities due to perforated stomach cancer at age 81 (1963) - June 3
Shlomo Argov (Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom) is shot on a London street (1982) - June 3
Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 (world's 1st supersonic transit) crashes during a Paris Air Show destroying 15 houses and killing 6 on board and 8 on the ground (1973) - June 3
USS Frank E Evans (U.S. Navy destroyer) collides with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne of the Royal Australian Navy cutting the Evans in two and killing 74 (1969) - June 3
Valerie Solanas (American radical feminist) attempts to kill artist Andy Warhol by shooting him three times (1968) - June 3
William Harvey (English physician noted for describing in exact detail the body's blood circulation system) dies at age 71 of a stroke (1657) - June 3
Rue McClanahan (American actress) dies at age 76 at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital from a stroke and brain hemorrhage (2010) - June 3
Marion Zimmer Bradley (American author of fantasy novels) is born on a farm in Albany, NY during the great depression (1930) - June 3
Ozzie Nelson (American entertainer best known for his TV series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) dies from liver cancer at age 69 in Hollywood, CA (1975) - June 3
Epsom Derby (2nd race and most prestigious of Britain's Triple Crown) held at Epsom Downs on the first Saturday in June (2017) - June 3
Jack Kevorkian (euthanasia activist) suffering from liver cancer dies from a thrombosis in a Royal Oak, MI hospital at age 83 (2011) - June 3
June 4, 2017
Anmer (racehorse belonging to George V of the UK) is third from last in the Epsom Derby when Emily Davison rushed in front of the horse and was trampled to death (1913) - 6/4
Giacomo Casanova (Venetian adventurer and author and famous womanizer) dies in Duchov, Bohemia at age 73 (1798) - June 4
Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia, distraught over his wife's death, abdicates his throne in favor of his brother Victor Emmanuel (1802) - June 4
Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees suffrage to women and sends it to the states for ratification (1919) - June 4
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, dies of gout in Utrecht (1039) - June 4
Finnish Defence Forces Day honors Carl Mannerheim's (Commander-in-Chief of Finland's Defence Forces) birthday (1867) - June 4
King George III of Great Britain is born two months premature in London at Norfolk House (1738) - June 4
Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfiere (hot air balloon) at Annonay, France (1783) - June 4
Tonga (archipelago of 169 islands in the South Pacific) gains independence from being a British Protectorate (1970) - June 4
MS St. Louis (German ocean liner with 963 Jewish refugees) denied permission to land in Florida, is forced to return to Europe where its passengers became prisoners (1939) - 6/4
Terry Nichols (U.S. Army veteran) is sentenced to life for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing (1998) - June 4
Wilhelm II (last German Emperor and King of Prussia) dies at age 82 of a pulmonary embolus in Doom, Netherlands, where he was in exile (1941) - June 4
Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by People's Liberation Army (1989) - June 4
Ufa train disaster occurs when a natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia kills 575 as 2 trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline (1989) - June 4
Transcontinental Express (express train) arrives in San Francisco, CA via the First Transcontinental Railroad in only 83 hours and 39 minutes from New York City (1876) - June 4
David Carradine (American character actor) is found dead at age 72 in his Bangkok Thailand hotel room from accidental asphixiation - he died the previous night (2009) - 6/4
Marriage Day - held the first Sunday in June (2017) - June 4
National Cheese Day - June 4
Pentecost (Christian) commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ (aka Whitsunday) occurs 50 days weeks after Easter/Pascha (2017) - 6/4
Pentecost (Orthodox Christian) commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ (aka Whitsunday) occurs 50 days weeks after Easter/Pascha (2017) - June 4
Most photos and descriptions are courtesy of Wikipedia
