STAR WARS DAY: May the 4th be with you…………….
1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
1436 – Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
1493 – Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
1655 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker, invented the piano (d. 1731) was born.
1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley, scientist/humanist/Darwinist / eugenicist / Grandfather of Aldous Huxley… birthed.
Some truth to this below…. Aldous was right in his warnings though!!!!
1886 – Haymarket affair: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, Illinois, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.
1891 – Sherlock Holmes, “dies” at Reichenbach Falls
1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
1907 – Walter Walsh, American target shooter and FBI agent (d. 2014) was born.
1919 – May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
1923 – Ed Cassidy, American drummer (Spirit and Rising Sons) (d. 2012) was born.
1930 – Katherine Jackson, American mother of the Jackson family was born.
1932 – In Atlanta, Georgia, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
1935 – Mr. Fuji, American wrestler and manager was born.
1945 – World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
1945 – World War II: German surrender at Lüneburg Heath, the North German Army surrenders to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
1945 – World War II: Denmark is granted liberation, when Germany was forced to step out of Denmark thus ending five years of occupation.
1946 – In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people are killed in the riot.
1949 – The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash at the Superga hill at the edge of Turin, Italy.
1950 – Darryl Hunt, English pop bassist (Pogues-Pair of Brown Eyes) Born
1951 – Jackie Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer (The Jackson 5) was born.
1951 – Mick Mars, American guitarist and songwriter (Mötley Crüe) was born.
1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
1954 – Pia Zadora, American actress Born
1958 – Keith Haring, Kutztown Pa, American graffiti artist, activist (Vanity Fair, Paris Review) Born
1959 – The first Grammy Awards are held.
1959 – Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter and actor was born.
1961 – American civil rights movement: The “Freedom Riders” begin a bus trip through the South.
1970 – Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the United States’ invasion of Cambodia.
1972 – The Don’t Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to “Greenpeace Foundation”.
1972 – Mike Dirnt, American bass player and songwriter (Green Day, The Frustrators, Screeching Weasel, and Foxboro Hot Tubs) was born.
1975 – Moe Howard, [Moses Horowitz], comedian (3 Stooges), dies at 77
1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1984 – Bob Clampett, American cartoonist, Bugs Bunny… (b. 1913) Dies
1987 – Paul Butterfield, singer/harmonica player, dies of drug abuse at 44
1989 – Rory McIlroy, Holywood Northern Ireland (UK), Professional Golfer, Born
1989 – Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, are later overturned on appeal.
1991 – Dennis Crosby, son of Bing, commits suicide at 54
1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord regarding Palestinian autonomy granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
2001 – Bonnie Lee Bakley, American murder victim, (b. 1956) Killed
2009 – Dom Deluise, American comedian, actor (b. 1933) Dies
2012 – MCA [Adam Yauch], Beastie Boys vocalist, dies from cancer at 47
2014 – Three people are killed and 62 injured in a pair of bombings on buses in Nairobi, Kenya.