Yesterday's Today

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10th May

1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.

1863 – American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson dies eight days after he is accidentally shot by his own troops. (Friendly Fire!)

1954 – Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.

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11th May

1502 – Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies.

1647 – Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City.

1820 – Launch of HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.

1960 – The first contraceptive pill is made available on the market.

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I wonder if Peter Stuyvesant knew that one day he'd be best remembered as a brand of cigarettes?

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13th May

1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia.

1846 – Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.

1912 – The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom.

1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.

1940 – World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.

1958 – The trade mark Velcro is registered.

1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Thirty-one students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.

1989 – Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.

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17th May

Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.

1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed.

1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.

1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels.

1943 – World War II: the Dambuster Raids by 617 Squadron.

1970 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean.

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19 May

1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.

1649 – An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.

1848 – Mexican-American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million USD.

1897 – Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.

1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's rendition of Happy Birthday.

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23 May

1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.

1568 – The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.

1846 – Mexican-American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.

1929 – The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, "The Karnival Kid", is released.

1945 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, commits suicide while in Allied custody.

1949 – The Federal Republic of Germany is established and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is proclaimed.

1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.