- 1294 – John II becomes duke of Brabant/Limburg
- 1342 – Count Hartmann II becomes ruler of Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
- 1382 – Battle on Beverhoutsfield near Brugge
- 1455 – Jews flee Spain
- 1494 – Columbus discovers Jamaica
- 1494 – Jamaica discovered by Columbus; he names it “St Iago”
- 1512 – 5th Lateran Council (18th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
- 1512 – Pope Julius II opens 5th Council of Lateranen
- 1515 – Persian Gulf: Portugese fleet occupies Ormuz
- 1616 – Treaty of Loudun kills French civil war
- 1621 – Francis Bacon accused of bribery
- 1624 – Spanish silver fleet sails to Panama
- 1629 – French huguenot leader duke De Rohan signs accord with Spain
- 1640 – English Upper house accept Act of Attainder
- 1654 – Bridge at Rowley Mass begins charging tolls for animals
- 1660 – Sweden, Poland, Brandenburg & Austria sign Peace of Oliva
- 1661 – Johannes Hevelius observes 3rd transit of Mercury ever to be seen
- 1662 – Royal charter granted Connecticut
- 1678 – French conquering fleet at Cura‡ao, 1200 die
- 1715 – Edmund Halley observes total eclipse phenomenon “Baily’s Beads”
- 1722 – Pierre de Marivaux’ “La Double Inconstance,” premieres in Paris
- 1747 – Willem IV appointed viceroy of Holland/Utrecht
- 1765 – 1st US medical college opens in Philadelphia
- 1802 – Washington DC incorporates as a city
- 1808 – Goya’s “Executions of 3rd of May”
- 1810 – Lord Byron swims Hellespont
- 1815 – Battle at Tolentino: Austria beats king Joachim of Naples
- 1822 – Society for Propagation of Faith starts (Lyon, France)
- 1830 – 1st regular steam train passenger service starts
- 1845 – 1st black lawyer (Macon B Allen) admitted to bar (Mass)
- 1845 – Fire kills 1,600 in popular theater in Canton China
- 1846 – Mexican army surrounds fort in Texas
- 1851 – Most of SF destroyed by fire; 30 die
- 1855 – Antwerp-Rotterdam railway opens
- 1861 – Gen Winfield Scott presents his Anaconda Plan
- 1861 – Lincoln asks for 42,000 Army Volunteers & another 18,000 seamen
- 1863 – Battle of Chancellorsville-Beaten Union army withdraws
- 1863 – Battle of Fredricksburg, VA (Marye’s Heights)
- 1863 – Battle of Salem Church, VA
- 1864 – 3rd day in Battle at Alexandria Louisiana: Confederate assault
- 1886 – M A Maclean elected 1st mayor of Vancouver, BC
- 1898 – Camp Merriman forms at Presidio (SF) (see 0517)
- 1900 – 26th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Boland aboard Lieut Gibson wins in 2:06¬
- 1901 – Fire destroyed 1,700 buildings in Jacksonville, Florida
- 1902 – 28th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on Alan-a-Dale wins in 2:08.75
- 1903 – AVC Heracles (SC Heracles ‘74) soccer team forms in Almelo
- 1906 – British-controlled Egypt takes Sinai peninsula from Turkey
- 1909 – 35th Kentucky Derby: Vincent Powers on Wintergreen wins in 2:08.2
- 1917 – 1st performance of Ernest Bloch’s symphony “Israel”
- 1919 – Afghanistan Emir Amanoellah begins war against Great Britain
- 1919 – America’s 1st passenger flight (NY-Atlantic City)
- 1921 – West Virginia imposes 1st state sales tax
- 1922 – Mayor Hylan closes streets for building of Yankee Stadium
- 1922 – Salt layer find at Winterswijk
- 1923 – 1st nonstop transcontinental flight (NY-San Diego) completed
- 1926 – British general strike-3 million workers support miners
- 1926 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Sinclair Lewis (Arrowsmith)
- 1926 – US marines land in Nicaragua (9-mo after leaving), stay until 1933
- 1929 – Prussia bans anti-fascists
- 1932 – 24 tourists begin 1st air-charter holiday (London-Basle, Switz)
- 1933 – 1st female director (Nellie T Ross) of US Mint takes office
- 1934 – Bradman scores 206 Aust v Worcestershire, 210 mins, 27 fours
- 1936 – French People’s Front wins elections
- 1936 – NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio makes his major-league debut, gets 3 hits
- 1937 – Margaret Mitchell wins Pulitzer Prize for “Gone With the Wind”
- 1938 – Concentration camp at Flossenbrg goes into use
- 1938 – Lefty Grove defeats Tigers 4-3 for 1st of record 20 consecutive wins at his home field Fenway Park; he doesn’t lose there until May 12 1941
- 1938 – Vatican recognizes Franco-Spain
- 1941 – -4] German air raid on Liverpool
- 1941 – 67th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Whirlaway wins in 2:01.4
- 1942 – Japanese troop attack Tulagi, Gavutu & Tanambogo, Solomon Islands
- 1942 – Luftwaffe bombs Exeter
- 1942 – Nazi’s execute 72 OD’ers in reprisial in Sachsenhausen, Netherlands
- 1942 – Nazi’s require Dutch Jews to wear a Jewish star
- 1943 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Upton Sinclair (Dragon’s Teeth)
- 1943 – Strike against obligatory labor camps ends, after 200 killed
- 1943 – US 1st armour division occupies Mateur Tunisia
- 1944 – “Meet Me in St Louis” opens on Broadway
- 1944 – Meat rationing ends in US
- 1945 – 1st Polish armour brigade occupies Wilhelmshafen
- 1945 – Allies arrests German nuclear physics Werner Heisenberg
- 1945 – British troop join in Rangoon
- 1945 – German ship “Cap Arcona” sinks in East Sea, 5,800 killed
- 1946 – International military tribunal in Tokyo begins
- 1947 – 73rd Kentucky Derby: Eric Guerin aboard Jet Pilot wins in 2:06.8
- 1947 – Japan forms a constitutional democracy
- 1948 – Pulitzer prize awarded to James Michener & Tennessee Williams
- 1949 – 1st firing of a US Viking rocket; reached 80 km
- 1951 – Gil McDougald ties major league record with 6 RBIs in 1 inning
- 1951 – NY Yankee Gil McDougald is 5th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (9th)
- 1952 – “Call Me Madam” closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 644 performances
- 1952 – 1st landing by an airplane at geographic North Pole
- 1952 – 78th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Hill Gail wins in 2:01.6
- 1953 – WTVO TV channel 17 in Rockford, IL (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 – Westchester conf of Amer Library Assoc proclaims “Freedom to Read”
- 1954 – KTEN TV channel 10 in Ada-Ardmore, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1954 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Charles A Lindbergh & John Patrick
- 1954 – WHA TV channel 21 in Madison, WI (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1956 – “Most Happy Fella” opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 678 performances
- 1956 – A new range of mountains discovered in Antarctica (2 over 13,000′)
- 1956 – Frank Loesser’s musical “Most Happy Fella,” premieres in NYC
- 1958 – 84th Kentucky Derby: Ismael Valenzuela aboard Tim Tam wins in 2:05
- 1958 – WINS suspends Alan Freed for causing a riot in Boston, he quits
- 1959 – Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Land of the Sky Golf Tournament
- 1959 – Tiger’s Charlie Maxwell hits 4 consecutive HRs in a doubleheader
- 1960 – Harvey Schmidt/Tom Jones’ musical “Fantasticks,” premieres in NYC
- 1961 – Warren Spahn pitches a 2 hitter after pitching a no hitter
- 1962 – Express train crashed into wreckage of a commuter train & a freight, killing 163, injuring 400 (Tokyo, Japan)
- 1963 – Leslie Narum is only Balt Oriole to homer on his 1st at bat
- 1963 – Martin Luther King Jr delivers his “I have a dream” speech
- 1964 – Mickey Wright wins LPGA Clifford Ann Creed Golf Invitational
- 1965 – 1st use of satellite TV, Today Show on Early Bird Satellite
- 1965 – 3rd Mayor’s Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 2-1 in 10
- 1965 – Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with the US
- 1965 – Don Steele, begins a 40+ year radio career at KRTH (LA Calif)
- 1965 – KTCI TV channel 17 in St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN (PBS) 1st broadcast
- 1965 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Irwin Unger (Greenback Era)
- 1966 – WDHO (now WNWO) TV channel 24 in Toledo, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1967 – Black students seize finance building at Northwestern U
- 1968 – Holland Pirate Radio Station VRON becomes Radio Veronica Intl
- 1969 – “Trumpets of the Lord” closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 7 perfs
- 1969 – 95th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack on Majestic Prince wins in 2:01.8
- 1970 – 24th NBA Championship: NY Knicks beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 3
- 1970 – Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Shreveport Kiwanis Golf Invitational
- 1971 – All Things Considered premieres on 112 National Public Radio stations
- 1971 – Erich Honecker succeeds Walter Ulbricht as East German party leader
- 1971 – National Public Radio begins programming
- 1971 – Nixon administration arrests 13,000 anti-war protesters in 3 days
- 1971 – Pulitzer prize awarded to John Toland (Rising Sun)
- 1973 – Chicago’s Sears Tower, world’s tallest building (443 m), topped out
- 1973 – KC Royals’ George Brett gets his 1st major league hit
- 1975 – 101st Kentucky Derby: Jacinto Vasquez on Foolish Pleasure wins 2:02
- 1975 – Christa Vahlensieck runs female world record marathon (2:40:15.8)
- 1976 – Panama 747SP lands after record flight around world (46:26)
- 1976 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Saul Bellow (Humboldt’s Gift)
- 1978 – “Sun Day” – solar energy events are held in US
- 1978 – Anderlecht wins 18th Europe Cup II
- 1978 – Last cricket test match appearance for Bobby Simpson, at Kingston
- 1978 – WI all set to lose cricket test v Aust at Kingston till riots end game
- 1979 – 1st woman prime minister of Great Britain (Margaret Thatcher)
- 1979 – Bobby Bonds hits his 300th HR (2nd to have 300 HRs & 300 stolen bases)
- 1979 – Martin Sherman’s “Bent,” premieres in London
- 1980 – 106th Kentucky Derby: Jacinto Vasquez on Genuine Risk wins in 2:02
- 1980 – Giants 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits his 521st & final HR
- 1980 – Texas Ranger Ferguson Jenkins becomes 4th to win 100 games in AL & NL
- 1981 – “Can-Can” closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 5 performances
- 1981 – “Moony, Shapiro Songbook” opens & closes at Morosco Theater NYC
- 1981 – Sally Little wins LPGA CPC Women’s Golf International
- 1982 – ABC’s All Talk network begins on radio (2 west coast stations)
- 1982 – NY Times reports that military will get 25% of NASA’s budget
- 1982 – Pres Reagan begins 5 minute weekly radio broadcasts
- 1983 – Bruins 3-Isles 8-Wales Conf Championship-Isles hold 3-1 lead
- 1983 – Soviet leader Andropov decreases nuclear weapons in Europe
- 1983 – US bishops condemn nuclear weapons
- 1985 – Date of $5 million check in “View to a Kill”
- 1986 – 112th Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker aboard Ferdinand wins in 2:02.8
- 1986 – Air Lanka crashes, killing 22
- 1986 – Cubs 3rd baseman Ron Cey hits his 300th & 301st HR
- 1986 – NASA launches Goes-G, it failed to achieve orbit
- 1986 – NY Yankee Don Mattingly is 6th to hit 3 sacrifice flies in a game
- 1987 – “Mikado” closes at Virginia Theater NYC after 46 performances
- 1987 – Cindy Hill wins LPGA S&H Golf Classic
- 1987 – Miami Herald reports a woman spent Friday & Saturday with Gary Hart
- 1988 – 4,200 kg Colombian cocaine in seized at Tarpon Springs Florida
- 1988 – Jasper Johns’ “Diver” sold for $4,200,000
- 1991 – Andy Williams weds Debbie Hass
- 1991 – 356th & final episode of CBS 2nd longest running series Dallas, 2nd only to Gunsmoke
- 1992 – Balt’s Gregg Olson, 25, is youngest to record 100 saves
- 1992 – Beverly Hills 90210 Gabrielle Carteris marries Charles Isaacs
- 1992 – Danielle Ammaccapane wins LPGA Centel Golf Classic
- 1992 – NY Met Eddie Murray is 24th to hit 400 HRS
- 1992 – Ohio Glory wins 1st WLAF game (after 6 loses), beat Frankfurt 20-17
- 1992 – Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Centel Senior Golf Challenge
- 1993 – “Kiss of the Spider Woman” opens at Broadhurst NYC for 906 perfs
- 1994 – 29th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks wins
- 1994 – D66/Dutch Liberal Party win Dutch 2nd Parliamentary election
- 1994 – US space probe Clementine launched
- 1995 – “My Thing of Love” opens at Beck Theater NYC for 16 performances
- 1995 – Australia beat West Indies to regain the Frank Worrell Cricket Trophy
- 1995 – David Bell debuts for the Indians (3rd generation player, Gus & Buddy)
- 1996 – Martin Moxon & Michael Vaughan make 362 1st wkt Yorks v Glam
- 1997 – 123rd Kentucky Derby: Gary Stevens aboard Silver Charm wins in 2:02.3
- 1997 – ABC Bud Light Masters Bowling Tournament won by Jason Queen
- 1997 – Garry Kasparov begins chess match with IBM supercomputer Deep Blue
- 1998 – wins Titleholders Golf Championship
