May 12
May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years ). There are 233 days remaining.
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 .
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 .
1864 - American Civil War : Battle of Spotsylvania Court House : The "Bloody Angle" - thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die.
1870 - Manitoba becomes a province of Canada .
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 French Canadians against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
1926 - UK General Strike 1926 : In the United Kingdom , a 9-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 Lindbergh's home.
1937 - Coronation of King George VI of Britain at Westminster Abbey .
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.
1949 - Cold War : The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin .
1958 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada .
1962 - Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory speech at West Point .
1967 - At Queen Elizabeth Hall , England , Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert.
1972 - The Rolling Stones release Exile On Main Street ,1975 - Mayagüez incident : The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters .
1978 - In Zaire , rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi , the mining center of the province of Shaba . The government of Zaire asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
1989 A Southern Pacific Railroad freight train derails on Duffy Street on the very steep Cajon Pass in San Bernadino, California
1999 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament .
2000 - The Tate Modern art gallery opens in London .
2001 - In Copenhagen , Denmark , Tanel Padar & Dave Benton win the forty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia singing "Everybody".
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 .
Births
1496 - Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1560 )
1590 - Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1621 )
1670 - King Frederick Augustus I of Poland (d. 1733 )
1803 - Justus von Liebig , chemist (d. 1873 )
1820 - Florence Nightingale , nurse (d. 1910 )
1828 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti , poet, painter (d. 1882 )
1845 - Gabriel Fauré , composer (d. 1924 )
1850 - Henry Cabot Lodge , U.S. statesman (d. 1924 )
1880 - Lincoln Ellsworth - American scientist and polar explorer (d. 1951 )
1889 - Otto Frank , writer, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980 )
1892 - Fritz Kortner , director (d. 1970 )
1899 - Indra Devi , yogi (d. 2002 )
1900 - Helene Weigel , actress (d. 1971 )
1907 - Katharine Hepburn , actress (d. 2003 )
1910 - Charles B. Fulton , American jurist (d. 1996 )
1910 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin , chemist (d. 1994 )
1912 - Archibald Cox , U.S. Solicitor General and Watergate special prosecutor
1914 - Howard K. Smith , journalist (d. 2002 )
1918 - Julius Rosenberg , spy (d. 1953 )
1921 - Joseph Beuys , artist (d. 1986 )
1921 - Farley Mowat , writer, naturalist
1924 - Tony Hancock , comedian (d. 1968 )
1925 - Yogi Berra , Baseball Hall of Famer
1928 - Burt Bacharach , composer
1935 - Felipe Alou , Major League Baseball manager
1936 - Frank Stella , painter
1936 - Tom Snyder , journalist, TV personality
1937 - George Carlin , comedian
1942 - Ian Dury , rock star (d. 2000 )
1948 - Steve Winwood , singer ("Blind Faith ", "Traffic ")
1950 - Bruce Boxleitner , actor
1950 - Billy Squier , singer/songwriter
1950 - Gabriel Byrne , actor
1955 - Kix Brooks , musician
1957 - Erik von Stronheim , director
1962 - Emilio Estevez , actor
1963 - Vanessa Williams , actress
1964 - Brett Gurewitz , guitarist for Bad Religion and NOFX
1966 - Stephen Baldwin , actor
1968 - Tony Hawk , skateboarding legend
1969 - Kim Fields , actress
1970 - Mike Weir , Canadian golfer , 2003 Masters champion
1975 - Jonah Lomu , New Zealand rugby player
1977 - Graeme Dott , Scottish snooker player
1978 - Jason Biggs , actor (American Pie 1995 - Jean Carlos Chera , Brazilian football prodigy
1995 - Sawyer Sweeten , actor
1995 - Sullivan Sweeten , actor
Deaths
1003 - Pope Silvester II
1012 - Pope Sergius IV
1641 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (b. 1593 )
1684 - Edme Mariotte (b. 1620 ), French physicist and priest
1700 - John Dryden , poet (b. 1631 )
1845 - János Bacsanyi , Hungarian poet (b. 1763 )
1867 - Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard , German archaeologist (b. 1795 )
1884 - Bedřich Smetana , Czech composer (b. 1824 )
1889 - John Cadbury , founder of chocolate company Cadbury (b. 1801 )
1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans , French author (b. 1848 )
1925 - Amy Lowell , poet (b. 1874 )
1935 - Jósef Piłsudski , father of modern Poland (b. 1867 )
1944 - Max Brand , author
1944 - Q , British writer (b. 1863 )
1956 - Louis Calhern , silent film actor (b. 1895 )
1963 - Bobby Kerr , Canadian sprinter (b. 1882 )
1967 - John Masefield , British poet and writer (b. 1878 )
1971 - Heinie Manush , Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1901 )
1985 - Jean Dubuffet , painter (b. 1901 )
1986 - Elisabeth Bergner , actress (b. 1897 )
1992 - Robert Reed , actor, The Brady Bunch 1932 )
1994 - John Smith leader of British Labour Party (b. 1938 )
2000 - Adam Petty , NASCAR driver (b. 1980 )
2001 - Perry Como , singer (b. 1912 )
2003 - Sadruddin Aga Khan , United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 1965 - 1977
Holidays and observances
Events
External links
May 11 - May 13 - April 12 - June 12 -- listing of all days
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