May 22
May 22 is the 142nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (143rd in leap years ). There are 223 days remaining.
Events
1176 - Murder attempt by the Hashshashin (Assassins) on Saladin near Aleppo .
1455 - Wars of the Roses : At the First Battle of St Albans , Richard, Duke of York , defeats and captures King Henry VI of England .
1762 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg .
1807 - A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason .
1819 - The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean . The ship will arrive at Liverpool, England on June 20 .
1840 - The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
1843 - The first major wagon train heading for the Northwest sets out with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri on the Oregon Trail .
1856 - Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas ").
1872 - Reconstruction : President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
1906 - The 1906 Summer Olympics , not now recognized as part of the official Olympic Games , opens in Athens .
1908 - The Wright Brothers patent their aircraft .
1939 - World War II : Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel .
1947 - Cold War : In an effort to fight the spread of Communism , President Harry S. Truman of the U.S. signs an act into law that will later be called the Truman Doctrine . The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece .
1960 - An earthquake measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale , now known as the Great Chilean Earthquake , affects southern Chile . It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
1967 - The Innovation department store in the centre of Brussels , Belgium burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, which results in 323 dead and missing and 150 injured.
1967 - Mister Rogers' Neighborhood television , airs its first episode.
1968 - The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores .
1969 - Apollo 10 's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles of the moon 's surface.
1972 - Ceylon adopts a new constitution, changes its name to Sri Lanka , and joins the British Commonwealth .
1990 - North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen .
1990 - The Windows 3.0 operating system is released by Microsoft .
1992 - After 30 years, 66-year-old Johnny Carson hosts the Tonight Show 1997 - Kelly Flinn , US Air Force 's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial .
1998 - Lewinsky scandal : A federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton .
2002 - In Washington, DC , the remains of the missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park .
2002 - American civil rights movement : A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church .
2003 - In Fort Worth, Texas , Annika Sörenstam becomes the first woman to play the PGA Tour in 58 years.
2004 - Felipe, Prince of Asturias of the Spanish Royal Family marries Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano .
2004 - Hallam, Nebraska wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado which broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also killed one.
Births
1694 - Daniel Gran , Austrian painter (d. 1757 )
1715 - François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis , French cardinal and statesman (d. 1794 )
1772 - Ram Mohan Roy , Hindu reformer (d. 1833 )
1808 - Gérard de Nerval , French writer (d. 1855 )
1813 - Richard Wagner , German composer (d. 1883 )
1841 - Catulle Mendès , French poet (d. 1909 )
1844 - Mary Cassatt , American artist (d. 1926 )
1848 - Fritz von Uhde , German painter (d. 1911 )
1849 - Louis Perrier , Swiss politician (d. 1913 )
1852 - Émile Sauret , French composer
1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , physician and writer (d. 1930 )
1874 - Daniel François Malan , first prime minister of apartheid government in South Africa
1879 - Alla Nazimova , Ukrainian-born actress, scriptwriter and producer (d. 1945 )
1879 - Warwick Armstrong , Australian cricketer (d. 1947 )
1885 - Giacomo Matteotti , Italian politician (d. 1924 )
1885 - Toyoda Soemu , Japanese admiral (d. 1957 )
1891 - Eddie Edwards , jazz musician (d. 1963 )
1902 - Al Simmons , Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1956 )
1907 - Sir Laurence Olivier , English actor, director (d. 1989 )
1907 - Hergé , comic book creator (d. 1983 )
1910 - Johnny Olson , game show announcer (d. 1985 )
1911 - Anatol Rapoport , mathematical psychologist & pianist
1912 - Herbert C. Brown , Nobel Prize winner for chemistry (d. 2004 )
1914 - Vance Packard , author (d. 1996 )
1914 - Sun Ra , jazz musician (d. 1993 )
1917 - Georg Tintner , conductor (d. 1999 )
1920 - Thomas Gold , Austrian astrophysicist (d. 2004 )
1922 - Quinn Martin , television producer (d. 1987 )
1924 - Charles Aznavour , singer, actor, composer
1925 - Jean Tinguely , kinetic artist (d. 1991 )
1930 - John Barth , American writer
1930 - Harvey Milk , politician, civil rights activist (d. 1978 )
1934 - Peter Nero , musician
1937 - Guy Marchand , French musician and actor
1938 - Richard Benjamin , actor
1938 - Susan Strasberg , actress
1940 - Bernard Shaw , television journalist
1941 - Paul Winfield , actor (d. 2004 )
1942 - Volker Canaris , theatre director
1942 - Theodore Kaczynski , bomber
1942 - Calvin Simon , musician (P Funk )
1943 - Betty Williams , politician, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace
1943 - Tommy John , Major League Baseball pitcher
1946 - George Best , footballer
1950 - Bernie Taupin , songwriter
1957 - Gary Sweet , actor
1959 - Morrissey , singer
1960 - Hideaki Anno , Japanese director
1968 - James Luecke , saxophonist
1970 - Naomi Campbell , fashion model and actress
1972 - Annabel Chong , actress
1978 - Katie Price (Jordan), model and media personality
1984 - Alex Bogdanovic , British tennis player
Deaths
337 - Constantine the Great , Roman emperor (b. 272 )
1540 - Francesco Guicciardini (b. 1483 )
1667 - Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599 )
1885 - Victor Hugo , French author (b. 1802 )
1939 - Ernst Toller , author
1939 - Jiri Mahen , author
1949 - Klaus Mann , German writer (b. 1906 )
1966 - Tom Goddard , English cricketer (b. 1900 )
1967 - Langston Hughes , American writer (b. 1902 )
1972 - Cecil Day-Lewis , poet and writer (b. 1904 )
1972 - Margaret Rutherford , actress (b. 1892 )
1990 - Rocky Graziano , American boxer (b. 1922 )
1992 - Zellig Harris , linguist (b. 1909 )
2004 - Richard Biggs , actor (b. 1960 )
Holidays and observances
External links
May 21 - May 23 - April 22 - June 22 -- listing of all days
Top Encyclopedia Articles
