50 years ago today (1st May 1961)
Fidel Castro declared Cuba a socialist state and abolished multi-party elections
80 years ago today (1st May 1931)
The Empire State Building in New York City, USA was officially opened
75 years ago today (2nd May 1936)
Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie left the country and went into exile in Djibouti following Ethiopia’s invasion by Italy
70 years ago today (5th May 1941)
Ethiopian liberation day. Emperor Haile Selassie returned from exile
125 years ago today (8th May 1886)
Coca-Cola first went on sale, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
25 years ago today (9th May 1986)
Death of Tenzing Norgay, Tibetan/Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer, first (along with Sir Edmund Hillary) to reach the summit of Mount Everest
70 years ago today (10th May 1941)
World War II: The last major attack on London during the Blitz caused heavy damage to many important buildings, including the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St James’s Palace and Lambeth Palace, several railway stations and hospitals, the British Museum and the Old Bailey. Over 1,300 people were killed
30 years ago today (11th May 1981)
Death of Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter and musician
10 years ago today (11th May 2001)
Death of Douglas Adams, British comic writer and dramatist, best known for ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’
30 years ago today (13th May 1981)
Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously injured by a Turkish gunman in an assassination attempt in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Rome
200 years ago today (14th May 1811)
Paraguay declared its independence from Spain
20 years ago today (14th May 1991)
Nelson Mandela’s wife Winnie was sentenced to 6 years in jail for her part in the kidnapping and beating of 4 youths. (Later reduced to a fine)
20 years ago today (15th May 1991)
Edith Cresson became first woman Prime Minister of France
100 years ago today (18th May 1911)
Death of Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor
20 years ago today (21st May 1991)
Death of Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (1984-89). (Assassinated)
70 years ago today (24th May 1941)
World War II: The British battleship ‘HMS Hood’ was sunk by the German battleship ‘Bismarck’ near Iceland. The British sunk the Bismarck 3 days later
60 years ago today (25th May 1951)
British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to Moscow, Russia
50 years ago today (25th May 1961)
U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his famous ‘man on the moon’ speech, in which he urged Congress and America to commit itself, before the end of the decade, to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth
50 years ago today (28th May 1961)
Amnesty International was founded in London
100 years ago today (29th May 1911)
Death of Sir W. S. Gilbert, British playwright and humorist, best known for his comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (‘H.M.S. Pinafore’, ‘The Pirates of Penzance’, ‘The Mikado’, and others)
50 years ago today (31st May 1961)
South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth and became an independent republic
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