Today in history...
May 19 1536
In the first public execution of an English queen, Anne Boleyn is beheaded. In her speech, Boleyn has nothing but good things to say about her husband, Henry VIII: "I pray GERD save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord."
May 19 1890
Nguyen Tat Thanh is born in central Vietnam. After World War I he devotes his life to the Communist cause, adopting a series of pseudonyms along the way. Finally he settles on "The Enlightener," that being the English translation of Ho Chi Minh.
May 19 1928
Saloth Sar, one of the world's most successful mass murderers, is born in French Indochina. He later adopts the name Pol Pot in 1976, a year after the Khmer Rouge seizes control of Cambodia.
May 19 1987
Chet Fleming files for a patent on his method for keeping a severed head alive. The mechanism includes blood filtering, pumping equipment, and nutrient supply. Ultimately, US Patent 4,666,425 is granted.
May 19 1992
17-year-old Amy Fisher shoots Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the face. Amy had been having an affair with Mary Jo's 38-year-old husband Joey. Fisher winds up spending seven years in prison, and Mary Jo winds up with a plate in her head.
May 19 1993
Four servicemen are killed on an inspection flight when their Blackhawk helicopter crashes in the woods near Quantico, Virginia. Maj. William Barcley, SSgt. Brian Haney, Capt. Scott Reynolds, and Marine Sgt. Timothy Sabel had flown President Bill Clinton to the USS Theodore Roosevelt during his visit to the aircraft carrier two months prior. Hence, the men qualify as former "Clinton bodyguards" and their untimely deaths should be interpreted as evidence that they were killed simply because they knew too much.
May 19 1994
Jackie O., one the many women John F. Kennedy had sex with, dies of lymphatic cancer in her 15-room Manhattan apartment. In accordance with her 36-page will, most of her personal possessions are to be publicly auctioned by Sotheby's two years later. At which, one bidder observes that people are paying "100 times the value for objects that are amazingly mediocre." In fact, the average price for individual pieces of costume jewelry is $18,750.
Birthdays today...
1593 - Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (d. 1678)
1700 - José de Escandón, Spanish colonial governor (d. 1770)
1724 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (d. 1779)
1744 - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1818)
1762 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (d. 1814)
1773 - Arthur Aikin, English mineralogist (d. 1854)
1795 - Johns Hopkins, American philanthropist (d. 1873)
1797 - Maria Isabel of Portugal, queen of Spain (d. 1818)
1827 - Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (d. 1896)
1861 - Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer (d. 1931)
1862 - Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (d. 1942)
1870 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (d. 1936)
1874 - Gilbert Laird Jessop, English cricketer (d. 1955)
1879 - Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician (d. 1964)
1880 - Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (d. 1964)
1881 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1st President of Turkey (d. 1938)
1882 - Mohammed Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran (d. 1967)
1890 - Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader (d. 1969)
1891 - Oswald Boelcke, German World War I pilot (d. 1916)
1897 - Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
1898 - Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (d. 1974)
1906 - Bruce Bennett, American athlete and actor (d. 2007)
1908 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
1909 - Nicholas Winton, British Humanitarian
1914 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2002)
1914 - Go Seigen, Japanese Go player
1914 - Alex Shibicky, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1918 - Abraham Pais, Dutch-born American physicist (d. 2000)
1921 - Yuri Kochiyama, American civil rights activist
1921 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
1921 - Daniel Gélin, French actor (d. 2002)
1924 - Sandy Wilson, British composer
1925 - Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)
1925 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (d. 1998)
1925 - Guy Provost, French Canadian actor (d. 2004)
1926 - Swami Kriyananda, Indian teacher and author
1928 - Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars (d. 1982)
1928 - Dolph Schayes, American basketball player and coach
1929 - John Stroger Chicago politician
1930 - Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright (d. 1965)
1931 - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor
1931 - Bob Anderson, British racing driver (d. 1967)
1932 - Alma Cogan, English singer (d. 1966)
1932 - Paul Erdman, American economist and author (d. 2007)
1932 - Claude Blanchard, Quebec comedian, actor and singer (d. 2006)
1934 - Jim Lehrer, American television journalist
1934 - Ruskin Bond, Indian author
1937 - Pat Roach, English actor and wrestler (d. 2004)
1938 - Madge Hindle, English actress
1938 - Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese leader, UDT President in the exterior (d. 1989)
1939 - Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
1939 - James Fox, English actor
1939 - Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong actress
1939 - Dick Scobee, American astronaut (d. 1986)
1940 - Mickey Newbury, American musician
1940 - Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
1941 - Nora Ephron, American screenwriter
1942 - Gary Kildall, American computer programmer (d. 1994)
1942 - Robert Kilroy-Silk, British politician/television presenter
1944 - Peter Mayhew, British-American actor
1945 - Pete Townshend, English musician (The Who)
1946 - André the Giant, French professional wrestler (d. 1993)
1946 - Claude Lelièvre, Belgian commissioner for children's rights
1947 - Michele Placido, Italian actor and director
1947 - Paul Brady, Northern Ireland singer/songwriter
1947 - David Helfgott, Australian pianist
1948 - Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
1949 - Archie Manning, American football player
1949 - Dusty Hill, American blues rock singer/bassist (ZZ Top)
1951 - Joey Ramone, American musician (The Ramones) (d. 2001)
1952 - Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
1953 - Victoria Wood, British comic actress
1953 - Dawud M. Mu'Min, American convicted murderer (d. 1997)
1953 - Shavarsh Karapetyan, Soviet Armenian finswimmer
1954 - Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (AC/DC)
1956 - James Gosling, Canadian computer programmer
1956 - Steven Ford, American actor
1957 - Bill Laimbeer, American basketball player and coach
1959 - Nicole Brown Simpson, Ex-wife of O.J. Simpson and murder victim. (d. 1994)
1963 - Filippo Galli, former Italian footballer
1963 - Yazz, British singer
1964 - Miloslav Mečíř, Slovakian former tennis player
1964 - Sean Whalen, American actor
1966 - Polly Walker, British actress
1966 - Marc Bureau, French Canadian ice hockey player
1968 - Kyle Eastwood, American jazz musician; son of Clint Eastwood
1970 - Mario Dumont, Quebec politician (Action démocratique du Québec)
1970 - Choi Kyung-Ju, South Korean professional golfer
1970 - Jason Gray-Stanford, Canadian actor
1971 - Dionicio Castellanos, Mexican professional wrestler
1972 - Jenny Berggren, Swedish singer (Ace of Base)
1974 - Andrew Johns, Australian rugby league footballer
1975 - London Fletcher, American football player
1975 - Masanobu Ando, Japanese actor
1975 - Josh Paul, American baseball player
1975 - Pretinha, Brazilian footballer
1975 - Stuart Stevenson, Scottish musician
1976 - Ed Cota, American basketball player
1976 - Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
1977 - Manuel Almúnia, Spanish footballer
1977 - Brandon Inge, American baseball player
1978 - Marcus Bent, English footballer
1979 - Barbara Nedeljakova, Slovak actress (Hostel)
1979 - Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer
1979 - Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer
1980 - Drew Fuller, American actor/model
1980 - Tony Hackworth, English footballer
1981 - Georges St. Pierre, Mixed Martial Arts Fighter
1981 - Luciano Figueroa, Argentine footballer
1981 - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
1981 - Nate Cole, American singer/songwriter (formerly of Plus One, now in Castledoor)
1982 - Kevin Amankwaah, English footballer
1982 - Pål Steffen Andresen, Norwegian footballer
1983 - Eve Angel, Hungarian model/porn star
1983 - Jessica Fox, British actress
1984 - Marcedes Lewis, American football player
1986 - Eric Lloyd, American actor
1986 - Mario Chalmers, NCAA basketball player
1987 - David Edgar, Canadian footballer
1988 - Lily Cole, English model/actress
1991 - Jordan Pruitt, American singer
Famous deaths...
804 - Alcuin, English monk (b. c. 735)
988 - Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 909)
1102 - Stephen, Count of Blois (b. c. 1045)
1125 - Vladimir Monomakh, Russian prince (b. 1053)
1296 - Pope Celestine V (b. 1215)
1319 - Louis d'Évreux, son of Philip III of France (b. 1276)
1389 - Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1350)
1526 - Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (b. 1464)
1531 - Jan Łaski, Polish statesman and diplomat (b. 1456)
1536 - Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England
1601 - Costanzo Porta, Italian composer
1610 - Thomas Sanchez, Spanish theologian (b. 1550)
1637 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b. 1588)
1715 - Charles Montagu, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
1786 - John Stanley, English composer (b. 1712)
1795 - Josiah Bartlett, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1729)
1795 - James Boswell, Scottish biographer (b. 1740)
1798 - William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (b. 1722)
1821 - Camille Jordan, French politician (b. 1771)
1825 - Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, French political philosopher (b. 1760)
1864 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (b. 1804)
1876 - Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch politician (b. 1801)
1885 - Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b. 1809)
1895 - José Martí, Cuban independence leader (b. 1853)
1898 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1809)
1904 - Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)
1907 - Benjamin Baker, English engineer (b. 1840)
1912 - Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (b. 1847)
1915 - John Simpson Kirkpatrick stretcher bearer with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli during World War I (b. 1892)
1918 - Raoul Lufbery, French-American World War I fighter pilot and flying ace (b. 1885)
1935 - T. E. Lawrence, English soldier known as Lawrence of Arabia (b. 1888)
1943 - Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter (b. 1865)
1945 - Philipp Bouhler, German nazi leader (b. 1889)
1946 - Booth Tarkington, American novelist (b. 1869)
1954 - Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
1958 - Archie Scott-Brown, English race car driver (b. 1927)
1958 - Ronald Colman, English actor (b. 1891)
1965 - Tui Malila, world's oldest tortoise (b. 1773 or 1777)
1969 - Coleman Hawkins, American musician (b. 1901)
1971 - Ogden Nash, American poet (b. 1902)
1983 - Jean Rey, President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
1984 - John Betjeman, English poet and Poet Laureate (b. 1906)
1986 - Jimmy Lyons, American musician (b. 1931)
1987 - James Tiptree, Jr, American author (b. 1915)
1989 - CLR James, West Indian writer and journalist (b. 1901)
1994 - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, First Lady of the United States (b. 1929)
1994 - Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (b. 1945)
1998 - Sōsuke Uno, Japanese prime minister (b. 1922)
1999 - James Blades, English percussionist (b. 1901)
1999 - Candy Candido, American actor (b. 1913)
2000 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)
2001 - Susannah McCorkle, American singer (b. 1946)
2002 - John Gorton, nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
2002 - Walter Lord, American writer (b. 1917)
2004 - Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress (b. 1907)
2005 - Henry Corden, American actor and voice artist (b. 1921)
2006 - Freddie Garrity, English lead singer from the band Freddie and the Dreamers (b. 1940)
2007 - Dean Eyre, New Zealand politician (b. 1914)
2008 - Vijay Tendulkar, Indian playwright, (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances...
Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
Dunstan
Peter Celestine
Ives
Pudentiana
Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day in Turkey (1919).
Have a great Monday.
~Brian
