On This Day in History: May2

(2PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

On this day in 1933, Loch Ness Monster sighted Although legend of a monster living in the Loch Ness had existed for over 1500 years, the earliest account from 500 A.D., it was a news report in the Inverness Courier that sparked the modern day legend. The Loch is the largest body of fresh water in Great Britain that has a depth of 800 ft and is 23 miles long. In 1933, a new road had been built around the lake with great views. The story of a couple who had observed “an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface”, that was fueled by the Courier using the word “monster” and a reward of 20,000 pound sterling, sparked a media darling. In 1934, a photograph of a creature with a long neck surfaced, again, increasing speculation that this creature was a survivor of long extinct aquatic plesiosaurs. The photo was revealed to be a hoax in 1994.

Since then there have been both amateur and professional sightings and studies. The have been inconclusive yet tantalizing reports of large unidentifiable objects moving on the bottom of the lake. Using sonar and photography in 19, the Boston’s Academy of Applied Science produced a photo that ‘appeared to show the giant flipper of a plesiosaur-like creature”.  

1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth  its first Royal Charter.

1469 Nicolo Machiavelli is born

1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.

1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the beginning Scottish Reformation.

1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.

1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

1672 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.

1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.

1816 – Marriage of Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Charlotte Augusta.

1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of the HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.

1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.

1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.

1879 – The Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party is founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers’ leader Pablo Iglesias.

1885 – Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time.

1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.

1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.

1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.

1920 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.

1932 – Comedian Jack Benny’s radio show airs for the first time.

1933 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.

1945 – World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.

1945 – World War II: Italian Campaign – General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.

1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead inmates, most starved to death.

1946 – The “Battle of Alcatraz” takes place, killing two guards and three inmates.

1952 – The world’s first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.

1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

1957 – Joseph McCarthy dies

1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.

1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship.

1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.

1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

1972 – End of an era at the FBI. After nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover dies, leaving the powerful government agency without the administrator who had been largely responsible for its existence and shape.

1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

1994 – In a bus disaster in Poland, 32 people die.

1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, Serb forces fire cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing 7 and wounding over 175 civilians.

1998 – The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy.

1999 – Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.

2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

Birthdays

74 Singer Englebert Humperdinck.

65 R.C. Bannon, Country singer

64 Lesley Gore, singer

62 Larry Gatlin, Country singer

60 Lou Gramm, singer of Foreigner

58 Christine Baranski, acterss

56 Angela Bofill, R&B singer

38 Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) Wrestler-actor  

35 David Beckham, English footballer