1618 – Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary are thrown out of a window and amazingly are not seriously injured by the 70 foot (21m) fall. Triggers the Thirty Years’ War.
1785 – Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals
1813 – South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”)
1949 – Federal Republic of [West] Germany created out of the American, British and French occupation zones
1958 – Mao Zedong starts the “Great Leap Forward” movement in China
1960 – Israel announces capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina
1977 – Benin adopts its constitution
1982 – Pope John Paul II declares “Peerke” Donders a saint
1992 – US President George H. W. Bush orders Coast Guard to intercept boats with Haitian refugees
1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes.
2014 – Russia and China veto the U.N. Security Council resolution to establish an International Criminal Court for war crimes in Syria
2015 – Thousands of LGBTQ activists celebrated as Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage through referendum.
2017 – UK raises terror threat level to critical following Manchester bombing
2019 – Fifty children rescued from an international paedophile ring on the dark web in Thailand, Australia and the US by Interpol under Operation Blackwrist, main organizer sentenced to 146 years
2019 – The last slave ship to smuggle slaves to America from Africa, the Clotilda (sunk 1860), is found in Mobile river, Alabama
Births & Deaths: 1934 – Bonnie and Clyde, notorious American outlaws, were killed in a police shoot-out near Gibsland, Louisiana.
Film:
1980 – Horror film “The Shining” released directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, based on book by Stephen King
1984 – Crime epic film “Once Upon a Time in America” directed by Sergio Leone starring Robert De Niro and James Woods premieres at Cannes
1994 – 47th Cannes Film Festival: “Pulp Fiction” directed by Quentin Tarantino wins the Palme d’Or
Music:
2000 – Eminem releases 3rd studio album “The Marshall Mathers LP”, is fastest ever selling studio album (Grammy – Best Rap Album 2001)
Sport:
1873 – 1st Preakness Stakes: G. Barbee aboard Survivor wins in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, Maryland Via Britannica / On This Day
