May 4

It’s Bird Day and National Candied Orange Peel Day and Renewal Day and National Weather Observer’s Day and International Firefighters Day

ON THIS DAY…
1471 The Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury in the Wars of the Roses
1597 At the age of thirty-three, in the year after his son Hamnet died, William Shakespeare pays £60 for a handsome property in Stratford known as the New Place; unfortunately, he would have to wait until 1602 to take possession, as the sale was held up by the poisoning of the seller by his son
1675 King Charles II of England orders the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory

1776 Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III
1865 President Abraham Lincoln is buried in Springfield, IL almost three weeks after he was assassinated in Washington, D.C.
1884 The first photograph of a lightning flash made in the US was made by W. C. Gurley of the Marietta Observatory, OH
1910 The Royal Canadian Navy is created
1919 Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan
1927 The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in Hollywood
1930 British police arrest Mahatma Gandhi and place him in Yeravda Central Prison
1932 Al Capone enters a federal penitentiary in Georgia to begin serving a sentence for tax evasion
1933 The discovery of radio waves from the center of the Milky Way galaxy was by described by Karl Jansky in a paper he read to the International Radio Union in Washington
1942 The United States began food rationing
1945 Surrender of the North Germany Army to Field Marshal Montgomery
1945 Liberation of the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg by the British Army
1946 US Marines from the Treasure Island Marine Barracks end a two-day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay; five people were killed
1953 Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea
1957 The Alan Freed Show premiered on ABC-TV; it was the first prime-time network rock show
1959 The first Grammy Awards are announced
1964 Another World premiered on NBC-TV
1970 Four students are killed at Kent State University in Ohio when the National Guard opens fire during protests against America’s involvement in the Vietnam War
1972 “The Don’t Make A Wave Committee”, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changed its name to “Greenpeace Foundation”
1977 Space Mountain opens in Disneyland
1979 Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher is sworn in as Britain’s first female prime minister
1984 John Hughes’ teen comedy, Sixteen Candles, starring Molly Ringwald, opened in US theaters
1987 Live models were used for the first time in Playtex bra ads
1989 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North is convicted of obstruction of justice and destruction of documents in investigations into the Iran-Contra affair; the convictions are later overturned
1998 A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty
1999 The final episode of the NewsRadio aired on NBC
2000 Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London
2003 The first cloned equine, a mule foal named Idaho Gem, was born at the University of Idaho

BORN:
1796 Horace Mann, education reformer and abolitionist
1852 Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
1874 Frank Conrad, electrical engineer whose interest in radiotelephony led to the establishment of the first commercial radio station
1923 Eric Sykes, CBE, OBE, actor-writer-director (Heavens Above!, Gormenghast, Teletubbies, The Others, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
1929 Audrey Hepburn, Academy Award-winning actress (Roman Holiday, Charade, Sabrina, Wait Until Dark, Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
1937 Dick Dale, surf rock guitarist who experimented with reverberation and made use of custom made Fender amplifiers, including the first ever 100 watt amp
1939 Paul Gleason, character actor (Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, Arthur, The Breakfast Club, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder)
1940 Robin Cook, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom (1997-2001), Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council (2001-2003), and Member of Parliament (1974-2005)
1972 Mike Dirnt, musician (Green Day)

DIED:
1975 Moe Howard, actor-writer and Head Stooge, dies at 77
1984 Bob Clampett, director-writer-producer-animator (Time for Beany, Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid), dies at 70
2005 Col. David Hackworth, highly decorated officer who fought in WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam and author (Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts, About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior), dies at 74