May 14

It’s Dance Like a Chicken Day and National Receptionist Day and National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

ON THIS DAY…
1610 King Henri IV, Bourbon King of France (1572, 89-1610) was assassinated by a fanatical monk, François Ravillac; Henri IV was succeeded by 11-year-old Louis XIII, under the eye of Cardinal Richelieu
1643 Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII
1787 In Philadelphia, delegates begin to meet to write a new Constitution for the United States
1796 English physician Edward Jenner administered the first vaccination against smallpox to his gardener’s son, eight-year-old James Phipps; a single blister rose up on the spot, but James later demonstrated immunity to smallpox
1804 The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River
1842 The London Illustrated News publishes its first issue
1850 The first US patent for a dishwashing machine was issued to Joel Houghton of Ogden, NY, for an “Improvement in Machines for Washing Table Furniture”
1853 Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk
1856 Charles Darwin began writing his book, The Origin of Species, sitting in the study of his country home in Down, England
1856 James P. Casey, editor of the San Francisco Times, shot James King, proprietor of the rival Evening Bulletin; King died six days later
1862 Swiss watchmaker Adolphe Nicole patented the chronograph, which was able to give split-second timing of sports events
1878 The name “Vaseline” was registered as a trademark for the petroleum jelly developed by an chemist Robert Augustus Chesebrough
1897 “Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time in Philadelphia
1900 The military orders establishing the US Yellow Fever Commission were issued
1900 The Olympic games opened in Paris, held as part of the 1900 World’s Fair
1904 The first Olympic games to be held in the United States opened in St. Louis; some 1,500 athletes competed from 13 countries with US athletes winning 80 of 100 gold medals
1918 Sunday baseball games became legal in Washington, D.C.
1932 There was a “We Want Beer!” parade in NY
1932 The first electrical timing device was tested at a track meet for three events between Columbia and Syracuse at Baker Field, New York City
1939 Lina Medina, becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five
1940 The Netherlands surrender to Germany
1945 A Kamikaze Zero struck the US aircraft carrier Enterprise
1948 The US granted Israel de facto recognition
1948 When British rule over Palestine ends, Israel is proclaimed an independent state and is declared open to Jewish immigration
1949 President Truman signed a bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral
1951 The Ernie Kovacs Show debuted on NBC-TV
1955 The Warsaw Pact is signed by seven European communist nations including the Soviet Union, creating a military alliance in opposition to NATO
1961 Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, AL and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob
1963 A laser light beam link first carried the TV signal during a network broadcast; it was demonstrated during the CBS program I’ve Got a Secret
1963 The first US patent on a “solar airplane vehicle” was issued to Elmer G. Johnson of Fairborn, OH
1967 Mickey Mantle becomes the sixth member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Yankee Stadium
1969 Abortion and contraception was legalized in Canada
1972 Okinawa reverts to Japan after 27 years under US jurisdiction
1973 Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In last aired on NBC-TV
1973 The US Supreme court approved equal rights to females in military
1973 Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched; it is the last launch of the Saturn V rocket
1980 President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services
1989 Moonlighting last aired on ABC-TV
1989 Family Ties ended its first-run episodes on NBC-TV
1998 A US district judge ruled that all California pot clubs were in violation of federal law
1998 In Wisconsin abortion clinics across the state closed as a sweeping ban against “partial birth” abortions went into effect
1998 The last episode Seinfeld aired on NBC-TV
2005 Nintendo opens up its first retail store, Nintendo World, in Rockefeller Center in New York City

BORN:
1265 Dante Alighieri, poet whose central work is Divina Commedia
1903 Billie Dove, silent film actress (The Black Pirate, Folly of Vanity, The Roughneck)
1926 Eric Morecambe, five-time BAFTA Award-winning TV personality (The Morecambe & Wise Show)
1928 Ernesto “Che” Guevara Serna, Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author, military theorist, physician, and guerrilla leader
1936 Bobby Darin (Walden Robert Cassotto), Grammy Award-winning singer and member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (“Splish Splash”, “Dream Lover”, “Mack the Knife”, “Beyond the Sea”, “If I Were a Carpenter”)
1942 Prentis Hancock, actor (Space: 1999, Spy Trap, Doctor Who, Reilly: Ace of Spies)
1944 George Lucas, film legend
1944 Francesca Annis, actress (Cranford, Marple: At Bertram’s Hotel, Jane Eyre, The Libertine, Reckless, Krull)
1948 Richard Correll, actor-writer-director-producer (Family Matters, That’s So Raven!, Cory in the House, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody)
1952 Robert Zemeckis, writer, producer and Academy Award-winning director (Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Used Cars, Romancing the Stone)
1962 Danny Huston, actor-director (Mr. North, The Aviator, The Constant Gardener, Children of Men, The Number 23, John Adams)
1961 Tim Roth, actor (The Hit, Vincent & Theo, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Reservoir Dogs, The Incredible Hulk)
1965 Eoin Colfer, author who is most famous for his Artemis Fowl series
1969 Cate Blanchett, Academy Award-winning actress (The Aviator, Elizabeth, Oscar and Lucinda, Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
1971 Sofia Coppola, actress, director and Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Peggy Sue Got Married)
1983 Amber Tamblyn, actress (Joan of Arcadia, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Grudge 2, The Ring)
1990 Sasha Spielberg, actress and daughter of some director (The Terminal, Munich, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

DIED:
1610 King Henry IV, ruled as King of France from 1589 to 1610 and, as Henry III, King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610; he was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France, dies at 56
1643 King Louis XIII, ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643, dies at 41
1919 Henry John Heinz, businessperson who founded H.J. Heinz Co.and invented the “57 varieties” slogan was a born salesman, dies at 74
1925 Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE, prolific writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa; he was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire (She, King Solomon’s Mines), dies at 68
1942 Frank Churchill, songwriter and Academy Award-winning composer (Dumbo, “Someday My Prince Will Come”, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf”, “Whistle While You Work”), dies at 40
1970 Billie Burke, actress (Topper, Zenobia, The Wizard of Oz, Girl Trouble, Father of the Bride), dies at 85
1978 William P. Lear, taught himself electrical engineering and is best known for the Lear Jet Corporation he founded, the world’s first mass-producer of business jet aircraft, dies at 75
1980 Hugh Griffith, Academy Award-winning actor (Ben-Hur, Tom Jones, Oliver!, The Abominable Dr. Phibes), dies at 67
1982 Hugh Beaumont, actor (Leave it to Beaver, Du Barry Was a Lady, The Blue Dahlia, Lost Continent), dies at 73
1987 Rita Hayworth, actress (Only Angels Have Wings, Blood and Sand, Cover Girl, Gilda, Pal Joey), dies at 68
1992 Lyle Alzado, NFL football player (1971-1985) who played defensive line for the Los Angeles Raiders, Cleveland Browns, and Denver Broncos, dies at 43
1997 Harry Blackstone Jr., stage magician, author, and television performer who received the Magician of the Year Award in 1979 and 1985, dies at 62
1998 Frank Sinatra, Academy Award-winning actor (From Here to Eternity), honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997 and was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, dies at 82
2003 Robert Stack, Emmy Award-winning actor (The Untouchables, Most Wanted, 1941, Airplane!), dies at 84
2003 Dame Wendy Hiller, Academy Award-winning actress (Separate Tables, A Man for All Seasons, Pygmalion, The Elephant Man), dies at 90
2004 Anna Lee, actress (Port Charles, General Hospital, Scruples, In Like Flint, The Sound of Music, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), dies at 91
2004 Shaun Sutton, producer-director (Queen’s Champion, The Pocket Lancer, The Browning Version, What the Butler Saw), dies at 84