May 30

May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). There are 215 days remaining.

Events

• 1416 – The Catholic Church burns Jerome of Prague as a heretic.
• 1431 – In Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by a pro-English tribunal.
• 1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
• 1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.
• 1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
• 1806 – Andrew Jackson kills a man in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
• 1814 – The First Treaty of Paris is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon I of France is exiled to Elba on the same day.
• 1854 – The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
• 1871 – The Paris Commune falls.
• 1868 – Memorial Day (then known as "Decoration Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on May 5 by General John Logan).
• 1876 – Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
• 1879 – New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
• 1883 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.
• 1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
• 1913 – First Balkan War: A peace treaty is signed in London ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
• 1922 – In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
• 1935 – Babe Ruth plays in his last baseball game, in the uniform of the Boston Braves.
• 1941 – World War II: Germany captures Crete.
• 1942 – World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
• 1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
• 1958 – The bodies of several unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1967 – At the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.
• 1967 – The Nigerian state of Biafra secedes, sparking a civil war.
• 1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
• 1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
• 1972 – Members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
• 1982 – Baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr plays the first of 2,632 consecutive games. His streak will end on September 20, 1998.
• 1982 – Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
• 1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
• 1998 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
• 1999 – Kenny Bräck wins the 83rd Indianapolis 500
• 2003 – The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.
• 2004 – Buddy Rice wins a rain-shortened 88th Indianapolis 500

Births

• 1672 – Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (d. 1725)
• 1814 – Michael Bakunin, Russian anarchist (d. 1876)
• 1879 – Colin Blythe, Kent and England left arm spinner (d. 1917)
• 1882 – Wyndham Halswelle, British runner
• 1895 – Maurice Tate, Sussex and England all-rounder (d. 1956)
• 1896 – Howard Hawks, American film director (d. 1977)
• 1899 – Irving Thalberg, American film producer (d. 1936)
• 1901 – Cornelia Otis Skinner, Broadway producer, writer, director, and actress (d. 1979)
• 1902 – Stepin Fetchit, American dancer and actor (d. 1985)
• 1907 – Elly Beinhorn, pilot
• 1908 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
• 1909 – Benny Goodman, American clarinet player and Swing-era bandleader (d. 1986)
• 1910 – Inge Meysel, German actress (b. 2004)
• 1912 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist
• 1912 – Joseph Stein, playwright
• 1912 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (d. 1980)
• 1912 – Erich Bagge, German physicist
• 1920 – Franklin Schaffner, American film director (d. 1989)
• 1920 – Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete (d. 1978)
• 1922 – Hal Clement, American science fiction writer (d. 2003)
• 1926 – Christine Jorgensen, transsexual activist (d. 1989)
• 1927 – Clint Walker, actor
• 1934 – Aleksei Leonov, cosmonaut and first person to walk in space
• 1936 – Keir Dullea, American actor
• 1939 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor
• 1943 – Gale Sayers, American football star
• 1951 – Stephen Tobolowsky, actor
• 1951 – Zdravko Colic, Yugoslavian singer
• 1953 – Colm Meaney, Irish actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine)
• 1955 – Topper Headon, British musician, drummer with The Clash
• 1964 – Wynonna Judd, American country music singer
• 1972 – Manny Ramirez, Dominican baseball player
• 1973 – Leigh Francis (aka Avid Merrion), British comedian.
• 1986 – Claudia Beni, Croatian singer

Deaths

• 1252 – King Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon (b. 1198/1199)
• 1416 – Jerome of Prague, Czech theologian (b. 1379)
• 1431 – Joan of Arc, French commander and saint (burned at the stake) (b. 1412)
• 1574 – King Charles IX of France (b. 1550)
• 1576 – Harada Naomasa, Japanese retainer and samurai under Oda Nobunaga
• 1593 – Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (b. 1564)
• 1640 – Peter Paul Rubens, German painter (b. 1577)
• 1770 – François Boucher, French painter (b. 1703)
• 1744 – Alexander Pope, English poet, and writer (b. 1688)
• 1778 – Voltaire, French philosopher, author (b. 1694)
• 1865 – John Catron, associate justice of the United States
• 1951 – Hermann Broch, Austrian author (b. 1886)
• 1953 – Dooley Wilson, American musician, actor
• 1960 – Boris Pasternak, Russian author (b. 1890)
• 1961 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
• 1964 – Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-American nuclear physicist (b. 1898)
• 1967 – Claude Rains, English actor (b. 1889)
• 1971 – Marcel Dupré, French composer (b. 1886)
• 1975 – Steve Prefontaine, American distance runner (b. 1951)
• 1986 – Perry Ellis, fashion designer
• 1993 – Sun Ra, American musician (b. 1914)
• 2000 – Tex Beneke, bandleader, singer, saxophone player
• 2003 – Mickie Most, English musician (b. 1938)
• 2003 – Hans Peter Willberg, literature critic

Holidays and observances

• United States – Memorial Day (originally – currently last Monday in May)
• Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day in Fiji (last Monday in May)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

May 29 – May 31 – April 30 – June 30 – listing of all days