May 28

May 28 is the 148th day of the year (149th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 217 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
• 1503 – James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married according to a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI. A Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England signed on that occasion results in a peace that lasts ten years.
• 1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.
• 1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port).
• 1644 – Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of the Earl of Derby.
• 1754 – French and Indian War: in the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
• 1830 – President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.
• 1859 – Big Ben is drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first African American regiment, leaves Boston, Massachusetts, to fight for the Union.
• 1892 – In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
• 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Togo Heihachiro and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
• 1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Armenia declare their independence.
• 1926 – 28th May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.
• 1930 – The Chrysler Building in New York City officially opens.
• 1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
• 1934 – The Glyndebourne festival in England is inaugurated.
• 1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
• 1937 – The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., who pushes a button signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the span.
• 1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Germany.
• 1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.
• 1942 – World War II: in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people.
• 1952 – Memphis Kiddie Park opens in Brooklyn, Ohio. The park's Little Dipper roller coaster would become the oldest operating steel roller coaster in North America.
• 1952 – The women of Greece are given the right to vote.
• 1955 – Henry Bolte becomes Premier of the Australian state of Victoria.
• 1961 – Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
• 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed.
• 1970 – The formerly united Free University of Brussels officially splits into two separate entities, the French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
• 1974 – Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
• 1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
• 1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
• 1978 – Second round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta. The election is won by incumbent Sangoulé Lamizana.
• 1979 – Constantine Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
• 1982 – Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
• 1987 – 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and will not be released until August 3, 1988.
• 1987 – A robot probe finds the wreckage of the USS Monitor near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
• 1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa, falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
• 1993 – Eritrea and Monaco join the United Nations.
• 1995 – The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, half of the total population.
• 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
• 1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions.
• 1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.
• 1999 – Two Swedish police officers are murdered with their own fire arms by the bank robbers Jackie Arklöv and Tony Olsson after a car chase.
• 2002 – NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
• 2002 – The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars.
• 2003 – Peter Hollingworth becomes the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct.
• 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.
• 2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

Births

• 1140 – Xin Qiji, Chinese poet (d. 1207)
• 1371 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1419)
• 1524 – Selim II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1574)
• 1582 – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English statesman (d. 1662)
• 1588 – Pierre Seguier, Chancellor of France (d. 1672)
• 1641 – Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Slovenian polymath (d. 1693)
• 1660 – King George I of Great Britain (d. 1727)
• 1676 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (d. 1754)
• 1692 – Joseph Butler, English philosopher (d. 1752)
• 1738 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (d. 1814)
• 1759 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
• 1779 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet (d. 1852)
• 1807 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born zoologist and geologist (d. 1873)
• 1818 – P.G.T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (d. 1893)
• 1836 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist (d. 1918)
• 1837 – George Ashlin, Irish architect (d. 1921)
• 1837 – Tony Pastor, American vaudeville performer (d. 1908)
• 1841 – Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14^th Yokozuna (d. 1887)
• 1853 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter (d. 1919)
• 1858 – Carl Rickard Nyberg, Swedish inventor (d. 1939)
• 1872 – Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist (d. 1917)
• 1878 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist (d. 1945)
• 1879 – Milutin Milanković, Serbian geophysicist (d. 1958)
• 1883 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian revolutionary and politician (d. 1966)
• 1883 – Clough Williams-Ellis, Welsh architect (d. 1978)
• 1884 – Edvard Beneš, Czech politician (d. 1948)
• 1886 – Santo Trafficante, Sr., Sicilian-born American mobster (d. 1954)
• 1888 – Jim Thorpe/Wa-Tho-Huk, American pentathlete, decathlete, fotball, baseball and basketball player (d. 1953)
• 1888 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian Prime Minister (d. 1942)
• 1888 – Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, Strange first wife of American poet, T.S. Eliot (d. 1947)
• 1889 – Richard Réti, Austrian-Czech chess grandmaster (d. 1929)
• 1892 – Sepp Dietrich, German officer (d. 1966)
• 1900 – Tommy Ladnier, American musician (d. 1939)
• 1908 – Ian Fleming, English author (d. 1964)
• 1909 – Red Horner, Canadian hockey player (d. 2005)
• 1910 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician (d. 1987)
• 1910 – Lady Rachel Kempson, English actress (d. 2003)
• 1910 – T-Bone Walker, American singer (d. 1975)
• 1911 – Thora Hird, British actress (d. 2003)
• 1911 – Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright (d. 1986)
• 1912 – Patrick White, Australian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
• 1912 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist and politician (d. 1992)
• 1914 – W. G. G. Duncan Smith, British World War II pilot (d. 1996)
• 1915 – Joseph Greenberg, American linguist (d. 2001)
• 1916 – Walker Percy, American author (d. 1990)
• 1917 – Papa John Creech, American fiddler (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna) (d. 1994)
• 1918 – Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (Wayne and Shuster) (d. 1990)
• 1921 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German novelist (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Lou Duva, American boxing trainer
• 1923 – György Ligeti, Hungarian composer (d. 2006)
• 1923 – Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Indian actor and politician (d. 1998)
• 1925 – Bülent Ecevit, Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2006)
• 1925 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German baritone
• 1928 – Jack Kevorkian, Former American pathologist and right-to-die advocate
• 1931 – Carroll Baker, American actress
• 1934 – Annette Dionne, Dionne quintuplets
• 1934 – Cecile Dionne, Dionne quintuplets
• 1934 – Emilie Dionne, Dionne quintuplets (d. 1954)
• 1934 – Marie Dionne, Dionne quintuplets (d. 1970)
• 1934 – Yvonne Dionne, Dionne quintuplets(d. 2001)
• 1936 – Betty Shabazz, American civil rights activist (d. 1997)
• 1936 – Claude Forget, French-Canadian politician
• 1938 – Jerry West, American basketball player
• 1938 – Prince Buster, Jamaican ska and rocksteady musician
• 1940 – Shlomo Riskin, American rabbi, founder of the Lincoln Square Synagogue
• 1941 – Beth Howland, American actress
• 1942 – Stanley B. Prusiner, American neurologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1943 – Terry Crisp, Canadian hockey coach
• 1943 – Elena Souliotis, Greek soprano (d. 2004)
• 1944 – Rudy Giuliani, 107th Mayor of New York City
• 1944 – Gladys Knight, American R&B and soul singer and actress
• 1944 – Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress
• 1944 – Gary Stewart, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1944 – Billy Vera, American actor and singer-songwriter
• 1944 – Faith Brown, British actress
• 1945 – John Fogerty, American singer, songwriter and guitarist (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
• 1945 – Hunter "Patch" Adams, American physician and social activist
• 1945 – John N. Bambacus, American politician
• 1946 – Satchidanandan, Indian poet
• 1946 – Skip Jutze, American baseball player
• 1947 – Sondra Locke, American actress
• 1947 – Zahi Hawass, Egyptian egyptologist
• 1947 – Lynn Johnston, Canadian cartoonist
• 1949 – Wendy O. Williams, American vocalist (Plasmatics) (d. 1998)
• 1950 – Ian Bradley, British writer and academic
• 1950 – Kamala, American professional wrestler
• 1952 – Russell J. Wintner, American film executive
• 1953 – Arto Lindsay, American guitarist and singer
• 1954 – John Tory, Canadian politician
• 1954 – Townsend Coleman, American voice actor
• 1954 – Youri Egorov, Soviet classical pianist (d. 1988)
• 1955 – John McGeoch, Scottish guitarist (Siouxsie and the Banshees, Public Image Ltd.) (d. 2004)
• 1955 – Mark Howe, American ice hockey player
• 1956 – Julie Peasgood, British actress
• 1956 – Jerry Douglas, American dobro player
• 1956 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1980)
• 1957 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player
• 1957 – Ben Howland, American college basketball coach
• 1957 – Colin Barnes, English footballer
• 1959 – John Morgan, British etiquette expert (d. 2000)
• 1960 – Mark Sanford, 115th Governor of South Carolina and Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina
• 1962 – Roland Gift, English singer (Fine Young Cannibals)
• 1962 – Brandon Cruz, American actor
• 1962 – James Michael Tyler, American actor
• 1963 – Houman Younessi, Iranian-born scientist
• 1963 – Michelle Collins, British actress
• 1963 – Gavin Harrison, British drummer (Porcupine Tree)
• 1964 – Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer
• 1964 – Armen Gilliam, American basketball player
• 1964 – Christa Miller, American actress
• 1964 – David Baddiel, British comedian and television presenter
• 1964 – Phil Vassar, American country singer
• 1965 – Chris Ballew, American bassist (The Presidents of the United States of America)
• 1967 – Glen Rice, American basketball player
• 1967 – Emma Kennedy, English televison presenter and actress
• 1968 – Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer
• 1969 – Mike DiFelice, American baseball player
• 1969 – Justin Kirk, American actor
• 1970 – Morgan Fox, Canadian model and 1990 Playboy playmate
• 1970 – Jimi Goodwin, British bassist, vocalist and guitarist (Doves)
• 1970 – Ian Cashmore, English actor and paranormal investigator
• 1970 – Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (d. 2002)
• 1970 – Bobby Bognar, American singer (The Piper Downs)
• 1970 – Paul Sinha, British stand-up comedian
• 1971 – Isabelle Carré, French actress
• 1971 – Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater
• 1971 – Monika Schnarre, Canadian model
• 1972 – Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist
• 1972 – Kate Ashfield, British actress
• 1972 – Doriva, Brazilian footballer
• 1974 – Alicia Minshew, American actress
• 1975 – Charmaine Sheh, Hong Kong actress
• 1976 – Roberto Goretti, Italian footballer
• 1976 – Glenn Morrison, Australian rugby league player
• 1976 – Alexei Nemov, Russian gymnast
• 1976 – Liam O'Brien, American voice actor
• 1977 – Jeremy Borash, American professional wrestling announcer
• 1977 – Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American television panelist (The View)
• 1978 – Rufa Mae Quinto, Filipino actress and comedienne
• 1979 – Jesse Bradford, American actor
• 1979 – Ronald Curry, American football player
• 1979 – Joeri Jansen, Belgian athlete
• 1979 – Monica Keena, American actress
• 1980 – Mark Feehily, Irish vocalist (Westlife)
• 1980 – Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer
• 1981 – Daniel Cabrera, Dominican baseball player
• 1981 – Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player
• 1981 – Adam Green, American singer-songwriter
• 1981 – Aaron Schock, American politician
• 1982 – Alexa Davalos, American actress
• 1982 – Jhonny Peralta, Dominican baseball player
• 1982 – Desiree del Valle, Filipino actress
• 1983 – Steve Cronin, American footballer
• 1983 – Toby Hemingway, British actor
• 1983 – Humberto Sanchez, Dominican baseball player
• 1984 – Beth Allen, New Zealand actress
• 1985 – Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter
• 1985 – Carey Mulligan, British actress
• 1985 – Konstantinos Mendrinos, Greek footballer
• 1986 – Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player
• 1986 – Joseph Cross, American actor
• 1986 – Charles N'Zogbia, French footballer
• 1986 – Michael Oher, American football player
• 1988 – Percy Harvin, American football player
• 1988 – David Perron, Canadian ice hockey player
• 2010 – Prince Louis of Bourbon, elder son of Prince Louis, Duke of Anjou

Deaths

• 576 – Saint Germain of Paris, French bishop (b. 496)
• 1357 – King Afonso IV of Portugal (b. 1291)
• 1556 – Saitō Dōsan, Japanese daimyo (b. 1494)
• 1672 – John Trevor, English politician (b. 1626)
• 1747 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French writer (b. 1715)
• 1750 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1720)
• 1787 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian composer (b. 1719)
• 1805 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian composer (b. 1743)
• 1808 – Richard Hurd, English Bishop of Worcester and writer (b. 1720)
• 1811 – Henry Dundas, Scottish politician (b. 1742)
• 1816 – Ras Wolde Selassie, Ethiopian warlord (b. c. 1745)
• 1828 – Daikokuya Kōdayū, Japanese castaway (b. 1751)
• 1843 – Noah Webster, American writer and lexicographer (b. 1758)
• 1849 – Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1820)
• 1864 – Simion Bărnuţiu, Romanian philosopher and politician (b. 1808)
• 1878 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
• 1916 – Ivan Franko, Ukrainian writer (b. 1856)
• 1927 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter (b. 1878)
• 1937 – Alfred Adler, Austrian psychologist (b. 1870)
• 1940 – Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b. 1868)
• 1947 – August Eigruber, Austrian war criminal (b. 1907)
• 1948 – Unity Mitford, English fascist sympathizer (b. 1914)
• 1953 – Hori Tatsuo, Japanese writer (b. 1904)
• 1968 – Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov, Soviet sniper (b. 1908)
• 1971 – Audie Murphy, American actor and soldier (b. 1924)
• 1971 – Jean Vilar, French actor (b. 1912)
• 1972 – King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
• 1975 – Ezzard Charles, American heavyweight boxing champion (b. 1921)
• 1976 – Steffan Danielsen, Faroese painter (b. 1922)
• 1978 – Arthur Brough, English actor (b. 1905)
• 1980 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)
• 1981 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish Cardinal Archbishop of Warsaw (b. 1901)
• 1981 – Mary Lou Williams, American singer (b. 1910)
• 1982 – Lt Col H. Jones VC, British army officer (b. 1940)
• 1983 – Erastus Corning 2nd, American politician, 72^nd Mayor of Albany, New York (b. 1909)
• 1984 – Eric Morecambe, British comedian (Morecambe and Wise) (b. 1926)
• 1988 – Sy Oliver, American jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader (b. 1910)
• 1993 – Billy Conn, American boxer and actor (b. 1917)
• 1994 – Julius Boros, American golfer (b. 1920)
• 1994 – Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American writer (b. 1916)
• 1998 – Phil Hartman, Canadian actor and comedian (b. 1948)
• 2000 – George Irving Bell, American mountaineer (b. 1926)
• 2001 – Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
• 2001 – Joe Moakley, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts (b. 1927)
• 2001 – Francis Bebey, Cameroonian-born French musician and novelist (b. 1929)
• 2002 – Jean Berger, German composer (b. 1909)
• 2003 – Oleg Makarov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1933)
• 2003 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born Belgian physical chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• 2003 – Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)
• 2004 – Umberto Agnelli, Italian automobile executive (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Francis Brunn, German juggler (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Marquise Hill, American football player (b. 1982)
• 2007 – David Lane, American white nationalist (b. 1938)
• 2007 – Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japanese politician (b. 1945)
• 2008 – Robert Justman, American television producer (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Gary Coleman, American actor (b. 1968)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Bernard of Menthon
  • Germain of Paris
  • Lanfranc
  • William of Gellone
  • May 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Downfall of the Derg Day, a National Day. (Ethiopia)
• Flag Day (Philippines)
• Republic Day (Nepal)
• Republic Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. (Azerbaijan and Armenia)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada