| On May 23, 1430, Joan was at Compiègne, fighting a force of Burgundians, who were allied with the English. She was captured by a Burgundian archer, to whom she surrendered only when he assured her he was of noble birth. The Burgundians turned her over to the English, who turned her over to the Church to be tried for heresy. Joan appealed to the Pope, the one in Avignon, not the one in Rome; but it was no use. True to form, Charles VII made no attempt to save her. |
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| In 1576, King Frederick II of Denmark granted him the island of Hveen rent-free for the rest of his life and the expenses to establish and maintain a place where he could undertake his astronomical work. The maintainance grant was 500 daler per year. |  |
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| Kidd was sentenced to death and his execution was carried out on May 23, 1701 on the gallows in London. The rope broke on the first attempt, but his executioners were not dissuaded and the rope held the second time, killing William Kidd. One of the main reasons that his notoriety has outlasted his life is that he is believed to have buried much of his loot from the "Adventure Prize" in several places, much of which was found during his life or shortly after his death. |
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| In 1785, a letter from Benjamin Franklin documented his invention of his new bifocal glasses. He was writing from France to a friend describing the solution to carrying around two pairs of glasses to see objects at different distances, with the comment that "I have only to move my eyes up and down as I want to see far or near." Franklin incorporated a two part lens for each eye, each parts having a different focussing power. The invention had limited acceptance at a time when even ordinary spectacles in the colonies already cost as much as $100 per pair. |
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| On the evening of May 22, a large farewell party was held in the Fifth Corps' First Division camp, to honor General Griffin. Four huge hospital tents had been put together, to accommodate Division officers and their invited guests. For the occasion, Chamberlain had designed, and Tiffany's in New York had created, a pin in enameled gold of a red Maltese cross against a white background--a miniature replica of the Division's flag. The cross was outlined in diamonds, with a center diamond costing about $1000. The Fifth Corps was awakened at 2:00am on May 23, 1865, to get across Long Bridge from Arlington Heights, to be in Washington at 4:00 am. They had to wait several hours for the review to begin for them (they were proceeded by the Ninth Corps, with a division of the Nineteenth; the cavalry; and some smaller, specialized units. The Second Corps would then follow the Fifth Corps, bringing up the rear). Finally, at 9:00 am, the signal gun sounded to begin this, the Last Review of the Army of the Potomac. |
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| Two years before the Kentucky Derby was run for the first time, Pimlico introduced its new stakes race for three-year-olds, the Preakness, during its first-ever spring race meet in 1873. The Preakness Stakes is a prestigious Grade I stakes race 1 3/16 mile (1.91 km) thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds, held on the third Saturday in May of each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies 121 lb (55 kg). The Preakness Stakes has been termed "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a horseshoe of black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta), the state flower of Maryland, is traditionally placed around the winner's neck. |
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| The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was established as the North West Mounted Police in 1873. With its creation, Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, meant to bring law and order to (and assert Canadian sovereignty over) the Northwest Territories. The Mounties — no longer required to work with horses — enforce federal and provincial law in all the provinces except for Ontario, Quebec and parts of Newfoundland and Labrador. |
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| In 1886 the Government of Canada handed over the 372 km of operating rail-line to the Canadian Pacific Railway, and on July 4 1886 the first transcontinental passenger train, travelling from Montreal, arrived at the western terminus of Port Moody. Shortly after this, the railway line was extended by 14 miles to Granville, which was renamed Vancouver. On May 23, 1887 the first passenger train pulled into Vancouver. |  |
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| Jackson convinced a young mechanic and chauffeur, Sewall K. Crocker, to serve as his travel companion, mechanic, and backup driver. Crocker suggested that Doctor Jackson buy a Winton Motor Carriage Company car. He bought a slightly used Winton, which he named the Vermont, after his home state, bade his wife goodbye, and left San Francisco on May 23, carrying coats, canvas protective suits, sleeping bags, blankets, canteens, a water bag, an axe, a shovel, a telescope, tools, spare parts, a block and tackle, cans for extra gasoline and oil, a camera, a rifle, a shotgun and pistols. |
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| The imposing Beaux-Arts structure was constructed over the course of nine years, and completed to great fanfare in 1911. The gem of the main branch is the Rose Reading Room, where patrons submit call slips for books sent through a pneumatic tube system traveling through an eight-story maze of book stacks. In the few minutes it takes for a request to arrive, visitors can wander the 297-by-78-foot room outfitted with 42 vast oak tables and ceiling murals depicting the sky. A revolving series of public art, history, and science exhibits can be found elsewhere in the building. |
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| In May 1922, Disney founded Laugh-O-Gram Films with $15,000 he sold to investors.They got an $11,000 contract to produce six cartoons for Pictorial Clubs, Inc., which went bankrupt. Among his employees were the pioneers of animation -- Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman, Rudolph Ising, Carmen Maxwell, and Friz Freleng. Disney told interviewers later that he was inspired to draw Mickey by a tame mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri. |
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| "Abie’s Irish Rose" continued for 2,327 performances and numerous revivals as well. It is estimated that some 50,000,000 people have seen the play performed somewhere in the world. |
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| Hack Wilson smacks a 5th inning home run, a rare blast off the Wrigley Field scoreboard, situated at ground level, to start a route of the Braves. The Cubs score seven runs in the 8th inning to win 148. Sparky Adams contributes four hits for Chicago. Later that night, Wilson and a few others are arrested at a friend's apartment for drinking beer in violation of the Prohibition Act. The scoreboard will be moved to the left field corner in 1937, before one will be built atop the newly built bleachers. |
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| On March 15 1928, von Opel tested his first rocket-powered car, the RAK.1 and achieved a top speed of 75 km/h (47 mph) in it, proving the concept. On May 23 of that year, he reached a speed of 230 km/hr (143 mph) in an improved version, the RAK 2, driven by 24 solid-rockets. |
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| This law established patent rights for developers of new varieties of many asexually propagated plants, for example apple trees and rose bushes that are propagated by cutting pieces of the stem rather than by germinating seeds. Tuber-propagated plants, such as potatoes, were exempt from patent coverage because the part of the plant used for asexual propagation was also the part used as food. |
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| During his career, Sir Hubert held the world unpaced track record of 489 miles and the motor-paced record for 24 hours of 860 miles, as well as the 1000 miles record of 28hr. Among his numerous cycling classic wins were the Australian road cycling titles in 1924, 1926, 1927 and 1929. He held more than 100 distance cycling records —and it should be remembered that although most of his achievements have now been bettered, much of his riding was done on rough roads. |
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| By 1931, DuPont was manufacturing a synthetic rubber that Carothers’ team created: neoprene. Due to political and trade troubles with Japan, the United States' main source of silk, that fiber was getting harder and more expensive to come by. DuPont wanted to develop a synthetic fiber that could replace it. Carothers and his team tackled this, too. In 1934 they pulled their first long, strong, flexible strands of a synthetic polymer fiber out of a test tube. The corporation patented it as "nylon" the following year. |
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| Clyde Champion Barrow and his companion, Bonnie Parker, were shot to death by officers in an ambush near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934, after one of the most colorful and spectacular manhunts the Nation had seen up to that time. Barrow was suspected of numerous killings and was wanted for murder, robbery, and state charges of kidnaping. |  |
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| Singer Ray Eberle signed on as vocalist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra for $35 a week. Eberle’s first session with Miller included, "Don’t Wake Up My Heart", for Brunswick Records. Glenn Miller vocalist and orchestra leader Ray Eberle was the brother of Jimmy Dorsey singer Bob Eberly. Ray had no professional experience when he joined Miller in 1938. Miller, looking for a male vocalist for his new orchestra, asked Bob if he had any brothers at home that could sing. Bob said “yes,” and Miller hired Ray without question. |
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| Written in Toronto in June 1939 following the death of her first husband, Harold Cohen, "I’ll Never Smile Again" was introduced by Percy Faith's orchestra on CBC Radio. Tommy Dorsey, who was appearing at the 1939 Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), heard a recording of Faith's performance and arranged for the song's publication by Sun Music. Though introduced in the USA by Glenn Miller on radio, the song was a No. 1 hit for Dorsey on a 1940 Victor recording featuring Frank Sinatra, and The Pied Pipers (with Jo Stafford). |
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| Churchill first became prime minister, as a Conservative again, in 1940 and led the wartime Coalition Government during World War II.During this time he inspired courage throughout the entire British nation even though he had promised nothing more than "blood, toil, tears and sweat." After the war the Coalition Government broke up and Winston Churchill resigned the office of prime minister on 23 May 1945. |
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| "The Song from Moulin Rouge" (also known as "Where Is Your Heart") is a popular song, first appearing in the 1952 movie, Moulin Rouge. In the movie, the song was sung by Muriel Smith, dubbing for Zsa Zsa Gabor who lip-synched to Smith's singing. The most popular version of the song was done by Percy Faith's Orchestra, with a vocal by Felicia Sanders. It was recorded on January 22, 1953 and released by Columbia Records. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on March 28, 1953 and lasted 24 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1. |
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| "Kansas City" was the first song written by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They went on to write hits for Elvis, Ben E. King, and many others. The original title was "K.C. Lovin'." |  |
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| Elvis returned to Nashville’s Studio B on March 20th 1960, just 15 days after coming home from his army stint for Uncle Sam. In an amazing two nights work Elvis recorded eighteen classic tracks including seven Gold records! When the LP was originally released surprisingly it did not sell as well as expected, and GI Blues would sadly do better. However, had it included the mega-selling Hit singles recorded at the same session (Stuck On You, It’s Now or Never, Are You Lonesome Tonight) there is no doubt that it would have sold multi-millions. |
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| "Cathy's Clown" was about a guy who Cathy dumped. He tries to be strong, but everyone knows him as "Cathy's Clown" because she treated him so bad. It was the first single to simultaneously top the UK and US charts. |  |
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| Yankee rookie Joe Pepitone becomes the 6th player in American League history to hit two home runs in one inning. New York's 9-run 8th sinks Kansas City 137. |  |
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| Smokey Robinson wrote this and produced it. Robinson was responsible for many of Motown's early hits as a writer, producer and performer. In 1965, Robinson wrote a similar song from a male perspective that was a huge hit for The Temptations: "My Girl." This was Motown's first British hit. |  |
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| Paul McCartney wrote "Paperback Writer" after helping set up a bookshop for some friends. Ringo's bass drum was emphasized on this. A microphone was placed an inch away to make it boom. |  |
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| "Tommy" was the first of The Who's two full-scale rock operas (the second being Quadrophenia), and the first musical work explicitly billed as a rock opera.The opera was composed by Who guitarist Pete Townshend, with two tracks contributed by Who bassist John Entwistle and one fictitiously attributed to Who drummer Keith Moon, though actually written by Townshend. An earlier song by blues artist Sonny Boy Williamson II was also incorporated into the opera. |
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| The Dead remained first and foremost a live act, and as their popularity grew across the world they expanded their touring schedule, taking to the road for much of each year. As more and more of their psychedelic-era contemporaries ceased to exist, the group continued attracting greater numbers of fans to their shows, many of them following the Dead across the country; dubbed "Deadheads," these fans became notorious for their adherence to tie-dyed fashions. |
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| "American Woman" started as an on-stage jam. At one of their shows, when their break ended, lead singer Burton Cummings was not to be found (girls may have been a factor). The rest of the band decided to just wing it and started playing the famous riff that became the basis for the song. Cummings heard the group, ran back on stage and started singing the words "American Woman" and going on from there. |  |
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| At Paramount, Thomas had no hits, prompting the singer to pursue a new country-pop direction at ABC Records. "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," his first single for ABC, became his second number-one record on the pop charts, as well as establishing a country career for the vocalist. |  |
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| Carnes had several other hits before and after this, but none even close to this big. She was a member of The New Christy Minstrels before recording as a solo artist. This was a huge hit in the US, where it was #1 for 9 weeks. |  |
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| United States and 4 former Soviet republics signed an agreement in Lisbon, Portugal, to implement the START missile-reduction treaty that had been agreed to by the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution. |
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| At Anaheim, 41,205 watch as Dan Petry and the Tigers clip the Angels, 42, to run Detroit's record to 345. Detroit has now won 16 straight on the road to tie the American League record of the 1912 Senators. The win goes to Petry (71). Losing pitcher is reliever Frank LaCorte, who takes his last ML loss when he gives up a two-run homer in the 7th to Lance Parrish. LaCorte will beat the Yankees Phil Niekro on the 29th for his last win. |
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| "With or Without You" was U2's first #1 hit in the US. It was the first U2 single to do better in America than in England. The lyrics are about relationships, but can be interpreted many ways. They were written by Bono, who wanted to write a love song that dealt with real issues in relationships. |  |
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| Cleveland loses to Detroit 72 to drop its record to 21-22, but remains in first place in the American League East by percentage points. It is the latest in a season a sub-.500 team has ever been in first place. |
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| Freeman lost seven of ten decisions as his ERA ballooned to 5.89 in 1995. He did sock his second career homer off the Cubs' Kevin Foster on May 23rd, but surrendered a round-tripper to Foster a few frames later, marking only the tenth time that century that pitchers had homered off each other in the same game. |
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| Carey returned in 1997 with Butterfly, another staggering success and her most hip-hop-flavored recording to date. #1's -- a collection featuring her 13 previous chart-topping singles as well as "The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe)," a duet with Whitney Houston effectively pairing the two most successful female recording artists in pop history -- followed late the next year. With "Heartbreaker," the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow, Carey became the first artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s; the record also pushed her ahead of the Beatles as the artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop the Hot 100 singles chart. |
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1430 Joan of Arc captured by Burgundians
at Compiegne, who sell her to the British
More ...
1576 Tycho Brahe given Hveen Island to build Uraniborg
Observatory
More ...
1701 Captain Kidd hung in London after conviction
of piracy & murder
More ...
1785 Benjamin Franklin announces his invention
of bifocals
More ...
1865 Flag flown at full staff over White House,
first time since Lincoln shot
1865 Victory parade in Washington DC (Grand Review)
More ...
1867 Jesse James-gang rob bank in Richmond MO
(2 die, $4,000 taken)
1873 First Preakness: G Barbee aboard Survivor
wins in 2:43
More ...
1873 Canada's North West Mounted Police Force
(RCMPF) forms
More ...
1887 First transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver
British Columbia
More ...
1903 First automobile trip across US from San
Fransisco to New York began
More ...
1903 First direct primary election law in US adopted,
by Wisconsin
1911 New York Public Library building at 5th Avenue
dedicated by President Taft
More ...
1922 Walt Disney incorporates his first film company
Laugh-O-Gram Films
More ...
1922 "Abie’s Irish Rose" opened
at the the Fulton Theatre in NYC
More ...
1926 Hack Wilson is first to hit a homerun off
Wrigley Field scoreboard
More ...
1928 Fritz von Opel reaches 200 kph in experimental rocket car
More ...
1930 Patent Act of 1930 permited patenting of
certain plants to help American culture
More ...
1932 Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman sets 24 hour
record of 860 miles, 367 yards
More ...
1934 Wallace Carothers manufactures first nylon
(polymeer 66)
More ...
1934 Bonnie & Clyde shot in Louisana ambush
More ...
1938 Ray Eberle signed on as vocalist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra
More ...
1940 Frank Sinatra recorded "I’ll Never Smile
Again"
More ...
1945 Winston Churchill resigns as British PM
More ...
1953 "Song From Moulin Rouge (Where Is Your
Heart)" by Percy Faith topped the charts
More ...
1959 "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison
topped the charts
More ...
1960 WRCA radio changes call letters back to WNBC
(NYC)
1960 Stuck on You" by Elvis Presley topped
the charts
More ...
1960 "Cathy's Clown" by the Everly Brothers
topped the charts
More ...
1962 Joe Pepitone 2nd Yankee to hit 2 homeruns
in 1 inning (Joe DiMaggio)
More ...
1964 "My Guy" by Mary Wells topped the
charts
More ...
1966 The Beatles release "Paperback Writer"
More ...
1969 The Who release the rock opera "Tommy"
More ...
1970 Grateful Dead's first perfomance outside
of the US (England)
More ...
1970 "American Woman" by Guess Who topped
the charts
More ...
1975 "(Hey, Won't You Play)
Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" strikes gold
More ...
1977 Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of
Watergate wrong doers H R Halderman, John Ehrlichman & John Mitchell
1981 "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes
topped the charts
More ...
1982 START missile reduction treaty signed
More ...
1982 Colin Wilson rides a surfboard 294 miles
1984 Detroit Tigers win American League record
tying 16th straight road game
More ...
1987 "With or Without You" by U2 topped
the charts
More ...
1989 Latest a sub .500 team is in first place
(American League East)
More ...
1994 Star Trek The Next Generation, finale airs
this week in syndication
1995 47th time opposing pitchers hit honeruns,
K Foster (Cubs)/M Freeman (Rocks)
More ...
1998 "My All" by Mariah Carey topped
the charts
More ...