On This Day….. May 2nd
1536 Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, is arrested & taken to the Tower of London, then beheaded after a four-day show trial. Fortunately this was the last time a woman was abused by her partner.
1750 Carlo Goldoni's comedy "La Botega di Caffè" (The Coffee Shop) premieres in Mantua. Early inspiration for ‘Friends’.
1776 France and Spain agreed to supply weapons to American rebels
1780 William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris.
1829 After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia. AFL promptly awards a free kick to the opposition.
1833 Russian Tsar Nicolas I bans the public sale of serfs. Private slavery was still ok apparently.
1869 The Folies Trévise (later cabaret hall Folies Bergère) opens as an opera house in Paris, France.
1885 Congo Free State formed by King Leopold II of Belgium
1887 Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film (used in Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope). A landmark development.
1926 US military intervenes in Nicaragua, a rare moment of meddling in the affairs of other countries.
1927 Pulitzer prize for a Novel awarded to Louis Bromfield for "Early Autumn"
1927 U.S. Supreme Court's "Buck v. Bell", permits forced sterilizations of various "unfits" by states' authorities where such surgeries are practiced for eugenic reasons
1936 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and family flee Abyssinia
1936 Sergei Prokofiev's musical "Peter and the Wolf" premieres in Moscow
1945 World War II: Battle of Berlin ends as Soviet army takes Berlin
1946 "The Postman Always Rings Twice" film based on the novel by James M. Cain, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Lana Turner and John Garfield is released. Now screened as a comedy in Australia Post training procedures.
1946 The "Battle of Alcatraz" takes place, killing two guards and three inmates
1955 India proposal to discrimination against Dalits or "Untouchables" punishable
1957 Hammer Film Productions releases its 1st colour horror title - "The Curse of Frankenstein" starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island. And that’s how America declared war on Christmas.
1975 Apple records closes down
1980 Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in Wall (Part II)" is banned in South Africa
1980 Pope John Paul II begins his African tour (without a merchandising deal - rookie mistake).
1982 Falklands War: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men
1984 New York Yankees Don Mattingly's single breaks up Chicago White Sox pitcher Lamarr Hoyt's perfect game bid, at Comiskey Park. This was the last time he shaved his sideburns.
1990 South Africa & African National Congress open talks to end apartheid
1994 American pathologist and euthanasia advocate Jack Kervokian found innocent on assisting suicides
1994 Michael Bolton found to have plagiarised Isley Bros "Love is Wonderful Thing"
1997 "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery", starring Mike Myers and Elizabeth Hurley, is released
1998 Battle of Hogwarts: fictional battle that ended the Second Wizarding War with the death of Lord Voldemort at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
1999 Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama
2011 Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man is killed by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan
2012 A pastel version of "The Scream", by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch sells at auction for $119,922,500
2013 60 miners are killed after a gold mine collapses in Jebel Amir, North Darfur, Sudan
2016 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Mark Selby of England beats China's Ding Junhui, 18-14 for his second world crown. Lucky break.
2018 Date for first humans or hominins in the Philippines pushed back ten-fold after report of site on Luzon with butchered rhinoceros 709,000 years ago
2019 A clean-up on Mt Everest has removed three metric tons (6,613 pounds) of rubbish and four bodies in just two weeks
2020 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the Icelandic actor who played Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane in Game of Thrones, sets a world deadlifting record by lifting 501kg (1,104lb)
2023 40-year-old US weight loss company Jenny Craig announces it will close after failing to secure further financial backing. For a company built on losses, it had a good run.
1536 Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, is arrested & taken to the Tower of London, then beheaded after a four-day show trial. Fortunately this was the last time a woman was abused by her partner.
1750 Carlo Goldoni's comedy "La Botega di Caffè" (The Coffee Shop) premieres in Mantua. Early inspiration for ‘Friends’.
1776 France and Spain agreed to supply weapons to American rebels
1780 William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris.
1829 After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia. AFL promptly awards a free kick to the opposition.
1833 Russian Tsar Nicolas I bans the public sale of serfs. Private slavery was still ok apparently.
1869 The Folies Trévise (later cabaret hall Folies Bergère) opens as an opera house in Paris, France.
1885 Congo Free State formed by King Leopold II of Belgium
1887 Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film (used in Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope). A landmark development.
1926 US military intervenes in Nicaragua, a rare moment of meddling in the affairs of other countries.
1927 Pulitzer prize for a Novel awarded to Louis Bromfield for "Early Autumn"
1927 U.S. Supreme Court's "Buck v. Bell", permits forced sterilizations of various "unfits" by states' authorities where such surgeries are practiced for eugenic reasons
1936 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and family flee Abyssinia
1936 Sergei Prokofiev's musical "Peter and the Wolf" premieres in Moscow
1945 World War II: Battle of Berlin ends as Soviet army takes Berlin
1946 "The Postman Always Rings Twice" film based on the novel by James M. Cain, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Lana Turner and John Garfield is released. Now screened as a comedy in Australia Post training procedures.
1946 The "Battle of Alcatraz" takes place, killing two guards and three inmates
1955 India proposal to discrimination against Dalits or "Untouchables" punishable
1957 Hammer Film Productions releases its 1st colour horror title - "The Curse of Frankenstein" starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee
1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island. And that’s how America declared war on Christmas.
1975 Apple records closes down
1980 Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in Wall (Part II)" is banned in South Africa
1980 Pope John Paul II begins his African tour (without a merchandising deal - rookie mistake).
1982 Falklands War: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men
1984 New York Yankees Don Mattingly's single breaks up Chicago White Sox pitcher Lamarr Hoyt's perfect game bid, at Comiskey Park. This was the last time he shaved his sideburns.
1990 South Africa & African National Congress open talks to end apartheid
1994 American pathologist and euthanasia advocate Jack Kervokian found innocent on assisting suicides
1994 Michael Bolton found to have plagiarised Isley Bros "Love is Wonderful Thing"
1997 "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery", starring Mike Myers and Elizabeth Hurley, is released
1998 Battle of Hogwarts: fictional battle that ended the Second Wizarding War with the death of Lord Voldemort at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
1999 Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama
2011 Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man is killed by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan
2012 A pastel version of "The Scream", by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch sells at auction for $119,922,500
2013 60 miners are killed after a gold mine collapses in Jebel Amir, North Darfur, Sudan
2016 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Mark Selby of England beats China's Ding Junhui, 18-14 for his second world crown. Lucky break.
2018 Date for first humans or hominins in the Philippines pushed back ten-fold after report of site on Luzon with butchered rhinoceros 709,000 years ago
2019 A clean-up on Mt Everest has removed three metric tons (6,613 pounds) of rubbish and four bodies in just two weeks
2020 Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the Icelandic actor who played Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane in Game of Thrones, sets a world deadlifting record by lifting 501kg (1,104lb)
2023 40-year-old US weight loss company Jenny Craig announces it will close after failing to secure further financial backing. For a company built on losses, it had a good run.