Historical Events

14 May 1027
Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks
14 May 1264
Battle of Lewes 2nd Barons War Simon de Montfort the younger Earl of Leicester defeats English King Henry III
14 May 1483
Coronation of Charles VIII of France (Charles lAffable).
14 May 1509
Battle of Agnadello French beat Venetians in Northern Italy
14 May 1576
Dutch Council of State replaced by Council of Beroerten
14 May 1607
English colonists establish the 1st permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown. Unknown to them they have landed amidst the worst drought in 800 years.
14 May 1638
Admiral Adam Westerwolt conquers Batticaloa Ceylon
14 May 1664
Turkish Grand Vizier Kprl Fazl Ahmed attacks 120000 Donau soldiers
14 May 1702
England & Netherlands declare war on France & Spain
14 May 1702
Swedish troops under King Charles XII occupy Warsaw
14 May 1747
A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.
14 May 1767
British government disbands Americans import duty on tea
14 May 1796
English country doctor Edward Jenner administers the first inoculation against smallpox using cowpox pus in Berkeley Gloucestershire
14 May 1800
Friedrich von Schillers Macbeth premieres in Weimar
14 May 1811
Paraguay gains independence from Spain (National Day)
14 May 1842
Illustrated London News the worlds first illustrated weekly newspaper begins publication
14 May 1861
The Canellas meteorite an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite strikes the earth near Barcelona Spain
14 May 1862
Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents chronograph
14 May 1863
American Civil War The Battle of Jackson Mississippi takes place
14 May 1868
Japanese Boshin War end of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle former Shogunate forces withdraw northward to Aizu by way of Nikk
14 May 1874
1st admission charge at a football game Harvard beats Uni of McGill (Montreal) 3-0
14 May 1878
Vaseline is granted a patent (U.S. Patent 127568)
14 May 1879
The first group of 463 Indian indentured labourers arrive in Fiji aboard the Leonidas
14 May 1885
11th Kentucky Derby Babe Henderson aboard Joe Cotton wins in 237.25
14 May 1886
12th Kentucky Derby Paul Duffy aboard Ben Ali wins in 236.50
14 May 1888
14th Kentucky Derby George Covington aboard MacBeth II wins in 238.00
14 May 1889
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is launched in London
14 May 1890
16th Kentucky Derby Isaac Murphy aboard Riley wins in 245
14 May 1894
Fire in Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings
14 May 1896
Lowest US temperature in May recorded (-10F -23C at Climax Colorado)
14 May 1897
Great Britain signs treaty with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
14 May 1906
Flagpole at the White Sox ballpark breaks during pennant-raising
14 May 1907
Sweden adopts universal suffrage for elections to its lower house and proportional representation for both houses
14 May 1910
Canada authorizes issuing of silver dollar coins
14 May 1913
Frans Hals museum opens in Haarlem Netherlands
14 May 1914
Chic Jim Scott no-hits Cleve gives up 2 hits in 10th & loses 1-0
14 May 1918
Sunday baseball is made legal in Washington D.C.
14 May 1919
44th Preakness Johnny Loftus aboard Sir Barton wins in 153
14 May 1919
Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical In hac tanta
14 May 1920
Wash Senator Walter Johnson wins his 300th game vs Detroit
14 May 1920
Giants inform Yankees that the lease allowing them to play in the Polo Grounds will not be renewed at end of season
14 May 1921
Florence Allen is 1st woman judge to sentence a man to death in Ohio
14 May 1927
Aint She Sweet hits 1 on the singles chart by Ben Bernie
14 May 1927
53rd Kentucky Derby Linus McAtee aboard Whiskery wins in 206
14 May 1927
Cap Arcona is launched at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg
14 May 1927
The University of Chicagos local collegiate organization Phi Sigma becomes incorporated under Illinois law as Eta Sigma Phi the National Honorary Classical Fraternity
14 May 1928
John McGraw is knocked down by a taxicab & suffers a broken leg
14 May 1931
dalen shootings five people are killed in dalen Sweden as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration
14 May 1935
Plebiscite in Philippines ratifies independence agreement
14 May 1935
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club gains (over Somerset at Taunton by 48 runs) what proved to be their last victory for 99 matches a record in the County Championship. Their next Championship win was not until May 29 1939.
14 May 1938
63rd Preakness Maurice Peters aboard Dauber wins in 159.8
14 May 1939
Lina Medina becomes the worlds youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five
14 May 1940
Admiral Johannes Furstner Royal Dutch Navy departs to England
14 May 1940
Bostons Jimmie Foxx HR goes over Comiskey Parks left field roof
14 May 1940
Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production
14 May 1940
Nazis bomb Rotterdam (600-900 dead) Netherlands surrenders to Germany
14 May 1943
Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland by a Japanese submarine
14 May 1945
Kamikaze Zero strikes US aircraft carrier Enterprise
14 May 1946
Paul Hindemiths For Those We Love premieres
14 May 1948
Israel declares independence from British administration
14 May 1948
Israeli Radio Station Kol Yisraels 1st broadcast
14 May 1948
Jordans Arab League captures Atarot north of Jerusalem
14 May 1948
WBEN (now WIVB) TV channel 4 in Buffalo NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
14 May 1949
Love Life closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 252 performances
14 May 1949
74th Preakness Ted Atkinson aboard Capot wins in 156
14 May 1950
Pitts Johnny Hopp goes 6 for 6 including 2 HRs
14 May 1951
Sammy Fain and EY Harburgs musical Flahooley opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 40 performances
14 May 1954
Belgium shortens military conscription from 20 to 18 months
14 May 1955
Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union Albania Bulgaria Czechoslovakia East Germany Hungary Poland & Romania
14 May 1957
New Girl in Town opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 432 performances
14 May 1957
Bob Merrills musical New Girl in Town premieres in NYC
14 May 1960
At the Drop of a Hat closes at John Golden NYC after 216 performances
14 May 1960
Virgil Thomsons Missa Pro Defunctis premieres in Potsdam NY
14 May 1961
Bus with 1st group of Freedom Riders bombed & burned in Alabama
14 May 1962
Ex-present of Yugoslavia Milovan Djilas sentenced to 5 years
14 May 1962
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan elected second President of India
14 May 1964
17th Cannes Film Festival The Umbrellas of Cherbourg directed by Jacques Demy wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
14 May 1966
1st reported monitoring of pirate radio station WBBH (NJ)
14 May 1968
Czech government announces liberalizing reforms under Alexander Dubek
14 May 1968
RAF-leader Andreas Baader sentenced to 3 years in West Berlin
14 May 1970
Cops kill 2 students in racial disturbance (Jackson State U Miss)
14 May 1970
Harry A Blackmun appointed to US Supreme Court
14 May 1970
NYC local newspaper Our Town begins publishing
14 May 1970
Red Army Faction leader Andreas Baader freed after serving 2 years in West Berlin
14 May 1970
The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.
14 May 1972
24th Emmy Awards in the Family Carrol OConner & Jean Stapleton win
14 May 1972
14th Grammy Awards Its Too Late Carly Simon wins
14 May 1972
A 13 year old Catholic girl is shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries in Ballymurphy Belfast
14 May 1973
US Supreme court approves equal rights to females in military
14 May 1973
French film Day for Night written and directed by Franois Truffaut starring Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Laud premieres at Cannes (Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film)
14 May 1974
Symbionese Liberation Army destroyed in shoot-out 6 killed
14 May 1975
Dynamo Kyiv of the Soviet Union win 15th European Cup Winners Cup over Ferencvr osi TC of Hungary 3-0
14 May 1975
French press reports massive deportation from Cambodia
14 May 1975
US forces raid Cambodian island of Koh Tang to free Mayaguez ship
14 May 1975
Cult feminist film Jeanne Dielman 23 Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles written and directed by Chantal Ackerman and starring Delphine Seyrig premieres at Cannes
14 May 1976
Lowell Thomas ends 46 years as radio network reporter
14 May 1976
Oil tanker Urqui Ola explodes off Spanish coast
14 May 1977
English football international Bobby Moore retires
14 May 1977
KC Royals Jim Colborn no-hits Texas Rangers 6-0
14 May 1977
Netherlands State Delta Kappa Gamma Society forms
14 May 1977
Stanley Cup Final Boston Garden Boston MA Jacques Lemaire scores twice as Montreal Canadiens edge Boston Bruins 2-1 in OT for a 4 game sweep and back-to-back titles
14 May 1978
Working opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 25 performances
14 May 1978
First round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta
14 May 1979
Kids Are All Right rockumentary film featuring The Who premieres at the Cannes Film Festival
14 May 1979
Stalker Russian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky starring Alexander Kaidanovsky and Anatoli Solonitsyn is released
14 May 1980
Musical Chairs opens at Rialto Theater NYC for 15 performances
14 May 1980
Department of Health & Human Services begins operation
14 May 1980
Valencia of Spain wins 20th European Cup Winners Cup against Arsenal of England 5-4 on penalties in Brussels
14 May 1980
Bucky Dent hits an inside park HR Royals walk 14 Yanks including 5 with bases loaded Yanks win 16-3
14 May 1981
35th NBA Championship Bost Celtics beat Houston Rockets 4 games to 2
14 May 1983
She Blinded Me with Science by Thomas Dolby hits 5
14 May 1983
Rosa Mota runs female world record 20k (10655.5)
14 May 1984
19th Academy of Country Music Awards Alabama Lee Greenwood and Janie Fricke win
14 May 1986
NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final Calgary Flames beat St. Louis Blues 4 games to 3
14 May 1987
Little Shop of Horrors is released in Germany
14 May 1987
Colt revolver (Peacemaker) of 1873 sells for 242000
14 May 1987
NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final Philadelphia Flyers beat Montreal Canadians 4 games to 2
14 May 1988
Mail closes at Music Box Theater NYC after 36 performances
14 May 1988
1st non-pitcher (Jose Oquendo) in 20 years to get a decision in a baseball game he & St Louis Cards lose to Braves 7-5 in 19 inn
14 May 1988
Carrollton bus collision a drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton Kentucky United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27.
14 May 1988
NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final Boston Bruins beat New Jersey Devils 4 games to 3
14 May 1989
Demonstration for democratic reforms in Beijings Tiananmen square
14 May 1989
Final TV episode of Family Ties airs on NBC with a 36 million audience
14 May 1990
46th time opposing pitchers hit HR Valenzuela (Dodgers)Gross (Expos)
14 May 1992
WIBC Bowling Queens won by Cindy Coburn-Carroll
14 May 1994
Dave Winfield passes Frank Robinson for 12th on RBI list with 1617
14 May 1994
FA Cup Final Manchester United defeat Chelsea 4-0 at Wembley Stadium London
14 May 1995
My Thing of Love closes at Beck Theater NYC after 16 performances
14 May 1995
At 43 years 162 days Manchester City goalkeeper John Burridge becomes the oldest player to appear in an EPL match a 3-2 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers
14 May 1996
NY Yankee Dwight Gooden no-hits Seattle Mariners 2-0
14 May 1997
FC Barcelona of Spain win 37th European Cup Winners Cup against Paris Saint-Germain of France 1-0 in Rotterdam
14 May 1939
Lina Medina of Peru becomes the worlds youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five
14 May 2000
46th British Academy Television Awards The League of Gentlemen Best Comedy The Cops Best Drama
14 May 2000
Yi Yi Taiwanese film by Edward Yang debuts at Cannes
14 May 1920
Washington Senator Walter Johnson wins his 300th game vs Detroit
14 May 1935
Plebiscite in the Philippines ratifies independence agreement
14 May 1940
British Local Defence Volunteers forms an armed citizen militia designed to support the British Army during the Second World War. It is later renamed the Home Guard.
14 May 1951
Sammy Fain and Yip Harburgs musical Flahooley opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 40 performances
14 May 1974
Underground America Day is 1st observed to honor the 6000 Americans that make their homes in the Earth [1]
14 May 1857
Mindon is crowned as King of Burma at Mandalay Palace Burma
14 May 1889
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is launched in London England led by Benjamin Waugh
14 May 1897
Oldest continuously operating movie theater in the world the State Theatre first opens in Washington Iowa (Guinness World Records)
14 May 1919
44th Preakness Johnny Loftus aboard Sir Barton wins in 153 on way to first Triple Crown
14 May 1927
53rd Kentucky Derby HOF jockey Linus McAtee aboard Whiskery defeats Osmand by a nose in the stretch in 206
14 May 1930
US Congress designates Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico a National Park [1]
14 May 1943
Australian Hospital Ship Centaur sinks off the coast of Queensland after being struck by torpedo fired by Japanese submarine 268 of 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard die
14 May 1957
Bob Merrills musical New Girl in Town opens at 46th St Theater NYC runs for 432 performances
14 May 1960
Michael Flanders and Donald Swanns musical review At the Drop of a Hat closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 216 performances
14 May 1970
Militant leftist Red Army Faction leader Andreas Baader freed from prison after serving 2 years in West Berlin
14 May 1972
24th Emmy Awards All in the Family Carrol OConner & Jean Stapleton win
14 May 1972
A 13-year old Catholic girl is shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries in Ballymurphy Belfast
14 May 2002
Ten members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition invade the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory of Australia.
14 May 2004
The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun
14 May 2005
Former USS America (CV-66) a decommissioned supercarrier of the US Navy deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. Largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.
14 May 2010
The 51700 seat Aviva Stadium is officially opened on the site of the famous old Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowan
14 May 2012
1500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons agree to end mass hunger strike
14 May 2012
Stanford University scientists develop prototype bionic eye
14 May 2013
Brazil becomes the 15th country to legalize same-sex marriage
14 May 2018
Boulder City Council in Colorado votes to ban assault weapons
14 May 2018
Chinese mountain climber and double amputee Xia Boyu reaches the summit of Mt Everest
14 May 2018
Indian politician Shashi Tharoor is charged by police with driving his wife to commit suicide
14 May 2018
Successful memory transfer in snails achieved by scientists from University of California published in journal eNeuro
14 May 2018
US Supreme Court strikes down federal law banning sports gambling in most states
14 May 2019
Huge protests closes schools in Kashmir after the rape of a three-year-old girl
14 May 2019
San Francisco is the first city to vote to ban use of facial recognition
14 May 2019
Steve Bullock US Governor of Montana announces his run for Presidential office
14 May 2019
Wikipedia confirms China has banned all versions of its site
14 May 2020
Former pandemic agency head Rick Bright testifies to a US House Committee without better planning could be the darkest winter in modern history
14 May 2020
Global death toll from COVID-19 passes 300000 with 4.4 million confirmed infections
14 May 2022
18-year-old gunman kills 10 people and wounds three at a Tops supermarket in east Buffalo New York in a racially motivating attack [1]
14 May 2022
Surrealist artist Man Rays photograph Le Violon dIngres sells for 12.4 million making it the most expensive ever sold at auction [1]
14 May 2022
US records one million COVID-19 deaths with The White House ordering flags to fly at half mast through the weekend [1]
14 May 1747
First Battle of Cape Finisterre British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats a French 30-ship convoy commanded by Admiral de la Jonquire off Cape Finisterre in northwest Spain
14 May 1767
British government disbands American import duty on tea
14 May 1800
Friedrich von Schillers translation of William Shakespeares play Macbeth premieres in Weimar
14 May 1862
Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents the chronograph
14 May 1874
First admission charge at a football game Harvard beats University of McGill (Montreal) 3-0
14 May 1920
Giants inform the Yankees that the lease allowing them to play in the Polo Grounds will not be renewed at the end of the season
14 May 1921
Florence Allen is the first female judge to sentence a man to death in Ohio
14 May 1927
Aint She Sweet by Ben Bernie hits 1 on the singles chart
14 May 1927
German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona is launched at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg
14 May 1928
John McGraw is knocked down by a taxicab and suffers a broken leg
14 May 1951
The Ernie Kovacs Show a television variety program debuts on NBC-TV
14 May 1955
Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union Albania Bulgaria Czechoslovakia East Germany Hungary Poland and Romania
14 May 1960
Virgil Thomsons Missa Pro Defunctis premieres in Potsdam New York
14 May 1966
A Lovers Concerto novelty single by Mrs Miller hits 95
14 May 1988
Jose Oquendo is the first non-pitcher in 20 years to get a decision in a baseball game as he and the St. Louis Cardinals lose to the Braves 7-5 in 19 innings
14 May 1990
Dow Jones Industrial Average hits a record 2821.53
14 May 1991
Robert Gates is nominated for the position of Director of Central Intelligence
14 May 1995
At 43 years and 162 days Manchester City goalkeeper John Burridge becomes the oldest player to appear in an EPL match in a 3-2 home defeat to Queens Park Rangers
14 May 2012
Stanford University scientists develop a prototype bionic eye
14 May 2018
United States moves its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
14 May 2023
Cyclone Mocha makes landfall on Rakhine coast Myanmar near southern border of Bangladesh with at least 400 killed. Second strongest storm on record in the North Indian Ocean. [1]
14 May 2023
Thai General Election Military-backed government loses out to other parties with the Move Forward Party securing 36% of the vote [1]
14 May 2024
Google unveils new generative AI features at its annual conference forcing users to view AI Overviews at the top of search results despite them being factually incorrect 60% of the time [1] [2] [3]