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585 BC - A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by 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.

1108 - The Forces of Castile reached Ulces Castle, and prepared for the Battle of Ulces.

1503 - James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married by Pope Alexander VI according to Papal Bull.

1503 - The Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England is signed, which would actually last 10 years.

1588 - The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, begins to set 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.

1774 - American Revolutionary War: The first Continental Congress convenes.

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 Democratic Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declare their independence from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.

1926 - Ditadura Nacional established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic. (28th May 1926 coup d'état.)

1930 - The Chrysler Building in New York City officially opens.

1934 - Near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Olivia and Elzire Dionne, later becoming 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, DC, who pushes a button signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the span.

1937 - Neville Chamberlain becomes British Prime Minister.

1940 - World War II: Belgium surrenders to Germany.

1940 - World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik. First allied infantry victory in WW2.

1942 - World War II: In retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1800 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.

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.

1969 - Sound engineer Glyn Johns mixes the second of the Beatles Bootlegs.

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, thus 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. Elections won by incumbent Sangoulé Lamizana.

1982 - Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.

1983 - The 9th G7 Summit convenes in Williamsburg, Virginia.

1987 - 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet Union air defenses and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow. He is immediately detained and is not 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.

1995 - The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, ⅔ of total population.

1998 - Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of Indian nuclear tests 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 newly-restored masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.

2000 - The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts.

2003 - Peter Hollingworth becomes the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct.

2006 - German-born Pope Benedict XVI visits Auschwitz to conclude his pilgrimage to Poland.

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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)

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 - Pierre 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)

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)

1883 - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1966)

1884 - Edvard Beneš, Czech politician (d. 1948)

1887 - Jim Thorpe, American athlete (d. 1953)

1892 - Sepp Dietrich, German SS officer (d. 1966)

1900 - Tommy Ladnier, American musician (d. 1939)

1908 - Ian Fleming, English author (d. 1964)

1909 - Red Horner, Canadian hockey star

1910 - T-Bone Walker, American singer (d. 1975)

1910 - Lady Rachel Kempson, English actress (d. 2003)

1911 - Thora Hird, British actress (d. 2003)

1911 - Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian author (d. 1986)

1912 - Patrick White, Australian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)

1912 - Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, 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 musician (d. 1994)

1918 - Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (Wayne and Shuster) (d. 1990)

1921 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)

1922 - Lou Duva, American boxing trainer

1923 - György Ligeti, Hungarian composer (d. 2006)

1923 - Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Indian actor,director,producer and politician (d. 1998)

1925 - Bülent Ecevit, Prime Minister of Turkey

1925 - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German baritone

1931 - Carroll Baker, American actress

1934 - Dionne quintuplets (Emilie d. 1954, Marie d. 1970, Yvonne d. 2001)

1936 - Betty Shabazz, American civil rights leader (d. 1997)

1938 - Jerry West, American basketball player

1942 - Stanley B. Prusiner, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1943 - Terry Crisp, NHL Coach

1944 - Rudy Giuliani, Mayor of New York City

1944 - Gladys Knight, American singer

1944 - Patricia Quinn, Northern Irish actress

1944 - Billy Vera, American actor and musician

1945 - John Fogerty, American musician (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

1945 - Gary Stewart, American singer (d. 2003)

1945 - Hunter "Patch" Adams, American doctor

1946 - Satchidanandan, Indian-born poet

1946 - Skip Jutze, baseball player

1947 - Sondra Locke, American actress

1947 - Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist

1949 - Wendy O. Williams, American musician (The Plasmatics) (d. 1998)

1950 - Jim Harris, American professional wrestler

1952 - Russell J. Wintner, American Hollywood executive

1955 - John McGeoch, Scottish musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees) (d. 2004)

1955 - Mark Howe, Professional ice hockey player

1957 - Kirk Gibson, baseball player

1957 - Ben Howland, NCAA basketball coach

1959 - John Morgan, etiquette expert

1962 - Brandon Cruz, American actor

1962 - Roland Gift, English musician (Fine Young Cannibals)

1962 - James Michael Tyler, actor-best known as Gunther on "Friends".

1963 - Houman Younessi, Iranian-born scientist

1964 - Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer

1964 - Christa Miller, American actress

1964 - David Baddiel, English comedian, novelist and television presenter

1964 - Phil Vassar, country music artist

1965 - Chris Ballew, American musician

1968 - Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer

1969 - Mike DiFelice, Baseball player

1970 - Morgan Fox, Canadian model and 1990 Playboy playmate

1971 - Isabelle Carré, French actress

1971 - Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian Olympic and World Figure Skating Champion

1972 - Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist

1972 - Guidoni Junior Doriva, Brazilian footballer

1976 - Liam O'Brien, American voice actor

1976 - Alexei Nemov, Russian gymnast

1977 - Jeremy Borash, American professional wrestling announcer

1977 - Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American television panelist (The View)

1979 - Jesse Bradford, American actor

1979 - Monica Keena, American actress

1980 - Mark Feehily, Irish musician (Westlife)

1982 - Jhonny Peralta, American baseball player

1986 - Charles N'Zogbia, French footballer

1991 - Kristen Alderson, American actress

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1357 - King Afonso IV of Portugal (b. 1291)

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 and writer (b. 1720)

1811 - Henry Dundas, British minister (b. 1742)

1843 - Noah Webster, American author, politician, and lexicographer (b. 1758)

1849 - Anne Brontë, English author (b. 1820)

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 - Friedrich Karl von Hessen (b. 1868)

1947 - August Eigruber, Austrian war criminal (b. 1907)

1948 - Unity Mitford, English fascist sympathizer (b. 1914)

1971 - Audie Murphy, American actor and war hero (b. 1924)

1971 - Jean Vilar, French actor (b. 1912)

1972 - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)

1975 - Ezzard Charles, Heavyweight 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 Cardinal Wyszyński, Archbishop of Warsaw (b. 1901)

1984 - Eric Morecambe, British comedian (Morecambe and Wise) (b. 1926)

1988 - Sy Oliver, 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, comedian (b. 1948)

2001 - Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)

2002 - Jean Berger, German-born composer (b. 1909)

2003 - Oleg Makarov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)

2003 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)

2003 - Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)

2004 - Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-born automobile executive (b. 1934)

2006 - Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper (b. 1920)

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Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:

Germain of Paris

Augustine of Canterbury

William of Gellone

Bernard of Menthon

Lanfranc

Republic Day in Azerbaijan and Armenia (both 1918).