May 1, 2017

500 years ago
1517

Protest
The Evil May Day riots took place in London by local residents who resented the presence of foreigners in the city, especially workers from Flanders.

310 years ago
1707

Britannica
The Act of Union 1707 went into effect, joining the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

230 years ago
1787

Born on this date
Juan Felipe Ibarra. Argentinian general and politician. Brigadier Ibarra was one of the caudillos who dominated the interior of Argentina during the formation of the national state, as Governor of Santiago del Estero (1820-1830, 1832-1851). He had to deal with civil wars for much of his time in power, but succeeded in putting them down in 1841, and enjoyed a decade of peace until his death on July 15, 1851 at the age of 64, after a long battle with gout.

100 years ago
1917

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Danielle Darrieux! The French actress appeared in movies such as Mayerling (1936); 5 Fingers (1952); and Alexander the Great (1956), and was nominated for César Awards for her supporting performances in Scene of the Crime (1986) and 8 Women (2001).

John Beradino. U.S. baseball player and actor. Mr. Beradino, born Giovanni Berardino, was a second baseman and shortstop with the St. Louis Browns (1939-1942, 1946-1947, 1951); Cleveland Indians (1948-1950, 1952); and Pittsburgh Pirates (1950, 1952), batting .249 with 36 home runs and 387 runs batted in in 912 games. He was a member of the Indians' World Series championship team in 1948. While playing as Johnny Berardino, he began appearing in bit parts in movies, but achieved stardom playing Dr. Steve Hardy in the soap opera General Hospital from 1963-1996. Mr. Beradino died on May 19, 1996, 18 days after his 79th birthday.

Agriculture
Schools in Saskatchewan held a holiday called Gopher Day, with children from almost 1,000 schools competing to destroy the greatest number of gophers; over 500,000 were killed, saving an estimated $385,000 in grain.

Society
Prohibition went into effect in New Brunswick; the sale of liquor became unlawful, except for medicinal, scientific, sacramental, and mechanical purposes. The law remained in effect for 10 years.

80 years ago
1937

Baseball
Eiji Sawamura of the Tokyo Kyojin pitched his second career Japanese Baseball League no-hitter; he had pitched his first no-hitter on September 25, 1936.

75 years ago
1942

At the movies
The Man Who Wouldn't Die, directed by Herbert I. Leeds, and starring Lloyd Nolan and Marjorie Weaver, opened in theatres. It was the fifth in a series of seven films starring Mr. Nolan as private eye Michael Shayne.



War
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt temporarily abandoned plans for registering women in the armed services because there were more women than jobs currently available.

Law
Rome radio announced that additional German Gestapo agents had arrived in Italy to study the organization of the Italian police force.

Journalism
U.S. Postmaster General Frank Walker announced that the weekly newspaper X-Ray, published in Muncie, Indiana, was seditious under the 1917 Espionage Act, and asked that it show cause why its second class mailing privileges should not be revoked.

Economics and finance
The U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee tentatively approved a 94% excess profits tax and 40% income tax on firms making a net profit of over $25,000 per year.

70 years ago
1947

Crime
Bandit and Sicilian separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano led a massacre of May Day celebrants in the community of Portella della Ginestra, killing 11 people and wounding 27.

Protest
Police in Trieste dispersed anti-British crowds whoe were demanding Italian control of the city.

Politics and government
Leonard Arguello was inaugurated into a six-year term as President of Nicaragua.

Admiral Roscoe Lillenkoettter succeeded General Hoyt Vandenberg as U.S. Central Intelligence Director.

Economics and finance
General Lucius Clay revised U.S. military government regulations in Germany to confom to the new U.S. War Department policy, which called for encouragement of the country's economic reconstruction and gave Germans "primary responsibility" for their own affairs.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate a bill to continue rent controls with no general increase until at least December 31, 1947.

Transportation
After three days of debate, the British House of Commons approved a government-sponsored bill nationalizing all inland transport.

60 years ago
1957

At the movies
The Deadly Mantis, directed by Nathan H. Juran, and starring Craig Stevens, Alix Talton, and William Hopper, opened in theatres in Los Angeles.



Politics and government
Luis Somoza was inaugurated into a five-year term as President of Nicaragua.

Colombian authorities arrested opposition presidential candidate Guillermo Leon Valencia.

Diplomacy
Joseph Farland, a fuel dealer from Morgantown, West Virginia, was named U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Disasters
34 people were killed when an Eagle Aviation Vickers Viking airliner crashed near Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire, England.

Sport
Bermuda won the Amorita Cup international team races off Hamilton, Bermuda.

Boxing
Sugar Ray Robinson (140-5-2) regained the world middleweight title with a knockout of Gene Fullmer (40-4) at 1:27 of the 5th round at Chicago Stadium. Mr. Fullmer had won the title from Mr. Robinson with a 15-round unanimous decision on January 2, 1957.



50 years ago
1967

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Hablemos Del Amor--Raphael (2nd week at #1)

Married on this date
U.S. singer Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas.

Politics and government
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, son of Luis Somoza, was inaugurated into a five-year term as President of Nicaragua.

Economics and finance
Jack Kimber, former chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission and the Attorney General's Committee on Securities Legislation, was appointed President of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Don't Give Up on Us--David Soul (6th week at #1)

Protest
34-42 people were killed in Taksim Square in Istanbul during the Labour Day celebrations; the perpetrators were never caught.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Philadelphia 0 @ Boston 3 (Boston won best-of-seven series 4-0)

Jean Ratelle scored at 10:45 of the 2nd period to break a scoreless tie and Gerry Cheevers posted the shutout in goal as the Bruins completed their sweep of the Flyers at Boston Garden to advance to the finals for the first time in three years. It was the first time in four years that the Flyers hadn't advanced to the finals.

WHA
Avco World Trophy
Semi-Finals
Houston 4 @ Winnipeg 6 (Winnipeg led best-of-seven series 3-1)

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): You're the Voice--John Farnham (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Alva “Bobo” Holloman, 64. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Holloman pitched in the minor professional leagues from 1946-1954, compiling a record of 118 wins and 80 losses. His best season was his first, when he was 20-5 with the Moultrie Packers of the Georgia-Florida League. In 1953 Mr. Holloman began the season with the St. Louis Browns of the American League. After several appearances in relief, he made his first major league start on May 6, and pitched a no-hitter as the Browns blanked the Philadelphia Athletics 6-0 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Unfortunately for Mr. Holloman, he never pitched another complete game with the Browns, and was demoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League after compiling a major league record of 3-7, with an earned run average of 5.23.

Religion
Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in 1942.

Economics and finance
Japan announced that its trade surplus for 1986 was a record $101.4 billion, about half of which was accounted for by the United States.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Detroit 4 @ Toronto 2 (Best-of-seven series tied 3-3)

Men’s world championship
Czechoslovakia 4 Canada 2

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): To Be with You--Mr. Big (2nd week at #1)

War
Serbian forces began shelling Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and also seized many towns within the secessionist Yugoslav republic, resulting in hundreds of deaths.

Protest
U.S. President George Bush ordered 1,500 U.S. Marines and 3,000 U.S. Army troops into Los Angeles and Nevada to quell rioting by Negroes that had begun two days earlier after four white Los Angeles policemen had been acquitted of beating Negro criminal Rodney King. Nevada Governor Bob Miller ordered 400 National Guard troops into Las Vegas.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
New Jersey 4 @ New York Rangers 8 (New York won best-of-seven series 4-3)
Pittsburgh 3 @ Washington 1 (Pitsburgh won best-of-seven series 4-3)

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Fire--Scooter

10 years ago
2007

Society
The Canadian House of Commons unanimously apologized to former students of Canada's residential schools for trauma suffered from policies intended to assimilate Indian, Inuit, and Metis children into mainstream society.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Conference Semi-Finals
Buffalo 1 @ New York Rangers 2 (Best-of-seven series tied 2-2)
Anaheim 3 @ Vancouver 2 (OT) (Anaheim led best-of-seven series 3-1)

Travis Moen scored 2:07 into the 1st overtime period to give the Ducks their win over the Canucks at General Motors Place.