May 9th is

National Teacher Day *

Butterscotch Brownie Day

Lost Sock Memorial Day

Moscato Wine Day

Childhood Depression Awareness Day *

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MORE!  J. M. Barrie, Fay Kanin, and Nelson Mandela, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Transdniestria, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine – Victory Day

Armenia – Victory and Peace Day

Bosnia and Herzegovina –
Victory Over Fascism Day

Guernsey, Jersey – Liberation Day

India – West Bengal: Rabindranath
Tagore Jayanti (Tagore birthday)

Kosovo, Moldova – Europe Day

South Korea – Presidential Election Day

Uzbekistan – Day of Remembrance and Honors

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On This Day in HISTORY

1386 – England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor, sealed by the marriage of King John I of Portugal to Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster; it is the oldest diplomatic alliance still in force in the world

1540 – Hernando de Alarcón sets sail on an expedition to the Gulf of California

1662 – The figure who later became Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy, makes his first recorded appearance in England

1740 – Giovanni Paisiello born, Italian Classical composer, primarily of operas

1746 – Gaspard Monge born, French mathematician, inventor of descriptive geometry, the basis of technical drawing, and ‘father of differential geometry’

1763 – The Siege of Fort Detroit begins during Pontiac’s War against British forces.

1850 – Edward Weston born in England, American chemist, worked on electroplating;  developed electrochemical cell, named Weston after him, for the voltage standard

1860 – J. M. Barrie born, Scottish novelist and playwright; Peter Pan

1865 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation ending belligerent rights of the rebels and enjoining foreign nations to intern or expel Confederate ships

1865 – Elizabeth Garver Jordan born, American journalist, author, editor, and suffragist, editor of Harper’s Bazaar

1873 – Der Krach: Vienna stock market crash heralds the Long Depression, which began to ease in 1879, but didn’t end completely until 1896

1874 – The first horse-drawn bus makes its début in Mumbai, India

1874 – Howard Carter born, British archaeologist and illustrator, discoverer of Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamen

Howard Carter birds: Falcon, Owl, and Duck 

1874 – Lilian Baylis born, English theatrical manager, founder of the Old Vic theatre, famed for its Shakespearean productions

1883 – Jose Ortega y Gasset born, Spanish philosopher and humanist

1887 – Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show opens in London

1895 – Lucian Blaga born, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher

1901 – Australia’s first parliament is opened by Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, later King George V, in temporary quarters in Melbourne

1904 – The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h)

1906 – Eleanor Estes born, American children’s author-illustrator; The Hundred Dresses

1911 – The works of Gabriele D’Annunzio, an author associated with the Decadent movement, are placed in the Index of Forbidden Books by the Vatican

1914 – Carlo Maria Giulini born, Italian conductor and director

1914 – Hank Snow born, American country music singer-songwriter

1916 – William Pène du Bois born, American author and children’s book illustrator; editor of The Paris Review; 1948 Newbery Medal winner; The Twenty-One Balloons

1917 – Fay Kanin born, American screenwriter, playwright and producer

1920 – Richard Adams born, English novelist; Watership Down

1921 – Daniel Berrigan born, American priest, poet, and activist

1921 – Sophie Scholl born, German student-activist , member of the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, convicted of high treason for distributing anti-war leaflets, and executed

1921 – Mona Van Duyn born, American poet; Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1992); National Book Award for Poetry

1930 – Kalifa Tillisi born, Libyan historian and linguist

1934 – Alan Bennett born, English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist; The Madness of George III

1936 – Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa by force on May 5

1938 – Charles Simic born in Serbia, American poet and editor

1944 – Richie Furay born, American singer-songwriter; Buffalo Springfield

1945 – The Channel Islands are liberated by the British after five years of German occupation during WWII

1948 –  Czechoslovakia’s Ninth-of-May Constitution comes into effect.

1949 – Rainier III becomes Prince of Monaco

1949 – Billy Joel born, American singer-songwriter and pianist

1950 – Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe,  to maintain peaceful relations; the “Schuman Declaration” influenced founding of the European Union

1953 – Eleanor Roosevelt lobbies Congress for a National Teachers’ Day. In 1985, this idea was expanded by the National PTA into Teacher Appreciation Week, now in association with the National Education Association; National Teacher Day * is part of National Teacher Appreciation Week, held during the first full week in May

1955 – West Germany joins NATO

1958 – Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo premieres in San Francisco

1960 – The Food and Drug Administration announces approval of birth control as an additional indication for Searle’s Enovid, making it the world’s first approved oral contraceptive pill

1961 – FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow condemns TV programming as a “vast wasteland” in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.

1964 – Ngô Đình Cẩn, de facto ruler of central Vietnam under his brother President Ngô Đình Diệm before the family’s overthrow, is executed

1970 – In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 demonstrators protest the Vietnam War  in front of the White House

1974 – Watergate: The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public hearings to consider the impeachment of President Richard Nixon

1994 – South Africa’s newly elected parliament chooses Nelson Mandela to be the country’s first black president

1997 – Childhood Depression Awareness Day * becomes part of  Children’s Mental Health Week, held annually the first full week of May

2015 – Russia stages its biggest ever military parade in Moscow’s Red Square to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Victory Day
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