May 18th is

Cheese Soufflé Day

No Dirty Dishes Day

International Museum Day *

Buy a Musical Instrument Day *

National HIV Vaccine Awareness Day *

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MORE! Mathew Brady, Ester Boserup and Walter Sisulu, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Voudon – Manger pour Grann Aloumandia (Feeding of Grandmother Aloumandia)

Haiti – Flag and University Day

Somalia – Somaliland
Sovereignty Restoration Day

Turkmenistan – Magtumguli
(Constitution-Unity-Poetry Day)

Uruguay – Battle of Las Piedras *

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On This Day in HISTORY

1048 – Omar Khayyam born, Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer

1152 – The wedding of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine; they will have five sons and three daughters

1291 – With the fall of the Crusader-controlled city of Acre to the Mamluks, the Crusaders lose control of their Kingdom of Jerusalem; no effective campaign is raised to recapture the Holy Lands

1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd’s accusations of heresy may have led to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe; he is brought to court to await questioning by the Privy Council, but they were not meeting, so he has to keep coming to “give his daily attendance” but he is stabbed to death elsewhere on the 10^th day, May 30^th

1616 – Johann Froberger born, German composer, organist and harpsichordist

1642 – The Canadian city of Montreal is founded

1652 – Rhode Island passes the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal

1811 – The Battle of Las Piedras * is the first military triumph of  the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas

1822 – Mathew Brady born, American pioneer in photography, known for his U.S. Civil War battlefield photographs

1846 – Peter Carl Fabergé born, Russian goldsmith, designer and jeweler

Fabergé Coronation Egg – Peter Carl Fabergé

1852 – Gertrude Käsebier born, American photographer, known for portraits of mothers and Native Americans, promoted photography as an occupation for women

1867 – Elisabeth L. Cary born, American author, art critic for the New York Times

1872 – Bertrand Russell born, English philosopher-logician, author; 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature

1883 – Walter Gropius born, German architect; helped found the Bauhaus school

1886 – Jeanie MacPherson born, American woman who wrote, directed and starred in her own silent film, The Tarantula, then focused on screenwriting, and wrote scripts for 30 of Cecil B. DeMille’s silent films; one of the founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

1892 – Ezio Pinza born, Italian-born operatic bass and actor

1896 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the “separate but equal” doctrine is constitutional

1897 – Frank Capra born, American film director, three-time winner of Best Director Oscars; It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Lost Horizon

1902 – Meredith Wilson born, American composer and playwright; wrote the book, lyrics and music for the Broadway musical, The Music Man; Buy a Musical Instrument Day * is started by his fans

1907 – Irene Hunt born, American author, historical novels written for children, Newbery Medal winner for Up a Road Slowly. Across Five Aprils

1910 – Ester Boserup born, Danish economist who worked for international organizations, including the United Nations; author of seminal books on agrarian change and the importance of women’s work; Women’s Role in Economic Development was one of the inspirations for the UN Decade for Women (1975-1985)

1912 – Walter Sisulu born, South African anti-apartheid activist, Secretary-General (1949-1954) and Deputy President (1991-1994) of the African National Congress, who spent over 25 years in prison at Robben Island

1912 – The first feature length Indian film, Shree Pundalik, is released in Mumbai

1914 – Pierre Balmain born, French couturier

Pierre Balmain – Actress Patricia Morison in 1950 Balmain gown

1919 – Dame Margot Fonteyn born, British ballerina, appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta of The Royal Ballet

1917 – The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the U.S. President the power of conscription

1922 – Gerda Boyesen born, Norwegian psychologist, founder of Biodynamic Psychology

1925 – Lillian Hoban, American author, illustrator and dancer with the Martha Graham troupe; children’s picture book series, Arthur the Chimpanzee and Frances the Badger

1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

1938 – Janet Fish born, American realist artist, primarily of still life paintings, often incorporating light reflecting off water or plastic wrap

Monkey Business by Janet Fish – 2005

1951 – The United Nations moves into its permanent New York City headquarters

1952 – Diane Duane born, American sci-fi and fantasy author; Young Wizards series

1952 – Jeana Yeager born, American aviator, co-pilot with Dick Rutan on the first non-stop, non-fueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager

1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first female pilot to break the sound barrier

1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, is completed

1956 – Catherine Corsini born, French film director and screenwriter; known for Replay and Three Worlds

1957 – Dame Henrietta Moore born, British social anthropologist and author; director of the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College, London; William Wyse Director of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (2009-2014); Still Life: Hopes Desires and Satisfactions

1967 – Nina Björk born, Swedish left-wing equity feminist, author and columnist; noted for the feminist book Under det rosa täcket (Under the Pink Duvet)

1967 – Nancy Juvonen born, American film producer; co-founder of the Flower Films production company

1969 – NASA’s Apollo 10 is launched, a manned mission to orbit the Moon

1970 – Tina Fey born, American comedian, writer and producer; creator of the comedy series 30 Rock (2006-2013); has won 9 Primetime Emmy Awards, 3 Golden Globe Awards, 5 Screen Actors Guild Awards, and 7 Writers Guild of America Awards

1977 – The first International Museum Day * is organized by the International Council of Museums to emphasize the importance of museums to the development of society; 3,000 museums in over 120 countries now have events and activities on this day

1980 – Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington State explodes; 57 people are killed, thousands of animals die, and damages reach over $1 billion

1980 – Race riot in Miami FL result in 15 deaths, the most violent racial disturbance since the riots in Watts and Detroit in the 1960s

1991 – Chemist Helen Sharman becomes the first Briton in space when the Soyuz TM-12 mission is launched; she performed medical and agricultural tests as well as photographing the British Isles

1998 – The federal government files an antitrust case against Microsoft Corporation

2010 – HIV Vaccine Awareness Day * is organized by the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH-NIAID)

2014 – The results of a study conducted at Southampton General Hospital in Britiain show that a new drug, nintedanib, significantly slows the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal lung disease that affects former smokers

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