Saturday, May 23, 1998
Today's events
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On Saturday, May 23, Pope John Paul II visits Turin.
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On the horizon
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On Sunday, May 24, the Indianapolis 500 will be held.
Monday, May 25, is Memorial Day in the United States.
On Tuesday, May 26, a trial will be held for members of the Montana Freemen.
On Wednesday, May 27, Michael Fortier will be sentenced for his role in the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing.
On Thursday, May 28, NATO foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg.
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On this day
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In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured at Compiegne and handed over to the British.
In 1498, Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious and political reformer, was hanged and burned at the stake.
In 1533, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon void, and his marriage to Anne Boleyn in January legal, infuriating the Vatican.
In 1618, the Defenestration of Prague took place, a Bohemian revolt against the Habsburg Emperor, beginning the Thirty Years War.
In 1701, "Captain" William Kidd, Scottish pirate, was hanged at London's Execution Dock.
In 1706, the Battle of Ramillies took place in Belgium in the War of the Spanish Succession. The British forces allied with the Dutch and Germans defeated the French.
In 1785, in a letter to a friend, Benjamin Franklin reveals his latest invention -- spectacles of two thicknesses, the first bi-focals.
In 1788, South Carolina became the eighth state of the Union.
In 1795, Sir Charles Barry, English architect and designer of the Houses of Parliament, born.
In 1797, during a financial crisis, a cartoon by James Gilray appeared depicting the Bank of England as a haggard old woman. This is generally thought to be the origin of the bank's nickname "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street."
In 1848, Otto Lilienthal, German inventor and aeronautical engineer, born. His work on flying models was used by later pioneers like the Wright Brothers.
In 1868, Kit Carson, American frontiersman and soldier who contributed greatly to the westward expansion of the U.S., died.
In 1873, the North West Mounted Police were formed in Canada, later to become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
In 1901, Gaetano Brecci, assassin of King Umberto of Italy, committed suicide.
In 1908, John Bardeen, U.S. physicist and twice winner of the Nobel Prize, born. With William Shockley he invented the transistor.
In 1915, having been neutral, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary.
In 1921, Humphrey Lyttelton, English jazz musician, trumpeter and broadcaster, born.
In 1933, Joan Collins, English actress notably in "The Stud" and "The Bitch" on film and "Dynasty" on TV, born.
In 1934, Bonnie (Parker) and Clyde (Barrow), notorious American outlaws, robbers and murderers, were killed in a shootout with police.
In 1937, John D. Rockefeller, U.S. multimillionaire and founder of the Standard Oil Company, died.
In 1941, Herbert Austin, English motor manufacturer, died.
In 1945, Heinrich Himmler, German Nazi leader and Chief of Police, committed suicide a day after being captured; Admiral Karl Doenitz and leading members of the German government were arrested; Winston Churchill resigned, bringing to an end Britain's wartime coalition.
In 1949, the German Federal Republic formally came into existence with Bonn as the capital, after the signing of the constitution.
In 1951, Anatoly Karpov, Russian world chess champion, born.
In 1960, Adolf Eichmann, Nazi leader wanted for war atrocities, was found and captured by Israeli agents in Argentina.
In 1983, the South African Air Force bombed Maputo, Mozambique following a car bomb explosion in Pretoria.
In 1992, Judge Giovanni Falcone, a top Italian anti-Mafia prosecutor, assassinated. A one-tonne bomb exploded as his three-car motorcade was passing.
In 1994, Roman Herzog, the candidate of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats, won the decisive third round of presidential voting to become Germany's head of state.
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Newslink
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This week's events in Indonesia have seen the end of the iron-fist rule of one of the Cold War's great strongmen. Learn more about Jakarta by clicking here.
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Notable
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Actress Barbara Barrie ("Barney Miller") is 67.
Actor Drew Carey ("The Drew Carey Show") is 37.
Actress Joan Collins ("Dynasty") is 65.
Boxing legend Marvin Hagler is 44.
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Sources: Associated Press,
Chase's Calendar of Events 1998, J.P. Morgan
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