On This Day in History - May 19th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, May 19, the 140th day of 2024 with 226 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Venus. Evening star is Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include Pope Innocent XI in 1611; philanthropist Johns Hopkins in 1795; American-born Nancy Astor, the first female member of the British Parliament, in 1879; Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, in 1881; Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in 1890; civil rights leader Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, in 1925; Cambodian dictator Pol Pot in 1925; playwright Lorraine Hansberry in 1930; journalist Jim Lehrer in 1934; actor/TV talk show host David Hartman in 1935 (age 89); actor James Fox in 1939 (age 85); author Nora Ephron in 1941; actor Peter Mayhew in 1944; musician Pete Townshend (Who) in 1945 (age 79); wrestler/actor Andre the Giant, born André René Roussimoff, in 1946; Jamaican actor/model/musician Grace Jones in 1948 (age 76); Archie Manning, member of the College Football Hall of Fame and father of two star NFL quarterbacks, in 1949 (age 75); Ashraf Ghani, final president of Afghanistan before Taliban takeover, in 1949 (age 75); musician Joey Ramone in 1951; musician Phil Rudd (AC/DC) in 1954 (age 70); actor/former first son Steven Ford in 1956 (age 68); Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda in 1964 (age 60); actor Polly Walker in 1966 (age 58); actor Jason Gray-Stanford in 1970 (age 54); musician Israel Houghton in 1971 (age 53); musician Jenny Berggren, born Jenny Petrén, (Ace of Base) in 1972 (age 52); actor Rebecca Hall in 1982 (age 42); musician James Richardson (MGMT) in 1983 (age 41); comedian Michael Che in 1983 (age 41); actor Eric Lloyd in 1986 (age 38); actor Lily Cole in 1987 (age 36); disability justice activist Stacey Park Milbern in 1987; actor Eleanor Tomlinson in 1992 (age 32); musician Sam Smith in 1992 (age 32); TV personality/musician JoJo Siwa, born Joelle Joanie Siwa, in 2003 (21).

On this date in history:

In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second of King Henry VIII's six wives and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded.

In 1588, the Spanish Armada, assembled to invade England, set sail from Lisbon.

In 1916, Col. Teddy Roosevelt, speaking in Detroit, blasted the pacifism of Henry Ford and accused the Wilson administration of "make-believe preparedness."

In 1935, renowned British soldier and author T.E. Lawrence, known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died in a motorcycle crash in Britain.

In 1935, Pope Pius XI canonized Sir Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher as saints of the Catholic Church. English King Henry VIII ordered the two men executed in 1535 for refusing to accept him as head of the Church of England.

In 1964, it was revealed that U.S. diplomats had found at least 40 secret microphones hidden in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

In 1986, in the first direct talks between China and Taiwan in 37 years, Beijing agreed to return a cargo jet flown to the mainland by a defecting pilot.

In 1994, former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died at age 64.

In 2008, mudslides in China's earthquake-devastated Sichan province engulfed and killed more than 200 rescue workers. The death toll from the quake, which struck a week earlier, had surpassed 69,000, with thousands of people reported missing.

In 2009, the Hubble Space Telescope was returned to orbit after astronauts finished five spacewalks in a mission to repair and refurbish the 19-year-old instrument.

In 2016, EgyptAir Flight 804, en route from Paris to Cairo, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea killing all 66 on board.

In 2018, Britain's Prince Harry married American actor Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth II granted the newlyweds the titles of duke and duchess of Sussex.

In 2021, the European Union announced it would soon allow vaccinated travelers to enter its borders after more than a year of strict COVID-19-related bans that crippled the tourism industry.

A thought for the day: "I married beneath me. All women do." -- American-British politician Nancy Astor