May 22

And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

Psalm 35:28

is:

National Bike Month - Promotes bicycling and bike safety. Sponsor: League of American Bicyclists. National Birds of Prey Month National Correct Posture Month - To remind people about the connection between correct posture and good health. Sponsor: American Chiropractic Association National Digestive Disease Awareness Month National Duckling Month - To spread information and recipes about ducklings. Formerly sponsored by Concord Farms.

Today Is: Atlas Day - The first modern atlas was published in Belgium by Abraham Ortelius in 1570. First life insurance policy in the U.S. (1761) - Issued in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. First public motion picture show (1891) - Thomas Edison showed a visiting women's club a movie of a bowler. First revolving restaurant dedicated ( 1961) - The Top of the Needle restaurant in the Space Needle of Seattle, Washington, was the first revolving restaurant. First wagon train leaves on Oregon Trail (1843) - The first wagon train left Independence, Missouri. 300 men, 150 women, and about 500 children were part of the wagon train. Mysteries Are Marvelous Day - On the birthday (1859) of Si rArthur Conan Doyle, authored the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, we celebrate all mysteries, crime novels, and books about police and detective work. Sponsor: Book Marketing Update.  National Maritime Day - Celebrates the first Atlantic crossing by a steamship. De Savannas sailed from Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England in 1819. Saint Rita Feast Day - Patron saint of marital problems, parenthood, and desperate causes. Skyscraper building system patented (1888) - Considered the father of the skyscraper, Leroy Buffington patented the system for building skyscrapers. Toothpaste tube invented (1892) - Dr. Sheffield invented the toothpaste tube.

Born on this Day

• 1783: William Sturgeon, English scientist who built the first practical electromagnet.
  

• 1813: Wilhelm Richard Wagner in Leipzig. For nearly all of his adult life, Wagner would move to a new city, run up huge debts, and then leave. His personal life was a scandal: his affair with Bulow's wife Cosima was so advanced that he was now stepping out on her to have affairs. Composer notably of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and "Lohengrin."
  

• 1828: Pioneer eye surgeon, Albrecht Grafe who founded modern ophthalmology
  

• 1844: American artist Mary Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania. (Some sources list 1845). Most of her paintings and pastels were based on the theme of mother and child.
  

• 1859: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes
  

• 1874: Daniel Malan, South African prime minister from 1948-54 and architect of the apartheid system.
  

• 1880: Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, South African mining magnate who formed the Anglo-American Corporation in 1917.
  

• 1907: Actor Laurence Olivier. He won an Oscar in 1948 for "Hamlet." He made his debut at age 15 in "The Taming of the Shrew." His last film was "War Requiem" in 1988.
  

• 1920: Astronomer,Thomas Gold who established the steady-state theory of the universe.
  

• 1922: Movie reviewer Judith Crist
  

• 1924: Singer Charles Aznavour
  

• 1927: Actor Michael Constantine
  

• 1934: Composer Peter Nero
  

• 1938: Actor-director Richard Benjamin
  

• 1938: Actress Susan Strasberg
  

• 1938: Actor Frank Converse
  

• 1940: Actor Michael Sarrazin
  

• 1941: Actor Paul Winfield
  

• 1942: Actress Barbara Parkins
  

• 1943: Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist and Nobel Prize winner.
  

• 1943: Baseball's Tommy John
  

• 1946: George Best, one of the greatest Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballers, in Belfast.
  

• 1950: Songwriter Bernie Taupin (Lyricist with Elton John)
  

• 1956: Actor Al Corley ("Dynasty")
  

• 1959: Singer Morrissey
  

• 1961: Country musician Dana Williams (Diamond Rio)
  

• 1962: Rock musician Jesse Valenzuela (The Low Watts)
  

• 1966: Rhythm-and-blues singer Johnny Gill (New Edition)
  

• 1967: Rock musician Dan Roberts (Crash Test Dummies)
  

• 1970: Model Naomi Campbell
  

• 1973: Singer Donell Jones
  

• 1974: Actress A.J. Langer ("Brooklyn South") 

Events in History on this day
  

• 0334 B.C.: Alexander the Great defeated Persian King Darius III at Granicus, Turkey.
  

• 0337: Death of Constantine "the Great." He was largely responsible for turning the empire into a Christian state.
  

• 1200: The Peace of Le Goulet was signed, settling differences between King John of England and Philip of France.
  

• 1216: French invasion troops land in England
  

• 1246: Henry Raspe is elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.
  

• 1455: The opening battle in England's 30-year War of the Roses took place at St. Albans, when the Lancastrians defeated the Yorkists. King Henry VI is taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans.
  

• 1457: Death of St. Rita
  

• 1509: Death of Henry VII Tudor, King of England
  

• 1511: Bologna captured by the French
  

• 1542: Council of Trent summoned by Pope Paul III
  

• 1570: The first modern atlas, containing 70 maps, was published in Belgium by Abraham Ortelius, a Flemish cartographer/map seller.
  

• 1621: 1st wedding in New England, future Gov. Edward Winslow & Susanna White
  

• 1629: The Peace of Luebeck was signed, ending hostilities between the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark.
  

• 1761: The first life insurance policy in the United States was issued, in Philadelphia.
  

• 1804: The Lewis and Clark Expedition officialy begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
  

• 1807: Former Vice President Aaron Burr was put on trial for treason in Richmond, Virginia, but was acquitted in August.
  

• 1819: The first steam-propelled vessel to attempt a transatlantic crossing, the "Savannah," departed from Savannah, Georgia. (It arrived in Liverpool, England, on June 20th.)
  

• 1840: An official order was issued ending the practice of sending convicts from Britain to the penal colony of Australia. Effective in August, the last ship arrived there in November.
  

• 1841: Henry Kennedy of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received a patent for the first reclining chair.
  

• 1849: Abraham Lincoln received patent number 6469 for the floating dry dock.
  

• 1856: Senator Brooks of South Carolina strikes Senator Sumner with a cane for his earlier condemnation of slavery.
  

• 1863: Union general Ulysses S. Grant’s second attack on Vicksburg fails and a siege begins.
  

• 1868: Seven members of the Reno gang stole $98,000 from a railway car at Marshfield, Ind. It was the original "Great Train Robbery."
  

• 1872: The Amnesty Act restores civil rights to Southerners.
  

• 1874: Verdi's "Requiem" was first performed in the majestic Church of San Marco in Milan.
  

• 1883: The same day Wagner died, and in the same city, Venice, Rossini conducted the premiere of his own opera, "The Young Italian Woman in Algiers." It was a success.
  

• 1885: French author-writer Victor Hugo died in Paris, France, at age 83. He was mourned as a national hero and buried in the Pantheon.
  

• 1891: The first public motion picture show was given. 147 members of the National Federation of Women's Clubs visiting Thomas Edison's lab viewed the film through a one-inch hole in a pine box. It showed a man bowling.
  

• 1892: A British dentist, Dr. Sheffield, invented the toothpaste tube.
  

• 1900: The Associated Press was incorporated in New York as a non-profit news cooperative.
  

• 1900: Edwin S. Votey of Detroit, Michigan, received a patent for his pianola – a pneumatic piano player. The device could be attached to any piano.
  

• 1908: The Wright brothers register their flying machine for a U.S. patent..
  

• 1915: The worst train disaster in Britain took place when a troop train collided with a passenger train at Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227.
  

• 1925: Sir John French, British soldier and commander of British forces on the western front 1914-15, died. His leadership was noted for its large loss of life, notably at Ypres
  

• 1939: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a "Pact of Steel" committing Germany and Italy to a military alliance.
  

• 1943: The Third Communist International, known as COMINTERM, was dissolved by the Soviet Union in a gesture to the West.
  

• 1945: U.S. troops captured Yonabaro on Okinawa island, Japan.
  

• 1947: The "Truman Doctrine" was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.
  

• 1950: The "Four Last Songs" of Richard Strauss were premiered in London by the Wagnerian diva Kirsten Flagstad. Strauss had died the previous year.
  

• 1955: Police in Bridgeport, Connecticut, canceled a dance scheduled at the Ritz ballroom to be headlined by Fats Domino. Authorities say it is because they found "rock and rolls dances might be featured.""
  

• 1966: 16-year-old Bruce Springsteen recorded his first song, "That's What You'll Get," with his band, the Castilles.
  

• 1967: "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," public television's longest-running children's program, premiered on PBS. Rogers is a Presbyterian minister from Pittsburgh.
  

• 1967: Fire at the Brussels department store "L'Innovation" killed over 320 people.
  

• 1969: The lunar module of "Apollo Ten" separated from the command module and flew to within nine miles of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.
  

• 1972: The island nation of Ceylon became the republic of Sri Lanka with the adopting of a new constitution.
  

• 1972: President Nixon became the first president to visit Russia. His talks in Moscow with the Russian leaders led to the S.A.L.T. Agreement in 1977.
  

• 1972: Cecil Day-Lewis, English poet and Poet Laureate, died.
  

• 1979: Canadians went to the polls in parliamentary elections that put the Progressive Conservatives in power, ending the eleven-year tenure of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
  

• 1981: In Britain, Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper) was jailed for life after being convicted of 13 counts of murder.
  

• 1983: Four more people died in the wake of floods that were ravaging the Gulf Coast, bringing the death toll in several days of Southern storms to 33.
  

• 1984: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law firms may not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion or national origin in promoting young lawyers to the status of partner.
  

• 1985: Baseball player Pete Rose passes Hank Aaron as National League run scoring leader with 2,108.
  

• 1985: U.S. sailor Michael L. Walker was arrested aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz, two days after his father, John A. Walker Jr., was apprehended; both were later convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.
  

• 1986: The House of Representatives approved legislation calling for major import restraints, despite President Reagan's warning that burgeoning protectionism would launch new trade wars.
  

• 1987: A deadly tornado devastated the small West Texas town of Saragosa, killing 30 people and injuring 162. The storm destroyed 61 houses and leveled the community center and church.
  

• 1987: An Iraqi missile hits the American frigate USS Stark in the Persian Gulf.
  

• 1988: Janos Kadar installed by the Soviet Union as head of Hungary's Communist Party in 1956 -- was replaced by Prime Minister Karoly Grosz.
  

• 1989: In a serious blow to Chinese Premier Li Peng, more than 100 top military leaders vowed to refrain from entering Beijing to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations.
  

• 1989: Soviet authorities announced curbs on the number of staff at the British embassy and other institutions in Moscow, from 375 to 205.
  

• 1989: India test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile, igniting worries over nuclear proliferation and a spiraling arms race on the subcontinent.
  

• 1990: After years of conflict, pro-Western North Yemen and pro-Soviet South Yemen merged to form a single nation, the Republic of Yemen.
  

• 1990: Boxer Rocky Graziano died in New York at age 71.
  

• 1991: Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born wife of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was designated to lead his Congress Party through national elections, one day after his assassination.
  

• 1991: Soviet President Gorbachev asked the world's industrialized nations for $100 billion in economic loans and grants to bolster the Soviet economy.
  

• 1992: After a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC's "Tonight Show" for the last time, telling his audience, "I bid you a very heartfelt good night." (Carson was succeeded by Jay Leno.)
  

• 1993: The United States, Russia, France, Britain and Spain agreed to enforce safe areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but stopped short of endorsing President Clinton's proposal to use military force.
  

• 1994: A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti went into effect to punish Haiti's rulers for not reinstating the country's ousted leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
  

• 1994: Rwandan rebels seized the key government army barracks in Kigali, removing the biggest obstacle in their drive to capture the capital.
  

• 1995: The Supreme Court ruled, 5-to-4, that states cannot limit service in Congress without amending the Constitution.
  

• 1995: "The CBS Evening News" resumed a single-anchor format with Dan rather, after Connie Chung was dropped from the broadcast.
  

• 1996: President Clinton counterattacked against Republican criticism of his foreign policy during a commencement address at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut; the president then traveled to New York where he was cheered by sailors from four nations aboard the USS "Intrepid."
  

• 1996: Japan settled lawsuits which bought to an end the mercury poisoning case called Minamata, named after the village where hundreds died between 1953-60 by eating mercury-tainted seafood.
  

• 1997: In a case that drew national attention, Kelly Flinn, the Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepted a general discharge, thereby avoiding court-martial on charges of adultery, lying and disobeying an order. The defense began presenting its case in the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh.
  

• 1997: Russian President Boris Yeltsin sacked defense minister Igor Rodionov and head of the general staff Viktor Samsonov for failing to carry through military reforms.
  

• 1998: Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson ruled that Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before the grand jury in the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
  

• 1998: Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland turned out in force to cast ballots giving resounding approval to a Northern Ireland peace accord.
  

• 1999: Columbine High School seniors wearing blue-and-silver gowns marched single file in a graduation ceremony that mixed celebration of the day with sorrow for victims of the recent massacre.
  

• 2000: The Supreme Court struck down, 5-to-4, a federal law that shielded children from sex-oriented cable TV channels. 
  

• 2000: A committee of the Arkansas Supreme Court recommended that President Clinton be disbarred for giving false testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. (Clinton later agreed to give up his Arkansas law license for five years.) 
  

  
  
  
     
  

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