1502 - Columbus embarked on his 4th voyage with 150 men in 4 caravels. He reached the coast of Honduras after 8 months and passed south to Panama (1503). He returned to Spain Nov 7, 1504, after suffering a shipwreck at Jamaica.
    1647 - Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor.
    1690 - In the first major engagement of King William's War, British troops from Massachusetts seize Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) from the French.
    1792 - The Columbia River, Oregon, is discovered by Captain Robert Gray.  He nor the people in its time of discovery do not know its value. Gray was a fur trader, and actually poor at it, as he died a pauper.  He had discovered and named much geography along the Pacific Northwest. http://www.oregonpioneers.com/gray.htm
    1807 - Birthday of Ira Aldridge, Great 19th century Black actor, famous throughout the world, died 1867.
    1823 - Birthday of (Catherine) Sister Irene Fitzgibbon.  She headed a home for foundling babies whose care had previously been assigned to prisoners or the inmates of poorhouses.  She established the New York Foundling Hospital, a maternity hospital, a hospital for children, a care facility for children, a hospital for TB patients, and developed a program to give decent care for unwed mothers both before and after birth.
http://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/f/fitzgibbon,catherine.html
http://www.orphantrainriders.com/otm11.html
    1846 - Congress declares war against Mexico at request of the President James Polk. At the time, the entire United States Army numbers only about 6,000 officers and men, eventually expanded to nearly 10,000 by war’s end. The bulk of the force needed to prosecute the war will come from the uniformed volunteer militia (forerunners of today’s National Guard) of the various states.
    1855 - The oldest gambling house in San Francisco, the El Dorado closed forever because of a new state anti-gambling law.
    1858 - Minnesota entered the Union as the thirty-second state. Known as the "Land of Ten Thousand Lakes," Minnesota is the northern terminus of the Mississippi River's traffic and the westernmost point of an inland waterway that extends through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. The Ojibwe and the Dakota were among the Native peoples who first made this land their home.  White settlement of the area began in 1820 with the establishment of Fort Snelling. In 1849, Minnesota became a US territory. The building of railroads and canals brought a land boom during the 1850s, and Minnesota’s population swelled from only 6000 in 1850 to more than 150,000 by 1857. Chiefly a land of small farmers, Minnesota supported the Union in the Civil War and supplied large quantities of wheat to the Northern armies. Originally settled by migrants of British, German, and Irish extraction, Minnesota saw a major influx of Scandinavian immigrants during the nineteenth century. Minnesota’s "Twin Cities" — Minneapolis and St. Paul — grew out of Fort Snelling, the center of early US settlement.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may11.html
    1862 - The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia was destroyed by Confederate forces to prevent its capture by Union troops. The Virginia was built from the salvaged hull of the USS Merrimack. Two months prior to its destruction, the Virginia fought several Union ships in what became known as "The Battle of Hampton Roads."
    1864 - Attempting to head off Union General Phil Sheridan's cavalry advance on Richmond, one of the South's greatest military strategists, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry encountered the Federals at Yellow Tavern, Virginia. It was a surprise encounter, not only changing the direction of the war, but Stuart was mortally wounded in the battle and died the following day. The loss of one of its most colorful and effective cavalry leaders was a great loss to the South. It also marked the first time that Sheridan, with Gen. Grant’s approval, was making his first independent cavalry action, surprising Stuart considerably. The battle did accomplish the delay of the Federal advance, delaying it long enough for the Confederates to strengthen the defense at Richmond, and Sheridan was forced to change his plans. In the wake of advancing Union troops in the Peninsular Campaign.  The South was forced to destroy the valuable vessel and its manufacturing facility to prevent its capture by Union forces. The “History Channel” has an excellent series about these two warships.
    1867 - Jefferson Davis is released on bail from prison where, since being captured on 10 May 1865, he was awaiting a treason trial that never would take place for having been President of the Confederacy during the US Civil War: the charges would be dropped on 25 December 1868.    
    1885 - Jazz musician "King" Oliver born New Orleans, Louisiana. 
http://www.redhotjazz.com/kingo.html
http://www.michaelminn.net/armstrong/sessions1/s231005.html
http://www.amazon.com/King-Olivers-Creole-Jazz-Band/dp/B000005R5L
#moreAboutThisProduct
    1888 - American songwriter Irving Berlin was born in Russia. He wrote nearly 1,000 songs, and had his first hit in 1911 with "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Many of his best songs came from such Broadway musicals as "Call Me Madam" and "Annie Get Your Gun." Berlin also composed film scores, and many of his stage musicals were adapted for the screen. Among the best known of his songs are "White Christmas," "God Bless America" and "There's No Business like Show Business." Berlin died on September 22nd, 1989, age 101.
    1889 - Major Joseph Wham and group of soldiers, carrying a military payroll of $29,000, were attacked by a dozen outlaws near Fort Thomas, Arizona Territory. After wounding more than half the soldiers and driving off the rest, the outlaws simply walked away with the entire payroll. A posse of lawmen rounded up various suspects who were later charged with the sensational robbery. Most of these suspects were Mormons with political connections and the accused men were defended by the famed lawyer Marcus Aurelius Smith. Major Wham and his men were unable to identify any of the dozen defendants in court and they were all acquitted. It was widely claimed that political pressure from the acting governor allowed the thieves to go free.
    1894 - During the Depression of 1893, the Pullman Company handed out a hefty round of wage cuts.  Though the cuts ate up 25 percent to 40 percent of workers' take-home pay, the company refused to lower its rents. In May of 1894, a group of workers implored company chief George Pullman to redress the situation. Pullman promptly fired three of the workers. The rail managers won the support of Federal and state troops, which led to a long and violent skirmish in early July.  Pullman and the rail managers soon prevailed over the strikers, many of whom were subsequently barred from working in the rail industry.
    1894 - Birthday of Martha Graham.  She is generally recognized as the woman who most embodied the movements of modern dance; who influenced American modern dance as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Her career spanned more than 60 years during which she created almost 200 works from solos to feature presentations. Died April 1, 1991
http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/graham.html
http://marthagraham.org/center/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/graham_m.html
    1895 - Birthday of American composer William Grant Still in Woodville, MS.  Perhaps the best-known African-American classical composer of the 20th century still wrote 8 symphonies, 7 operas and more than 100 other works, included such important works as “Levee Land” and “Sahdji”. As the ClassicalMusicDetroit.com site notes, he was a pioneer in many ways: as the first Black person to conduct a major American symphony (the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in 1936), to have an opera (Troubled Island in 1949) produced by a major company, and to have an opera performed on television (Bayou Legend, posthumously, in 1981).  Died 3 December 1978, Los Angeles, California.
http://www.williamgrantstill.com/wgsbiography/
http://www.shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/
musicians/WGStill.html
http://odyssey.lib.duke.edu/sgo/findaid/stillbio.html
    1898 - Sailors and Marines from USS Marblehead and USS Nashville cut trans-oceanic cable near Cienfuegos, Cuba, isolating Cuba from Spain. The operation was performed close to shore, directly under the guns of the enemy soldiers garrisoned at Cienfuegos. For more than an hour the small boats with their crews of brave young sailors and Marines endured the dangerous waters, the ever present mines, the crash of large rounds, and small arms fire, to continue their task. On the U.S.S. Nashville, sailors who had not been selected for the mission continued to man the ship's big guns to cover their comrades. Finally, one of the cables was cut through. The shore end was dropped in place and one of the boats from the Marblehead towed the other end out to sea where it was dropped after another large section of cable was removed to make it harder to repair. Finally, the second cable was cut. A remaining smaller cable on the shore would have to be ignored. The badly battered sailors and Marines, in small boats barely able to remain afloat, turned to return to their warships. As they fought the seas, the enemy began finding their range. Large shells dropped closer and closer to the small sailing ships. For a few minutes, it looked as if all of the volunteers would be lost. In the distance, Lieutenant Dillingham turned the Nashville towards the shore, steaming ahead and then turning again to place his warship between the enemy on the shore and the retreating smaller boats of the cable cutting crews and their Marine guards. It was a bold act, exposing his ship to intense enemy fire, but for the badly battered volunteers, it meant the difference between life and death. The wounded were quickly taken aboard the warships for medical care. Many of the men had suffered wounds, several of them repeated wounds, and at least three were critical or fatal. All 52 men, 26 from each of the Marblehead and the Nashville, were subsequently awarded Medals of Honor.
    1901 - Birthday of Gladys Rockmore Davis, U.S. artist who has works hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Died 1967.
http://www.rogallery.com/davis_gladys_rockmore/davisgr-biography.htm
http://www.artnet.com/artist/652212/gladys-rockmore-davis.html
    1910 - Glacier National Park in Montana was created by an act of Congress. With over one million acres, the park is home to many animals, including wolves, grizzly bears, and mountain lions, and over 1400 plant species.
    1912 - Birthday of Phil Silvers, comedian and actor, who had one of the most popular 1950's TV show where he starred as Sgt. Bilko in “You’ll Never Get Rich.” He was on Broadway before and after as well as had a second TV show and was sought as a guest on many early 1960 TV shows for his humor. As a "Did you Know?” Silvers wrote the lyrics for Frank Sinatra's "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)".
    1916 - Einstein's Theory of General Relativity was presented.
    1927 - Birthday of Mort Sahl in Montreal, Quebec,  Comedian, political satirist, beatnik, Sahl was one of a kind -- a razor-sharp trailblazer of biting, tremendous popular satirical comedy in the 1950s and 1960s.
http://www.mortsahl.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0756340/
    1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded by Louis B. Mayer. The first Oscars were for films produced in the first year of the Academy: 1927-28. (For the first 6 years, the awards were for films produced during the fiscal year, not the calendar year.) Among the first winners were Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor for acting, and Wings for best picture. 
         1928 - WGY-TV in Schenectady, New York began the first schedule of regular TV programs. WGY offered programming to the upstate New York audience three times a week using the electronic scanning method. 
    1937 - Battle of the Bands between Benny Goodman and Chick Webb, Savoy, NY. 
    1938 - Birthday of American composer Harvey Sollberger.
http://music.ucsd.edu/public/fm_music_directory.php?
cmd=fm_music_directory_detail
& query_Full_Name=+Harvey+Sollberger&query_Active_Status=Faculty
http://grace.evergreen.edu/~arunc/texts/music/wolpe/wolpe/Harvey_
Sollberger.html
http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=17524
    1941 - Rock singer Eric Burdon, who first came to fame with the Animals during the 1960's British invasion, was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. The Animals hit the top of the charts in both Britain and North America in the summer of 1964 with "House of the Rising Sun." When the original group broke up in 1966, Burdon began billing the band as Eric Burdon and the Animals. They began playing psychedelic songs, such as "San Franciscan Nights" and "Sky Pilot." In 1970, Eric Burdon fronted the funk band War for their number-one hit "Spill the Wine," but by the following year Burdon and War had parted company.
    1942 – “Go Down, Moses” by William Faulkner is published.
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/faulkner/faulkner.html
    1944 - *WAUGH, ROBERT T., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 339th Infantry, 85th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Tremensucli, Italy, 11-14 May 1944. Entered service at: Augusta, Maine. Birth: Ashton, R.I. G.O. No.: 79, 4 October 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy. In the course of an attack upon an enemy-held hill on 11 May, 1st Lt. Waugh personally reconnoitered a heavily mined area before entering it with his platoon. Directing his men to deliver fire on 6 bunkers guarding this hill, 1st Lt. Waugh advanced alone against them, reached the first bunker, threw phosphorus grenades into it and as the defenders emerged, killed them with a burst from his Tommy gun. He repeated this process on the 5 remaining bunkers, killing or capturing the occupants. On the morning of 14 May, 1st Lt. Waugh ordered his platoon to lay a base of fire on 2 enemy pillboxes located on a knoll which commanded the only trail up the hill. He then ran to the first pillbox, threw several grenades into it, drove the defenders into the open, and killed them. The second pillbox was next taken by this intrepid officer by similar methods. The fearless actions of 1st Lt. Waugh broke the Gustav Line at that point, neutralizing 6 bunkers and 2 pillboxes and he was personally responsible for the death of 30 of the enemy and the capture of 25 others. He was later killed in action in Itri, Italy, while leading his platoon in an attack.
    1945 - McKlNNEY, JOHN R., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Private), U.S. Army, Company A, 123d Infantry, 33d Infantry Division. Place and date: Tayabas Province, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 11 May 1945. Entered service at: Woodcliff, Ga. Birth: Woodcliff, Ga. G.O. No.: 14, 4 February 1946. Citation: He fought with extreme gallantry to defend the outpost which had been established near Dingalan Bay. Just before daybreak approximately 100 Japanese stealthily attacked the perimeter defense, concentrating on a light machinegun position manned by 3 Americans. Having completed a long tour of duty at this gun, Pvt. McKinney was resting a few paces away when an enemy soldier dealt him a glancing blow on the head with a saber. Although dazed by the stroke, he seized his rifle, bludgeoned his attacker, and then shot another assailant who was charging him. Meanwhile, 1 of his comrades at the machinegun had been wounded and his other companion withdrew carrying the injured man to safety. Alone, Pvt. McKinney was confronted by 10 infantrymen who had captured the machinegun with the evident intent of reversing it to fire into the perimeter. Leaping into the emplacement, he shot 7 of them at pointblank range and killed 3 more with his rifle butt. In the melee the machinegun was rendered inoperative, leaving him only his rifle with which to meet the advancing Japanese, who hurled grenades and directed knee mortar shells into the perimeter. He warily changed position, secured more ammunition and reloading repeatedly, cut down waves of the fanatical enemy with devastating fire or clubbed them to death in hand-to-hand combat. When assistance arrived, he had thwarted the assault and was in complete control of the area. Thirty-eight dead Japanese around the machinegun and 2 more at the side of a mortar 45 yards distant was the amazing toll he had exacted single-handedly. By his indomitable spirit, extraordinary fighting ability, and unwavering courage in the face of tremendous odds, Pvt. McKinley saved his company from possible annihilation and set an example of unsurpassed intrepidity.
    1946 - Jack Barry, a familiar face on TV game shows, hosted "Juvenile Jury" on WOR Radio in New York City. The show was such a hit after five weeks on the air that it debuted on the Mutual Broadcasting System coast to coast. Maybe Barry became a bit too familiar in 1959. It was "Twenty One", the enormously popular show that Barry hosted, that led to the Quiz Show Scandal that rocked television and the U.S. Congress.
    1947 - B.F. Goodrich, from Akron, Ohio, announced the development of the tubeless tire.    
    1946 - *TERRY, SEYMOUR W., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Company B, 382d Infantry, 96th Infantry Division. Place and date: Zebra Hill, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 11 May 1945. Entered service at: Little Rock, Ark. Birth: Little Rock, Ark. G.O. No.: 23, 6 March 1946. Citation: 1st Lt. Terry was leading an attack against heavily defended Zebra Hill when devastating fire from 5 pillboxes halted the advance. He braved the hail of bullets to secure satchel charges and white phosphorus grenades, and then ran 30 yards directly at the enemy with an ignited charge to the first stronghold, demolished it, and moved on to the other pillboxes, bombarding them with his grenades and calmly cutting down their defenders with rifle fire as they attempted to escape. When he had finished this job by sealing the 4 pillboxes with explosives, he had killed 20 Japanese and destroyed 3 machineguns. The advance was again held up by an intense grenade barrage which inflicted several casualties. Locating the source of enemy fire in trenches on the reverse slope of the hill, 1st Lt. Terry, burdened by 6 satchel charges launched an l-man assault. He wrecked the enemy's defenses by throwing explosives into their positions and he accounted for 10 of the 20 hostile troops killed when his men overran the area. Pressing forward again toward a nearby ridge, his 2 assault platoons were stopped by slashing machinegun and mortar fire. He fearlessly ran across 100 yards of fire-swept terrain to join the support platoon and urge it on in a flanking maneuver. This thrust, too, was halted by stubborn resistance. 1st Lt. Terry began another 1 -man drive, hurling grenades upon the strongly entrenched defenders until they fled in confusion, leaving 5 dead behind them. Inspired by this bold action, the support platoon charged the retreating enemy and annihilated them. Soon afterward, while organizing his company to repulse a possible counterattack, the gallant company commander was mortally wounded by the burst of an enemy mortar shell. By his indomitable fighting spirit, brilliant leadership, and unwavering courage in the face of tremendous odds, 1st Lt. Terry made possible the accomplishment of his unit's mission and set an example of heroism in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.
    1950 - After fans boo him for misplaying a ball, Ted Williams makes an inappropriate digital gesture three times (once to left, once to center, and once to right) to the Red Sox fans sitting in the outfield stands. During his next at bat, as the booing continues, the Splendid Splinter becomes the Splendid Spitter as Williams steps out of the box to spit at fans to show his displeasure.
    1953 - A devastating F5 tornado tore through downtown Waco, Texas. 114 people were killed and 597 were injured. Total damage was $41 million. Another tornado (F4) virtually leveled 15 square blocks of San Angelo, Texas with 13 people killed and 159 injured.
    1953 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: "The Song from Moulin Rouge," Percy Faith Orchestra/Felicia Sanders.
    1954 - Birthday of American composer Jane Ellen
http://www.classical-composers.org/comp/ellen
    1955 - Top Hits
“Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” - Perez Prado
“Unchained Melody” - Les Baxter
“Honey-Babe” - Art Mooney
“In the Jailhouse Now” - Webb Pierce
    1955 - With the help of an Ernie Banks' grand slam, the Cubs snap the Dodgers' 11-game winning streak, 10-8. The bases-filled homer will be Mr. Cub’s first of five on the year.
    1957 - The Everly Brothers make their debut on "Grand Ole Opry" in Nashville, Tenn.
    1957 - It's safe bet that San Francisco will have a major league team playing next season, The Chronicle learned. The team will probably be the New York Giants, who will transfer their long standing feud with the Brooklyn Dodgers to California. The present plan calls for the Giants to move into Seals Stadium for the 1958 season and into a 70,000-seat stadium at South Basin near Hunters Point in 1959 that would become Candlestick Park.
    1959 - Twenty-three-year-old Carol Burnett made her musical comedy debut in “Once upon a Mattress” at the Phoenix Theatre in New York City. Only eight years later, the talented comedienne would star in her own Emmy-winning TV musical variety program. 
    1959 - Dave "Baby" Cortez' "The Happy Organ" hits #1
    1961 - President Kennedy approves sending 400 Special Forces troops and 100 other US military advisers to South Vietnam. On the same day, he orders the start of clandestine warfare against North Vietnam to be conducted by South Vietnamese agents under the direction and training of the CIA and US Special Forces troops. Kennedy's orders also called for South Vietnamese forces to infiltrate Laos to locate and disrupt communist bases and supply lines there.
    1963 - Top Hits
“I Will Follow Him” - Little Peggy March
“Puff the Magic Dragon” - Peter, Paul & Mary
“If You Wanna Be Happy” - Jimmy Soul
“Lonesome 7-7203” - Hawkshaw Hawkins
    1964 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: "My Guy," Mary Wells. It is the first No. 1 hit for the Motown label.
    1965 - Liza Minnelli opened in "Flora the Red Menace". The musical ran for only 87 performances at the Alvin Theatre.
    1966 - The 1.6 inch snow at Chicago, IL, was their latest measurable snow of record. Previously the record was 3.7 inches on the 1st and 2nd of May set in 1940.
    1968 - "The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees," which was certified gold upon its release in April, enters the LP charts at #80. In one week, pushed by the singles "Daydream Believer" and "Valleri," it will jump to #3.
    1969 - Beginning of one of the most infamous battles that signified the growing frustration with America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Attempting to seize Dong Ap Bia Mountain, American troops repeatedly scaled the hill over a 10-day period, often engaging in bloody hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese. After finally securing the objective, American military decision makers chose to abandon it and the North Vietnamese retook it shortly thereafter. The heavy casualties in the struggle to take the hill inspired the name “Hamburger Hill.”
    1970 - Sammy Davis, Jr. marries his third wife, Altovise Gore, a dancer in his current Broadway hit “Golden Boy”. The Rev. Jesse Jackson presides; the couple would remain married for the rest of Davis' life.
    1970 – The group, The Chairmen of the Board, not Sinatra, received a gold record for the hit "Give Me Just a Little More Time". The Detroit group recorded three other songs in 1970, with moderate success. 
    1970 - Lubbock, Texas was struck by a tornado rated f5 on the Fujita Scale. 26 people were killed and 500 were injured. The total damage was estimated at $135 million which was considered conservative. 600 apartment units were destroyed along with 430 houses. 250 businesses were damaged or destroyed. 80 percent of the windows in the downtown area were broken.
    1970 - The triple album "Woodstock" soundtrack is released on Cotillion Records. The document of the epochal rock festival will go gold within two weeks.  The soundtrack L.P. to the original Woodstock festival was released. The three record set featured many of the top Rock artists of the time, including Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Joe Cocker and The Who.
    1971- Top Hits
“Joy to the World” - Three Dog Night
“Never Can Say Goodbye” - The Jackson 5
“I Am...I Said” - Neil Diamond
“How Much More Can She Stand” - Conway Twitty
    1972 - The Giants trade Willie Mays to the Mets for right-hander Charlie Williams and $50,000 cash. The ‘Say-Hey Kid’, who is clearly past his prime, returns the city where he brilliantly began his Hall of Fame career.
    1973 - Charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the "Pentagon Papers' case were dismissed. 
    1974 - Steely Dan's "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number" is released.
    1974 - Three Dog Night's "The Show Must Go On" reaches #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #1 on the Cashbox best sellers chart. The song turns out to be the band's final Top Twenty hit and their last Gold single.
    1974 - Elvis Presley plays a show at the Los Angeles Forum, attended by members of Led Zeppelin who were also in town for a gig. Upon learning of his famous fans, Elvis turns to his backup band after a somewhat sloppy opening number and jokingly admonishes them: "Wait a minute. Let's see if we can start together, fellas, because we’ve got Led Zeppelin out there. Let's try to look like we know what we’re doing." Afterwards, the band meets Elvis backstage and is more than a little star struck; Zeppelin manager Peter Grant and Elvis spontaneously swap their expensive watches, and then Robert Plant, just before the meeting breaks up, finally summons up the courage to sing Elvis' 1956 hit "Love Me." Elvis joins in for a few bars.
    1975 - Eighty thousand turn out in New York's Central Park to celebrate the end of the Vietnam War.
    Brigadier General Margaret A. Brewer became the Marine Corps' first female general officer. She was assigned Director of Information, Headquarters Marine Corps. Brewer had been Director of the Women Marines, the seventh and last women's director, succeeding Colonel Sustad on 1 February 1973. During Brewer's tenure, the Women Marine Corps was disbanded and all women were made a part of the regular Marine Corps.
    1979 - Top Hits
“Reunited” - Peaches & Herb
“Music Box Dancer” - Frank Mills
“Stumblin’ In” - Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman
“Backside of Thirty” - John Conlee
    1979 - Peaches and Herb, the sweet-singing soul duo, receive a platinum record for "Reunited," a Number One hit for four weeks.
    1981 - Heavyweight boxing challenger Gerry Cooney left former champ Ken Norton on the ropes and unconscious after 54 seconds of the first round at Madison Square Garden in New York City. 
    1981 - The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Cats" opened in London. The composer had to mortgage his house to help finance the $1.1 million production. Since then, "Cats" has grossed more than one billion dollars in more than a dozen countries, including Canada. On May 11th, 1989, "Cats" became London's longest-running musical, playing its 3,358th performance. And on January 29th, 1996, it set the world record for longevity with its 6,138th performance. 
    1985 - Scott Brayton turned in the fastest lap ever at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Brayton was traveling at 214.199 MPH in the third lap of qualifying. Duane ‘Pancho’ Carter grabbed the pole position for that years Indianapolis 500. Carter entered the history books with a speed of 212.583 MPH for four qualifying laps around the 2.5 mile track at Indy. 
    1987 - Top Hits
“(I Just) Died in Your Arms” - Cutting Crew
“Looking for a New Love” - Jody Watley
“With or Without You” - U2
“The Moon is Still Over Her Shoulder” - Michael Johnson
    1988 - Unseasonably warm weather prevailed in the southwestern U.S. Reno, NV, reported a record high of 89 degrees.
    1988 - On the occasion of his 100th birthday, legendary Tin Pan Alley songwriter Irving Berlin is serenaded by a crowd of fans singing his standards outside his New York apartment.  Celebrities from Frank Sinatra to Isaac Stern, Ray Charles to Leonard Bernstein paid musical tribute to Irving Berlin on his 100th birthday. The Carnegie Hall concert ended with all the performers singing "There's No Business like Show Business." Berlin himself did not attend but members of his family were there.    
    1989 - Roy Orbison was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame at a ceremony in New York. Eric Clapton presented the award to Orbison's widow, Barbara.
    1990 - Unseasonably cold weather followed in the wake of a spring storm in the north central U.S. Seven cities reported record low temperatures for the date, including Madison, WI with a reading of 29 degrees. Thunderstorms produced severe weather in Kansas, Oklahoma and the northern half of Texas. Severe thunderstorms spawned four tornadoes in Texas.
    1990 - Singer Ritchie Valens ("La Bamba," "Donna") receives a posthumous star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
    1994 - The Justice Department approved Novell's plans to purchase WordPerfect Corporation on this day in 1994. Novell also bought Borland's spreadsheet business, in an attempt to create a suite of office applications to compete with Microsoft Office. Novell's ownership of WordPerfect lasted less than two years.
    1997 - U.S. box office receipts to date for the film “Jerry McGuire”, starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr., had climbed to $150,850,000; “The English Patient” had brought in $76,259,531. Top box office producer on this date, however, was George Lucas's re-released science fiction classic, “Return of the Jedi”, which had a reported accumulated U.S. box office gross of $308,453,687; trailing behind it was the re-released “The Empire Strikes Back”, with an accumulated gross of $290,158,751. 
    1997 - IBM's supercomputer Deep Blue made chess history by defeating Gary Kasparov, the first time a reigning world champion had been bested in a match by a machine. 
    1999 - After two years of work, Columbia Records released Latin heartthrob Ricky Martin's fifth album, a self-titled cross-over to English. This album was a calculated decision, and the album's first hit, "Livin' La Vida Loca" shot to the top of the charts. Martin's third and fourth solo efforts went gold. His fourth album "Vuelve" had sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. 
    2003 - In his last at-bat on the current home stand, 38-year-old first baseman Rafael Palmeiro drives a 3-2 fastball thrown by Indian hurler David Elder to become the second player this season and 19th overall to hit his 500th career home run. The 370-foot shot over the right field wall at The Ballpark in Arlington makes Raffy the first native of Cuba to reach the coveted milestone.
    2004 - After missing yesterday's game to become to become an American citizen, Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez, much to the delight of the Fenway faithful, leads his teammates out of the dugout waving an American flag to celebrate his first day as a citizen of the United States. As the 31-year native Dominican Republic comes to bat, “America” by Neil Diamond is played over the PA system.
    2005 - Strong thunderstorms affected parts of the U.S. Great Plains. In the Hastings, Nebraska area, significant severe weather occurred, including very large hail, damaging winds and widespread flooding. Radar estimated rainfall accumulation locally exceeded 10 inches.
    2006 - Hideki Matsui’s streak of playing in every game since starting his MLB career with the Yankees in 2003 ends at 518 games as the left fielder breaks his left wrist attempting to make a diving catch. The 31-year Japanese star established the big league record for consecutive games to start a career, surpassing Hall of Fame infielder Ernie Banks, who played in 424 contests at the start of his playing days with Cubs from 1953-56.