May 15

Holidays

• Paraguay - Independence Day. Celebrations for the anniversary of the independence begin on Flag Day, 14 May.
• Nakba Day in Palestinian communities.
• Roman Empire - Mercuralia in honor of Mercury held.
• International day of climate changes.
• International conscientious objectors' day.
• Buddha's Birthday in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea (2005).
• United States - Peace Officers Memorial Day.
• International day of families.
• Teacher's Day in Mexico (Dfa del Maestro) and South Korea (??? ?).
• Saint Dymphna
• Saint Achillius
• Saint Gerebern
• Saint Isidore the Labourer
• Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle
• Saint Reticius
• Saint Denise
• Slovenia - Day of Slovenian armed forces.
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Events

• 2019 Militants kill at least 17 Niger Armed Forces troops in an ambush near the Malian border. Another 11 soldiers are missing; six others have been evacuated to a hospital. No group has claimed responsibility. (BBC) (Reuters)
• 2018 2018 Gaza border protests: The Israeli Army reports some 4,000 Palestinians hold violent protests in five locations along the Gaza border, throwing Molotov cocktails at troops and burning tires. The Israeli Army kills two protesters and injures more than 100 others using live fire and tear gas. (The Jerusalem Post)
• 2017 Western Digital appeals to arbitration in an effort to prevent its partner Toshiba, from selling its chip-making operation, Toshiba Memory. (Reuters)
• 2016 Iraqi civil war (2014–present): Suicide bomb attacks in a state owned cooking gas plant in Taji, north of Baghdad, kill at least 18 people, while 11 others die in attacks across the country. (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters via Daily Mail)
• 2015 2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt: Burundi officials say that they have arrested several coup members but the leader of the failed coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza, Major General Godefroid Niyombare remains at large. (Reuters)
• 2014 Syrian Civil War:: A car bomb explodes near the Turkish border, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens of others. (CNN)
• 2013 Iraqi insurgency (post-U.S. withdrawal):: Gunmen using silenced weapons attack at least nine alcohol stores in western Baghdad, killing twelve people. (Al Jazeera)Thirty-five people, including three police officers, are killed in bomb attacks in Shi'ite sections of Baghdad and parts of northern Iraq. (Reuters)
• 2012 Syrian uprising: At least 20 civilians are killed in the Syrian province of Idlib after security forces open fire on a funeral procession. (BBC)
• 2011 2011 Bahraini uprising:
• 2010 Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
• 2009 US President Barack Obama nominates Rosa Gumataotao Rios to be next US treasurer.
• 2008 California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
• 2007 Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' rolls out to launchpad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for the STS-117 mission to the International Space Station. The rollout is the second for the mission, as ''Atlantis'''s External Tank was damaged during a hailstorm on February 26, leading to the shuttle being rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs. (NASAspaceflight.com)
• 2006 United States President George W. Bush gives a speech proposing major immigration reform in the United States. (Washington Post)
• 2005 Israeli-Palestinian conflict:: Shin Bet head Avi Dichter finishes his 5-year term and Yuval Diskin is appointed as his replacement. (Ynet)Israeli right wing students begin a hunger strike in protest of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan of 2004. (Haaretz) (Ynet)
• 2004 A 145 mm artillery shell is used as an improvised bomb on a road against US troops in Iraq. The shell explodes and two soldiers receive mild exposure to a nerve agent. (Fox News) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• 2003 The date predicted by Pana-Wave Laboratory, a Japanese cult, on which a close encounter with an unknown planet would result in the extinction of most of humankind.
• 2002 Politics of the Netherlands: General elections for the lower house of parliament were held. The Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) was the great winner, the party gained 26 of the 150 seats, a historic achievement for a new party. The CDA (Christen Democratisch Appèl) led by Jan Peter Balkenende became the greatest party (43 seats). The great losers were the coalition parties of the ruling ampquotpurple coalitionampquot (PvdA, labour party VVD, liberals D'66, leftist liberals). These parties were
• 2001 The female American rock band The Go-Go's release their first album in 17 years since the album ''Talk Show'' (1984).
• 1997 STS 84 (Atlantis 19), launches, 6th Shuttle-Mir Mission.
• 1996 Nine hostages held by the Free Papua Organization in Irian Jaya are rescued after an operation by the Indonesian military; two other hostages are later found dead.
• 1993 Jane Seymour and James Kesch, Marriage
• 1992 Part of Cruger Avenue in Bronx renamed Regis Philbin Avenue.
• 1991 President Bush takes Queen Elizabeth to Oakland Athletics-Baltimore Oriole game
• 1990 Cemetery Club opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC for 56 performances
• 1989 Chu Chem closes at Ritz Theater NYC after 44 performances
• 1988 Carrie closes at Virginia Theater NYC after 5 performances
• 1987 1st Energiya Launch (USSR)
• 1986 Argentine ex-President Galtieri sentenced to 12 years.
• 1985 Everton wins 25th Europe Cup II at Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
• 1983 Madison Hotel (Boston, Massachusetts) destroyed by implosion.
• 1981 George Harrison releases All Those Years Ago in the UK
• 1980 1st trans-US balloon crossing
• 1978 Students of the University of Tehran riot in Tabriz the army stops the riot.
• 1977 Jane Blalock wins LPGA Greater Baltimore Golf Classic.
• 1976 Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
• 1975 Emmy 2nd Daytime Award and Emmy News and Documentaries Award presentation
• 1974 Walter Scheel succeeds Heinemann as president of Germany.
• 1972 Hard Job Being God opens at Edison Theater NYC for 6 performances
• 1971 70, Girls, 70 closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 35 performances
• 1970 Mississippi Highway Patrol kills 2 at Jackson State College
• 1969 Associate Justice Abe Fortas resigns from US Supreme Court.
• 1968 Wonderwall with George Harrison premieres at Cannes Film Festival
• 1967 Jo Ann Prentice wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open.
• 1966 Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Invitational.
• 1965 Igor Vodic beats Mad Dog Vachon in Omaha, to become NWA champ
• 1964 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
• 1963 Last Project Mercury flight, L Gordon Cooper in Faith 7, launched
• 1962 US marines arrive in Laos.
• 1961 Bonanza by Al Caiola Orchestra hits #19
• 1960 KHVO TV channel 13 in Hilo, HI (ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1959 100th anniversary of first college baseball game, between Amherst and Williams; Teams re-enact the original contest.
• 1958 USSR launches Sputnik III
• 1957 18,000 people at Madison Square Garden - Billy Graham launched a crusade
• 1955 Austrian state treaty signed making Austria independent again
• 1954 KGLO (now KIMT) TV channel 3 in Mason City, IA (CBS) 1st broadcast
• 1953 Rocky Marciano KOs Jersey Joe Walcott in 1 for heavywgt boxing title
• 1952 Detroit Tigers' pitcher Virgil Trucks no-hits Washington Senators, 1-0.
• 1951 The Polish cultural attache in Paris, Czes?aw Mi?osz, asks the French government for political asylum.
• 1948 74th Preakness: Eddie Arcaro aboard Citation wins in 2:02.4.
• 1945 World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
• 1944 Dwight Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, Winston Churchill and King George VI discuss D-Day plan.
• 1943 Halifax bombers sinks U-463
• 1942 Nazi occupiers in the Netherlands arrests 2,000 Dutch officers
• 1941 Joe DiMaggio starts 56-game hitting streak; Yanks lose 13-1
• 1940 1st nylon stockings sold in US
• 1938 Paul-Henri Spak forms red coalition of Belgium.
• 1937 63rd Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard War Admiral wins in 1:58.4.
• 1936 Amy Johnson arrives back in England after a record-breaking return flight to Cape Town
• 1935 Pirates beat Phillies 20-5
• 1934 Department of Justice offers $25,000 reward for John Dillinger, dead or alive.
• 1933 First voice amplification system to be used in US Senate.
• 1932 The May 15 Incident: in an attempted Coup d'etat, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is killed.
• 1931 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quadragesimo anno
• 1930 Ellen Church becomes first airline stewardess, United Airlines (San Francisco to Cheyenne).
• 1929 Fire in X-ray film stock kills 125 at Crile Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio, USA).
• 1928 Mickey Mouse premiered in his first cartoon, Plane Crazy
• 1926 British general strike ends, but mine workers go on strike.
• 1923 Cooperation of Dutch Molen forms
• 1920 Russian Revolution: Russian White soldier Maria Bochkareva is executed in Soviet Russia.
• 1919 Brooklyn Dodgers score ten runs in 13th to beat Cincinnati Reds 10-0.
• 1918 1st airmail postal service (NY, Philadelphia & Washington DC)
• 1916 Asiago Italy falls when Austrian troops attack the Italian front.
• 1915 AT&T becomes 1st corporation to have 1 million stockholders
• 1914 Henri Rabauds opera "Marouf, Savetier de Caire" premieres in Paris France.
• 1912 Ty Cobb rushes a heckler at a New York Highlander game and is suspended.
• 1911 Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Indiana University, incorporates.
• 1905 Las Vegas Nevada founded
• 1904 The Russian minelayer Amur laid a minefield about 15 miles off Port Arthur and sank Japan's battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and ''Yashima''.
• 1903 US Treasury Department purchases 250,000 ounces of silver for the San Francisco Mint.
• 1902 Lyman Gilmore is first person to fly a powered craft.
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Famous Birthday

• Madhuri Dixit

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• Andy Murray

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• James Mason

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• Greg Wise
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• Jamie-Lynn Sigler

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• Caroline Dhavernas

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• Ursula Thiess

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• Chazz Palminteri

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• David Krumholtz

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• Lee Horsley

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• Joseph Cotten

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• Daniel Giménez Cacho
• Katrin Cartlidge

  British actress (Born 1961).

• Lainie Kazan

  American actress and singer.

• Joseph Wiseman

  Canadian-American actor (d. 2009).

• Doris Dowling
• Samantha Noble

  Australian actress.

• Sophie Cookson
• Tatsuya Fujiwara

  Japanese actor.

• Julian Eltinge

  Actor.

• Ashlynn Yennie

  Movie Actress.

• Mollee Gray

  Dancer.

• Constance Cummings

  American actress, known for her work on...

• Anna Maria Alberghetti

  Italian-born actress.

• Alexandra Breckenridge

  TV Actress.

• Jennylyn Mercado

  Filipino singer-songwriter and actress.

• Anny Ondra

  Czechoslovakia -- Actress (Blackmail,...

• Shiney Ahuja

  Indian actor.

• Anna Alberghetti

  Italian-American actress and singer.

• L. Frank Baum

  Author.

• Johnny Walker

  Indian actor (d. 2003).

• Ayub Khan

  Statesman.

• Mireille Darc

  French actress; her films include...

• David Charvet

  French-American actor who moved to the...

• Brian Eno

  British musician and composer, joined...

• Frank Wilczek

  American mathematician and physicist...

• Mike Oldfield

  English singer-songwriter guitarist and...

• Nathalie Iannetta
• Zara Phillips

  British royal family, the daughter of...

• Michel Audiard

  French screenwriter, director, and...

• Myriam Abel
• Birdy (musician)
• Valérie Claisse
• Raí

  Brazilian soccer player, one of the top...

• Jasper Johns

  Pop Artist.

• Patrice Evra

  Soccer Player.

• Albert Dubout

  French cartoonist, illustrator,...

• Claude Picasso
• Pascal Gentil
• Hubert Falco

  French politician who was appointed...

• Barry Crump

  New Zealand writer whose novels include...

• Jessica Sutta

  American singer-songwriter dancer and...

• Cyrille Thouvenin
• Richard Avedon

  American photographer who is best known...

• Ira Einhorn

  American guru and '60s celebrity, once...

• Larry Pines

  American astrologer and part-time actor.

• Pierre Jacquot

  French aritst, painter.

• Jean-Denis Malclès

  French painter, poster artist and...

• Chazz Palminteri

  American actor director producer and...

• Vahid Halilhodzic
• Nicole Péry
• Ahmet Zappa

  American singer-songwriter producer and...

• Jean-Albert Cartier

  French art publicist and ballet...

• Erica Campbell
• Sunny (singer)
• Carlo Coccioli

  Italian translator of ancient languages...

• Alex Breckenridge

  American actress.

• Brenda Bakke

  American actress.

• Sylviane Aladin

  France Actor.

• Beverly Jo Scott
• Mirek Topolánek
• Abraham Zapruder

  American businessman and John F. Kennedy...

• André De Toth
• Max Frisch

  Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded...

• André Stibio
• Jean-Claude Annoux

  French singer-songwriter, who wrote the...

• Aly Bain

  Scottish acclaimed fiddler who featured...

• Jean-Francois Hory
• Jennifer Hof
• Albert Lenormand

  La Roche-Vineuse Painters.

• Trini Lopez

  American musician, a guitarist and...

• Heinz Haber

  German astro-physicist and astronomer,...

• Phil Seymour

  American musician, drummer with "The...

• Edwige Antier
• Veronica Campbell-Brown

  Jamaican sprinter.

• Jill Bolte Taylor
• Thubten Yeshe

  Tibetan master of Buddhist teachings,...

• Don Nelson

  American basketball General Manager with...

• Juzo Itami

  Japanese actor and director (Born 1933).

• Daniel Oster

  French writer who died on 15 April 1999.

• Mirek Topalanek
• Rob Bowman

  American director and producer.

• Desmond Howard

  American football player, a wide...

• Pierre Trentin

  French track cyclist racer, twice...

• Humberto Delgado

  Portuguese military man, a general who...

• Richard J Daley

  American politician (Born 1902).

• Lee Jong-hyun

  South Korean singer-songwriter guitarist...

• Georges Bereta
• Ingrid Canoletti

  Brazilian model who was fifth born of...

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Famous Deaths

• June Carter Cash

  American musician and singer (Born...

• Wynne Gibson

  Actor (Night After Night, Aggie...

• Andrew Duggan

  Actor (Jigsaw, Firehouse), dies of...

• Gilbert Roland

  Mexican/American actor (Armand in...

• Tyrone Guthrie

  British director, producer, and writer...

• Wayman Tisdale

  American basketball player and smooth...

• Theodore H White

  American journalist (Making of...

• Michael G the Boer

  Historian (Harbor of Amsterdam), dies at...

• Jaromir Fiala

  Composer, dies at 74.

• Nigel Green

  Actor (Skull, Tobruk, Ipcress File),...

• Freddie Paris
• Reno Brown
• Ronnie Potsdammer

  Singer / song / text writer /...

• Royal Dano

  Actor (Ghoulies 2), dies of a heart...

• Edouard Dermit

  Actor (Testament of Orpheus), dies at...

• Eric Richard Porter

  Actor (Crucible, Hennessy), dies at 67.

• Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant

  French diplomat, recipient of the Nobel...

• Menno ter Braak

  Dutch author and polemicist (Born 1902).

• Charles B Fulton

  American jurist (Born 1910).

• Joseph Limburg

  liberal second-Member of parliament...

• Berend van den Amstel [Bernard CED Hattink]

  Dutch actor, dies at age 56.

• Adrian Schoevers

  Dutch director (Schoevers Institution),...

• Lionel Charles Robbins

  British economist, dies at age 85.

• John Waldo

  Green composer, dies at age 80.

• Bruce Hopkins

  performer/director, dies at age 44.

• Robert Morris Page

  US physicist (radar), dies at age 88.

• Frederik baron van Pallandt

  Danish singer (Nina and F), murdered at...

• [Henry] John Baker

  resistance fighter/journalist (Slogan),...

• Perry Lederman

  folk singer, dies at age 52.

• Johnny Van Derrick

  jazz violinist, dies at age 68.

• George M Tindley

  songwriter/vocalist, dies at age 57.

• Umegatani Totaro I

  Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th...

• Vladko Macek

  Kingdom of Yugoslavia deputy prime...

• Sir Robert Menzies

  twelfth Prime Minister of Australia...

• Amadou Hampate Ba

  Malian writer (Born c. 1900).

• Salah Ahmed Ibrahim

  Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat...

• Earl ''the Goat'' Manigault

  American basketball player (Born 1944).

• Robert Dunlop

  Northern Irish motorcycle racer, younger...

• Astrid Zachrison

  Swedish supercentenarian (Born 1895).

• Charles 'Bud' Tingwell

  Australian actor (Born 1923).

• Besian Idrizaj

  Austrian footballer (Born 1987).

• Jackie Curtis

  American drag performer, Warholian...

• Jerry Falwell

  Pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and...

• William March

  American writer of psychological fiction...

• Francis George

  British gangster (Born 1940).

• Kazimir Malevich

  Ukrainian painter and theorist (d....

• Loris Kessel

  Swiss race car driver (d. 2010).

• Bud Freeman

  American saxophonist composer and...

• Tommy Burns

  Canadian boxer and promoter (d. 1955).

• Jovy Marcelo

  Filipino race car driver (Born 1965).

• Edward Hopper

  US painter (House by Railroad), dies at...

• Ronald Lacey

  Actor (Raiders of Lost Ark, Next...

• Mohammed VI Vahideddin

  Last Sultan of Turkey (1918-22).

• Edward Flanagan

  Irish-American Roman Catholic priest;...

• Johnny Green

  American songwriter, arranger and...

• Ki Inukai

  Premier Japan (1931-32), murdered.

• Ernest Torrence

  Actor (I Cover the Waterfront), dies at...

• Willem A Bonger

  Dutch criminologist (Race & Crime),...

• Albert Basserman

  Actor (Madame Curie, Rhapsody in Blue),...

• Italo Montemezzi

  Composer, dies at 76.

• John Baur

  Museum director, dies at 78.

• Phillip Snowden

  British politician (Born 1864).

• Austin Osman Spare

  British artist and magician (Born 1886).

• Eric Porter

  British actor (Born 1928).

• Major Courtney

  US medal of honor marine, dies in battle...

• Cornelis H Edelman

  Dutch geologist, dies at age 61.

• Greta Nissen

  Actress (Ambassador Bill).

• Charles Williams

  British writer (Born 1886).

• Alexander Courage

  composer of original Star Trek theme...

• Theodore White

  American historian journalist and author...

• Samuel Eliot Morison

  American historian (Admiral of Ocean...

• Francis Schaeffer

  American theologian, philosopher, and...

• Willem H Rassers

  Dutch cult anthropologist...

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Top #1 songs in the USA

• 2017 Bruno Mars - That's What I Like
• 2016 Desiigner - Panda
• 2015 Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth - See You Again
• 2014 Pharrell Williams - Happy
• 2013 P!nk - Just Give Me A Reason
• 2012 Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
• 2011 Katy Perry - E.T.
• 2010 Usher - OMG
• 2009 The Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow
• 2008 Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
• 2007 Maroon5 - Makes Me Wonder
• 2006 Rihanna - SOS
• 2005 Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
• 2004 Usher - Yeah!
• 2003 Sean Paul - Get Busy
• 2002 Ashanti - Foolish
• 2001 Janet - All For You
• 2000 Santana - Maria, Maria
• 1999 Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca
• 1998 Next - Too Close
• 1997 The Notorious B.I.G. - Hypnotize
• 1996 Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby
• 1995 Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It
• 1994 Ace Of Base - The Sign
• 1993 Janet Jackson - That's The Way Love Goes
• 1992 Kris Kross - Jump
• 1991 Roxette - Joyride
• 1990 Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
• 1989 Bon Jovi - I'll Be There For You
• 1988 Gloria Estefan - Anything For You
• 1987 Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms
• 1986 Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
• 1985 Madonna - Crazy For You
• 1984 Lionel Richie - Hello
• 1983 Michael Jackson - Beat It
• 1982 Paul McCartney - Ebony And Ivory
• 1981 Sheena Easton - Morning Train (Nine To Five)
• 1980 Blondie - Call Me
• 1979 Peaches & Herb - Reunited
• 1978 Yvonne Elliman - If I Can't Have You
• 1977 Leo Sayer - When I Need You
• 1976 John Sebastian - Welcome Back
• 1975 Tony Orlando and Dawn - He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)
• 1974 Grand Funk - The Loco-Motion
• 1973 Dawn - Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree
• 1972 Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
• 1971 Three Dog Night - Joy To The World
• 1970 The Guess Who - American Woman
• 1969 The 5th Dimension - Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)
• 1968 Bobby Goldsboro - Honey
• 1967 The Supremes - The Happening
• 1966 The Mamas & The Papas - Monday, Monday
• 1965 Herman's Hermits - Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter
• 1964 Louis Armstrong - Hello, Dolly!
• 1963 Little Peggy March - I Will Follow Him
• 1962 The Shirelles - Soldier Boy
• 1961 Del Shannon - Runaway
• 1960 Elvis Presley - Stuck On You
• 1959 The Fleetwoods - Come Softly To Me
• 1958 David Seville - Witch Doctor
• 1957 Elvis Presley - All Shook Up
• 1955 Les Baxter & His Orchestra - Unchained Melody
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Top #1 Rock songs

• 2017 Imagine Dragons - Believer
• 2016 Prince And The Revolution - Purple Rain
• 2015 WALK THE MOON - Shut Up And Dance
• 2014 Bastille - Pompeii
• 2013 Imagine Dragons - Radioactive
• 2012 Gotye Featuring Kimbra - Somebody That I Used To Know
• 2011 Foo Fighters - Rope
• 2010 Stone Temple Pilots - Between The Lines