330 Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium, the city was re-built and consecrated as Constantinople on May 11, 330. For nearly sixteen centuries following its re-establishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, the city served as the capital of four empires: the Roman Empire (330–395), the Byzantine Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). The name of Constantinople was changed to Istanbul on March 28, 1930.
483 Justinian I was born Petrus Sabbatius probably on May 11, 483 in the town of Tauresium in present day Macedonia, approximately 12 miles (20 kilometres) southeast of Skopje. He was born to Vigilantia, the sister of Justin I, who rose from the ranks of the army to become Byzantine (East Roman) emperor. As Justin I became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler. Upon Justin's death on August 1, 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign.
868 A block print copy of the Chinese version of Diamond Sūtra has been dated back to May 11, 868 making it the oldest known dated printed book. The Diamond Sūtra is a Buddhist collection of aphorisms from the "Perfection of Wisdom" genre, and emphasizes the practice of non-abiding and non-attachment.
1769 Thomas Jefferson began his political career when he represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Burgesses between May 11, 1769 and June 20, 1775. Jefferson served as Governor of Virginia between 1779 and 1781. In 1783 as chairman of the Currency Committee, Jefferson devised the dollar and cents system that is still used to this day. He served as the US ambassador to Paris between 1785-89, and secretary of state 1789-93.
1812 The first, and to date only, British Prime Minister to be assassinated was Spencer Perceval. On the evening of May 11, 1812, Perceval entered the lobby of the House of Commons, when a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government, John Bellingham, stepped forward, drew a pistol and shot him in the chest. Bellingham was tried and convicted, and hanged at Newgate Prison.
1812 The waltz developed from the Bavarian country dance called the ländler. It was first introduced to English ballrooms on May 11, 1812. Most observers considered the waltz disgusting and immoral due to the physical contact involved. The Victorian Ladies' Pocket Book of Etiquette devoted ten pages into denouncing the dance.
1820 The HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin on his famous 1831-36 voyage to the Pacific, was first launched on May 11, 1820. The Beagle was a 242 ton, 10 gun, 90 ft long ship. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803, was launched from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames.
1857 A few days before his 34th birthday the French criminal Eugene Vidcoq offered his services as a police informer. By the end of 1811, Vidocq had informally organized a plainclothes unit, the Brigade de la Sûreté ("Security Brigade"), many of whom were ex-criminals like himself. Vidcoq is considered to be the father of modern criminal investigation. He introduced record keeping and the science of ballistics into police work. The French crook-turned-policeman died on May 11, 1857.
1858 Fort Snelling was the first major U.S. military presence in the state of Minnesota. The land for the fort, at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, was acquired in 1805. When Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. State on May 11, 1858, the founding population was so overwhelmingly of New England origins that the state was dubbed "the New England of the West". From fewer than 6,120 people in 1850, Minnesota's population grew to over 1.7 million by 1900.
1864 General Ulysses Grant believed that onions would prevent dysentery and other physical ailments amongst his Union Civil War soldiers. He wired the following message to the War Department on May 11, 1864: "I will not move my army without onions." In response the U.S. government immediately sent three trainloads of onions to the front.
1868 Drinks creator Charles Griggs was born on May 11, 1868. Griggs launched his St. Louis–based company The Howdy Corporation in 1920. In October 1929 Griggs developed a new version of a "lithiated" patent medicine, containing small amounts of lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug; he called it Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda. By 1933 it was being marketed in the USA as a soft drink called 7 Up. After the drink's re branding its sales increased significantly.
1888 Irving Berlin was born in Tyumen, in the Russian Empire (present-day Russia), on May 11, 1888. His father was a Jewish cantor who moved his family to New York to escape religious persecution in 1893. Berlin's big break came in 1906 when he was hired as a singing waiter at the Pelham Café in New York's Chinatown. He caught the eye of Harry Von Tilzer, who hired him to sing his songs at Tony Pastor's Music Hall, considered by many to be the birthplace of vaudeville.
1904 Salvador Dalí was born on May 11, 1904 in the town of Figueres close to the French border in Catalonia, Spain. His father was a middle-class lawyer and notary. His mother tempered her husband's strict disciplinary approach and encouraged her son's artistic endeavors. In the 1920s, Salvador Dalí read Freud, took up with other emerging Surrealists, and began actively seeking his subconscious mind so as to paint the visions there.
1927 On May 11, 1927, in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was established with an initial membership of 230 individuals. Among its early committees, there was a proposal put forth suggesting the concept of an annual award ceremony, which ultimately led to the birth of the renowned Oscars.
1949 Siam officially changed its name to Thailand for the second time on May 11, 1949. The name had been in use since 1939 but was reverted in 1945. The word "Thai" comes from the ethnic group in the center of Thailand. Bhumibol Adulyadej was crowned King of Thailand the following year. It was the first coronation ceremony of a Thai sovereign to rule under the system of constitutional monarch.
1968 The first documented use of the phrase "heavy metal" to describe a type of rock music appeared in a review by Barry Gifford. In the May 11, 1968, issue of Rolling Stone, he wrote about the album A Long Time Comin' by Electric Flag: "Nobody who's been listening to Mike Bloomfield—either talking or playing—in the last few years could have expected this. This is the new soul music, the synthesis of white blues and heavy metal rock."
1981 TS Eliot liked cats and wrote a book about the feline creatures, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, published in 1939. The book was the basis for Cats, a spectacular musical comedy with music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which premiered in London's West End on May 11, 1981. Eliot's widow Valerie allowed the show on the proviso it consisted only of Eliot's poems set to music.("Memory" is the sole exception, with words by Trevor Nunn).
1981 In July 1977, Bob Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe. Tragically the reggae star's Rastafarian beliefs prevented him from having the toe amputated and the cancer spread throughout his body. Marley intended to end his days back in Jamaica but was so ill that he had to check into a hospital in Miami en route. Here, Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981. His final words were "Money can't buy life."
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| Map of Constantinople (1422) |
483 Justinian I was born Petrus Sabbatius probably on May 11, 483 in the town of Tauresium in present day Macedonia, approximately 12 miles (20 kilometres) southeast of Skopje. He was born to Vigilantia, the sister of Justin I, who rose from the ranks of the army to become Byzantine (East Roman) emperor. As Justin I became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler. Upon Justin's death on August 1, 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign.
868 A block print copy of the Chinese version of Diamond Sūtra has been dated back to May 11, 868 making it the oldest known dated printed book. The Diamond Sūtra is a Buddhist collection of aphorisms from the "Perfection of Wisdom" genre, and emphasizes the practice of non-abiding and non-attachment.
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| Frontispiece of the Chinese Diamond Sūtra, the world's oldest book |
1302 Citations indicate that Romeo Monteveccio and Juliet Cappelleto exchanged vows in Citadela, Italy, on March 11, 1302. It's plausible that this historical union may have influenced Shakespeare's sources for his iconic play, Romeo and Juliet.
1812 The first, and to date only, British Prime Minister to be assassinated was Spencer Perceval. On the evening of May 11, 1812, Perceval entered the lobby of the House of Commons, when a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government, John Bellingham, stepped forward, drew a pistol and shot him in the chest. Bellingham was tried and convicted, and hanged at Newgate Prison.
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| A painting depicting the assassination of Perceval. |
1812 The waltz developed from the Bavarian country dance called the ländler. It was first introduced to English ballrooms on May 11, 1812. Most observers considered the waltz disgusting and immoral due to the physical contact involved. The Victorian Ladies' Pocket Book of Etiquette devoted ten pages into denouncing the dance.
1820 The HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin on his famous 1831-36 voyage to the Pacific, was first launched on May 11, 1820. The Beagle was a 242 ton, 10 gun, 90 ft long ship. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803, was launched from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames.
 |
| The Beagle replica in February 2016 |
1857 A few days before his 34th birthday the French criminal Eugene Vidcoq offered his services as a police informer. By the end of 1811, Vidocq had informally organized a plainclothes unit, the Brigade de la Sûreté ("Security Brigade"), many of whom were ex-criminals like himself. Vidcoq is considered to be the father of modern criminal investigation. He introduced record keeping and the science of ballistics into police work. The French crook-turned-policeman died on May 11, 1857.
1858 Fort Snelling was the first major U.S. military presence in the state of Minnesota. The land for the fort, at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, was acquired in 1805. When Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. State on May 11, 1858, the founding population was so overwhelmingly of New England origins that the state was dubbed "the New England of the West". From fewer than 6,120 people in 1850, Minnesota's population grew to over 1.7 million by 1900.
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| Fort Snelling in 1844, by John Caspar Wild |
1864 General Ulysses Grant believed that onions would prevent dysentery and other physical ailments amongst his Union Civil War soldiers. He wired the following message to the War Department on May 11, 1864: "I will not move my army without onions." In response the U.S. government immediately sent three trainloads of onions to the front.
1868 Drinks creator Charles Griggs was born on May 11, 1868. Griggs launched his St. Louis–based company The Howdy Corporation in 1920. In October 1929 Griggs developed a new version of a "lithiated" patent medicine, containing small amounts of lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug; he called it Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda. By 1933 it was being marketed in the USA as a soft drink called 7 Up. After the drink's re branding its sales increased significantly.
1888 Irving Berlin was born in Tyumen, in the Russian Empire (present-day Russia), on May 11, 1888. His father was a Jewish cantor who moved his family to New York to escape religious persecution in 1893. Berlin's big break came in 1906 when he was hired as a singing waiter at the Pelham Café in New York's Chinatown. He caught the eye of Harry Von Tilzer, who hired him to sing his songs at Tony Pastor's Music Hall, considered by many to be the birthplace of vaudeville.
 |
| Berlin at his first job with a music publisher, age 18 |
1904 Salvador Dalí was born on May 11, 1904 in the town of Figueres close to the French border in Catalonia, Spain. His father was a middle-class lawyer and notary. His mother tempered her husband's strict disciplinary approach and encouraged her son's artistic endeavors. In the 1920s, Salvador Dalí read Freud, took up with other emerging Surrealists, and began actively seeking his subconscious mind so as to paint the visions there.
1927 On May 11, 1927, in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was established with an initial membership of 230 individuals. Among its early committees, there was a proposal put forth suggesting the concept of an annual award ceremony, which ultimately led to the birth of the renowned Oscars.
1949 Siam officially changed its name to Thailand for the second time on May 11, 1949. The name had been in use since 1939 but was reverted in 1945. The word "Thai" comes from the ethnic group in the center of Thailand. Bhumibol Adulyadej was crowned King of Thailand the following year. It was the first coronation ceremony of a Thai sovereign to rule under the system of constitutional monarch.
1968 The first documented use of the phrase "heavy metal" to describe a type of rock music appeared in a review by Barry Gifford. In the May 11, 1968, issue of Rolling Stone, he wrote about the album A Long Time Comin' by Electric Flag: "Nobody who's been listening to Mike Bloomfield—either talking or playing—in the last few years could have expected this. This is the new soul music, the synthesis of white blues and heavy metal rock."
1981 TS Eliot liked cats and wrote a book about the feline creatures, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, published in 1939. The book was the basis for Cats, a spectacular musical comedy with music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which premiered in London's West End on May 11, 1981. Eliot's widow Valerie allowed the show on the proviso it consisted only of Eliot's poems set to music.("Memory" is the sole exception, with words by Trevor Nunn).
 |
| The original 1981 London cast of Cats |
1981 In July 1977, Bob Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of a toe. Tragically the reggae star's Rastafarian beliefs prevented him from having the toe amputated and the cancer spread throughout his body. Marley intended to end his days back in Jamaica but was so ill that he had to check into a hospital in Miami en route. Here, Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981. His final words were "Money can't buy life."
1992 Claimed to be born in Portugal on May 11, 1992, Bobi was a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo. He was almost killed as a puppy, but was saved by his current owner, Leonel Costa. Bobi lived a long and happy life with Leonel and his family, and for a time was acknowledged to be the oldest dog on record. However, after veterinarians became suspicious of his real age, an investigation was pursued. His records were revoked, and he was stripped of the title.
2003 Indian prodigy Arushi Bhatnagar became the youngest ever professional artist when she held her first solo exhibition at the Kalidasa Akademi in Ujjain, India, on May 11, 2003. She was 344 days (or 11 months) old at the time. Her first painting — executed with her hands and feet — was sold for 5,000 rupees ($75).was sold for 5000 Rupee (£65). By the age of four, she’d already notched up 12 solo exhibitions.
2010 David Cameron took office as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 11, 2010, as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed the country's first coalition government since the Second World War. The 43-year-old Cameron was the youngest British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool 198 years earlier. After the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, David Cameron announced he would resign as Prime Minister.
2015 "L'Homme au doigt" (Man Pointing) by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti was auctioned for $141.3m at Christie's in New York City on May 11, 2015, setting the record for most expensive sculpture sold at an auction. The artwork depicts a tall, slender figure of a man with elongated proportions, standing on a pedesta with its right arm extended forward, as if pointing or gesturing towards something. The sculpture stands as a representation of human existence, isolation, and the struggle for meaning.
2015 On May 11, 2015, Pablo Picasso's Women of Algiers set the record for the highest price ever paid for a painting at an auction when it sold for US$179.3 million (£115m) at Christie's in New York. Covering the story, a New York TV station was mocked by art lovers when it blurred out the Cubist depictions of breasts so as not to offend its viewers. The record was beaten in 2017, by Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ, Salvator Mundi, which sold for $450.3 million (£341 million).
2003 Indian prodigy Arushi Bhatnagar became the youngest ever professional artist when she held her first solo exhibition at the Kalidasa Akademi in Ujjain, India, on May 11, 2003. She was 344 days (or 11 months) old at the time. Her first painting — executed with her hands and feet — was sold for 5,000 rupees ($75).was sold for 5000 Rupee (£65). By the age of four, she’d already notched up 12 solo exhibitions.
2010 David Cameron took office as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 11, 2010, as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed the country's first coalition government since the Second World War. The 43-year-old Cameron was the youngest British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool 198 years earlier. After the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, David Cameron announced he would resign as Prime Minister.
2015 "L'Homme au doigt" (Man Pointing) by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti was auctioned for $141.3m at Christie's in New York City on May 11, 2015, setting the record for most expensive sculpture sold at an auction. The artwork depicts a tall, slender figure of a man with elongated proportions, standing on a pedesta with its right arm extended forward, as if pointing or gesturing towards something. The sculpture stands as a representation of human existence, isolation, and the struggle for meaning.
2015 On May 11, 2015, Pablo Picasso's Women of Algiers set the record for the highest price ever paid for a painting at an auction when it sold for US$179.3 million (£115m) at Christie's in New York. Covering the story, a New York TV station was mocked by art lovers when it blurred out the Cubist depictions of breasts so as not to offend its viewers. The record was beaten in 2017, by Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ, Salvator Mundi, which sold for $450.3 million (£341 million).
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