1152 Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine on May 18, 1152 in the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux. She was ten years older than the 19-year-old Henry. Through his marriage to Eleanor, the daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, Henry acquired the province of Aquitaine in South West France. It stayed under English control for 300 years. Henry and Eleanor had eight children: William, who died in 1156, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, John, Matilda, Eleanor, and Joan.
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| 12th-century depiction of Henry and Eleanor holding court |
1514 Francis Duke of Valois, the heir to the French throne, married King Louis XII's daughter Claude on May 18, 1514. Francis became the king the following year. Claude spent almost all her marriage in an endless round of annual pregnancies. Francis I had many mistresses, but was usually relatively discreet. They had seven children of which only three survived beyond age of 23; Henry, King of France, Madeline, Queen of Scotland and Margaret, Duchess of Berry. Claude died in 1524.
1631 John Winthrop, a puritan lawyer from Suffolk in England, founded in September 1630 a large settlement on a peninsula at the mouth of the River Charles in Massachusetts, which was named Boston. On May 18, 1631 John Winthrop took the oath of office in Dorchester, Massachusetts and became the first Governor of Massachusetts.
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| Portrait of Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop |
1762 Best known for discovering oxygen, Joseph Priestley was ordained as a non conformist minister on May 18, 1762. Because Priestley stammered and the parish was not suited to his unorthodox Unitarian ideas, he was unpopular in his Suffolk parish and he ultimately went to Nantwich, Cheshire. In 1780 Priestley took up the position of Minister of Birmingham's Unitarian Chapel. After a mob burned down his Birmingham home and church he was forced to flee to the United States.
1808 Baptist preacher, educator, and entrepreneur The Reverend Elijah Craig died on May 18, 1808. In approximately 1789, Craig founded a distillery in Fayette County, Virginia, which later became Scott County, Kentucky. It is claimed he was the first to distil bourbon, a whiskey distilled from a mixture of grains, around 50% being maize. He called his corn-based whiskey 'bourbon', to distinguish it from the rye-based whiskies commonly distilled in the eastern United States.
1861 Mary Celeste was built in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia and launched under British registration as Amazon on May 18, 1861. The American merchant brigantine transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868, when she acquired her new name, and thereafter sailed uneventfully until her 1872 voyage. A month after leaving the New York City harbor she was found in good condition but abandoned drifting in the Atlantic. The mystery has never been solved.
1868 Nicholas II of Russia was born in Alexander Palace, Saint Petersburg on May 18, 1868. He was the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III, who was a repressor of all liberal ideas. His mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russiawas the sister of Britain's Queen Alexandra. Nicholas was seen as too soft by his hard, demanding father who, not anticipating his own premature death, did nothing to prepare his son for the crown.
1872 British mathematician, historian and philosopher Bertrand Russell was born on May 18, 1872, at Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire. In January 1876, his father died of bronchitis following a long period of depression. Bertrand was placed in the care of his grandparents. Russell's childhood was very lonely and he often contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that only his keen interest in mathematics seemed to keep him interested in living.
1882 The general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Peter J. McGuire, wanted citizens that “labored” all year long to be acknowledged and have a day to relax. After witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada, he proposed the idea of Labor Day as a national holiday during a Central Labor Union on May 18, 1882: "Let us have, a festive day during which a parade through the streets of the city would permit public tribute to American Industry."
1889 In 1887 Scottish vet John Dunlop came up with pneumatic tires to stop his son getting headaches from riding his bumpy tricycle. On May 18, 1889 a cyclist using the 'Dunlop Pneumatic Tyres' won a race in Belfast and the pneumatic cycle tire was on its way. Dunlop's development of the pneumatic tire arrived at a crucial time in the development of road transport. Commercial production began in late 1890 in Belfast.
1900 The South Pacific kingdom of Tonga became a British Protectorate on May 18, 1900. Under the protection of Britain, Tonga maintained its sovereignty, and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government (unlike Tahiti and Hawaii).
1909 English tennis player Fred Perry was born in Stockport, Lancashire, England on May 18, 1909 where his father, Samuel Perry (1877–1954), was a cotton spinner. Young Fred first began to play tennis on the public courts near his family's housing estate. Perry was the first player to win a "Career Grand Slam", winning all four singles titles, which he completed at the age of 26 at the 1935 French Open.
1919 Margot Fonteyn was born on May 18, 1919 in Reigate, Surrey, England. She had an illustrious career with The Royal Ballet and is considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. She joined the company in 1934 and became its prima ballerina in 1956. Fonteyn performed many iconic roles and collaborated extensively with Rudolf Nureyev, a celebrated male dancer.
1808 Baptist preacher, educator, and entrepreneur The Reverend Elijah Craig died on May 18, 1808. In approximately 1789, Craig founded a distillery in Fayette County, Virginia, which later became Scott County, Kentucky. It is claimed he was the first to distil bourbon, a whiskey distilled from a mixture of grains, around 50% being maize. He called his corn-based whiskey 'bourbon', to distinguish it from the rye-based whiskies commonly distilled in the eastern United States.
1861 Mary Celeste was built in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia and launched under British registration as Amazon on May 18, 1861. The American merchant brigantine transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868, when she acquired her new name, and thereafter sailed uneventfully until her 1872 voyage. A month after leaving the New York City harbor she was found in good condition but abandoned drifting in the Atlantic. The mystery has never been solved.
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| Mary Celeste as Amazon in 1861 |
1868 Nicholas II of Russia was born in Alexander Palace, Saint Petersburg on May 18, 1868. He was the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III, who was a repressor of all liberal ideas. His mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russiawas the sister of Britain's Queen Alexandra. Nicholas was seen as too soft by his hard, demanding father who, not anticipating his own premature death, did nothing to prepare his son for the crown.
1872 British mathematician, historian and philosopher Bertrand Russell was born on May 18, 1872, at Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire. In January 1876, his father died of bronchitis following a long period of depression. Bertrand was placed in the care of his grandparents. Russell's childhood was very lonely and he often contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that only his keen interest in mathematics seemed to keep him interested in living.
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| Russell aged 4 |
1882 The general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Peter J. McGuire, wanted citizens that “labored” all year long to be acknowledged and have a day to relax. After witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada, he proposed the idea of Labor Day as a national holiday during a Central Labor Union on May 18, 1882: "Let us have, a festive day during which a parade through the streets of the city would permit public tribute to American Industry."
1889 In 1887 Scottish vet John Dunlop came up with pneumatic tires to stop his son getting headaches from riding his bumpy tricycle. On May 18, 1889 a cyclist using the 'Dunlop Pneumatic Tyres' won a race in Belfast and the pneumatic cycle tire was on its way. Dunlop's development of the pneumatic tire arrived at a crucial time in the development of road transport. Commercial production began in late 1890 in Belfast.
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| Dunlop's first pneumatic bicycle tyre National Museum of Scotland. By Geni |
1900 The South Pacific kingdom of Tonga became a British Protectorate on May 18, 1900. Under the protection of Britain, Tonga maintained its sovereignty, and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government (unlike Tahiti and Hawaii).
1909 English tennis player Fred Perry was born in Stockport, Lancashire, England on May 18, 1909 where his father, Samuel Perry (1877–1954), was a cotton spinner. Young Fred first began to play tennis on the public courts near his family's housing estate. Perry was the first player to win a "Career Grand Slam", winning all four singles titles, which he completed at the age of 26 at the 1935 French Open.
1919 Margot Fonteyn was born on May 18, 1919 in Reigate, Surrey, England. She had an illustrious career with The Royal Ballet and is considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. She joined the company in 1934 and became its prima ballerina in 1956. Fonteyn performed many iconic roles and collaborated extensively with Rudolf Nureyev, a celebrated male dancer.
1920 Pope Saint John Paul II was born in the Polish town of Wadowice on May 18, 1920. He was the youngest of three children born to Karol Wojtyła, an ethnic Pole and Emilia Kaczorowska. In mid-1938, Wojtyła enrolled at the Jagiellonian University. While studying such topics as philology and various languages, he learned as many as 12 foreign languages, nine of which he used extensively as pope. Karol Wojtyla was ordained to the priesthood on November 1, 1946.
1926 The evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared on May 18, 1926, only to be found five weeks later in Mexico, stating she had been held for ransom in a desert shack there. The subsequent grand-jury inquiries over her reported kidnapping and escape precipitated continued public interest in her.
1973 American politician Jeannette Rankin died on May 18, 1973. Rankin became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States when, in 1916, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives by the state of Montana. A lifelong pacifist, she was the only legislator to vote against American involvement in both World War I and World War II.
1974 The Warsaw Radio Mast, also known as the Konstantynów Radio Mast, was completed in Poland on May 18, 1974. It stood at a height of 2,120 feet (646 meters) and was the tallest structure in the world at that time. It was located in Konstantynów, which is a small town near Warsaw. Tragically, the Warsaw Radio Mast collapsed on August 8, 1991.
1974 India conducted its first nuclear weapon, code-named "Smiling Buddha," at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in the Rajasthan desert on May 18, 1974. This test marked the first confirmed nuclear test by a country that was not one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom).
1980 On May 18, 1980, a major volcanic eruption occurred at Mount St. Helens, a volcano located in Skamania County, in the U.S. state of Washington. It was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. The eruptions lasted nine hours, leaving a one-mile-wide crater where its peak had been. 57 people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed.
1980 The volcanologist David Johnson had fought to keep the summit of the Mt St Helens volcano and Spirit Lake visitor-free for two months before the cataclysm. Instead of 1000 deaths there was 57; him among them. Johnson radioed "...Vancouver, this is it" seconds before he was incinerated.
1991 The Somali National Movement declared the independence of Somaliland on May 18, 1991, a de facto state that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia, following the collapse of the country's central government.
2012 Facebook's initial public offering (IPO) on May 18, 2012 was one of the largest and most anticipated IPOs in history. The shares were priced at $38 per share. The shares opened at $42.05 per share and closed at $38.23 per share on the first day of trading. Facebook's IPO was significant not only because of its size but also because it marked a milestone for the social media industry, demonstrating the immense market potential and investor interest in digital platforms.
2015 Barack Obama's @POTUS account reached one million followers in just under five hours, breaking the previous record of 23 hours and 22 minutes set by Robert Downey Jr. in 2014. Obama's account was created on May 18, 2015, and his first tweet was a photo of himself sitting at his desk in the Oval Office. The tweet read, "This is @POTUS. Tweet at me."
2015 Barack Obama's @POTUS account reached one million followers in just under five hours, breaking the previous record of 23 hours and 22 minutes set by Robert Downey Jr. in 2014. Obama's account was created on May 18, 2015, and his first tweet was a photo of himself sitting at his desk in the Oval Office. The tweet read, "This is @POTUS. Tweet at me."
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