May 9

1092 Bishop Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092. He died two days before it was consecrated on May 9, 1092. When Lincoln’s original cathedral was mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1185, Henry II believed it was a message from God warning him that he should stop plundering the cathedral’s revenues. In a bid to save his soul, he appointed a monk Hugh of Avalon, as Lincoln’s bishop to rebuild the church and cleanse his debt of sin.

1215 In 1215, King John of England found himself confronted with a significant rebellion. In an attempt to garner support from the people of London, he made a pivotal decision on May 9th of that year. King John granted the Londoners the remarkable privilege of electing a City mayor on an annual basis. This act aimed to forge a closer bond between the monarchy and the populace, in the hopes of securing their loyalty and allegiance.

1662 The figure who later became Mr. Punch made his first recorded appearance in England on May 9, 1662 at Covent Garden, London. It was performed by Italian puppet showman Pietro Gimonde, a.k.a. "Signor Bologna."  The diarist Samuel Pepys observed this May 9th marionette show featuring an early version of the Punch character in Covent Garden in London. He wrote: "Thence to see an Italian puppet play." May 9 is traditionally reckoned as Punch's UK birthday.

A traditional Punch and Judy booth, at Swanage, Dorset, England

1671 Thomas Blood was a parliamentarian during the English Civil War, who was deprived of his estate at the Restoration. On May 9, 1671, with three accomplices he made an attempt to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London. Having befriended the jewel keeper, Blood arranged a private viewing, during which time the men made off with the treasures. They were pursued and captured, but Blood was pardoned by King Charles II.

1754 Benjamin Franklin was America's first political cartoonist. His drawing of a snake divided into eight parts was published in the Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. Its intention was encourage the former colonies to unite against British rule and its original publication by the Gazette was the earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced in America.

1860 James Matthew Barrie was born on May 9, 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland to a conservative Calvinist family. Barrie was friends with Arthur Llewelyn-Davies and he amused their sons George and Jack, by telling them that their little brother Peter could fly. He claimed that babies were birds before they were born; parents put bars on nursery windows to keep the little ones from flying away. This grew into a tale of a baby boy, Peter Pan, who did fly away.

1866 Root beer was created by pharmacist Charles E. Hires on May 9, 1866. It began as an herbal tea made of various roots, berries, and herbs for cough and mouth sores, inspired by a root tea served to him, on his honeymoon. Hines decided to call his root tea powder "root beer" despite it not containing any alcohol because he wanted to market it to Pennsylvania coal miners. He thought that would sound more appetizing than "herbal tea."

A Hires' Rootbeer advertisement from 1894

1874 The first horse-drawn bus made its debut in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) on May 9, 1874. Operated by a company called the Bombay Omnibus Service, the buses ran on two routes, one from Colaba Causeaway to Pydhone via Crawford Market, and the other Bori Bunder to Pydhonie via Kalbadevi routes. The initial fare was three annas (15 paise) , and no tickets were issued. As the service became increasingly popular, the fare was reduced to two annas (10 paise). 

1877 On May 9, 1877 Romanian Prime Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu read, in the Chamber of Deputies, the Declaration of Independence of Romania. In the aftermath, it was recognized as an independent state both by the Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers by the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin.

1887 William "Buffalo Bill" Cody founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883 in the area of North Platte, Nebraska. It was a circus-like attraction that toured annually with real cowboys and Indians. Cody took his Wild West show to Great Britain in celebration of the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria. It opened in London on May 9, 1887 and her Royal Highness attended a later performance.

1901 The first Parliament of Australia opened in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne on May 9, 1901. Exactly 26 years later it moved to Canberra's Provisional Parliament House, and exactly 87 years later it moved into the Parliament House in Canberra.

1904 The Great Western Railways' City of Truro became on May 9, 1904 the first steam engine locomotive in Europe to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h). City of Truro was timed at 8.8 seconds between two quarter-mile posts whilst hauling the "Ocean Mails" special from Plymouth to London Paddington.

1922 American astronomer Annie Jump Cannon manually classified more stars in a lifetime than anyone else, around 350,000 stars. She could classify a single star, fully, in approximately 20 seconds, and used a magnifying glass for the majority of the (faint) stars. On May 9, 1922, the International Astronomical Union formally adopted Annie Jump Cannon’s stellar classification system. With only minor changes having been made since, it is still the primary system in use today.

1926 American aviator Floyd Bennett took part in an expedition to Greenland with retired American naval officer Richard Byrd during the spring of 1926. On May 9, 1926, Bennett claimed he was at the controls as the two men made the first flight to the North Pole. However, in 1996 it was revealed that Byrd's long-hidden diary's solar sextant data consistently contradict his June 1926 report's parallel data by over 100 miles (160 km).

1945 The news of Germany's surrender on May 9, 1945 was met with great jubilation in the Soviet Union. People took to the streets to celebrate, and there was much drinking and dancing. It is estimated that the Soviet people consumed an estimated 20 million bottles of vodka in the 24 hours following the announcement of Germany's surrender. This led to a nationwide hangover.  

1945 Jersey and the other Channel Islands were occupied by German forces for five years from June 1940. During the occupation, the residents of the Channel Islands experienced a period of hardship and restrictions, as well as the establishment of German military installations. The liberation on May 9, 1945, brought an end to this occupation and marked a significant moment for the people of Jersey and the other Channel Islands as they regained their freedom.

1954 L. Ron Hubbard, established a career as a writer of science fiction and fantasy stories in the 1930s. After the war, Hubbard developed Scientology, a movement on the fringe of Christianity. He taught that some physical and all mental illnesses are caused by "engrams" meaning bad experiences both pre- and postnatal, which have to be exorcised. Hubbard published Dianetics The Modern Science Of Mental Health, where he first outlined his teachings on May 9, 1950.

1955 The Muppets are an ensemble cast of puppet characters, who were first created by puppeteer Jim Henson in 1955. The Muppets were first introduced on Sam and Friends, a television program that aired locally in Washington, D.C., on WRC-TV on weekdays from May 9, 1955, to December 15, 1961. Jim Henson has said the name "muppet" came from combining the words "puppet" and "marionette," but he also said that he just liked the way the word sounded.

1960 On May 9, 1960 the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale and use of Enovid — the first mass pharmaceutical form of what is now simply known as "The Pill."  Though originally prescribed only for married women, The Pill was the chemical agent for making the sexual revolution possible. The oral contraceptive pill made sex outside of marriage far easier to conceal, lowering the social cost of extramarital and premarital sex.

1988 While Canberra became the national capital of Australia in 1908, the parliament functioned in a temporary building called the Provisional Parliament House from 1927 until 1988. Deciding on a location for the permanent Parliament House took time and debate. Construction finally began in 1981, and after seven years, the grand opening with Queen Elizabeth II took place on May 9, 1988.

2011 On May 9, 2011, Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger ended their relationship after 25 years of marriage. Shriver, a journalist and member of the Kennedy family, moved out of the couple's home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. The couple's separation was reportedly due to Schwarzenegger's infidelity, which resulted in the birth of a child with another woman. The couple finalized their divorce in 2017.

2012 On May 9, 2012, tennis player Samuel Groth of Australia served an ace recorded at 263 km/h (163.4 mph) during an ATP Challenger event in Busan, South Korea. The serve came during Groth's second-round match against Uladzimir Ignatik (Belarus). It's the fastest ever recorded serve.

2016 Bison are the largest terrestrial animals in North America. The National Bison Legacy Act signed into law by President Barack Obama on May 9, 2016, recognized the historical, cultural, and ecological significance of the American bison and designated it as the national mammal of the United States.. Today there are 500,000 bison in America.

2017 When Carter Wilkerson tweeted Wendy's asking how many retweets he needed for a year of free chicken nuggets, Wendy's replied with "18 Million". He accepted the challenge and tweeted "HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS ." The tweet prompted the hashtag #NuggsForCarter. He collected nearly 3.5 million retweets in a little over a month, becoming on May 9, 2017, the then- most-retweeted of all time, at which point Wendy's gave him a year of free nuggets.