12 History Lessons + 5 Births & 6 Deaths for May 31, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1578 – Martin Frobisher sails from England to search for the Northwest Passage.
- 1790 – The U.S. enacts its first copyright law, granting authors rights for 14 years.
- 1859 – Big Ben rings out over London for the first time from the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster.
- 1889 – The Johnstown Flood devastates Pennsylvania after a dam breaks, killing over 2,200 people.
- 1911 – The RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast; she would sink less than a year later.
- 1916 – Battle of Jutland begins between British and German naval fleets during WWI.
- 1921 – Tulsa Race Massacre begins as white mobs attack the Black community of Greenwood, Oklahoma.
- 1961 – South Africa becomes an independent republic and leaves the British Commonwealth.
- 1970 – A deadly earthquake in Peru kills over 70,000 people and causes widespread destruction.
- 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat,” the key Watergate source.
- 2010 – Israeli commandos raid a Gaza aid flotilla; 10 activists are killed, sparking international outrage.
- 2019 – A rare EF-3 tornado strikes Linwood, Kansas, in a record-breaking U.S. tornado outbreak period.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor and director (Unforgiven, Gran Torino) (95)
- 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American singer (Peter, Paul and Mary) (87)
- 1965 – Brooke Shields, American actress and model (The Blue Lagoon) (60)
- 1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor (The Banshees of Inisherin) (49)
- 1990 – Tom Holland, British actor (Spider-Man) (35)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer and “father of the symphony” (Age 77)
- 1889 – Over 2,200 victims of the Johnstown Flood perish (ages varied)
- 1945 – Odette Sansom, British spy and WWII heroine, dies after years of illness (Age 33)
- 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American heavyweight boxing champion (Age 87)
- 1996 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and LSD advocate (Age 75)
- 2014 – Ann B. Davis, American actress best known as Alice on The Brady Bunch (Age 88)
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