May 12 - On the Go

On the Go

(Big Sister helped take the picture.)

This Day In History

1191

Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre^* who is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.

1551

National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru.

1743

Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Bohemia after defeating her rival, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.

1789

The New York Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers. It later becomes an infamous group of city political bosses.

1870

The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.

1941

Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

1949

The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.

1958

A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.

Famous Birthdays

1739

Johann Baptist Vanhal, Bohemian composer (d. 1813)

1803

Justus von Liebig, German chemist (d. 1873)

1820

Florence Nightingale, British nurse (d. 1910)

1828

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, British painter (d. 1882)

1845

Gabriel Fauré, French composer (d. 1924)

1880

Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (d. 1951)

1900

Joseph Rochefort, American naval officer and cryptanalyst (d. 1976)

1903

Wilfrid Hyde-White, British actor (d. 1991)

1907

Katharine Hepburn, American actress (d. 2003)

1921

Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist

1928

Burt Bacharach, American composer

1936

Frank Stella, American painter

1937

George Carlin, American comedian (d. 2008)

1946

L. Neil Smith, American science fiction author
Daniel Libeskind, American architect

1948

Steve Winwood, British musician

1950

Bruce Boxleitner, American actor
Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor

1955

Kix Brooks, American country singer (Brooks & Dunn)

1959

Ving Rhames, American actor

1968

Catherine Tate, British actress and comedian

* - The early 20th Century Cunard passenger liner RMS Berengaria was named in her honor, the first Cunard ship to be named for a British queen.