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May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). There are 215 days remaining.

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Events

• 1416 - The Catholic Church burns Jerome of Prague as a heretic.
• 1431 - In Rouen, France, 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake.
• 1434 - Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great were defeated and almost annihilated in the Battle of Lipany, effectively ending the Hussite Wars.
• 1536 - King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.
• 1539 - In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
• 1574 - Henry III becomes King of France.
• 1588 - The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
• 1806 - Andrew Jackson kills a man in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
• 1814 - The First Treaty of Paris is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon I of France is exiled to Elba on the same day.
• 1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
• 1871 - The Paris Commune falls.
• 1868 - Memorial Day (then known as "Decoration Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on May 5 by General John Logan).
• 1876 - Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
• 1879 - New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
• 1883 - In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.
• 1911 - At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race in his Marmon Wasp.
• 1913 - First Balkan War: A peace treaty is signed in London ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
• 1922 - In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
• 1935 - Babe Ruth plays in his last baseball game, in the uniform of the Boston Braves.
• 1941 - World War II: Germany captures Crete.
• 1942 - World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
• 1948 - A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
• 1958 - The bodies of several unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1967 - At the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.
• 1967 - The Nigerian state of Biafra secedes, sparking a civil war.
• 1971 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
• 1972 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
• 1972 - In Tel Aviv, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
• 1982 - Baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr plays the first of 2,632 consecutive games. His streak will end on September 20, 1998.
• 1982 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
• 1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
• 1998 - A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
• 1999 - Kenny Bräck wins the 83rd Indianapolis 500
• 2003 - The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.
• 2004 - Buddy Rice wins a rain-shortened 88th Indianapolis 500

Births

• 1623 - John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (d. 1686)
• 1672 (O.S.) - Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (d. 1725)
• 1814 - Michael Bakunin, Russian anarchist (d. 1876)
• 1879 - Colin Blythe, English cricketer (d. 1917)
• 1882 - Wyndham Halswelle, Scottish runner (b. 1915)
• 1895 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (d. 1956)
• 1896 - Howard Hawks, American film director (d. 1977)
• 1899 - Irving Thalberg, American film producer (d. 1936)
• 1901 - Cornelia Otis Skinner, American writer and actress (d. 1979)
• 1902 - Stepin Fetchit, American dancer and actor (d. 1985)
• 1908 - Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
• 1908 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
• 1909 - Benny Goodman, American clarinetist and bandleader (d. 1986)
• 1910 - Inge Meysel, German actress (b. 2004)
• 1912 - Julius Axelrod, American biochemist
• 1912 - Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (d. 1980)
• 1912 - Erich Bagge, German physicist
• 1920 - Franklin Schaffner, American film director (d. 1989)
• 1920 - Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete (d. 1978)
• 1922 - Hal Clement, American writer (d. 2003)
• 1926 - Christine Jorgensen, activist (d. 1989)
• 1927 - Clint Walker, American actor
• 1934 - Aleksei Leonov, cosmonaut
• 1936 - Keir Dullea, American actor
• 1939 - Michael J. Pollard, American actor
• 1943 - James Chaney, American civil rights activist
• 1943 - Gale Sayers, American football player
• 1951 - Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor
• 1953 - Colm Meaney, Irish actor
• 1955 - Topper Headon, British musician (The Clash)
• 1964 - Wynonna Judd, American singer
• 1964 - Tom Morello, American musician (Audioslave)
• 1972 - Manny Ramirez, Dominican-born Major League Baseball player
• 1973 - Leigh Francis, British comedian
• 1980 - Steven Gerrard English footballer

Deaths

• 1252 - King Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon (b. 1198/1199)
• 1416 - Jerome of Prague, Czech theologian (b. 1379)
• 1431 - Joan of Arc, French commander and saint (burned at the stake by a pro-English tribunal) (b. 1412)
• 1434 - Prokop the Great, Czech general
• 1574 - King Charles IX of France (b. 1550)
• 1576 - Harada Naomasa, Japanese retainer and samurai
• 1593 - Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (b. 1564)
• 1640 - Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (b. 1577)
• 1696 - Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty (b. 1638)
• 1718 - Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle, Dutch favorite of William III of England (b. 1670)
• 1730 - Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1648)
• 1744 - Alexander Pope, English writer (b. 1688)
• 1770 - François Boucher, French painter (b. 1703)
• 1778 - Voltaire, French philosopher and author (b. 1694)
• 1865 - John Catron, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
• 1934 - Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (b. 1848)
• 1951 - Hermann Broch, Austrian author (b. 1886)
• 1953 - Dooley Wilson, American musician and actor (b. 1886)
• 1960 - Boris Pasternak, Russian author (b. 1890)
• 1961 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
• 1964 - Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-born nuclear physicist (b. 1898)
• 1967 - Claude Rains, English actor (b. 1889)
• 1971 - Marcel Dupré, French composer (b. 1886)
• 1975 - Steve Prefontaine, American runner (b. 1951)
• 1986 - Perry Ellis, fashion designer (b. 1940)
• 1993 - Sun Ra, American musician (b. 1914)
• 2000 - Tex Beneke, American bandleader, singer, and saxophone player (b. 1914)
• 2003 - Mickie Most, English musician (b. 1938)
• 2005 - Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances

• Peru – National Potato Day
• United States – Memorial Day (originally – currently last Monday in May)
• Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day in Fiji (last Monday in May)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

May 29 - May 31 - April 30 - June 30 - listing of all days