Also in May 1934…
23rd: Gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot dead when police open fire on their Ford V8 on the Louisiana State Highway 154. When the vehicle is searched, a large number of rifles, handguns and sawn-off shotguns are found, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition and 15 sets of license plates. Parker’s family later refuse to allow the pair to be buried side by side.
25th: The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Wireless Singers give the first ever performance of Bartók’s Cantata Profana. The three-movement work, which also features tenor and bass soloists, sets texts which, discovered by the composer in Transylvania 20 years earlier, tell of nine sons who, while out hunting, find themselves turned into stags and have to beg their father not to shoot them. 25th: Gustav Holst dies of heart failure at the age of 59. The British composer’s death follows a long period of ill health which has seen him significantly cut down on his activities, missing occasions such as the premiere of his opera The Wandering Scholar earlier in the year. He is buried in Chichester Cathedral close to Thomas Weelkes, his favourite Tudor composer.
27th: The opening round of matches in the second ever Fifa World Cup take place, with the host nation Italy defeating the US 7-1 in Rome. Sixteen teams in total are taking part, though they don’t include Uruguay, the reigning champions, or England, who have again turned their nose up at the tournament, describing it as ‘a joke’.
29th: Various Christian organisations meet in the German city of Wuppertal-barmen to sign the Barmen Declaration, drawn up to oppose the German Christian movement, which stands accused of introducing Nazi ideology into protestant worship. The Declaration consists of six theses, one of which states that ‘The message and order of the church should not be influenced by current political convictions’.