ON THIS DATE: MAY 9
Historical events from May 9 are brought to you by Encyclopaedia Britannica. Explore more at britannica.com.
2020: American singer and pianist Little Richard, whose hit songs of the mid-1950s were defining moments in the development of rock and roll, died at age 87.
1980: The horror film classic Friday the 13th, about summer camp counselors being hunted by a masked killer, was released in theatres, and its huge success led to a popular franchise.
1974: The U.S. House Judiciary Committee began formal hearings in the impeachment investigation of President Richard M. Nixon.
1960: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first birth control pill.
1958: Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological thriller Vertigo, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, premiered in San Francisco and became widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever.
1939: American track-and-field athlete Ralph Boston, the first man to jump more than 27 feet (8.23 metres), was born in Laurel, Mississippi.
1936: Seven months after invading Ethiopia and driving Emperor Haile Selassie I into exile, Italy annexed Ethiopia as part of Italian East Africa.
1918: American television interviewer and reporter Mike Wallace—who, while on the show 60 Minutes, became known for his aggressive and bruising style—was born.
1873: British archaeologist Howard Carter, who made one of the richest and most celebrated contributions to Egyptology—the discovery (1922) of the largely intact tomb of King Tutankhamun— was born this day in 1873.
1860: Dramatist J.M. Barrie—best known for Peter Pan, the title character of which is an eternal boy—was born in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland.
1800: American abolitionist John Brown—who led an assault (1859) on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, that was the main precipitating incident to the American Civil War—was born in Torrington, Connecticut.
1502: On this day in 1502, master navigator and admiral Christopher Columbus, long considered the “discoverer” of the New World, set sail from Cádiz, Spain, on his fourth and final voyage, hoping to find a passage to Asia.