This day in history
today is friday, May 10, the 131st day of 2024. there are 235 days left in the year.
birthdays: Author barbara taylor bradford is 91. Actor David Clennon is 81. Writer-director Jim Abrahams is 80. Singer Donovan is 78. Singer-songwriter Graham Gouldman of 10cc is 78. Singer Dave Mason is 78. Sports anchor Chris berman is 69. Actor bruce Penhall is 67. former senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is 66. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Republican of Mississippi, is 65. Actor Victoria Rowell is 65. Rock singer bono of u2 is 64. Playwright Suzanlori Parks is 61. Model linda evangelista is 59. Rapper Young MC is 57. Actor erik Palladino is
56. Actor Kenan thompson is
46. Actor lindsey Shaw is 35. Actor lauren Potter is 34. olympic gold medal swimmer Missy franklin is 29.
▶ In 1775, ethan Allen and his Green Mountain boys, along with Colonel benedict Arnold, captured the british-held fortress at ticonderoga, n.Y.
▶ In 1818, American patriot Paul Revere, 83, died in boston.
▶ In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by union forces in Irwinville, Ga.
▶ In 1869, a golden spike was driven in Promontory, utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the united States.
▶ In 1924, J. edgar Hoover was named acting director of the bureau of Investigation (later known as the federal bureau of Investigation, or fbI).
▶ In 1933, the nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.
▶ In 1940, during World War II, German forces began invading the netherlands, luxembourg, belgium, and france. the same day, british Prime Minister neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.
▶ In 1941, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission. (Hess ended up serving a life sentence at Spandau Prison until 1987 when he apparently took his own life.)
▶ In 1970, bruins defenseman bobby orr scored the winning overtime goal against the St. louis blues, a moment that gave boston its first Stanley Cup since 1941 and the sports world one of the most iconic images of all time: orr flying through the air after scoring.
▶ In 1994, the state of Illinois executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy, 52, for the murders of 33 young men and boys.
▶ In 1995, 104 miners were killed in an elevator accident in orkney, South Africa.
▶ In 2002, a tense 39-day-old standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen at the Church of the nativity in bethlehem ended with 13 suspected militants flown into european exile and 26 released into the Gaza Strip.
▶ In 2013, uS government scientists said worldwide levels of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, had hit a milestone, reaching an amount never before encountered by humans.
▶ In 2014, Michael Sam was picked by the St. louis Rams in the seventh round of the nfl draft, becoming the first openly gay player drafted by a pro football team.
▶ In 2016, a taunton man, Arthur DaRosa, went on a stabbing rampage, killing a woman in her home and a man in the Silver City Galleria before being shot dead by an off-duty Plymouth County sheriff ’s deputy.
▶ In 2022, Russia pummeled the vital ukrainian port of odesa in an apparent effort to disrupt supply lines and Western weapons shipments critical to the defense of the capital, Kyiv.
▶ last year, Representative George Santos, the new York Republican infamous for fabricating his life story, was indicted on charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, and lied to Congress.