On this day in history...

[Lianachan]

If you have an hour and a half in your life to watch it's on YouTube. It's actually fun to watch even nowadays.

It's always fun to watch England getting humped.

[Arneb]

I had a feeling you would say this. But it's also a good football game. I watched it many years ago, during an unbusy ICU nightshift, when German TV was replaying old German football matches ahead of some European Championship (this might have been 2004, and at that time, the past was a lot better than the present). Since I was unaware of the outcome and significance at the time, I actually rooted for a team that had played more than thirty year ago.

[Richard A]

On 4 May 1859, the Royal Cornwall Railway opened a railway bridge across the Tamar between Plymouth and Saltash. The bridge remains the only rail link between Cornwall and the rest of the UK.

[tubeswell]

Meanwhile on 5th May 1862, Mexico repelled the French forces of Napoleon III at the Battle of Puebla, a victory that is now celebrated as a national holiday (literally 'Cinco de Mayo').

[Arneb]

Tho after May the Forth cometh Thinco de Mayo. Maketh thenthe.

[Richard A]

Ah, I did wonder what the Cinco de Mayo celebrated!

[Lance]

Cinco de Mayo celebrates American's cultural appropriation of a minor Mexican holiday as an excuse to drink margaritas and eat tacos.

[Arneb]

Anyone who needs a better excuse is just being pretentious

[Lianachan]

Cinco de Mayo celebrates American's cultural appropriation of a minor Mexican holiday as an excuse to drink margaritas and eat tacos.

Like you did with St Patrick’s day? Maybe not the margaritas and tacos so much.

[Lianachan]

Anyone who needs a better excuse is just being pretentious

Yup, this.

[Richard A]

This should probably go under Current Events and Politics, but ...

In the early hours of 6 May 2022, the completion of the vote counting in London revealed that the Conservative Party had lost Westminster City Council, a council which they had controlled since its creation 58 years earlier. They had similarly lost Wandsworth, a council which they had controlled since before Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.

[Arneb]

Don't worry, we'll rejoice nonetheless.

48 years ago today, Willy Brandt stepped down as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany following the exposure of one of his closest assistants, Günter Guillaume, as a Stasi spy.

[Lance]

Cinco de Mayo celebrates American's cultural appropriation of a minor Mexican holiday as an excuse to drink margaritas and eat tacos.

Like you did with St Patrick’s day? Maybe not the margaritas and tacos so much.

Yeah, pretty much.

[tubeswell]

May 7th 1915 The Lusitania was sunk by a torpedo in WWI. May 7th 1945 end of 'World War II' in Europe. May 7th 2022 - here's hoping there won't be a WWIII.

[Мастер]

Cinco de Mayo celebrates American's cultural appropriation of a minor Mexican holiday as an excuse to drink margaritas and eat tacos.

Like you did with St Patrick’s day? Maybe not the margaritas and tacos so much.

Yeah, pretty much.

Cinco de Mayo.jpg

There’s always Cinco de Cuatro.

https://arresteddevelopment.fandom.com/ ... _de_Cuatro

[tubeswell]

May 9 1945 - probably not helpful to dwell too much on this date at the moment

[Richard A]

Tubeswell has a point - except that on 9 May, 1945, things were also going on at the other end of Europe: Jersey and Guernsey were liberated. Yep, you read that right - British forces reached the Elbe before they reached the Channel Islands. In fact, the German commanders in the Channel Islands showed particular loyalty to the Reich. The commander of Jersey, on being told of the general surrender of German forces, initially said he wasn't going to and his forces would fire upon any British forces approaching the island. (He changed his mind on being informed he'd be hanged if they did.) Alderney didn't in fact surrender for another 9 days, although the surviving concentration camp inmates had been evacuated to mainland Europe in 1944.

[Мастер]

Tubeswell has a point - except that on 9 May, 1945, things were also going on at the other end of Europe

And on that date years after the war, the child of displaced parents was born much farther to the east . . .

[Lianachan]

May 10th, 1307 - a Scottish army of 600 led by Robert I met an English army of 3,000 led by Aymer de Valence on the plains below Loudoun Hill, Ayrshire. Result - home win! Huzzah!

[Richard A]

I must see if that features in the Scotland History Tours - thanks to Lianachan for alerting me to those. The one on Glencoe was indeed well worth watching; I've since watched a couple of the others.

[Lianachan]

I must see if that features in the Scotland History Tours - thanks to Lianachan for alerting me to those. The one on Glencoe was indeed well worth watching; I've since watched a couple of the others.

I've watched a few of them. He's very engaging.

[tubeswell]

Friday May 13 1864 - Bombardment of Fort Sumpter renewed during the American Civil War

[Lianachan]

20th of May, 685 - probably the most important battle in Scottish history, the Battle of Dun Nechtain. Northumbrian King Ecgfrith, against all advice, leads an army north to try to reassert dominance over the Picts. They are led into an ambush and wiped out by a Pictish army led by King Bridei Mac Bili. The battle devastated Northumbria's power and influence in the North of Britain. Bede recounts that the Picts recovered their lands that had been held by the Northumbrians and Dál Riatan Scots, and the battle marks the point from which Pictish independence from Northumbria was permanently secured

[Arneb]

60 years ago today, at 00:02 h local time, Adolf Eichmann was executed by hanging in Israel. It was Israel's first execution after a death sentence, and until this day, has also been the last - a supremely well-chosen one, take it from an opponent of the death penalty.

[Heid the Ba]

It’s not a case I have studied but it does seem to set dangerous precedents about kidnapping and jurisdiction.