On This Day in History - May 2

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

The significant event in history that the website focused on for today was the first sighting of the legendary "Loch Ness Monster" in Scotland. Interesting. One of those mysteries that neither side has been able to either prove or disprove. Sometimes, it seems hard to believe, yet I guess on some level, the "monster" is on the edge of plausibility. So, it remains a controversy, and dwells in the domain of legends. Interesting that it has now been eighty years that this legend has persisted, and continues to persist to this day. Here is the link to the website, where you can check out the History Channel's website on your own, and I have also posted their brief history on it below:

 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

May 2, 1933: Loch Ness Monster sighted

Although accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland's Loch Ness date back 1,500 years, the modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born when a sighting makes local news on May 2, 1933. The newspaper Inverness Courier related an account of a local couple who claimed to have seen "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface." The story of the "monster" (a moniker chosen by the Courier editor) became a media phenomenon, with London newspapers sending correspondents to Scotland and a circus offering a 20,000 pound sterling reward for capture of the beast.  

Loch Ness, located in the Scottish Highlands, has the largest volume of fresh water in Great Britain; the body of water reaches a depth of nearly 800 feet and a length of about 23 miles. Scholars of the Loch Ness Monster find a dozen references to "Nessie" in Scottish history, dating back to around A.D. 500, when local Picts carved a strange aquatic creature into standing stones near Loch Ness. The earliest written reference to a monster in Loch Ness is a 7th-century biography of Saint Columba, the Irish missionary who introduced Christianity to Scotland. In 565, according to the biographer, Columba was on his way to visit the king of the northern Picts near Inverness when he stopped at Loch Ness to confront a beast that had been killing people in the lake. Seeing a large beast about to attack another man, Columba intervened, invoking the name of God and commanding the creature to "go back with all speed." The monster retreated and never killed another man.  

In 1933, a new road was completed along Loch Ness' shore, affording drivers a clear view of the loch. After an April 1933 sighting was reported in the local paper on May 2, interest steadily grew, especially after another couple claimed to have seen the beast on land, crossing the shore road. Several British newspapers sent reporters to Scotland, including London's Daily Mail, which hired big-game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell to capture the beast. After a few days searching the loch, Wetherell reported finding footprints of a large four-legged animal. In response, the Daily Mail carried the dramatic headline: "MONSTER OF LOCH NESS IS NOT LEGEND BUT A FACT." Scores of tourists descended on Loch Ness and sat in boats or decks chairs waiting for an appearance by the beast. Plaster casts of the footprints were sent to the British Natural History Museum, which reported that the tracks were that of a hippopotamus, specifically one hippopotamus foot, probably stuffed. The hoax temporarily deflated Loch Ness Monster mania, but stories of sightings continued.  

A famous 1934 photograph seemed to show a dinosaur-like creature with a long neck emerging out of the murky waters, leading some to speculate that "Nessie" was a solitary survivor of the long-extinct plesiosaurs. The aquatic plesiosaurs were thought to have died off with the rest of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Loch Ness was frozen solid during the recent ice ages, however, so this creature would have had to have made its way up the River Ness from the sea in the past 10,000 years. And the plesiosaurs, believed to be cold-blooded, would not long survive in the frigid waters of Loch Ness. More likely, others suggested, it was an archeocyte, a primitive whale with a serpentine neck that is thought to have been extinct for 18 million years. Skeptics argued that what people were seeing in Loch Ness were "seiches"--oscillations in the water surface caused by the inflow of cold river water into the slightly warmer loch.  

Amateur investigators kept an almost constant vigil, and in the 1960s several British universities launched expeditions to Loch Ness, using sonar to search the deep. Nothing conclusive was found, but in each expedition the sonar operators detected large, moving underwater objects they could not explain. In 1975, Boston's Academy of Applied Science combined sonar and underwater photography in an expedition to Loch Ness. A photo resulted that, after enhancement, appeared to show the giant flipper of a plesiosaur-like creature. Further sonar expeditions in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in more tantalizing, if inconclusive, readings. Revelations in 1994 that the famous 1934 photo was a hoax hardly dampened the enthusiasm of tourists and professional and amateur investigators to the legend of the Loch Ness Monster.


1194 - King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.

1230 - William de Braose, 10th Baron Abergavenny is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.

1335 - Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.

1345 - "Quaden Maendach" in Gent: Battles between volders & weavers

1497 - John Cabot departs to North-America

1519 - Leonardo da Vinci died.

1526 - German evangelical monarchy joins Schmalkaldische League

1536 - King Henry VIII accused Anna Boleyn of adultery & incest

1595 - King Philip II names Albrecht of Austria land guardian of Netherlands

1598 - France and Spain signed Peace of Vervins

1668 - Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle/1st peace of Aken: ends War of Devolution, French-Spanish war in The Netherlands

1670 - King Charles II of England charters Hudson Bay Company

1672 - John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.

1703 - Portugal signs treaty with England to become a Great Covenant

1749 - Empress Maria Theresa signs "Haugwitzschen State reform"

1750 - Carlo Goldoni's "La Botega di Caffè," premieres in Mantua

1776 - France and Spain agreed to donate arms to American rebels fighting the British.

1780 - William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris


1797 - A mutiny in the British navy spread from Spithead to the rest of the fleet.

1798 - The black General Toussaint L’ouverture forced British troops to agree to evacuate the port of Santo Domingo.


1808 - The citizens of Madrid rose up against Napoleon.

1813 - Napoleon defeated a Russian and Prussian army at Grossgorschen.

1824 - Goethe visited Ettersberg (Buchenwald)

1829 - After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of the HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

1833 - Czar Nicolas bans public sale of serfs

1845 - Domingo Sarmiento publishes "Civilización y Barbarie"

1847 - Sabbath famine

1853 - Franconi’s Hippodrome opened at Broadway and 23rd Street in New York City.

1863 - South defeats North in Battle of Chancellorsville, Va

1863 - Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded by his own men in the battle of Chancellorsville, VA. He died 8 days later.

1865 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson offered $100,000 reward for the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

1866 - Peruvian defenders fight off Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.

1876 - Ross Barnes hit 1st home run in National League

1876 - The April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.

1878 - US stops minting 20 cent coin

1885 - The Congo Free State was established by King Leopold II of Belgium.

1885 - The magazine "Good Housekeeping" was first published.

1887 - Hannibal W. Goodwin applied for a patent on celluloid photographic film. This is the film from which movies are shown.  

1887 - G Rossini's corpse transfered to Santa Croce, Florence

1889 - Abyssinian emperor Menelik II/Italy signs Treaty of Wichale

1890 - The Oklahoma Territory was organized.

1900 - George Bernard Shaws "You Never Can Tell," premieres in London

1902 - "A Trip to the Moon," the first science fiction film was released. It was created by magician George Melies.

1903 - 29th Kentucky Derby: Hal Booker aboard Judge Himes wins in 2:09

1904 - 30th Kentucky Derby: Shorty Prior aboard Elwood wins in 2:08.50

1905 - French newspapers publish lists of Jules Vernes unpublished work

1906 - 32nd Kentucky Derby: Roscoe Troxler aboard Sir Huon wins in 2:08.8

1907 - Belgium Jules baron de Trooz forms Belgian government

1908 - "Take me out to the Ball Game registered for copyright.

1909 - Honus Wagner steals his way around bases in 1st inning against Cubs

1911 - French troops occupy Fès El Bali Morocco

1915 - Old Fordham Road in Bronx renamed Landing Road

1916 - US president Wilson signs Harrison Drug Act

1916 - 2nd Ave and Bronx Terrace renamed Bronx Blvd; Seward Pl renamed Sycamore Ave; Herald Ave renamed Dickinson Ave; Monroe and Selwyn Avenue named

1917 - Cincinnati's Fred Tooney and Chicago's Hippo Vaughn pitch duel no-hitter, Vaughn gives up 2 hits and a run in 10th, so Cincinnati wins 1-0

1918 - General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.

1919 - First US air passenger service starts

1920 - First game of National Negro Baseball League played in Indianapolis

1921 - Begin third anti-German revolt in Upper-Silesia

1922 - WBAP-AM begins broadcasting from Fort Worth Texas

1923 - Senator Walter Johnson pitches his 100th shutout, beats Yanks 3-0

1924 - Netherlands refuses to recognize USSR

1925 - Kezar Stadium in SF's Golden Gate Park opens

1926 -  U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to put down a revolt and to protect U.S. interests. They did not depart until 1933.

1926 - In India, Hindu women gained the right to seek elected office.

1927 - Intl Economic Conference (52 countries including USSR) opens

1927 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Louis Bromfield (Early Autumn)

1928 - KPQ-AM in Wenatchee WA begins radio transmissions

1930 - Des Moines (Western League) defeats Wichita 13-6 to open first ballpark with permanently installed lights

1932 - Jack Benny's first radio show premieres (NBC Blue Network)

1932 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Pearl S Buck (Good Earth)

1933 - In Germany, Adolf Hitler banned trade unions

1934 - Nazi-Germany begins People's court

1936 - "Peter and the Wolf" premieres in Moscow

1936 - 62nd Kentucky Derby: Ira Hanford aboard Bold Venture wins in 2:03.6

1936 - Emperor Haile Selassie and family flee Abyssinia

1939 - Lou Gehrig set a new major league baseball record when he played in his 2,130th game. The streak began on June 1, 1925.  It would take another 57 years before Cal Ripken, Jr., broke it.

1941 - Hostilities broke out between British forces in Iraq and that country’s pro-German faction.

1941 - The Federal Communications Commission agreed to let regular scheduling of TV broadcasts by commercial TV stations begin on July 1, 1941. This was the start of network television.

1945 - The Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin. They took Berlin after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting. The Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

1946 - Prisoners revolted at California's Alcatraz prison.

1949 - Arthur Miller wins Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman"

1949 - Bolivian state of siege proclaimed

1949 - Don Newcombe, first start, shuts out Cincinnati on 5 hits to win 3-0

1950 - Carlo Terrons "Giuditta," premieres in Milan

1950 - Dutch first Chamber accept Laws on immigration

1950 - Dutch PM Malan recognizes South-Africa but not China PR

1952 - 1st performance of John Cage's "Water Music"

1952 - 1st scheduled jet airliner passenger service began with a BOAC Comet

1952 - Operations begin at United Suriname Workers of Netherlands which flew from London to Johannesburg carrying 36 passengers

1953 - 79th Kentucky Derby: Hank Moreno aboard Dark Star wins in 2:02

1953 - Feisal II installed as king of Iraq

1953 - Hussein I installed as king of Jordan

1954 - Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals set a new major league record when he hit 5 home runs against the New York Giants.

1955 - India poses discrimination "onaanraakbaren" punishable

1955 - Pulitzer prize awarded Tennessee Williams for (Cat on Hot Tin Roof)

1955 - WGBH TV channel 2 in Boston, MA (PBS) begins broadcasting

1956 - US Lab detects high-temperature microwave radiation from Venus

1956 - US Methodist church disallows race separation

1958 - Yanks threaten to broadcast games nationwide if NL goes ahead with plans to broadcast, games into NYC

1959 - 85th Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker aboard Tomy Lee wins in 2:02.2

1960 - Caryl Chessman was executed. He was a convicted sex offender and had become a best selling author while on death row.  

1960 - Harry Belafonte 2nd Carnegie Hall performance

1960 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Al Drury (Advice and Consent)

1960 - "American Bandstand's" Dick Clark

1960 - House investigating committee, looking into payola questions

1962 - Benfica wins 7th Europe Cup I

1962 - OAS strikes in Algeria 1962 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island

1962 - WMHT TV channel 17 in Schenectady-Alby-Tro, NY (PBS) 1st broadcast

1964 - 90th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Northern Dancer wins in 2:00

1964 - Beatles' "Beatles' 2nd Album" goes #1 and stays #1 for for 5 weeks

1964 - Mad Dog Vachon beats Verne Gagne in Omaha, to become NWA champ

1964 - First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.

1965 - "New Faces of 1965" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 52 performances

1965 - The "Early Bird" satellite goes into commercial service, was used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.

1966 - Pulitzer prize awarded Arthur M Schlesinger Jr (Thousand Days)

1967 - Stanley Cup: Toronto Maple Leafs beat Montreal Canadiens, 4 games to 2

1968 - 1st performance of Roger Sessions' 8th Symphony

1968 - 22nd NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 2

1968 - Gold reaches then record high ($39.35 per ounce) in London

1968 - Israeli television begins transmitting

1969 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II departed on her maiden voyage to New York.

1970 - Student anti-war protesters at Ohio's Kent State University burn down the campus ROTC building. The National Guard took control of the campus.

1970 - First woman jockey at Kentucky Derby (Diane Crump)

1970 - KOAI (now KNAZ) TV channel 2 in Flagstaff, AZ (NBC) 1st broadcast

1972 - Electrical fire in Sunshine Silver mine. 126 die (Kellogg Idaho)

1972 - Lt General Vernon A Walters, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA

1972 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1974 - Former U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals.

1974 - The filming of "Jaws" began in Martha's Vineyard, MA

1975 - Apple records closes down

1977 - "King & I" opens at Uris Theater NYC for 719 performances

1978 - NBA championship: Portland Trailblazers win in 4 games

1979 - "Quadrophenia" premieres in London

1979 - -May 10] Vivekananda (Sri Lanka) begins nonstop ride, cycling 187 hrs, 28 min, around Vihara Maha Devi Park, Colombo, Sri Lanka

1979 - 14th Academy of Country Music Awards: Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell

1980 - Joseph Dohertyand; 3 other IRA men arrested for murder

1980 - Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in Wall (Part II)" is banned in South Africa

1980 - Pope John Paul II begins African tour 1980 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1981 - 107th Kentucky Derby: Jorge Velasquez on Pleasant Colony wins in 2:02

1981 - Radio Shack re-releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3 with 2 fixes

1982 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA Birmingham Golf Classic

1982 - Falklands War: Argentina's only cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine HMS  Conqueror, killing more than 350 men

1983 - 6.7 earthquake injures 487 in Coalinga Calif

1984 - "Sunday in the Park with George" opens at Booth NYC for 604 perfs

1984 - Indians' Andre Thornton ties record for most walks (6 in 16 inn)

1984 - Mattingly's single breaks up Lamarr Hoyt's perfect game bid

1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1985 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1986 - Dynamo Kiev wins 26th Europe Cup II

1986 - Transportation Expo 86 opens in Vancouver, BC

1987 - 113th Kentucky Derby: Chris McCarron aboard Alysheba wins in 2:03.4

1988 - Balt Orioles sign a 15 year lease to remain in Baltimore and get a new park

1988 - David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow," premieres in NYC

1988 - Jackson Pollock's "Search" sold for $4,800,000 1988 - Reds manager Pete Rose is suspended for 30 days for pushing an ump

1990 - "Some Americans Abroad" opens at Vivian Beaumont NYC for 62 perfs

1990 - The white minority apartheid government of South Africa and the African National Congress open talks to end apartheid

1991 - Pope John Paul II's encyclical on Centesimus annus

1992 - "High Rollers Social & Pleasure Club" opens at H Hayes NYC 14 perfs

1992 - 118th Kentucky Derby: Pat Day aboard Lil E Tee wins in 2:03

1992 - Yugoslav Army seize Bosnian Pres Alija Izetbegovic

1993 - "5 Guys Named Moe" closes at Eugene O'Neill NYC after 445 perfs 1993 - "Candida" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 45 performances

1993 - "Redwood Curtain" closes at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC after 40 perfs

1993 - "Tango Passion" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 5 performances

1993 - At Washington's National Gallery of Art, an exhibit of 80 paintings from the collection of Dr. Albert C. Barnes opened.  

1993 - Authorities said that they had recovered the remains of David Koresh from the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, TX.  

1994 - Nelson Mandela claimed victory in South Africa’s first democratic, multiracial election.

1994 - Bus crashes into a tree at Gdansk Poland, 32 people are killed

1994 - Dr Kervokian found innocent on assisting suicides

1994 - Michael Bolton found plagurized Isley Bros "Love is Wonderful Thing"

1995 - "Hamlet" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 121 performances

1995 - Expos bat out of order against Mets in 6th inning

1995 - Serb missiles exploded in the heart of Zagreb, killing six

1997 - The Labour Party’s Tony Blair became Prime Minister of Britain, ending 18 years of conservative rule. At 44, he was the youngest prime minister in 185 years.

1997 - Mercury Mail announces its 1 millionth internet subscriber

1997 - Police arrest transsexual hooker Atisone Seiuli with Eddie Murphy

1997 - Republic of Texas security chief Robert Scheidt surrenders

1998 - 124th Kentucky Derby

1998 - The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.

1999 - In the election in Panama, Mireya Moscoso de Grubar, of the Armulfista Party, was elected president, and became the first woman to be elected President of Panama.

2000 - Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveils the Man With Two Hats monument in Apeldoorn and the other in Ottawa on May 11, 2000. Symbolically linking both Netherlands and Canada for their assistance throughout World War II.

2000 - President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

2002 - Marad massacre of eight Hindus near Palakkad in Kerala.

2004 - Yelwa massacre of more than 630 nomad Muslims by Christians in Nigeria.

2008 - Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Myanmar killing over 130,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.

2011 - Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

2011 - The 2011 E. coli O104:H4 outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.

2012 - A pastel version of Edvard Munch's famous painting 'The Scream' sells at auction for $119,922,500   in a New York City auction. The transaction set a new world record for an auctioned piece of art.

2012 - Barcelona football player Lionel Messi breaks the European goal-scoring record with 68 goals


http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory