On This Day:
Thursday May 1, 2014 This is the 121st day of the year, with 244 days remaining in 2014. Fact of the Day: cat purring While lions and other big cats roar, domestic cats and other feline species purr. Purring has been described as a low, continuous, rattling hum and is often interpreted as an expression of pleasure or contentment. Purring also occurs in cats that are injured and in pain, however, so that this vocalization can be regarded as the cat's "mantra" - that is, as a relaxing, self-comforting sound and a friendly mood-conveying signal.
Holidays May Day, celebrating the return of spring; it is known by various names in different countries and religions.
Feast day of St. Asaph, St. Corentin, St. Joseph, St. Brioc, St. Amator, S. Marcoul, Saints Philip and James, St. Peregrine Laziosi, St. Sigismund of Burgundy, and St. Theodard of Narbonne.
United States: Law Day.
Marshall Islands: Constitution Day.
Russia: International Labor Day.
Events 1707 - The Union of England and Scotland was proclaimed.
1851 - The Great Exhibition opened to wide acclaim in the Crystal Palace in London, showcasing technological wonders from around the world.
1883 - Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) staged his first Wild West Show.
1884 - The first skyscraper in America began construction: a 10-story building on the corner of LaSalle and Adams in Chicago, Illinois.
1898 - Commodore George Dewey commanded, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as a U.S. naval force decimated a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
1941 - The film "Citizen Kane," directed by and starring Orson Welles, opened in New York.
1948 - The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed.
1960 - The Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
1961 - Fidel Castro announced there would be no more elections in Cuba.
1963 - James Whittaker of Redmond, Washington, became the first American to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
1967 - Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas.
1971 - Amtrak -- which combined and streamlined the operations of 18 intercity passenger railroads -- went into service.
1997 - After 18 years of Conservative rule, Tony Blair and the Labour Party accomplished a landslide victory in British parliamentary elections.
1999 - The Liberty Bell 7, the Mercury space capsule flown by Gus Grissom, was found in the Atlantic Ocean 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, 38 years after it sank.
2001 - Thomas Blanton, Jr. became the second ex-Ku Klux Klansman to be convicted in the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four black girls.
Births 1839 - Louis-Maire-Hilaire Bernigaud, French chemist, inventor of rayon.
1909 - Kate Smith, American singer, entertainer.
1916 - Glenn Ford, American film actor.
1918 - Jack Paar, American TV host.
1923 - Joseph Heller, American author.
Deaths 1994 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian motor-racing driver.
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