On This Day:
Thursday May 22, 2014 This is the 142nd day of the year, with 223 days remaining in 2014. Fact of the Day: rainbow A rainbow is a series of concentric colored arcs that may be seen when sunlight, or light from some other distant source, falls upon a collection of water drops as in rain, spray, or fog. The colors are the result of the refraction and internal reflection of light rays entering the water drops, each color being produced by rays bent at a slightly different angle. The colors separate as they emerge from the water drops. The spectrum of a rainbow, from the outer edge inward, consists of the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet; many people use the mnemonic device Roy G. Biv to remember this sequence.
Holidays Feast day of St. Helen of Carnavon, St. Rita of Cascia, St. Julia of Corsica, St. Aigulf of Bourges, St. Romanus, Saints Castus and Aemilius, St. Humility, St. Joachima de Mas, and St. Quiteria.
Republic of Yemen: National Day.
Sri Lanka: National Heroes Day.
Events 1455 - In the opening battle of England's War of the Roses, the Yorkists defeated King Henry VI's Lancastrian forces at St. Albans, near London, capturing Henry VI and killing Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.
1761 - The first life insurance policy in the United States was issued, in Philadelphia.
1819 - The U.S. steamboat Savannah made the first transatlantic crossing.
1843 - A massive wagon train of 1,000 settlers, called the "Great Emigration," set off down the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri.
1868 - The "Great Train Robbery" took place in Indiana, as seven members of the Reno gang made off with $98,000.
1902 - Crater Lake National Park was established.
1908 - The Wright brothers registered their flying machine for a U.S. patent.
1939 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a "Pact of Steel" forming the Axis powers.
1947 - The Truman Doctrine was enacted, appropriating military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.
1967 - The children's program "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" premiered on TV.
1972 - Ceylon became the republic of Sri Lanka.
1979 - Canadians voted in parliamentary elections that put the Progressive Conservative party in power, ending the 11-year tenure of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
1990 - After 150 years apart, pro-Western North Yemen and Marxist South Yemen merged to form the Republic of Yemen.
1992 - Johnny Carson hosted his last "Tonight Show," where he had reigned for nearly 30 years.
2001 - The original manuscript of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was bought at auction for $2,430,000, a world record price.
Births 1813 - (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner, German composer.
1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British physician, writer, creator of the character Sherlock Holmes.
1907 - Sir Laurence Olivier, Academy Award-winning actor.
1950 - Bernie Taupin, an English lyricist most famous for his collaboration with Elton John.
1959 - Morrissey (born Steven Patrick Morrissey), English singer and songwriter.
Deaths 1990 - Rocky Graziano (born Thomas Rocco Barbella), American boxer.
2005 - Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor.
2006 - Heather Crowe, Canadian anti-smoking activist.
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