It happened today – this day in history – May 9

1092: Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.

1502: Christopher Columbus leaves Spain on his fourth and final trip to the New World.

1671: Colonel Thomas Blood attempts to steal the Crown Jewels.

1689: William III declares war on France.

1753: Louis XV disbands the French parliament.

1788: British parliament accepts the abolition of the slave trade.

1816: Lady Caroline Lamb publishes “Genarvon”, a thinly disguised account of her affair with Lord Byron.

1865: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end; this is the commonly accepted end date of the American Civil War.

1868: Premiere of Anton Bruckner’s 1st Symphony in C.

1874: Victoria Embankment opens in London.

1904: The locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine to exceed 100mph.

1927: Canberra replaces Melbourne as the capital of Australia.

1930: John Masefield is appointed Poet Laureate by George V.

1936: Italy annexes Abyssinia.

1941: Alan Turing at Bletchley Park breaks German spy codes after capturing Enigma machines aboard the weather ship Muenchen.

1943: 5th German Panzer army surrenders in Tunisia.

1944: Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol.

1945: Czechoslovakia is liberated from Nazi occupation. On the same day, the Channel Islands are liberated, Norwegian prime minister Vidkun Quisling is arrested as a Nazi collaborator and Hermann Goering is captured by US troops.

1946: King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by his son Umberto II who reigns for only 34 days before the monarchy is abolished.

1949: Britain’s first launderette opens in Queensway, London. On the same day, Prince Rainier III becomes monarch of Monaco.

1955: West Germany joins NATO.

1960: Nigeria becomes a member of the Commonwealth. On the same day, the US becomes the first country to legalize the birth control pill.

1962: The Beatles sign a recording contract with EMI Parlophone. On the same day, a laser beam is bounced off the moon for the first time.

1978: The corpse of kidnapped Italian ex-premier Aldo Moro is found in the back of a Renault 4 after being shot 10 times by the Red Brigade.

1980: ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ by The Boomtown Rats won the best pop song and outstanding British lyric categories at the Ivor Novello Awards.

1986: Death of Tenzing Norgay, sherpa for Edmund Hillary in the first ascent of Mt Everest, aged 71.

1987: Tom Cruise marries actress Mimi Rogers.

1988: Australia’s new parliament house in Canberra is opened by HM The Queen.

1990: Sampdoria win the European Cup Winner’s Cup 2-0 against Anderlecht in Gothenburg.

1998: Dana International wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing “Diva” in Birmingham.

1999: Father Ted wins best comedy at the BAFTA TV awards.

2001: 129 Ghanian football fans die in a stampede at Accra Sports Stadium caused by the firing of teargas by police following a decision by the referee in a match between arch-rivals Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko.

2004: Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in a land mine bomb blast under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny.

2005: Launch of website The Huffington Post.

2010: Actress and singer Lena Horne dies aged 92.

2012: Death of hair stylist Vidal Sassoon aged 84.

2013: Everton Manager David Moyes is announced as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor at Manchester United.

2017: President Donald Trump dismisses FBI Director James Comey.

2019: Death of comedian Freddie Starr aged 76.

BIRTHDAYS: Vance DeVoe Brand, astronaut, 89; Alan Bennett, playwright, 86; Glenda Jackson, actress/former MP, 84; James L Brooks, director, 80; Tommy Roe,, singer, 77; Richie Furay, musician (Buffalo Springfield) 76; Steve Katz, guitarist (Blood Sweat & Tears) 75; Candice Bergen, actress, 74; Billy Joel, singer/songwriter, 71; Matthew Kelly, actor/TV host, 70; Dave Gahan, singer (Depeche Mode) 58; Paul Heaton, singer/songwriter (The Housemartins/The Beautiful South) 58; Rosario Dawson, actress, 41.