May 20

Scott Winters May 20, 2025 1 Comment

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1774 – Britain’s Parliament passed the Coercive Acts to punish the American colonists for their increasingly anti-British behavior

1830 – The fountain pen was patented by H.D. Hyde.

1861 – North Carolina became the eleventh state to secede from the Union.

1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

1875 – The International Bureau of Weights and Measures was established.

1891 – Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope was first shown to the public.

1899 – Taxi driver Jacob German of New York, NY, became the first driver to be arrested for speeding. The posted speed limit was 12 miles per hour.

1905 – Louis Chevrolet (who designed the Chevy for General Motors in 1911) won his first race on a cinder track in Morris Park, NY.

1916 – A Norman Rockwell painting appeared on the cover of “The Saturday Evening Post” for the first time. The painting was “Boy with a Baby Carriage”.

1916 – A small town in Kansas called Codell was struck by a tornado. The same town was also hit by a tornado in 1917 and 1918 all on the exact same date.

1926 – Congress passed the Air Commerce Act. The act gave the Department of Commerce the right to license pilots and planes.

1927 – Malcolm “Mac” Wood, took his wife Mable on her first dune ride in a Model A Ford after a 3-day downpour had packed down the sand on the Silver Lake sand dunes in Michigan. A few years later he had developed the first of his famous “dune scooters” by converting a Ford Model A into a four-seat dune buggy. He charged 25 cents for rides.

1927 – Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, NY, to cross the Atlantic non-stop for Paris aboard his airplane the “Spirit of St. Louis.” He touched down at Le Bourget Field in Paris the next day. The trip took 33 1/2 hours.

1930 – The first airplane was catapulted from a dirigible.

1932 – Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean. She landed in Ireland the next day to become the first woman to achieve the feat.

1939 – The first telecast over telephone wires was sent from Madison Square Garden to the NBC-TV studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. The event was a bicycle race.

1939 – The first regular air-passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean began with the take-off of the “Yankee Clipper” from Port Washington, NY.

1942 – The song “I’ve Got A Gal in Kalamazoo” was recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.

1969 – Peter Cetera, of the band Chicago, was beaten up by four men at a Chicago Cubs-Dodgers baseball game. The men objected to the length of his hair. Cetera underwent four hours of emergency surgery.

1978 – Mavis Hutchinson, at age 53, became the first woman to run across America. It took Hutchinson 69 days to run the 3,000 miles.

1980 – The submarine Nautilus was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

1982 – The final episode of TV’s “Barney Miller” aired on ABC-TV.

1985 – The Dow Jones industrial average broke the 1300 mark for the first time. The Dow closed at 1304.88.

1985 – Radio Marti, part of the Voice of America service, began broadcasting to Cuba.

1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope sent back its first photographs.

1993 – The final episode of TV’s “Cheers” aired on NBC. Approximately 42.4 million households were watching.

1996 – After six seasons, the final episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”, starring Will Smith, aired on NBC.

2003 – A cow in British Columbia, Canada was diagnosed with mad cow disease. As a result, the U.S. banned imports of Canadian beef, cattle and animal feed.

2007 – The Lundberg survey set a new high for gasoline prices in the United States at $3.18 per gallon.

2009 – Kris Allen was declared the winner of the eighth season of TV’s “American Idol”. Adam Lambert finished in second place.

2010 – Five paintings worth 100 million Euro were stolen from the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

2015 – David Letterman hosted “The Late Show with David Lettermen” for the final time.

2022 – More than 40 people were injured and one person was killed after a tornado ripped through Gaylord, Michigan in the afternoon.

BIRTHDAYS:

Constance Towers – 92 a old (1933) – Actress (“Bring Your Smile Along”, “The Horse Soldiers”, “Sergeant Rutledge”, “Shock Corridor”, “The Naked Kiss”)

Anthony Zerbe – 89 a old (1936) – Actor (“The Omega Man”, “Farewell, My Lovely”, “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park”, “Licence to Kill”, “The Turning Point”, “Star Trek: Insurrection”, “The Matrix Reloaded”, “The Matrix Revolutions”, “American Hustle”)

Cher – 79 a old (1946) – Singer, actress (“Moonstruck”, “The Witches of Eastwick”, “Silkwood”, “Mask”)

Dave Thomas – 76 a old (1949) – Comedian, actor (SCTV cast member, “Strange Brew”)

Dean Butler – 69 a old (1956) – Actor (TV’s “The Streets of San Francisco”, “Little House on the Prairie”, “The New Gidget”, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, movies “Desert Hearts”, “The Final Goal”)

Ron Reagan Jr. – 67 a old (1958) – Dancer, talk show host, son of President Ronald Reagan

Jane Wiedlin – 67 a old (1958) – Singer, guitarist (The Go-Go’s)

Susan Cowsill – 66 a old (1959) – Singer (The Cowsills)

Bronson Pinchot – 66 a old (1959) – Actor (“Courage Under Fire”, “Beverly Hills Cop”, “Risky Business”, TV’s “Perfect Strangers”, “Step By Step”, “The Surreal Life”)

Tony Goldwyn – 65 a old (1960) – Actor (“The Pelican Brief”, “Ghost”, “Gaby: A True Story”)

Brian Nash – 62 a old (1963) – Guitarist (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)

Ted Allen – 60 a old (1965) – TV host (TV’s “Chopped”, “Food Detective”, “Queer Eye”)

Mindy Cohn – 59 a old (1966) – Actress (Played Natalie on TV’s “The Facts of Life”)

Busta Rhymes – 53 a old (1972) – Rapper, record executive, actor

Rachel Platten – 44 a old (1981) – Singer (“Fight Song”)

TODAY IS:

World Bee Day: Support bee conservation by donating or purchasing from companies that work to save these crucial members of the ecosystem, or start your own bee hive.
National Rescue Dog Day: Wag your tail for rescue dogs! These lovable pups bring joy, loyalty, and unconditional love to every home they enter. Adopt a furry friend and experience the happiness that only a rescue dog can bring.
National Streaming Day:
National Quiche Lorraine Day: A shortcrust pastry, bacon, eggs, cream, milk, cheese, and a little time in the oven; that’s all it takes to make the delicious and fancy-sounding Quiche Lorraine.
Weights & Measures Day: Learn about the history of weights and measures in the past, as well as how we’ve come to use the various systems of measurement we use today.
World Product Day: Attend one of Mind the Product’s global events to learn how your business and others affect the economy, and how you can do so beneficially.
National Be a Millionaire Day: No, you can’t become a millionaire in a day. But by taking stock of your financial health and taking steps to improve it, you just might get there someday.
National Women in Aerospace Day:
National High Heel Day:
National Juice Slush Day:
Emergency Medical Services for Children Day:
National Numeracy Day: Improve your numerical skills by doing some exercises, or even taking a class to get your brain working and thinking about numbers and numeracy again.
International Clinical Trials Day: Volunteer for a clinical trial to help scientists and professionals create new products that will help society with everything from medical treatments to sunscreen.
National Employee Health and Fitness Day:
World Autoimmune Arthritis Day:
Eliza Doolittle Day:
National Sugarbee® Apple Day:
International Red Sneakers Day:
National Band Director’s Day:
International Academic Freedom Day: Exploring ideas without bounds, fostering intellectual liberty to ignite curiosity and shape a limitless realm of learning.
Turn Beauty Inside Out Day:
International Customer Support Day: Behind every great product or service, there's a superhero-like team of friendly helpers, ready to save the day and put a smile on your face!
National Pick Strawberries Day: Juicy, red, and sweet, for many people strawberries are practically synonymous with summer. Get outside and pick your own fresh, tasty strawberries.
Cannes Film Festival:
Foster Care Fortnight:
International Heritage Breeds Week: Support the survival of classic livestock breeds like Oberhasli goats, Wiltshire Wild Horn sheep, and Gloucester Old Spot pigs during Heritage Breeds Week.
Be Nice to Nettles Week:
Dementia Action Week:
National EMS Week:
Tracky Dack Day:
Noise Action Week:
Walk to School Week in the UK:
National Safe Sun Week:
Techweek:
National Doughnut Week: