Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
What Time is It? It is flow of a sandstorm that will on each day compress somewhere into a structure – sandstone, selected and only remembered in the longue durée.
| 20 May 1846 | Alexander von Kluck born, German general (d. 1934) |
| 20 May 1896 | Clara Schumann died, German composer, pianist (b. 1819) |
| Friday, 20 May 1921 | Hal Newhouser born, American baseball player (d. 1998) |
| Friday, 20 May 1921 | Wolfgang Borchert born, German writer (d. 1947) |
| Monday, 20 May 1946 | Enrico Gasparri died, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and archbishop (b. 1871) |
| Monday, 20 May 1946 | The British House of Commons decides to nationalize mines. |
| Monday, 20 May 1946 | Cher born, American actress and rock singer |
| Monday, 20 May 1946 | Jacob Ellehammer died, Danish inventor (b. 1871) |
| Saturday, 20 May 1961 | Clive Allen born, British footballer |
| Thursday, 20 May 1971 | Tony Stewart born, American race car driver |
| Wednesday, 20 May 1981 | Mark Winterbottom born, motor racing driver |
| Wednesday, 20 May 1981 | Iker Casillas born, Spanish footballer |
| Wednesday, 20 May 1981 | Sean Conlon born, English musician (5ive) |
| Wednesday, 20 May 1981 | Rachel Platten born, American singer-songwriter |
| Wednesday, 20 May 1981 | Lindsay Taylor born, American basketball player |
| Wednesday, 20 May 1981 | Mark Winterbottom born, Australian race car driver |
| Wednesday, 20 May 1981 | Dositej died, Metropolitan of Skopje (b. 1906) |
| Monday, 20 May 1991 | Lydia Cabrera died, Cuban anthropologist and poet (b. 1899) |
| Monday, 20 May 1996 | Jon Pertwee died, British actor (b. 1919) |
| Friday, 20 May 2011 | Ivan Gibbs died, 83, Queensland politician |
| Friday, 20 May 2011 | Randy Savage died, American professional wrestler (b. 1952) |
| Friday, 20 May 2016 | Tsai Ing-wen is sworn in as the 14th President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). |
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
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Neville Buch
Professional Historian at Professional Historians Association (Queensland) Inc.
Neville Buch (Pronounced Book) Ph.D. is a certified member of the Professional Historians Association (Queensland). Since 2010 he has operated a sole trade business in history consultancy. He was a Q ANZAC 100 Fellow 2014-2015 at the State Library of Queensland. Dr Buch was the PHA (Qld) e-Bulletin, the monthly state association’s electronic publication, and was a member of its Management Committee. He is the Managing Director of the Brisbane Southside History Network.
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