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.
| 15 May 1846 | Under the leadership of Prime Minister Robert Peel, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes to repeal the Corn Laws by passing an Importation Bill, replacing the old colonial mercantile trade system with free trade. On June 25 the Duke of Wellington persuades the House of Lords to pass the Act, which will take full effect from February 1849. |
| 15 May 1871 | Kōzō Satō born, Japanese admiral (d. 1948) |
| Sunday, 15 May 1921 | Baron Vaea born, Prime Minister of Tonga (d. 2009) |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1946 | Klaus-Peter Siegloch born, German journalist |
| Monday, 15 May 1961 | J. Heinrich Matthaei alone performs the Poly-U-Experiment and is the first person to recognize and understand the genetic code. This is the birthdate of modern genetics. |
| Saturday, 15 May 1971 | Sir Tyrone Guthrie died, English film director, producer, and writer (b. 1900) |
| Saturday, 15 May 1971 | Efraim Elrom, Israeli ambassador to Turkey, is kidnapped; he is found killed in Istanbul May 25. |
| Saturday, 15 May 1971 | Phil Pfister born, American strength athlete |
| Saturday, 15 May 1971 | Goose Goslin died, American baseball player (b. 1900) |
| Friday, 15 May 1981 | Donna Payant is murdered by serial killer Lemuel Smith, the first time a female prison officer has been killed on-duty in the United States. |
| Friday, 15 May 1981 | Patrice Evra born, Senegalese-born French footballer |
| Friday, 15 May 1981 | Justin Morneau born, Canadian baseball player |
| Friday, 15 May 1981 | Jamie-Lynn Sigler born, American actress |
| Friday, 15 May 1981 | Zara Tindall born, British elite equestrienne |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1991 | Édith Cresson becomes France’s first female prime minister. |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1991 | Jennifer Hof born, German fashion model |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1991 | Shintaro Abe died, Japanese politician (b. 1924) |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1991 | Andreas Floer died, German mathematician (b. 1956) |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1991 | Ronald Lacey died, English actor (b. 1935) |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1996 | [15–16 May] Debate takes place in the Tasmanian Parliament on Green-sponsored gay reform legislation. The watered down bill is passed, but then rejected by the Legislative Council 8:6. |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1996 | Birdy born, English singer and songwriter |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1996 | Charles B. Fulton died, American judge (b. 1910) |
| Wednesday, 15 May 1996 | Virgil Ross died, American animator (b. 1907) |
| Sunday, 15 May 2011 | Samuel Wanjiru died, Kenyan athlete (b. 1986) |
| Sunday, 15 May 2016 | Oscar Whitbread died, television producer |
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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.