1718: The world’s first machine gun is patented. British lawyer, James Puckle, invented the 25.4 mm caliber “Puckle Gun” for use on ships. It was designed for two bullet types: round bullets for Christians and (more damaging) square bullets for Turks.
1774: The first post office was opened in India in Calcutta. With this, postal services started in India
1787: Granville Town, a settlement in Sierra Leone, is established with the arrival of 400 formerly enslaved Africans who are now free men in Britain, where public sentiment has run toward the resettlement in Africa of Africans living in England. They are accompanied by 60 white settlers, but of the 460 original arrivals, only 64 will be alive in one year, as most will perish from disease, conflict with the local people who object to the invasion of their country and capture by slave traders. Additional settlers will arrive in 1792 and establish a permanent colony.
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1928: The first Mickey Mouse film is screened. The 6-minute film “Plane Crazy” directed by Walt Disney shows Mickey trying to fly an airplane about Charles Lindbergh. Today, Mickey Mouse is one of the world’s most recognized cartoon characters and the official mascot of the Walt Disney Company.
1930: The first airline stewardess goes on duty. Ellen Church and her team served snacks on a United Airlines flight from Oakland to Chicago. The flight attendants were also responsible for refueling the aircraft, handling luggage, and checking tickets.
1948: Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq invade Israel. The day after the new state of Israel is proclaimed, the Royal Egyptian Air Force attacks the capital Tel Aviv. The Israeli Air Force retaliates, striking Arab troops near Samakh, Egypt. It lasted nearly 10 months and caused thousands of casualties on both sides.
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1982: “Ebony And Ivory” takes the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100, holding the spot for seven weeks. Recorded as a duet with the great Stevie Wonder, it was the biggest hit record of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles career.
1990: Home-produced beef was banned in UK schools and hospitals as a result of concern over ‘mad cow disease’ (BSE).
1994: National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) is formed to press for the revalidation of the June 12, 1993, presidential election in Nigeria and the reinstallation of all democratic structures.
2008: At least 100 people died in the explosion that occurred in Ijegun village in the Igando-Ikotun LCDA, Lagos state.
2008: The Gambia dictator Yahya Jammeh tells all gay men and women to leave the country or face execution. He specifies that they will be beheaded.
2014: The release of Timbuktu, the most globally well-received film ever from Mauritania, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. Dramatising the plight of a herder endangered by Islamic militants, this will be the first film from Africa to be nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) in an African language that is also the language spoken by the film’s director.
2019: Egypt’s President el-Sisi opens the Rod el Farag Axis Bridge. The Guinness World Record holder for the world’s widest cable-sway bridge, it is an instant tourist attraction, offering pedestrian walkways with spectacular views of Cairo. Glass floors provide the sensation of “walking on the Nile.”
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: May 15
Madeleine Albright (May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022)
Madeleine Albright, America’s first female secretary of state, is born Marie Jana Korbelova on May 15, 1937, in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).
The daughter of Czech diplomat Josef Korbel, Albright fled to England with her family after the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. Though Albright long believed they had fled for political reasons, she learned as an adult that her family was Jewish and that three of her grandparents had died in Nazi concentration camps. The family returned home after World War II ended but immigrated to the United States in 1948 after a Soviet-sponsored Communist coup seized power in Prague. She died on March 23, 2022, at the age of 84
Andy Murray, 37 years
Sir Andrew Barron Murray OBE is a British professional tennis player born on 15 May 1987. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals for 41 weeks and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016.
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