Today in History

Today is Thursday, May 28, the 148th day of 2015. There are 217 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On May 28, 1945, the novel "Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh was published in London by Chapman & Hall.

On this date:

In 1533, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.

In 1912, the Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a "state of absolute unpreparedness," improperly tested safety equipment and an "indifference to danger" as some of the causes of an "unnecessary tragedy."

In 1929, the first all-color talking picture, "On with the Show!", produced by Warner Bros., opened in New York.

In 1934, the Dionne quintuplets -- Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne -- were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California. Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.

In 1940, during World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight which both primates survived.

In 1961, Amnesty International had its beginnings with the publication of an article in the British newspaper The Observer, "The Forgotten Prisoners."

In 1977, 165 people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky.

In 1985, David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers (he was freed 17 months later).

In 1998, comic actor Phil Hartman of "Saturday Night Live" and "NewsRadio" fame was shot to death at his home in Encino, California, by his wife, Brynn, who then killed herself.

Ten years ago: Two bombs exploded about 15 minutes apart in a crowded market in the Christian-dominated Indonesian town of Tentena, killing at least 22 people and wounding 40.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama visited Grand Isle, Louisiana, where he personally confronted the spreading damage wrought by the crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP blowout -- and the bitter anger rising onshore. Suspected Islamist militants attacked two mosques packed with hundreds of worshippers from a minority sect in eastern Pakistan; at least 93 people were killed and dozens wounded. Gary Coleman, the former child star of the 1970s TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," died at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo two days after suffering a brain hemorrhage; he was 42.

One year ago: Seeking to redefine America's foreign policy for a postwar era, President Barack Obama told West Point graduates the United States remained the only nation with the capacity to lead on the world stage but argued it would be a mistake to channel that power into unrestrained military adventures. Maya Angelou, 86, a Renaissance woman who survived the harshest of childhoods to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page, died in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Today's Birthdays: Rockabilly singer-musician Sonny Burgess is 86. Actress Carroll Baker is 84. Producer-director Irwin Winkler is 84. Actor John Karlen is 82. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Jerry West is 77. Actress Beth Howland is 74. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is 71. Singer Gladys Knight is 71. Actress-director Sondra Locke is 71. Singer Billy Vera is 71. Singer John Fogerty is 70. Country musician Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss and Union Station) is 59. Actor Louis Mustillo is 57. U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.., is 55. Actor Brandon Cruz (TV: "The Courtship of Eddie's Father") is 53. Country singer Phil Vassar is 51. Actress Christa Miller is 51. Singer-musician Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA) is 50. Rapper Chubb Rock is 47. Singer Kylie Minogue (KY'-lee mihn-OHG') is 47. Actor Justin Kirk is 46. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is 44. Olympic gold medal figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva is 44. Television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 38. Actor Jake Johnson (TV: "New Girl") is 37. Actor Jesse Bradford is 36. Actress Monica Keena is 36. Actress Alexa Davalos is 33. Actress Megalyn Echikunwoke is 33. Pop singer Colbie Caillat is 30. Actress Carey Mulligan is 30. Actor Joseph Cross is 29.

Thought for Today: "Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage." -- Maya Angelou (1928-2014).

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