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Pip Wilson

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At Glastonbury, Somerset, a man thirty years afflicted with an asthma, dreamed that a person told him, if he drank of such particular waters, near the Chain-gate, seven Sunday mornings, he should be cured, which he accordingly did and was well, and attested it on oath. This being rumoured abroad, it brought numbers of people from all parts of the kingdom to drink of these miraculous seaters for various distempers, and many were healed, and great numbers received benefit.
Richard Gough entry in his diary for April 30, 1751. On May 4, the Englishman added: "'Twas computed 10,000 people were now at Glastonbury, from different parts of the kingdom, to drink the waters there for various distempers".

In Siam on the sixth day of the moon in the sixth month (the end of April) a temporary king is appointed, who for three days enjoys the royal prerogatives, the real king remaining shut up in his palace. This temporary king sends his numerous satellites in all directions to seize and confiscate whatever they can find in the bazaar and open shops; even the ships and junks which arrive in harbour during the three days are forfeited to him and must be redeemed. He goes to a field in the middle of the city, whither they bring a gilded plough drawn by gaily-decked oxen. After the plough has been anointed and the oxen rubbed with incense, the mock king traces nine furrows with the plough, followed by aged dames of the palace scattering the first seed of the season. As soon as the nine furrows are drawn, the crowd of spectators rushes in and scrambles for the seed which has just been sown, believing that, mixed with the seed-rice, it will ensure a plentiful crop. Then the oxen are unyoked, and rice, maize, sesame, sago, bananas, sugar-cane, melons, and so on, are set before them; whatever they eat first will, it is thought, be dear in the year following, though some people interpret the omen in the opposite sense. During this time the temporary king stands leaning against a tree with his right foot resting on his left knee. From standing thus on one foot he is popularly known as King Hop; but his official title is Phaya Phollathep "Lord of the Heavenly Hosts." He is a sort of Minister of Agriculture; all disputes about fields, rice, and so forth, are referred to him.
Sir James George Frazer (1854 - 1941), The Golden Bough, 1922, Ch. 25

I'm a great favourite with the women, perhaps because I know them thoroughly. When I was in Queensland, I was engaged to a girl. Her father insisted on it and she was so pretty and bright that I didn't mind. I got clear of that without treating her badly. I used to take girls out on an evening. As long as they were fond of me it kept them away from more dangerous chaps. Poor kids, their life is miserable enough without having some extra worry about thing like love. Love indeed! I've never seen one solitary man I could stand for a husband, though I've had some splendid pals. A man is decent to a man- he must be, or he might get hurt. But with a woman he seldom plays a fair deal.
Bill Edwards (born Marion Edwards), Australian gender rebel, who was arrested on April 30, 1905   Source

And if you have a favour to request,
Upon Walpurgis Night just mention it.
Mephistopheles to the witch; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust (tr. Philip Wayne, London, 1949)

TV can be a gentle soporific, but its great future lies in waking us up.
Dr Karl Menninger; NBC commenced TV transmissions on a regular basis, April 30, 1939

People's minds are going to rot altogether as a result of television.
Sir Cedric Hardwicke

The discrepancy between the riches of the TV feast and the poverty of the school experience is creating great ferment, friction and psychic violence.
Marshall McLuhan

Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn't have to draft me, I'd join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I'll go to jail, so what? We've been in jail for 400 years.
Muhammad Ali (b. 1942), American boxer who, on April 30, 1967, was stripped of his world heavyweight boxing title for refusing to be drafted into the army   Source    More Muhammad Ali quotes at Wikiquote

There can be no whitewash at the White House.
US President Richard M Nixon, April 30, 1973

'Re-education' is a meticulous and long-range process, management must be fight, continuous, comprehensive, and specific. We must manage each person. We must manage their thoughts and actions, words and deeds, Philosophy of life and ways of livelihood, social relationships and travel ... We must closely combine management and education with interrogation.
Nguyen Ngoc Giao, writing in the People's Army magazine in June 1975. North Vietnam re-educators, aided by many Westerners, were victorious in South Vietnam on April 30, 1975.

April 30 is the 120^th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121^st in leap years), with 245 days remaining.
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Walpurgis night, Finland, Sweden and Germany

The wheel of the year has rolled a little further through the seasons and now we find ourselves at one of those eight stations of the year at which the veil between the mundane and spirit worlds is a little thinner.  

The four main stations ('grand sabbats' in the Neopagan tradition) are the two equinoxes and two solstices. Halfway between each of these are the other significant days, sometimes known as the lesser sabbats, together making this list:

Midwinter/Yule (Christmas), on the Winter Solstice
Imbolc, on February 2 and the preceding eve
Ostara, on the Spring Equinox
Beltane/Beltaine/May Day on May 1 and the preceding eve
Midsummer/Litha, on the Summer Solstice
Lughnasadh (Lammas), on August 1 and the preceding eve
Mabon, on the Autumn Equinox
Samhain (Halloween), on the eve of October 31

We are now on the cusp of the (Northern Hemisphere's) halfway station between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, known as Beltaine (Beltane). Watch out, spirits are about! – the wheel shows that it is directly opposite Samhain (Halloween); that is, six months from that other witching night.

Tonight's mischief is celebrated in the Harz Mountains of Germany, as well as in Finland and the Scandinavian countries. It is called Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish, Vappu in Finnish, Walpurgisnacht in German.

On the eve of May Day, the Devil and the company of hexen, or witches, were once believed to hold revels on high places, especially Mount Brocken in the Harz range. In 1990 women's groups reclaimed the site.

St Walpurgis

Not too many Englishwomen ever became part of German folklore. St Walpurgis (Bugga; Gaudurge; Vaubourg; Walpurga; Walpurgis; Valborg; Walburge; Wealdburg; Valderburger; Valpuri), the daughter of Richard, King of the West Saxons and a niece of St Boniface, was an Essex-born (some sources say she came from somewhere in Dorset or Wessex) English missionary nun who became an abbess of Württemberg, Germany, where she lived at the convent of Heidenheim, which was founded by her brother St Winibald.

Walpurgis died on February 25, 779 and that day still carries her name in the Catholic calendar. Ancient traditions of May Day Eve became associated with the date of the 'translation' (removal) of her bones to Eichstätt. While her feast day is February 25 (May 1 in the Swedish calendar), May 1 is the feast of her translation and tonight, the eve of May 1, is 'her' witching night in Germany.

Walpurgisnacht

This second feast of St Walpurgis, or Walburga (Beltaine Eve) is one of the main holidays during the year in both Sweden and Finland, along with Christmas and Midsummer. Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis night) in Germany has been celebrated for centuries. Farmers used to place crosses and herbs above stable doors to protect their livestock from the witches that fly around tonight en route to their 'evil covens' on Germany's highest mountain, the Brocken, in the Harz Mountains. German cartographers of the 18^th Century sometimes added to any map of the Harz Mountains a few witches flying on broomsticks towards the summit of the Brocken.  

German villagers used to light fires in the fields. Any crop illuminated by the firelight or touched by the smoke was sure to be fertile. Or, so it is said.

Tonight's traditions stem from an ancient pagan spring festival. The deities Woden and Freya were the parents of spring. German people used to drink 'the drink of love' (Trank der Mine), which supposedly had rejuvenatory powers and today's 'May punch' or 'May wine' (Maiwein; Maibowle; Waldmeisterbowle) containing woodruff herb (Galium odoratum, sometimes called Asperula odorata, known in Germany as Waldmeister) probably derives from that custom.

Some believe that Walpurgisnacht customs began when the first central Europeans were converted to Christianity: pagans dressed up in frightening costumes to scare away the Christians who were trying to eradicate the old beliefs. The Church, it is said, pushed the Walpurgis cult because St Walpugis was the protector against magic.

The witches arrive at their sabbat on brooms, cats, flying horses, goats and even on pitchforks and shovels. Amidst thunder and lightning they build a fire of spruce trunks which they dance around after Satan, dressed in black velvet, makes his annual speech.

Walpurgis night was used by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as the dramatic setting for his Faust. It was also the night on which Adolf Hitler, no stranger to occult beliefs, took his own life.

Other customs

At Walpern, in North Bohemia, it used to be customary on Walpurgisnacht for boys to run through the fields carrying burning brooms. At Bad Grund, Lower Saxony, an open-air theatre stages a play on Walpurgisnacht, often written by local authors. In some parts of Germany it used to be the custom to burn straw doll witches on Walpurgisnacht. At Wöhrden, boys bashed the dolls with forks and clubs as they burned in the bonfire.

Arrested by witches

On Walpurgisnacht long ago, a farmer from Clausthal was going to market near the Harz mountains. He saw witches flying overhead as they are wont to do on this day, and recognised them as women from a neighbouring village. They arrested him and threatened him with terrible punishments should he divulge his secret - which he did on his deathbed. Or, so it is said.

Horseplay

One Walpurgisnacht, a young couple was chatting when the girl suddenly realised she had to make her way to the Brocken, the mountain in Germany where witches convene on this night. Her fiancé woke up the next morning - inside a horse.

Walpurgis Society

Early in the 20^th century, a Walpurgis Society was formed in Germany to promote the ancient Walpurgisnacht folklore. At towns like Hahnenklee and Bockswiese, children still dress up as devils and witches, led in procession by an adult in devil's dress, accompanied by a band. Beside a bonfire, the May Queen appears and recites a Spring poem.

The Spectre of the Brocken

On the Brocken, the German mountain which is the Walpurgisnacht witching ground, there is a phenomenon known as the Spectre of the Brocken (or Brocken Bow): spectators' shadows appear greatly magnified on the mists. Scientists say that it is an anomaly caused by light refraction and diffraction. Formerly considered magical, the phenomenon draws tourists and modern witches.  

Images    Image at Wikipedia

The world's oldest map of the heavens

Seen from the Mittelberg, a 252m hill in the Ziegelroda Forest, Nebra, 180km south-west of Berlin, the sun sets every June 22 behind the Brocken. The Brocken is in a direct line of sight on a clear day, 85km to the north-west.

Treasure hunters on the Mittelberg in 1999 found a 32cm bronze-and-gold disc, crafted around 3,600 years ago. The map on its face shows the Brocken as well as 32 stars including the Pleiades. The disc, with the oldest concrete representation of the stars in the world, was placed in a pit in the middle of a ringwall during the early Bronze Age. The ringwall was built in such a way that the sun seemed to disappear every equinox behind the Brocken. Scientists believe the map and site formed an observatory, used to set the calendar for planting and harvesting crops.

The forest nearby contains 1,000 barrows or princely graves from the period, but little else is known about the lost people, who are not mentioned in ancient Greek or other Mediterranean writings.

Walpurgis oil

Walpurgis oil exudes from the rock at Eichstatt in which the relics of St Walpurgis were deposited, and has miraculous healing powers - or, so it is said.

May singing

At Heidelberg, Germany, students traditionally engage in May singing on April 30, singing in the floral month of May.

Walpurgis night trip

Modern researchers have reproduced the concoction said to have been rubbed by witches on their bodies on Walpurgisnacht. Apparently some hallucinogenic effects have been reported from the ointment, which contained, among other ingredients, nightshade and poppies.

Walpurgis revival

 
Valborgsmässoafton, Sweden, coming of Spring

In Sweden, bonfires are lit on mountaintops to scare away winter darkness, a custom that is most firmly established in Svealand, and which began in Uppland during the 18^th century. At the outdoor folk museum on Reindeer Mountain at Skansen, bonfires are made with logs and tar barrels. College students wear white velvet caps and lapel-flowers and sing Spring songs.

In Southern Sweden, a more ancient tradition was for the young people at twilight to collect from the woods greens and branches, which were used to adorn the houses of the village, for which favours the townsfolk paid in eggs.

Swedes still sing 19^th Century songs on Valborgsmässoafton. Traditional spring festivities are also found, according to Wikipedia, "in the old university cities, like Uppsala and Lund where both current and graduated students gather at events that take up most of the day from early morning to late night on April 30. There are also newer student traditions like the carnival parade, the 'Cortège', which has been held since 1910 by the students at Chalmers in Gothenburg."

Vapun Aatto (Vappu Day), Finland

In Finland, May Day Eve, or Walpurgis night, is called Vapun Aatto. As in Scandinavian countries and Germany, it is a Halloween-like night.

Abbey St Walburga

Mischief Night (Devil's Night), York, UK, c. 1888

According to this York, UK, website (apparently defunct, April 2007), 'Mischief Neet', or 'Devil's Day/Night', now usually associated (especially in Eastern USA) with October 30, the night preceding Halloween, used to take place on April 30:

"So says an article in the Yorkshire Folk-Lore journal ('with notes comical and dialectic'), dating from 1888.

"The Fools' Day started April and the Devil's Day ended it, according to this report. The latter turned into mischief night: 'a night supposed by the imps of mischief (rough youths) to be, under some old law or tradition, theirs to do as they wish with'.

"In those days, eggs weren't chucked. Instead 'rain water tubs are let off, "swillin" tubs are upset, doors are taken from their "jimmers", and carried into someone's outhouse or into the waters of some mill dam.

"'Donkeys are led into some field at a distance, and the pinder informed slily [sic] of the asinine trespass, or they are taken and tied to the outside of some queer man's "door sneck".

"'Then again, some old maid's door will be slily [sic] fastened by tying tightly across the door jambs, in front of and to the "sneck", a piece of wood to prevent her coming out of doors till released by a kind neighbour next morning.'"

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May Eve (Beltaine Eve), Britain On this day, English boys used to go gathering may blossom for May Day/Beltaine festivities. From either Irish Gaelic Bealtaine or Scottish Gaelic, it was originally a Druidic then Celtic holiday. In Ireland, its old name was Neen na Beal tina. In the 17th Century, the common practice of youths and girls sleeping out in the woods on the eve of May Day drew heavy criticism from the Puritans, because many girls were impregnated on these occasions.   The witch-tree In England and Scotland, branches of rowan, called the witch-tree, were fastened onto houses and cattle stalls to keep away witches. Rowan is efficacious against evil, according to tradition. This practice mirrors the Halloween-like customs in Germany, Finland and Scandinavia on April 30, Walpurgis night.   Neen na Beal tina, Ireland The eve of May Day (Beltane) is called this in Ireland. It literally means eve of Beal's fire (Belus, Beli, Belinus, Bel or Balder, a deity like the Middle Eastern Baal). It is an evening of danger and mischief on which no nurse will walk with a baby. Young and beautiful people are particularly at risk. The blast is about: a red tumour, breathed on victims by one of the good people in a moment of capricious malice. Cows were made to jump over a bonfire, a practice related to the worship of Beal. The custom protected the cow's milk from theft by the good people. On this night boys used to hit each other on the face with stinging nettles.   Balder's balefires An old Celtic name for this time of year was Beltaine (Beltane). A traditional name for the May Eve bonfires was Balder's balefires.   May Day Eve, Wales On this day the old custom in Wales is that it is unlucky to carry any metal (coins, knives and so on). It was also the custom for nine men to gather nine types of wood, laying the sticks crosswise within a circle on the ground. A fire was ignited on these sticks by rubbing oak twigs together. The bonfire had to be made on a hilltop and all fires within sight of it extinguished.     Larentalia, Roman Empire  A festival held on December 23 and the last day of April, in honour of Larenta (Acca Larentia), the wife of Faustulus and the nurse of Romulus and Remus, or the she-wolf that suckled them. She was also called 'Lupa' on account of her 'loose morals' – she-wolf (lupa), prostitute (lupa). After the death of her wealthy husband, she inherited his fortune, and donated it to Rome, a generosity which the Romans celebrated with an uproarious feast. The sacrifice in this festival was performed in the Velabrum at the place which led into the Nova Via, which was outside of the old city not far from the porta Romanula. Acca is an obscure Latin word: in Greek akko means a 'ridiculous woman' or 'bogey'; in Sanskrit akka means 'mother'. Therefore Acca Larentia seems to be the Mater Larum (Mother of the Lares) showing that she was originally a goddess of the earth, to whom men entrusted their seed-corn and their dead. She is also called Lara, Larunda, Larentina and Mania. In the old Roman calendar, this day was called the Brumalia, the shortest day of the year. Festivities took place at the foot of the Palatine between the Circus Maximus and the Tiber.   Last Friday in April (2004) Arbor Day, USA Arbor Day (last Friday in April but generally celebrated all weekend) marks the 130th anniversary of the tree planters' holiday, but celebrations of late have come to be rather supplanted by Earth Day (April 22). April 27 is the centennial of the death of Arbor Day founder J Sterling Morton. Since his death a century ago, Arbor Day is celebrated in all 50 American states and in many countries around the world. Every two seconds, an area the size of a football field is deforested. Every year, an area of forest the size of Scotland is destroyed, by illegal logging. Soon we will be facing the largest wave of extinctions since the disappearance of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. Ancient forests are the living expression of billions of years of evolution. Home to millions of types of plants and animals, these forests sustain as much as 90 per cent of the world's land-based species – everything from owls to orchids and bears to beetles. Every two seconds, ancient forest areas the size of a football pitch are destroyed. Commercial logging is the single largest contributor to this ancient forest destruction. Greenpeace is working to end destructive logging in the world's remaining ancient forests and is supporting alternatives such as sustainable logging and the development of non-wood products. While Greenpeace takes an active role in ending destructive logging, other organizations, such as the National Resources Defense Council, also work toward the same goal. NRDC believes that by changing the government's role from timber sales to long-term protection by building environmentally sound forest management practices, and by working with builders, architects, etc. to reduce the use of wood products, they can prevent forests from being logged, mined or otherwise industrialized. Deforestation    The Wilderness Society     Festival of Floralia, or Floral Games in honour of Flora, Roman Empire (Apr 28 - May 3) This six-day festival was dedicated to the goddess Flora, deity of flowers and youthful pleasures. It was a time of sexual licence during which beans and other seeds, representing fecundity, were planted. Exaltation of Wine, Ribeiro Region, Spain (Apr 28 -  May 1) La Folia Festival, at San Vicente de la Barquera, Spain  (Apr 28 -  May 1) Maidyozarem, feast of mid-Spring, Zoroastrianism (Apr 30 - May 4) Maytime of the Maidens, Italy Feast day of St Adjutor (Adjutre), recluse, Vernon in Normandy Feast day of St Aimo Feast day of St Erkonwald, bishop of London Feast day of St Forannan Feast day of St Genistus Feast day of St Gerard Miles Feast day of St Hildegard Feast day of SS James, Marian (Marianus), and others, martyrs in Numidia Feast day of St Joseph Benedict Cottolengo Feast day of St Lawrence of Novara Feast day of St Louis von Bruck Feast day of St Marie Guyart of the Incarnation Feast day of St Maximus, 3rd-Century martyr St Maximus (d. 250) is a Christian saint and martyr. The emperor Decius published a decree ordering the veneration of busts of the deified emperors. Failure to pay homage to these idols would be punished by torture. The merchant Maximus, originally from Asia was called before the consul Optimus. Therefore Optimus ordered him to be stoned. Maximus was tortured on the rack and was beaten with rods, yet he would not recant. Therefore, Optimus ordered him to be stoned. Accordingly, on May 4, 250, Maximus was led outside the city walls and stoned to death. Feast day of St Miles Gerard Feast day of St Pius V St Pius V, né Antonio Ghislieri, from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri (1504 - 1572) was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. Early on involved in the Inquisition, as Pope he resisted the influence of Protestants. An important event in the history of Elizabethan England was the publication of a bull, Regnans in Excelsis, dated April 27, 1570, that declared Queen Elizabeth I a heretic and released her subjects from their allegiance to her. More Feast day of St Pomponius Feast day of St William Southerne Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints Mangé-les-morts, Voudon (Feeding the dead: The managers crus are offered to the jugs or jars in which the souls are supposed to reside and where they eat; subsequently the manger cruits are offered them, particularly gombo or okra, moussah, carib-cabbage), Voudon (Voodoo)   Source Festival of the Biajini, the Kindly Ones, Romania Vapun Aatto (Vapu Day), Finland This day, as in Britain, is a day to rejoice in the coming of spring. It is a day of parades, with students and workers wearing white caps. In the evening people let their hair down. Queen's day, The Netherlands Birthday of King Carl XVI Gustav, an official flag day, Sweden Liberation Day, Vietnam Festival of Dead, Portugal and Spain Maitag Vorabend (Mayday Eve), Switzerland Louisiana Admission Day George Washington Inauguration Day, USA   Camerone Day, French Foreign Legion The parading of Capitaine Danjou's wooden hand, Aubagne, France  Capitaine Danjou of the French Foreign Legion, in charge of the 3rd Company, had lost his hand in the Crimea and had a wooden hand. At the Battle of Camarón (Camarón, Veracruz) in Mexico on April 30, 1863, the company was wiped out by 2,000 Mexicans and Danjou lost his life (see below); later his hand was recovered from the battlefield. It is paraded by Legionnaires as a relic each April 30 at Aubagne, near Marseilles, France, and the day is the main Legionnaires' holiday, Camerone Day. More (in French)    More   Children's Day, Mexico   Rabbits on the last day of the month In the 1920s, there was a custom in the UK to say the word 'rabbit' three times when going to bed on the last day of the month. The superstition did not end there: on rising, the person was to say 'hare' three times. However, sources differ on this point, with one saying that the words 'rabbit, rabbit, rabbit', and not 'hare' should be said on the morning of the month's first day ... Read more at Wilson's Almanac http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/ed4.html         1586 Rose of Lima, the first saint in the Americas (d. August 30, 1617). Her feast day is now August 23 (qv), but formerly August 30 (qv). 1662 Queen Mary II of England (d. 1694) 1770 David Thompson (d. February 10, 1857), English-born Canadian explorer and surveyor 1771 Hosea Ballou (d. June 7, 1852), American utopian religious leader; great-uncle of American educator, Hosea Ballou II (1796 - 1861); distantly related to Adin Ballou (1803 - '90), Christian socialist who founded the utopian community at Hopedale, Massachusetts, USA "Hosea Ballou (1771 - 1852), American Universalist clergyman, was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, on the 30th of April 1771. He was a son of Maturin Ballou, a Baptist minister, was self-educated, early devoted himself to the ministry, became a convert to Universalism in 1789, and in 1794 became a pastor of a congregation at Dana, Massachusetts. He preached at Barnard, Vermont, and the surrounding towns in 1801 - 1807; at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1807 - 1815; at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1815 - 1817; and as pastor of the Second Universalist Church in Boston from December 1817 until his death there on the 7th of June 1852. He founded and edited The Universalist Magazine (1819; later called The Trumpet) and The Universalist Expositor (1831; later The Universalist Quarterly Review) wrote about 10,000 sermons, many hymns, essays and polemic theological works; and is best known for Notes on the Parables (1804), A Treatise on Atonement (1805) and Examination of the Doctrine of a Future Retribution (1834); in these, especially the second, he showed himself the principal American expositor of Universalism. His great contribution to his Church was the body of denominational literature he left. From the theology of John Murray, who like Ballou has been called 'the father of American Universalism,' he differed in that he divested Universalism of every trace of Calvinism and opposed legalism and trinitarian views."   Source: Wikipedia 1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss (d. 1855), German mathematical prodigy, after whom the unit of magnetic induction was named "At the age of seven, Carl Friedrich Gauss started elementary school, and his potential was noticed almost immediately. His teacher, Büttner, and his assistant, Martin Bartels, were amazed when Gauss summed the integers from 1 to 100 instantly by spotting that the sum was 50 pairs of numbers each pair summing to 101."   Source 1780 Charles Nodier (d. 1844), French writer   1812 Kaspar Hauser, mystery boy of Nuremberg. Who was Kaspar Hauser? Kaspar Hauser was a lad of about 17 years of age when he showed up in a pathetic condition in the marketplace in Nuremburg, Germany. He carried a handkerchief initialled KH and a letter which was ostensibly written by a peasant who claimed to have found Kaspar on his doorstep. Kaspar Hauser's identity remained unknown, and the youth became a celebrity ... Read the story of Kaspar Hauser at the Scriptorium www.feralchildren.com   1865 Max Nettlau (d. July 23, 1944), German anarchist, historian and philologist who wrote many biographies of leading anarchists, including Mikhail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta Early progressives in the Book of Days    CounterCulture Wiki     Nettlau-Archive of the IISG    More 1870 Franz Lehár (d. 1948), Hungarian composer, composed The Merry Widow 1877 Alice B Toklas (d. March 7, 1967), San Francisco. American literary figure and life partner of writer Gertrude Stein. She was Stein's secretary, cook and confidante in Paris in her literary salon. Right: Alice B Toklas photograph by Carl Van Vechten Toklas gained wide attention with the publication of The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas (1933), which is actually Gertrude Stein's memoirs. The book contains Toklas's first-person observations of Stein's life and her friends, among them Ernest Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Georges Braque. The book appeared first in an abridged form in The Atlantic Monthly. After the death of Gertrude Stein in 1946, Toklas published her own literary memoir, a 1954 book that mixed reminiscences and recipes under the title The Alice B Toklas Cook Book. The most famous recipe therein (actually contributed by her friend Brion Gysin) was called 'Hashisch Fudge', a mixture of fruit, nuts, spices, and "canibus sativa" [sic]. This lent her name to the range of cannabis concoctions called Alice B Toklas brownies.   The original recipe, although rather vague as to directions, may conceivably be summarized as follows: 1 tsp. black peppercorns 1 whole nutmeg 4 sticks cinnamon 1 tsp. coriander 1 handful stone dates 1 handful dried figs 1 handful shelled almonds 1 handful peanuts A bunch of cannabis sativa ("picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green") 1 cup sugar 1 large pat of butter Grind the pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and coriander in a mortar. Chop and mix the dates, figs, almonds, and peanuts. Grind the cannabis and mix it with the spices; dust this mixture over the fruits and nuts. Mix the sugar with the butter and knead this together with the fruits, nuts, spices, and cannabis. Eat with care – two pieces are quite sufficient. She also wrote Aromas and Flavors of the Past and Present (1958) and in 1963 she published her autobiography, What Is Remembered.   1883 Jaroslav Hasek, (d. 1923) Czech author 1893 Joachim von Ribbentrop (d. 1946), Nazi foreign minister 1894 Dr Herbert Vere Evatt (HV Evatt; 'Doc' Evatt; d November 2, 1965), Australian jurist and statesman, President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1948 - '49; he helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). It is sometimes asserted that Evatt had various forms of undiagnosed mental illness, which led to erratic behaviour. "... Dr H. V. Evatt ... was the Chief Justice of New South Wales’ Supreme Court from 1960 to 1962. When he was appointed he was suffering from advanced senility. He plainly could not manage the job. He was old and ill, uncomprehending and inarticulate, incontinent and barking mad." Justice Meagher of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, in an address to the St James Ethics Centre, August 27, 1998 Evatt Foundation    More 1908 Eve Arden (d. November 12, 1990), American actress (1950s comedy TV show, Our Miss Brooks) 1909 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004) 1910 Al Lewis, actor (The Munsters) 1916 Robert Shaw, conductor 1926 Cloris Leachman (sources differ as to date of birth), American actress (Oscar winner, 1971) 1932 Tony Eggleton, press secretary to a succession of Liberal prime ministers of Australia, and a high-ranking official of the Liberal Party in his own right 1933 Willie Nelson, American country musician, composer, actor 1938 Larry Niven, science fiction author 1941 Max Merritt, New Zealand-born leader of Australian rock band Max Merritt and the Meteors 1944 Jill Clayburgh, American actress 1945 Annie Dillard, poet, essayist, novelist 1946 King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden 1964 Barrington Levy, reggae and dancehall musician 1982 Kirsten Dunst, actress   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send a free e-card greeting for today's celebrations to a loved one Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards May Day [ May 1 ] Birthdays Brothers And Sisters Day [ May 2 ] Beltane [ May 1 ] Varies Full Moon Day Varies Friday the 13th Varies Hindu holidays Varies Passover Varies Orthodox Holy Friday Varies Good Friday Varies Orthodox Easter Varies Easter Varies Baisakhi Varies Mahavir Jayanti Varies Hanuman Jayanti Varies Arbor Day Varies Child Care Professionals Day Varies Buddha Purnima Varies Birthmothers' Day Varies Senior Citizens Day Varies Unmothers' Day Varies Mothers' Day   April 29 Zipper Day 29 Spring Festival (California, USA) 29 International Dance Day 30 Oatmeal Cookie Day 30 Hairstylist Day May 1 May Day 1 Chocolate Parfait Day 1 New Homeowner's Day 1 Plant A Flower Day 1 Beltane 1 Lei Day (Hawaii, USA) 1 Bird Day (Oklahoma, USA) 1 School Principals' Day 1 Global Love Day 2 Teacher Day 2 Brothers And Sisters Day 2 Baby Day 3 Raspberry Popover Day 3 Polish-American Day( Connecticut, USA) 4 Naked Day 4 Orange Juice Day 4 National Day Of Prayer 4 International Firefighters' Day 5 Cinco De Mayo 5 International Tuba Day 5 Halfway Point Of Spring 5 Chocolate Custard Day 5 Hoagie Day 5 International Midwives Day 6 Nurses Day 6 No Diet Day 6 Astronomy Day 6 Freud Day 6 Derby Day 7 School Day 8 Student Nurses Day 8 World Red Cross Day 8 V-E Day 9 Tear Tags Off Mattresses Day 10 Blood Pressure Day 10 School Nurse Day 10 Clean Up Your Room Day 10 Golden Spike Day   ... More Events Visit the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live' And I hope you will sign my GuestMap           If you are enjoying this page, click to receive similar items daily with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine Webmaster, webmasters free content, or else articles at very reasonable rates Pip Wilson's articles are available for your website or publication, on application. Further details   30 CE The first Good Friday: Jesus Christ was crucified at 9 am (traditional date). 65 Death of Lucan, Roman poet. 311 The Edict of Nicomedia, issued by Galerius, gave the first legal recognition to Christians in the Roman empire. They were allowed to build houses of worship as long as they didn't disturb the peace. 313 Roman emperor Licinius unified the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule. 535 Theodahad, King of the Ostrogoths, ordered the murder by strangulation of his wife, Amalasuntha, daughter of Justinian, Emperor of the East. 711 Islamic conquest of Iberia: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus). 1006 Supernova SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, appeared in the constellation Lupus. 1054 The earliest tornado known in Europe occurred at Rosdalla, near Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath, Ireland. Ireland and Britain might seem unlikely locations for tornadoes, but according to a BBC Science webpage, "There are more tornados per square mile each year in Britain than the USA." On October 23, 1091 the earliest known tornado in Britain, possibly the severest on record, hit central London. The church at St. Mary le Bow was badly damaged. Four 7.9 m-long ( 26 ft) rafters were driven into the heavy clay ground with such force that only 1.2 m (4 ft) protruded above the surface. The earliest-known British waterspouts are also the earliest known in all of Europe; these two spouts occurred off southern England in June, 1233. On September 22, 1810, a tornado tracked from Old Portsmouth to Southsea Common (Hampshire), causing severe damage. On May 21, 1950, a tornado that touched down at Little London (Buckinghamshire) tracked 107.1 km to Coveney (Cambridgeshire). More   1483 Orbital calculations suggest that on this day Pluto moved inside Neptune's orbit, making Neptune the farthest planet from the Sun until July 23, 1503. 1492 Spain gave Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. 1583 Richard  ('Iron Dick' or 'Richard in Iron') Burke, first husband of the Irish chieftain and pirate, Granuaile (Grace O'Malley), died. One of many themes discussed by hoi polloi and upper crust is whether life is ever just. I, like most, remain nonplussed. The Bard himself has put it thus: "Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney-sweepers, come to dust." Perhaps. And even Iron Dicks, I trust, As all things ferrous, come to rust. PW   "Richard died, surprisingly of natural causes. Grainne wasted no time and 'gathered together all her own followers and with 1,000 head of cows and mares departed and became a dweller in Carrikahowley in Borosowle'. Having been cheated of her right to one-third her first husband's estate she established her claim simply by taking it."   Source   Granuaile links   Granuaile at Wikipedia Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley 1503-1603   1671 Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, was executed. 1745 The Battle of Fontenoy. France defeated the combined armies of England, Holland and Austria. Captain Lord Charles Hay advanced on the field and met French Lieutenant Count D'Auteroche. Lord Charles bowed and said, "Gentlemen of the French guards, fire!" "Non, my lord," replied the French commander, "We never fire first." After a while they worked out how to commence the slaughter, which ended with twelve thousand men dead on each side. 1752 England: The first meeting of the Wycombe Hellfire Club was held. 1772 John Clais of London patented the dial weighing machine. 1789 On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington took the oath of office on becoming the first elected President of the United States. 1803 Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation overnight. President Thomas Jefferson clinched the deal. 1804 British troops fighting the Dutch in Surinam had the dubious distinction of being the first ever to use shrapnel in warfare. 1810 The first horserace meeting in Australia was run at Parramatta. 1812 On the ninth anniversary of its purchase from France, the Territory of Orleans became the 18th US state under the name Louisiana (the Pelican State). 1838 Nicaragua declared independence from the Central American Federation 1844 American writer Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) accidentally burned 300 acres of forest near Concord, Massachusetts during a fishing trip, causing $2,000 in damages. Thoreau chat board     1863 From Wikipedia: The day that the French Foreign Legion earned its legendary status. The small infantry patrol unit led by Capitane Danjou numbering 62 soldiers and 3 officers was attacked and besieged by Mexican infantry and cavalry units numbering 3 battalions, and was forced to make a defence in Hacienda Camerone. Despite the hopelessness of the situation they fought nearly to the last man. Danjou was mortally wounded in the defense of the hacienda, and the last of his men mounted a desperate bayonet attack. When the last three survivors were asked to surrender, they insisted that the Mexican soldiers allow them safe passage back home, to keep their flag, and to escort the body of the fallen Danjou. Upon seeing this, the Mexican commander commented, "these are not men, they are devils," and out of respect agreed to these terms. Today Camerone Day is an important day of celebration for the Legionnaires, when the wooden prosthetic hand of Capitane Danjou is brought on display. (See Let's celebrate!, above) 1864 American Civil War: Battle of Jenkins Ferry – Retreating Union troops led by General Frederick Steele repelled Confederate forces under General Edmund Kirby Smith. 1865 Death of Robert Fitzroy, English admiral and meteorologist. 1871 USA: The Camp Grant Massacre took place in Arizona Territory. 1875 Death of Jean Frederic Waldeck, French explorer, lithographer and cartographer, at age 109. 1877 Charles Cros, French poet, patented the phonograph. Cros was the most popular poet-singer of his kind in mid-19th-Century Paris. "Sadly, Charles Cros died in the 1880's while trying to prove that his ideas predated Edison's. Had he the money and material to build his model in April 1877, the history of recorded sound might have had a very different beginning."   Source 1883 Death of Edouard Manet, impressionist painter. 1888 More than 220 people were killed by huge hailstones, Moradabad, India. 1889 The first national holiday in the United States of America; it was authorised by an Act of Congress to honour the centenary of George Washington's inauguration as president. 1900 Hawaii became a territory of the United States, with Sanford B Dole as governor. 1900 Casey Jones died in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, "with one hand on the whistle, one on the brake" attempting to save the runaway train Cannonball Express when it crashed between Chicago and New Orleans. 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opened in Saint Louis, Missouri, attracting exhibitors and tourists from all over the world.   Bill Edwards, gender rebel 1905 Australia: Woman/man Bill Edwards (1881 - 1956), was arrested and charged with burglary of a Collingwood, Victoria, pub.  Transvestite and/or transexual Edwards (real name Marion Edwards) went on to public notoriety and wrote The Life and Adventures of Marion Bill Edwards, the Most Celebrated Man-Woman of Modern Times: Exciting Incidents, Strange Sensations, Told in the Graphic Manner by Herself (1906). In about 1897, Marion Edwards had got some men's clothes and, transforming into Bill, rode off on horseback for the Riverina area where s/he worked on a variety of stations (ranches), living as a man for the rest of her life, both in country and city, variously working as Bill Edwards the storeman, clerk, French-polisher, horse-dealer, house painter and barman, later a 'she-male' attraction in a travelling sideshow and SP bookie in a Melbourne pub. Marion Edwards even lived as Bill Edwards abroad, making several horse-dealing trips, including the delivery of horses to India. " … a policeman in Collingwood, investigating a strange noise coming from a pub, encountered two shadowing figures. As he lit a match one of them threw himself through a window and escaped into the night. The other was arrested and charged with burglary. "He turned out to be Bill Edwards, well known in the area. After seven days he was finally bailed by Lucy Minehan, who described herself as his landlady. Edwards immediately skipped bail, left Melbourne and made his way to Brisbane. "And that might have been that except for the chance encounter of Edwards and a friend who – as friends will do from time to time – informed the police of Edwards' whereabouts. And of the fact that Bill was, in fact, a woman – Marion Edwards. "Thus began one of the major cross-dressing sagas in Australian history. Through newspaper reports and her own autobiography we know more about Marion/Bill than we do about many other such cross-dressing, or passing, or as we might say transgender people – but given her propensity to embroider the truth, we cannot always be sure that what we know was in fact the case …"   Source (has audio, Real Media only) "Born in Wales during 1881 Edwards migrated with her family to Victoria four years later. She attended a Geelong school and at the age of 12 was bonded as a domestic worker to a local farmer's wife. Although the exact age at which she began to experiment with her gender varies in her interviews it is clear that she rapidly bored of this life and rejected the usual 'escape' option of marriage to a local lad. "'I don't think the world's much of a place for most women. They have the same tiresome graft, day after day; the same tucker (what the old man and kids can't eat!); the same interests (washing the baby, often; and keeping six people out of the wages of one!); and no amusements. That sort of thing would have killed me if I had fallen into it. I've worked like a navvy...but it didn't seem much hardship, when I remembered that I had freedom. Why, look here! if I'd stayed in slip-bodices, at best I might have become a clerk, working eight hours a day to earn one pound a week, and the privilege of spending my spare time in the back room of a boarding house. Or I could have remained a servant- sweated and bullied day and night. Instead I've managed to make a decent living at men's work of one kind or another. I earned two pound and ten shillings a week as a French-polisher and never a breath of scandal about me. Which is a dashed sight better than what lots of decent, hard working girls can say for themselves.'" Source: Bill Edwards: Gender Rebel (1881-1956) More characters at Melbourne Queer History 1911 The Great Fire of 1911 is ignited in Bangor, Maine, USA, destroying much of the city. 1915 The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was founded in the Netherlands. 1920 Peru became a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty. 1922 Poet AE Housman died at 77. On his deathbed, his doctor told him a dirty joke. Housman replied: "Yes, that's a good one, and tomorrow I shall be telling it on the Golden Floor". 1925 Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc was sold to Dillon, Read & Company for US$146 million plus US$50 million for charity. 1927 The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opened in Alderson, West Virginia as the first women's federal prison in the United States. 1930 Wireless telephone service between the UK and Australia was inaugurated. Prime Minister of Australia, James Scullin, spoke to UK PM Ramsay MacDonald in a three minute, £6 conversation that was broadcast in both countries. 1938 The animated cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt debuted in cinemas, introducing Bugs Bunny. 1939 NBC introduced television as a regular service in the USA. Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first President of the United States to appear on television. 1939 The 1939 New York World's Fair opened. 1943 World War II: Operation Mincemeat – The submarine HMS Seraph surfaced in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans and dressed as a British military intelligence officer. 1945 On Walpurgis Night, the German witching night, Adolf Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun committed suicide in a Berlin bunker. "Hitler's personal devotion to occult principles was proven ultimately by his self-inflicted death. His choice of April 30 for his suicide may well have been meant as a sacrifice; it was the eve of Beltane (known in Germany as Walpurgisnacht), identified on popular Wiccan websites as a Druid feast in honor of the deity Bel. In witchcraft, this 'power-point' day is regarded as a 'great sabbat' equal in potency to Halloween. According to Wiccans, Bel is derived from the Canaanite Baal; but Helena Blavatsky goes farther in The Secret Doctrine (vol.2), reconstructing an astrological trinity of Bel/Baal (sun-god, father), Christos (Mercury, son) and Lucifer (Venus, holy spirit). [more on the Lucifer connection in 'Gods of the New Age'] As for Hitler's suicide itself, this was not a cowardly act from an occultist viewpoint, but rather an honorable practice known among the Druids, as well as among the Cathari 'Perfects', those medieval guardians of the Grail, who called it the rite of 'Endura'. A curious requirement of the 'Endura' was that it was always to be done by pairs of intimate friends, a detail known by the Nazis (Angeberts p.28) which makes sense of Hitler's joint suicide with his new wife Eva Braun. Incidently, Hitler's associates Karl Haushofer and Goebbels also killed themselves in ceremonial fashion along with their wives. (Angeberts, p.275, note 11)"   Source The Occult Roots of Nazi Power 1945 One legend maintains that the mystical relic, the Spear of Longinus (Holy Lance) came into the possession of the United States of America; specifically, under the control of the 3rd Army led by General George Patton. More at March 15 in the Book of Days. 1947 In Nevada Boulder Dam was officially renamed Hoover Dam. 1948 In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States was established. 1948 The Land Rover was unveiled at the Amsterdam Auto Show. 1957 Egypt reopened the Suez Canal. 1958 US Vice-President Richard M Nixon was spat on, stoned and booed during a goodwill tour of Latin America. 1965 Bob Dylan began his first British tour. 1966 Anton LaVey (1930 - 1937) shaved his head and founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco, California. 1967 Colonels deposed the king and government of Greece. 1967 Muhammad Ali, American boxer, confirmed in his view that it is acceptable to bash people but not to shoot them, was stripped of his world heavyweight boxing title for refusing to be drafted into the army. 1967 Police action ended a love-in at Detroit, USA. Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list    CounterCulture Wiki 1973 Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announced that top White House aides HR Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and others had resigned. Nixon accepted responsibility - but not the blame - for the Watergate break-in. 1975 Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gained control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ended with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh, ending the 20th century's longest conflict. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City on this day. Now began the rounding up of hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese nationals into concentration camps ('re-education camps'), an atrocity about which Western peace activists generally remained silent. In one of history's worst 'holocausts', millions of people fled, and millions drowned at sea while so doing. Like neighbouring Laos, Vietnam continues to be an abuser of human rights. Viet Nam: Amnesty International Report 2001 "Re-education as it has been implemented in Vietnam is both a means of revenge and a sophisticated technique of repression and indoctrination which developed for several years in the North and was extended to the South following the 1975 Communist takeover. Yet it has largely failed in its effort to remold individuals because the ideology upon which it is based underestimates the power of the human spirit."   Source "Vietnamese concentration camps, called 're-education camps,' left perhaps 95,000 people dead. Deportations to 'new economic zones' left some 48,000 people dead. The number of people simply rounded up and shot for whatever reason has been estimated at 100,000, with much higher estimates coming from various sources."   Vietnamese Democide "Registry [of] the names of Vietnam's Holocaust victims. In March, we received from the Vietnamese Community of Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia 898 names of political prisoners who have died in re-education camps after the Communist take over in 1975. In April, we received another 1500+ names from the Federation of Associations of Former Vietnamese Political Prisoners, California office.   "From ape to man, the process took millions of years From man to ape, how many years? World, please come and visit The concentration camps in the heart of the far-off jungles! Naked prisoners, taking baths together in herds Living in ill-smelling darkness with lice and mosquitoes. Fighting with each other for a piece of manioc or sweet potato Chained, shot, dragged, slit up at the will of their captors Thrown away for the rats to bite without anyone's notice! This kind of ape is not fast but very slow in action indeed Quite different from that of the remote prehistory They are hungry, they are thin as toothpicks And yet they produce the nation's wealth all year long World, please come and visit! "Poem of Nguyen Chi Thien written in 1967. Translated by Nguyen Huu Hieu. A long time prisoner of conscience in northern Vietnam, Thien was allowed to emigrate from Vietnam a few years ago for health reasons and is now living in the United States." Source     1976 The skeleton of Tasmanian Aborigine Truganini (d. 1876) was cremated. 1977 Texas oil-fire fighter Red Adair capped an oil rig fire on the Bravo Norwegian Ekofisk in the North Sea. 1978 A "Rock Against Racism" concert was held in London. 1980 On her 71st birthday, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicated in favour of her daughter Beatrix. 1980 Five terrorists took over the Iranian Embassy in London; all but one were killed six days later by the Special Air Service (SAS).   1986 In a profound politico-cultural act, following the success of the "put another shrimp on the barbie" ads, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley declared April 30 'Paul Hogan Day'. The practice of barbecuing prawns (known as 'shrimps' in the USA) was not a custom in Australia before an advertising agency invented it, but soon life imitated ad (although I've yet to see it ever done in the hundreds of barbecues I've attended). The Paul Hogan ad campaign has yet another irony. Australians tend to believe that the barbecue is as Australian as the gum tree. In fact, the word has Caribbean roots in Taino (one of the Arawak family of languages). In one form, barabicoa, it indicates a wooden grill, a mesh of sticks; in another, barabicu, it's a sacred fire pit. The practice of barbecuing was known in Australia before WWII but generally referred to as a 'picnic', and sometimes other terms were employed. The barbecue of Australia is actually an import from the USA, probably following the presence in the war of thousands of American service people.   1991 A tropical cyclone hit Bangladesh killing an estimated 138,000 people. Why Bangladesh floods are so bad    Aid worker's story Read about Bangladesh at Oxfam    Cool Planet on Bangladesh (show kids this site) UN Development Program on Bangladesh    BBC Profile on Bangladesh Flooding in Bangladesh: The Meteorological Reasons It Happens and What The Bengali People are Trying To Do About It 1992 Riots broke out in Los Angeles and other parts of the United States after the acquittal of the police officers accused of beating motorist Rodney King. 1993 The World Wide Web was born at CERN. CERN announced that the World Wide Web will be free to anyone, with no fees due. 1995 US President Bill Clinton became the first US President to visit Northern Ireland. 1996 US: About 120 activists were arrested over the next eight days in Washington, DC, in support of a White House fast by Sister Diana Ortiz. Ortiz was kidnapped, tortured, and raped by US-trained and supported Guatemalan Army officers in 1989; she was fasting to demand that the US government release information on her assailants.   1997 American actress Ellen DeGeneres's character 'came out of the closet' on the sitcom Ellen. 1998 NATO membership expanded by approving the admission of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (the nations were formally admitted following NATO's 50th anniversary summit the following April).   1999 Cambodia joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the total members to 10. 1999 Neo-Nazi bomber David Copeland detonated his third bomb in front of the Admiral Duncan pub and was arrested the night after. 2001 Dennis Tito, the first 'space tourist' lifted off in a Russian rocket heading for the International Space Station. 2001 Chandra Levy, a former intern to California Congressman Gary Condit, was last seen in Washington, DC.  2002 A referendum in Pakistan overwhelmingly approved the Presidency of Pervez Musharraf for another five years.     Tomorrow: May Day            Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search     Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research. I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude. © My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply. Read more about today at Wilson's Blogmanac

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