Today in History for 5th May 2025
Historical Events
1814 – British attack Fort Ontario, Oswego, New York
1908 – 34th Kentucky Derby: Arthur Pickens aboard 66-1 chance Stone Street wins in muddy track conditions; 2:15.20 slowest Derby in history
1938 – MLB Philadelphia Phillies Harold Kelleher pitcher faces 16 batters in 6th, as Cubs score 12 runs, both marks are NL records off one hurler in a single inning
1980 – Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as the SAS and police storm the building
1990 – 35th Eurovision Song Contest: Toto Cutugno for Italy wins singing “Insieme: 1992” in Zagreb
Famous Birthdays
1680 – Giuseppe Porsile, Neapolitan composer, born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, Spanish Empire (d. 1750)
1873 – Leon Czolgosz, American anarchist and assassin of US President William McKinley, born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1901)
1904 – Gordon Richards, British jockey (26 x British flat racing Champion Jockey; 4,870 race wins), born in Donnington Wood, Telford (d. 1986)
1921 – Sonja Oosterman, Dutch pop singer and lyricist (De Marketentsters en De Musketiers), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2008)
1936 – Patrick Gowers, British choral and film score composer (Viri Galilaei; Hamlet; Smiley’s People), born in Islington, England (d. 2014)
Famous Deaths
1678 – Anna M van Schurman, Dutch poet, spoke 10 languages, dies at about 70
1808 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist, dies at 50
1864 – John Marshall Jones, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 43
1996 – Bernard Benjamin Gillis [Kyanski] British jurist (High Court , 1964-80), dies at 89
2000 – Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (Tour de France 1938, 48; Giro d’Italia 1936-7, 46), dies of a heart attack at 85
