History of 12 May
1926 – The airship Norge became the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.
1926 – In Britain, a general strike by trade unions ended. The strike began on May 3, 1926.
1937 – Britain’s King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1940 – The Nazi conquest of France began with the German army crossing Meuse River.
1942 – The Soviet Army launched its first major offensive of World War II and took Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine from the German army.
1943 – The Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.
1949 – The Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade.
1950 – The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.
1957 – A.J. Foyt won his first auto racing victory in Kansas City, MO.
1965 – West Germany and Israel exchanged letters establishing diplomatic relations.
1970 – Ernie Banks, of the Chicago Cubs, hit his 500th home run.
1975 – U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez was seized by Cambodian forces in international waters.
1978 – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that they would no longer exclusively name hurricanes after women.
1982 – South Africa unveiled a plan that would give voting rights to citizens of Asian and mixed-race descent, but not to blacks.
1984 – South African prisoner Nelson Mandela saw his wife for the first time in 22 years.
1999 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and named Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin as his successor.
2002 – Former U.S. President Carter arrived in Cuba for a visit with Fidel Castro. It was the first time a U.S. head of state, in or out of office, had gone to the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution.
2003 – In Texas, fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers went into hiding over a dispute with Republican’s over a congressional redistricting plan.
2008 – In the U.S., the price for a one-ounce First-Class stamp increased from 41 to 42 cents.
2015 – A train derailment in Philadelphia kills eight people and injures more than 200.
2015 – Massive Nepal earthquake kills 218 people and injures more than 3500.
2017 – A ransomware attack attacks over 400 thousand computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom’s National Health Services and Telefónica computers.
2018 – 2018 Paris knife attack – A man was fatally shot by police in Paris after killing 1 and injuring several others.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Rami Malek, American actor
- 1981 – Kentaro Sato, Japanese-American composer, and conductor
- 1981 – Dennis Trillo, Filipino actor, and singer
- 1982 – Donnie Nietes, Filipino boxer
- 1982 – Rhian Wilkinson, Canadian soccer player
- 1983 – Domhnall Gleeson, Irish actor
- 1983 – Alina Kabaeva, a Russian gymnast and politician
- 1983 – Yujiro Kushida, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
- 1983 – Charilaos Pappas, Greek footballer
- 1983 – Virginie Razzano, a French tennis player
- 1983 – Francisco Javier Torres, Mexican footballer
- 1984 – Clare Bowen, Australian actress, and singer
- 1985 – Paolo Goltz, the Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Andrew Howe, Italian long jumper and sprinter
- 1985 – Jeroen Simaeys, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Jonathan Orozco, Mexican footballer
- 1986 – Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress
- 1987 – Alex Gough, Canadian luger
- 1987 – Kieron Pollard, Trinidadian cricketer
- 1988 – Marcelo, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 – Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Greek Cypriot singer, musician, and actress
- 1990 – Florent Amodio, French figure skater
- 1990 – Tobias Strobl, German footballer
- 1992 – Malcolm David Kelley, American actor
- 1995 – Luke Benward, American actor, and singer
- 1995 – Kenton Duty, American actor
- 1995 – Irina Khromacheva, a Russian tennis player
- 1997 – Morgan Lake, English athlete
- 1997 – Odeya Rush, Israeli actress
- 1998 – Mohamed Bamba, American professional basketball player