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This day in history

This day in history: 28 May

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day206 · 94

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Key facts

350 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 28 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2017: Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from the race with an engine issue in his first entry of the event.

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (Croatia)

Christian feast day: Bernard of Menthon

Christian feast day: Blessed Lanfranc

Christian feast day: Blessed Margaret Pole

Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Bagnesi

Christian feast day: Blessed Thomas Ford

Christian feast day: Germain of Paris

Christian feast day: John Calvin (Episcopal Church)

Christian feast day: May 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Ubaldesca Taccini

Christian feast day: William of Gellone

Downfall of the Derg (Ethiopia)

Events

2017Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from the race with an engine issue in his first entry of the event.

2016Harambe, a gorilla, is shot to death after grabbing a three-year-old boy in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking various internet memes.

2013Start of the Gezi Park protests in Turkey.

2012The Arkankergen massacre in Kazakhstan's Alakol District kills 15 people.

2011Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

2010In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.

2008The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

2004The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.

2003Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.

2002The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

1999In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.

1998Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually

1996U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.

1995The 7.0 Mw Neftegorsk earthquake shakes the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.

1991The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.

1987An 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow, Russia.

1979Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.

1977The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, is engulfed by fire, killing 165 people inside.

1975At Brampton Centennial Secondary School, student Michael Slobodian kills two people and injures 13 others before committing suicide.

1975Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

1974Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.

1968Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 crashes near Nala Sopara in India, killing 30.

1964The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader.

1962The Soviet Kosmos 5 satellite is launched.

1961Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

1958Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.

1948Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.

1940World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.

1940World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first Allied infantry victory of the War.

1937Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded.

1936Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.

1934Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

1932In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.

1926The 28 May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.

1918The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.

1907The first Isle of Man TT race is held.

1905Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

1892In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.

1871The Paris Commune falls after two months.

1830U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.

Born on this day

2000Phil Foden, English footballer

2000Risi Pouri-Lane, New Zealand rugby sevens player

1999Cameron Boyce, American actor (died 2019)

1999Jodie Burrage, British tennis player

1998De'Anthony Melton, American basketball player

1998Kim Dahyun, South Korean rapper and singer

1995Lukas Gage, American actor

1994Alec Benjamin, American singer and songwriter

1994John Stones, English footballer

1993Bárbara Luz, Portuguese tennis player

1993Daniel Alvaro, Australian rugby league player

1991Danielle Lao, American tennis player

1990Kyle Walker, English footballer

1990Riquna Williams, American basketball player

1988Craig Kimbrel, American baseball player

1988David Perron, Canadian ice hockey player

1988NaVorro Bowman, American football player

1988Percy Harvin, American football player

1987T.J. Yates, American football player

1986Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player

1986Bryant Dunston, American-Armenian basketball player

1986Ingmar Vos, Dutch decathlete

1986Michael Oher, American football player

1986Seth Rollins, American wrestler

1985Carey Mulligan, English actress

1985Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1985Kostas Mendrinos, Greek footballer

1985Pablo Andrés González, Argentinian footballer

1983Humberto Sánchez, Dominican-American baseball player

1983Krista Kosonen, Finnish actress

1983Roman Atwood, American YouTuber

1983Steve Cronin, American soccer player

1982Alexa Davalos, French-American actress

1982Jhonny Peralta, Dominican-American baseball player

1981Adam Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1981Daniel Cabrera, Dominican-American baseball player

1981Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player

1981Laura Bailey, American voice actress

1980Lucy Shuker, English tennis player

1980Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer

Died on this day

2026Claude Lemieux, heavy-hitting retired NHL forward and four-time Stanley Cup winner (born 1965)

2023David Breaer, English politician, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (born 1940)

2023George Cassidy, Northern Irish jazz musician (born 1936)

2022Patricia Brake, English actress (born 1942)

2021Mark Eaton, American basketball player (born 1957)

2018Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (born 1941)

2018Jens Christian Skou, Danish medical doctor and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)

2018Neale Cooper, Scottish footballer (born 1963)

2016Harambe, Cincinnati Zoo western lowland gorilla (born 1999)

2015Johnny Keating, Scottish trombonist, composer, and producer (born 1927)

2015Reynaldo Rey, American actor and screenwriter (born 1940)

2015Steven Gerber, American pianist and composer (born 1948)

2014Bob Houbregs, Canadian-American basketball player and manager (born 1932)

2014Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer (born 1971)

2014Malcolm Glazer, American businessman (born 1928)

2014Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (born 1928)

2014Oscar Dystel, American publisher (born 1912)

2014Stan Crowther, English footballer (born 1935)

2013Eddie Romero, Filipino director, producer, screenwriter, and National Artist for Cinema and Broadcast Arts (born 1924)

2013Gerd Schmückle, German general (born 1917)

2013Viktor Kulikov, Russian commander (born 1921)

2012Bob Edwards, English journalist (born 1925)

2012Yuri Susloparov, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (born 1958)

2011Gino Valenzano, Italian racing driver (born 1920)

2010Gary Coleman, American actor (born 1968)

2008Beryl Cook, English painter and illustrator (born 1926)

2007Jörg Immendorff, German painter, sculptor, and academic (born 1945)

2007Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Agriculture (born 1945)

2006Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (born 1920)

2004John Tolos, Greek-Canadian wrestler (born 1930)

Quote of the day

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

Marcus Aurelius

Questions people ask

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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