On This Day: 10 May

Chinese astronomers make one of the first observations of a sunspot		28 BC
Titus, son of the emperor Vespasian, opens a full–scale assault on Jerusalem and attacks the city's Third Wall to the northwest		70
Scottish nobles recognise the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king		1291
Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World		1497
Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands, and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles that he finds there		1503
Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland		1534
English troops, under the command of Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables, capture Jamaica from Spain		1655
John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article in The North Briton severely criticising King George III. This action provokes rioting in London		1768
Parliament passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade		1773
Louis XVI becomes King of France		1774
A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures a small British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga		1775
Representatives from the Thirteen Colonies begin the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia		1775
Warren Hastings impeached in Parliament by Edmund Burke		1787
Napoleon defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Lodi Bridge		1796
The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the USA		1801
HM Government announces that to avoid economic crisis, paper money will become legal tender		1811
London's National Gallery opens to the public		1824
Troops fire into a crowd outside the Astor Place Opera House, New York, protesting at the British actor Charles Macready's criticism of the American way. 22 are killed, 56 injured		1849
The Indian Mutiny begins as Sepoys of Britain's Indian Army mutiny at Meerut		1857
Jefferson Davies, Confederate President, taken prisoner at Irwinville, Georgia		1865
American Equal rights Society founded		1866
Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railways link up at Promontory, Utah, completing the first US transcontinental railway		1869
Germany and France conclude the Peace of Frankfurt–am–Main		1871
Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States		1872
Football Association approves the issuing of football caps		1886
Imperial Institute, London, opened		1893
The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company		1904
Mother's Day first celebrated. Instituted by Miss Anna Jarvis of Pennsylvania		1908
Nearly 100 bombs are dropped on Southend–on–Sea from a Zeppelin		1915
Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia in the lifeboat James Caird, after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island		1916
HMS Vindictive scuttled in the entrance to Ostend Harbour		1918
Dr. Ivy Williams is the first woman to be called to the English bar		1922
J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972		1924
Nazis begin to burn books by 'un–German' authors		1933
Busmen's strike begins in London		1937
Britain's first frozen food –; Smedley's asparagus – goes on sale		1937
Germany invades the Benelux countries, starting the Battle of Flanders		1940
Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister		1940
Neville Chamberlain resigns as prime minister and a National Government is formed under Winston Churchill		1940
Local Defence Volunteers (later called the Home Guard) formed		1940
Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, makes a parachute landing near Glasgow, after flying from Augsburg, in an apparent attempt to negotiate a peace deal, but is captured and imprisoned for the remainder of the war		1941
House of Commons destroyed in the heaviest night of the London Blitz		1941
Bill Haley & His Comets release Rock Around the Clock, the first rock and roll record to reach No. 1 in either the USA or UK		1954
Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk		1962
Compulsory breath testing of motorists becomes law in the UK		1967
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards bailed at Chichester, and Brian Jones arrested at his London flat – all on drugs charges		1967
Peace talks on Vietnam begin in Paris		1968
The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937 – which will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill		1969
Frank Sinatra's My way makes the first of nine UK chart entries		1969
Police fire tear gas into the audience at a Jethro Tull concert in Denver, Colorado		1971
Native American activists end their 10–week occupation of Wounded Knee		1973
Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder in Japan		1975
Francois Mitterand becomes France's first Socialist President		1981
Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's first black president		1994
HM Government lifts a 23–year ban on ministerial talks with Sinn Fein		1995
Indian prime minister Narasimha Rao resigns as the Congress Party's 49 years of power end in humiliating election defeat		1996
An earthquake in north–east Iran leaves 1,500 dead and 10,000 homeless		1997
Members of Sinn Fein vote to accept the Good Friday agreement		1998
Seven people die and dozens are injured as a train travelling at over 100 mph leaves the rails and crashes into the station at Potters Bar, Hertfordshire		2002
Maxine Carr, girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley, is released from prison, less than 5 months into a 3½ year sentence for perverting the course of justice (providing Huntley with a false alibi)		2004

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On This Day: 10 May