On This Day: 21 May

Henry V of England is made King of France by the Treaty of Troyes		1420
Henry VI murdered		1471
Joao da Nova Castell discovers St. Helena		1502
Lady Jane Grey, great–grand–daughter of Henry VII, reluctantly marries Lord Guildford Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland		1553
James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, Scottish Royalist, executed		1650
The nobility elect John Sobieski as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania		1674
Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel		1703
Nearly 15,000 people lose their lives in a tsunami caused by the collapse of a lava dome on Mount Unzen, near the city of Shimbara on the Japanese island of KyÅ«shÅ«		1792
Pere Lachaise cemetery, Paris, opens		1804
Battle of Aspern–Essling: Austrians defeat Napoleon		1809
Standard newspaper first published		1827
Captain William Hobson declares New Zealand a British colony, on the basis of signatures collected from Maori chiefs		1840
Gold is discovered in Australia		1851
Battle of Spotsylvania (US Civil War) ends		1864
Foundation stone of the Royal Albert Hall laid		1867
Treaty of Frankfurt ratified		1871
Versailles troops enter Paris to overthrow the insurrectionary Commune government after a siege of over a month, starting the so–called Bloody Week of reprisals		1871
Leoncavallo's opera I Pagliacci first performed, in Milan		1892
Manchester Ship Canal officially opened by Queen Victoria		1894
FIFA is established in Paris		1904
Wilbur and Orville Wright patent their flying machine		1908
President Porfirio DÃaz of Mexico and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad JuÃ¡rez, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution		1911
Summer Time (Daylight Saving) begins in Britain – four days after the passing of the Act		1916
The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire's military forces		1917
Charles Lindbergh lands in Paris to complete the first solo non–stop transatlantic flight (taking 33h 30m)		1927
Amelia Earhart is forced by bad weather to land in a pasture near Derry, completing the first ever solo flight across the Atlantic by a woman		1932
Humphrey Bogart (44) marries Lauren Bacall (20) at Malabar Farm, Ohio – his fourth marriage		1945
Two people die and more are injured as violent storms and a tornado sweep through the Home Counties		1950
Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area from December, making telephone calls easier and cheaper		1958
Martial law is imposed in Montgomery, Alabama, after violent racial clashes		1961
The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army		1966
Henry Cooper loses to Cassius Clay		1966
Lazlo Toth, a Hungarian geologist, attacks Michelangelo's Pieta (in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome) with a hammer, shouting "I am Christ"		1972
The Baader–Meinhof gang goes on trial in Frankfurt		1975
29 people lose their lives when a bus carrying a school choir from Yuba City, California, suffers brake failure in Martinez: the deadliest road accident in US history		1976
Elton John becomes the first Western rock star to play in the USSR		1979
Joe Strummer of The Clash is arrested in Hamburg after smashing a guitar over the head of a member of the audience		1980
Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer for $380 million, after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate		1981
Seven Palestinians are killed by an Israeli soldier		1990
Ion Ilescu wins the first free elections in Romania		1990
Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras		1991
Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees the country – effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end		1991
Stephen Churchill dies – the first recorded victim of new variant CJD		1995
Almost one thousand lives are lost when the ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria		1996
HM Government announces a complete ban on the manufacture and use of anti–personnel landmines		1997
Saeed Anwar, opening for Pakistan against India, scores a one–day international record 194		1997
President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule		1998
Kip Kinkel, 15, shoots his parents dead at their home and opens fire in a cafeteria, killing one more person and injuring at least 20, in Springfield, Oregon		1998
More than 2,200 people lose their lives in an earthquake in BoumerdÃ¨s Province, northern Algeria		2003
Pemba Dorji Sherpa, 26, climbs Everest (from Base Camp to summit) in a new record time of 8 hrs 10 mins		2004
Kingda Ka, the world's tallest roller coaster, opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey		2005
55% of Montenegrins vote for independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro		2006
The Cutty Sark, in dry dock at Greenwich and undergoing restoration, badly damaged by fire		2007
More than 120 people are killed by a suicide bomb in Sana'a, Yemen – responsibility is claimed by Ansar al–Sharia, an affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)		2012
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performs its final show at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York		2017

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On This Day: 21 May