History is everything. If you want to wipe the memory of a people, get rid of their history first. That’s why having some knowledge of past occurrences is imperative. 4th May is the 124th day of the year (118th in leap years). 241 days remain until the end of the year.

 

Today, 4th May 2019, also marks the International Star Wars Day, World Give Day, World N***d Gardening Day and the International Firefighters’ Day. Find out some important events that occurred on this day in history.

 

Historical events

1415 — Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.

1493 — Spanish Pope Alexander VI divides America between Spain and Portugal.

1535 — Five Carthusian monks from London Charterhouse monastery are hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London. They refused to acknowledge Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England.

1715 — A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella.

1776 — Rhode Island declares independence from Britain.

1783 — Herschel reports seeing a red glow near lunar crater Aristarchus.

 

4th May in the 19th Century

1814 — Bourbon reign restored in France.

1818 — The Netherlands and Britain sign a treaty against illegal slave handling.

1878 — Phonograph shown for the first time at the Grand Opera House.

1893 — Cowboy Bill Pickett invents bulldogging. It is the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground.

1896 — The first edition of the London Daily Mail (halfpenny).

1896 — Grease fire ignites half a ton of dynamite at Cripple Creek, Colorado.

 

4th May in the 20th Century

1916 — At the request of the US, Germany curtails its submarine warfare.

1925 — The League of Nations conference on arms control and poison gas usage holds.

1927 — The first balloon flight over 40,000 feet occurs in Scott Field, Illinois.

1929 — “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” star Audrey Hepburn is born as Edda Kathleen van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston in Brussels, Belgium.

1938 — Douglas Hyde (a protestant) becomes the first president of Eire.

1942 — Pulitzer prize awarded to Ellen Glasgow for “In this our Life”.

1944 — “Gaslight”, starring an 18-year-old actress Angela Lansbury in her film debut, releases.

1953 — Pulitzer Prize for Literature awarded to author Ernest Hemingway for “The Old Man and The Sea”.

1954 — the US performs an atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island.

1957 — Anne Frank Foundation in honour of the Jewish victim and diarist of the Holocaust forms in Amsterdam.

1959 — First Grammy Awards: Perry Como and jazz musician Ella Ella Fitzgerald win.

1961 — South Africa ANC leader John Nkadimeng arrested.

1970 — Pulitzer prize awarded to Erik H Erikson for “Gandhi’s Truth”.

1979 — Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1983 — China performs a nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC.

1990 — Angela Bowie reveals that ex husband David slept with rock star Mick Jagger.

1991 — US President George H. W. Bush is hospitalised for an erratic heartbeat.

1999 — “The Mummy”, a film directed by Stephen Sommers starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah, premieres in the US.

 

4th May in the 21st Century

2002 — Nigerian plane crash: A Nigerian BAC 1-11-500 aircraft crashes into the town of Kano and explodes in a densely populated section, killing 148 people.

2005 — Pakistan Top al-Qaeda Suspect Captured: Pakistani authorities capture and arrest suspected al-Qaeda chief Abu Faraj al-Libbi. They think the suspect is high ranking within the organisation and critical to the planning and facilitating of al-Qaeda activities.

2006 — Picasso’s portrait of his lover Dora Maar sells at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York for $95.2 million. The portrait, painted in 1941, was considered the second most expensive painting at the time. It was under another Picasso painting that sold for $104 million in 2004.

2008 — Actor Seth MacFarlane reaches an agreement worth $100 million with Fox to keep “Family Guy” and “American Dad” on television until 2012. This makes MacFarlane the world’s highest paid television writer.

2010 — An auction at Christie’s in New York sets a record for the most expensive work of art sold at auction when it sells Pablo Picasso’s “N**e, Green Leaves and Bust” for $106 million.

2010 — Seinfeld Comedienne Julia Louis-Dreyfus receives the 2,407th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, although on the original star spelt her name incorrectly.

 

More dates

2011 — US President Barack Obama chooses not to release photos of Osama bin Laden following his death. Reuters releases photos taken at the Abbottabad compound.

2011 — Great Britain’s Prince Charles visits the White House to discuss the environment and energy issues with US President Barack Obama.

2012 — A study finds that 90% of dropouts in Asia’s major city schools suffer from myopia or short-sightedness. 10 – 20% have advanced or high myopia, which can cause blindness.

2012 — In Las Vegas, NV, Google receives the first self-driving vehicle testing license.

In 2013 — The Solar Impulse plane, an aircraft powered completely by solar energy, successfully completes its first leg of a journey across the United States.

2013 — Author Harper Lee files a lawsuit against a literary agent over the copyright of “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

2013 — 39 people are killed at a funeral in Wukari, Nigeria.

2015 — Golden State Warrior Basketball Superstar Stephen Curry named MVP for the 2014-15 NBA season.

2018 — California overtakes Great Britain to become the world s fifth largest economy.