1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.

1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.

1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day

1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.

1973 – Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:592⁄5, an as-yet unbeaten record.

1985 – Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.

1987 – Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share this special day with…

1813 – Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and author (d. 1855)

1818 – Karl Marx, German philosopher, sociologist, and journalist (d. 1883)

1864 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (d. 1922)

1882 – Sylvia Pankhurst, English women's suffrage movement leader and socialist activist (d. 1960)

1898 – Blind Willie McTell, American Piedmont blues singer and guitar player (d. 1959)

1903 – James Beard, American chef and author (d. 1985)

1914 – Tyrone Power, American actor (d. 1958)

1919 – Georgios Papadopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, 169th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1999)

1925 – Leo Ryan, American soldier, educator, and politician (d. 1978)

1936 – Sandy Baron, American actor and comedian (d. 2001)

1942 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)

1943 – Michael Palin, English actor and screenwriter

1952 – Ed Lee, American politician and attorney, 43rd Mayor of San Francisco (d. 2017)

1988 – Adele, English singer-songwriter

Almanac - Wednesday 5/5/21

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