Sunday 19 May is the 139th day of the Gregorian calendar. There are 226 days left until the end of the year.
Saint of the day: Saint Celestine V
May Proverb
If it’s cool in May, the broad bean and also the formento are fine
It happened today
1919 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk moves to Samsun from Istanbul on an old ship named Bandırma, with his few friends, to work separately from the Ottoman Government, in order to prepare the nation for the War of Independence
1965 – Patricia Roberts Harris becomes the first black US ambassador and is assigned to the Luxembourg embassy
1971 – Martian probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union
1974 – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is elected president of the French Republic
1989 – The De Mita government ends
1991 – Willy T. Ribbs becomes the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500
1999 – Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace debuts in US theaters, setting a new first-day box office record with $28.5 million
2004 – India: after Sonia Gandhi’s resignation, Manmohan Singh becomes prime minister
2018 – Royal wedding between Henry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle
Birthdays
Andrea Pirlo – former Italian footballer and coach (19 May 1979)
Michele Placido – Italian actor and director (19 May 1946)
Pete Townshend – English musician of The Who (19 May 1945)
Laura Freddi – showgirl, TV presenter (19 May 1972)
