On This Day - What Happened On May 7 - Encyclopedia Britannica

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Featured Event

1663 Theatre Royal opened The Theatre Royal, built by the dramatist Thomas Killigrew for his company of actors and now commonly known as the Drury Lane Theatre, opened in London this day in 1663 and is the oldest English theatre still in use. How much do you know about theatre? Courtesy of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California

Featured Biography

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Russian composer bornMay 7, 1840Votkinsk, RussiadiedNovember 6, 1893 (aged 53)St. Petersburg, RussiaLibrary of Congress, Washington, D.C. (file no. LC-USZ62-128254) 1901 Gary Cooper American actor 1892 Josip Broz Tito president of Yugoslavia 1861 Rabindranath Tagore Bengali poet 1840 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Russian composer 1748 Olympe de Gouges French writer See All Biographies On This Day

More Events On This Day

2002 On the 25th anniversary of his Kentucky Derby win, Seattle Slew, the first undefeated racehorse ever to win the U.S. Triple Crown, died. Can you identify these well-known horses? 1992 More than 200 years after it was first proposed, the Twenty-seventh Amendment garnered the necessary votes as Michigan ratified it; the amendment involved salary increases to members of the U.S. Congress. Take our amendments quizNARA 1954 Viet Minh General Vo Nguyen Giap took the French by surprise at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, surrounding their base with 40,000 men and employing heavy artillery to capture it during the First Indochina War. Test your knowledge of significant moments in military historyCentral Press—Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1946 Sony Corporation, a major Japanese manufacturer of consumer electronics products, was founded by Ibuka Masaru and Morita Akio. Take our electronics and gadgets quiz 1945 A German delegation that included General Alfred Jodl went to U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, France, and signed the surrender documents that ended the European phase of World War II. Sort fact from fiction in our World War II quizUllstein Bild/Getty Images 1919 Argentine political figure Eva Perón—who, as the wife of President Juan Perón, became a powerful though unofficial leader—was born. Test your knowledge of South AmericaKeystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1918 The Treaty of Bucharest forced Romania to make territorial and financial reparations following its defeat by the Central Powers during World War I. How much do you know about World War I? 1915 A German submarine sunk the Lusitania, a British ocean liner, indirectly contributing to the entry of the United States into World War I. Read about seven of the world's deadliest shipwrecksGeorge Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. 3g13287u) 1915 Japan delivered an ultimatum to China, demanding special privileges, which the major European powers were unable to oppose because of their involvement in World War I. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about JapanEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1911 Japanese director Honda Ishirō, perhaps best known for a series of Godzilla movies, was born in Yamagata prefecture. Read more about Godzilla and other famous movie monstersHershenson-Allen Archive 1896 American criminal H.H. Holmes, who was considered the first known serial killer in the United States, was hanged; he confessed to 130 murders, though some believe the real number exceeded 200. Take our quiz about famous serial killersHistoric Collection/Alamy 1861 Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, short-story writer, song composer, playwright, essayist, and painter who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, was born in Calcutta (Kolkata). Test your knowledge of literary NobelistsEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1711 Scottish philosopher David Hume, known for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism, was born in Edinburgh. Take our Philosophy 101 quizFine Art Images—Heritage Images/age fotostock SIGN UP FOR History's Biggest Headlines Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors. SIGN UP Thanks for signing up for Today in History. Your first newsletter will arrive soon! SIGN UP By clicking "Sign Up" you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.