Today in History, 5/30

Too much video today. But I was having fun watching it.

1431: Joan of Arc gets burned at the stake.
1536: King Henry VIII marries his third wife, Jane Seymour. She would later die from complications arising from the birth of the future King Edward IV.1642: From this date, all honors granted by Charles I are annulled by Parliament. I would assume that they were all given back once Charles II was restored.1806: Future president Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
1868: The predecessor of Memorial Day, Decoration Day is celebrated for the first time.
1879: New York City's Gilmore's Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden.
1883: Also in New York, rumors that the Brooklyn Bridge is in danger of collapsing cause a stampede that kills 12 people.
1896: Howard Hawks is born. He did so many great movies I can't name them all, but The Thing From Another World is one of them.

1902: Stepin Fetchit is born.

1908: Mel Blanc is born.

1909: Benny Goodman is born.

1913: The Treaty of London, 1913 ends the First Balkan War and Albania becomes an independent nation.

1920: Franklin J. Schaffner is born. He directed the original Planet of the Apes along with Patton and The Boys From Brazil.
1922: The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated. I always wanted to climb up on his lap and get my picture taken like a kid with Santy Claus!1926: Christine Jorgensen, early transexual and subject of the film Glen or Glenda? is born.1944: Meredith McRae is born. She played Bille Jo on Petticoat Junction. She also played Animal (the easy girl) in the Beach Party movies. This is her in more innocent times.

1948: Michael Piller is born. He's one of the people who made Star Trek: Deep Space Nine such a classic series.1951: Stephen Tobolowsky is born. He played Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day.

1953: Colm Meany is born. He played Miles O'Brien on Deep Space Nine and is also one of the people responsible for making DS9 such a kick-ass show.

1958: The remains of two soldiers, one from WWII and one from Korea, are interred at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.1958: Ted McGinley is born. He played Stan "The Man" Gable, the evil head jock in Revenge of The Nerds. He's also been the Angel of Death for many TV shows.1962: Kevin Eastman is born. He is the co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The original comic book was a lot more adult, but some guys offered him a ton of money to soften it up for kids. And that's why we're plagued with Ninja Turtles junk forever.1982: Cal Ripken, Jr. plays the first of a record 2,632 consecutive major league ball games. I thought he did a good job co-anchoring the World Series last year.1989: During the Tiananmen Square protests, the 33-foot high Goddess of Democracy statue is unveiled.Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.