May 12
Flight over North Pole by Roald Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth, and Umberto Nobile
Roald Amundsen, 1923.
1926: An international team of explorers reportedly made the first flight over the North Pole on this day. Roald Amundsen of Norway, who had been the first to reach the South Pole in 1912, Lincoln Ellsworth of the United States, and aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile of Italy set off in the semirigid airship Norge from Spitsbergen, Norway, and flew across the pole to Alaska.
1949: The Soviet Union lifted its blockade of Berlin.
1937: The United Kingdom's King George VI was crowned following the abdication of Edward VIII.
1925: American baseball player, manager, and coach Yogi Berra was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
1845: French composer Gabriel Fauré was born in Pamiers, Ariège.
1820: English nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy.
1780: During the American Revolution, Major General Benjamin Lincoln of the Continental Army was forced to surrender with 7,000 troops at Charleston, South Carolina.
Katharine Hepburn.
American actress Katharine Hepburn, born this day in 1907, was known as a spirited performer with a touch of Yankee eccentricity. She introduced into her roles a strength of character previously considered undesirable in Hollywood leading ladies. As an actress, she was noted for her brisk upper-class New England accent and tomboyish beauty.
"My greatest strength is…common sense. I'm really a standard brand—like Campbell's tomato soup or Baker's chocolate."
Katharine Hepburn |
