Today is Saturday, May 27, the 147th day of 2006. There are 218 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 27, 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, Calif., was opened to the public.
On this date:
In 1896, 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis and East St. Louis, Ill.
In 1933, Walt Disney’s Academy Award-winning animated short “The Three Little Pigs” was first released.
In 1935, the Supreme Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act.
In 1936, the Cunard liner Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage.
In 1941, amid rising world tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an “unlimited national emergency.”
In 1941, the British navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France, with a loss of 2,300 lives.
In 1964, independent India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, died.
In 1985, in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997.
In 1993, five people were killed in a bombing at the Uffizi museum of art in Florence, Italy; some three dozen paintings were ruined or damaged.
In 1995, actor Christopher Reeve was left paralyzed when he was thrown from his horse during a jumping event in Charlottesville, Va.
Ten years ago: Russian President Boris Yeltsin negotiated a cease-fire to the war in Chechnya in his first meeting with the rebels’ leader.
Five years ago: Indy rookie Helio Castroneves led teammate and fellow Brazilian Gil de Ferran in a 1-2 Roger Penske finish, giving the renowned owner a triumphant return to the Indianapolis 500.
One year ago: Speaking out for the first time in favor of controversial base closings, President Bush told the Naval Academy commencement the nation was wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary military facilities and needed the money for the war on terrorism. Testimony ended in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial after prosecutors showed jurors a video of the accuser being interviewed by police and defense lawyers decided not to put on a rebuttal case. (Jackson was later acquitted.)
Today’s Birthdays: Novelist Herman Wouk is 91. Actor Christopher Lee is 84. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is 83. Actress Lee Meriwether is 71. Musician Ramsey Lewis is 71. Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 70. Rhythm-and-blues singer Raymond Sanders (The Persuasions) is 67. Country singer Don Williams is 67. Actor Bruce Weitz is 63. Singer Cilla Black is 63. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) is 62. Singer Bruce Cockburn is 61. Actor Richard Schiff is 51. Singer Siouxsie Sioux (The Creatures, Siouxsie and the Banshees) is 49. Rock singer-musician Neil Finn (The Finn Brothers) is 48. Actress Peri Gilpin is 45. Actress Cathy Silvers is 45. Actor Todd Bridges is 41. Rock musician Sean Kinney (Alice In Chains) is 40. Actor Dondre Whitfield is 37. Actor Paul Bettany is 35. Rock singer-musician Brian Desveaux (Nine Days) is 35. Country singer Jace Everett is 34. Rapper Andre 3000 (Outkast) is 31. Rapper Jadakiss is 31. TV chef Jamie Oliver is 31. Actor Ethan Dampf is 12.
Thought for Today: “The little I know I owe to my ignorance.” — Sacha Guitry, French actor and dramatist (1885-1957).