This day in history

Today is Monday, May 23, the 143d day of 2011. There are 222 daysleft in the year.

Today's birthdays: Bluegrass singer Mac Wiseman is 86. ActorNigel Davenport is 83. Actress Barbara Barrie is 80. Actress JoanCollins is 78. Actor Charles Kimbrough is 75. Actress Lauren Chapinis 66. Country singer Misty Morgan is 66. Country singer Judy Rodmanis 60. Singer Luka Bloom is 56. Actor-comedian Drew Carey is 53.Country singer Shelly West is 53. Actor Linden Ashby is 51. ActressKaren Duffy is 50. Rock musician Phil Selway (Radiohead) is 44.Actress Laurel Holloman is 43. Rock musician Matt Flynn (Maroon 5)is 41. Singer Lorenzo is 39. Country singer Brian McComas is 39.Singer Maxwell is 38. Singer Jewel is 37. Actor Lane Garrison is 31.Actor Adam Wylie is 27.

In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who soldher to the English.

In 1533, the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Catherineof Aragon was declared null and void.

In 1701, William Kidd was hanged in London after he was convictedof piracy and murder.

In 1788, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the USConstitution.

In 1873, Canada's Parliament voted to establish the North WestMounted Police force.

In 1911, the newly completed New York Public Library wasdedicated by President William Howard Taft, Governor John Alden Dixand Mayor William Jay Gaynor (the library was opened to the publicthe next day).

In 1934, bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were shot todeath in a police ambush in Bienville Parish, La.

In 1945, Nazi official Heinrich Himmler committed suicide whileimprisoned in Germany.

In 1967, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, anaction that precipitated war between Israel and its Arab neighborsthe following month.

In 1984, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issued a report sayingthere was "very solid" evidence linking cigarette smoke to lungdisease in nonsmokers.

In 1991, talk-show host Johnny Carson announced his retirementfrom "The Tonight Show," effective in one year.

In 2001, the US Senate passed an 11-year, $1.35 trillion-dollartax cut bill.

In 2006, in a recording posted on the Internet, a voice,purported to be that of Osama bin Laden, said Zacarias Moussaoui,the only person convicted in the United States for the 9/11 attacks,had nothing to do with the Al Qaeda operation. Former US senator,vice-presidential candidate and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsendied in Houston at 85.

In 2010, the final episode of the supernatural castaway drama"Lost" aired on ABC after six seasons.

23history.ART