May 29 in Pop Culture History
1453 – Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih captured Constantinople after a 53-day siege, commonly referred to as The Fall of Constantinople.
1790 – Rhode Island was the last of the original United States’ colonies to ratify the Constitution and was admitted as the 13th US state.
1913 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, France
1914 – Heavy fog caused a collision between cruise ship Empress of Ireland and coal freighter, the Storstad on the St. Lawrence River in Canada that killed 1,073 people, mostly tourist passengers on the Empress.
1953 – Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, became the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which is at 29,035 feet above sea level.
1954 – First of the annual Bilderberg Group conferences was held in the Hotel de Bilderberg in Oosterbeek, Netherlands.
1961 # 1 Hit May 29, 1961 – June 4, 1961: Ricky Nelson – Travelin’ Man
1965 # 1 Hit May 29, 1965 – June 11, 1965: The Beach Boys – Help Me Rhonda
1971 # 1 Hit May 29, 1971 – June 11, 1971: The Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar
1976 # 1 Hit May 29, 1976 – July 9, 1976: Diana Ross – Love Hangover
1979 – Actor Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, was charged with the murder of Judge John Wood.
1982 – Pope John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
2004 – The National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.
