This day in history

[May 28, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, May 28, the 148th day of 2009. There are 217 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On May 28, 1934, the Dionne quintuplets -- Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne -- were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.

On this date:

In 1533, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

In 1863, the first black regiment from the North left Boston to fight in the Civil War.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.

In 1918, the Battle of Cantigny began during World War I as American troops captured the French town from the Germans.

In 1929, the first all-color talking picture, "On with the Show," opened in New York.

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California. Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight which both primates survived.

In 1972, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the English throne to marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, died in Paris at age 77.

In 1977, 165 people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Ky.

In 1987, Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow's Red Square.

Ten years ago: Russia's Balkan envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin met with Slobodan Milosevic for nine hours, declaring the Yugoslav president key to a Kosovo peace plan despite complications caused by Milosevic's indictment for war crimes.

Five years ago: The Iraqi Governing Council chose Iyad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, to become prime minister of Iraq's interim government. Some three dozen people were killed by a powerful earthquake in northern Iran.

One year ago: The White House reacted angrily to a highly critical memoir by President George W. Bush's former press secretary, Scott McClellan, who wrote that Bush had relied on an aggressive "political propaganda campaign" instead of the truth to sell the Iraq war. Nepal's lawmakers abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic, ending 239 years of royal rule.

Today's birthdays: Rockabilly singer-musician Sonny Burgess is 80. Actress Carroll Baker is 78. Producer-director Irwin Winkler is 78. Actor John Karlen is 76. Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West is 71. Actress Beth Howland is 68. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is 65. Singer Gladys Knight is 65. Singer Billy Vera is 65. Singer John Fogerty is 64. Actress-director Sondra Locke is 62. Country musician Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss and Union Station) is 53. Actor Brandon Cruz ("The Courtship of Eddie's Father") is 47. Country singer Phil Vassar is 47. Actress Christa Miller is 45. Singer-musician Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA) is 44. Rapper Chubb Rock is 41. Singer Kylie Minogue is 41. Actor Justin Kirk is 40. Television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck ("The View") is 32. Actor Jesse Bradford is 30. Actress Monica Keena is 30. Pop singer Colbie Caillat is 24. Actress Carey Mulligan is 24. Actor Joseph Cross is 23.

Thought for today: "The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner." --Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (1903-1968)

[Associated Press]

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