Following are some of the major events to have occurred on May 7:
1915 – The British passenger liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, contributing to the United States’ entry into World War One; 1,198 passengers and crew perished.
1942 – The Austrian conductor and composer Felix Weingartner died. He was best known for interpretations of Wagner and Beethoven.
1945 – The instruments of the surrender of German forces in World War Two were signed by General Alfred Jodl, the German chief of staff, at U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims, France.
2001 – Ronnie Biggs, who took part in Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” in 1963, voluntarily ended 35 years on the run by returning to Britain from Brazil.
2002 – Chinese tightrope walker breaks record after spending 22 days on high wire.
2003 – The United States added the Spanish Basque nationalist party Batasuna and its predecessors to a list of terrorist groups.
2005 – Nobel laureate David Trimble, an architect of Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace deal, stepped down as leader of the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party after he lost his seat and his party did poorly in Britain’s general election.
2007 – Flamboyant British fashion editor and style icon Isabella Blow, one of the industry’s great eccentrics who helped launch the careers of models and designers, died aged 48.
2008 – Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russian president and nominated his predecessor Vladimir Putin as prime minister, ushering in an unprecedented period of dual rule.
2009 – Mickey Carroll, one of the last surviving diminutive “Munchkins” in the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz,” died of natural causes aged 89.
2015 – New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez hits his 661st home run, surpassing record of Willie Mays.
(Reuters)
