Once Upon A Time – May 13 – 1830 – Republic Of Ecuador Founded With Juan Jose Flores As President

1787 Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay, Australia

1830 Republic of Ecuador is founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president

1934 Great dustbowl storm sweeps across US prairies

1940 Winston Churchill says “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” in his first speech as Prime Minister to British House of Commons

1981 Pope John Paul II is shot and critically wounded by Turkish gunman Mehemet Ali Agca in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City

1989 Approx 2,000 students begin hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, China

Historical Events Today Events in 2023
Today in Film & TV
2004 The final episode of “Frasier” on NBC is watched by 33 million people

Today in Music
1767 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s first opera “Apollo et Hyacinthus”, written when he was 11 years old, premieres in Salzburg

Today in Sport
1950 First ever race of the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship is run at Silverstone, England and won by Giuseppe Farina of italy in an Alfa Romeo

Other Facts…
1637 Cardinal Richelieu of France reputedly creates the table knife

2017 22 year old UK blogger halts spread of global ransomware cyber-attack by accidentally identifying “kill switch”

Famous Weddings
1922 “Latin Lover” silent actor Rudolph Valentino (27) weds film costume and set designer Natacha Rambova (25) in Mexicali, Mexico

1932 Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich (25) weds Russian physicist Nina Varsar (23), mostly until her death in 1954

1985 American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen (35) weds American actress Julianne Phillips (25) at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon; divorce in 1989

Captain Arthur Phillip commanded a fleet of British ships carrying convicts to New South Wales on this day, effectively founding the British colony of Australia – May 13, 1787