Today in History for 11th May 2026

[CoM Moderators]

Historical Events

1625 - Peasants besiege Frankenburg estate in Upper Austria
1919 - Cincinnati Reds pitcher Hod Eller no-hits St Louis Cardinals, 6-0 at Redland Field, Cincinnati
1969 - British comedy troupe Monty Python forms, made up of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin
1972 - US conducts a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site
2020 - Colombian airline Avianca, and world's 2nd oldest, becomes 1st major airline to file for bankruptcy due to COVID-19

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Famous Birthdays

1840 - Filippo Capocci, Italian organ virtuoso and composer, born in Rome, Papal States (d. 1911)
1895 - Jan Parandowski, Polish writer and translator, born in Lwów, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine) (d. 1978)
1927 - Zilpha Keatly Snyder, American Newbury Award-winning children's literature author (Headless Cupid; The Egypt Game), born in Lemoore, California (d. 2014)
1970 - Dean Capobianco, Australian 200m/400m (Olympics 1992, 96)
1988 - Marek Pospieszalski, Polish avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer, born in Częstochowa, Poland

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Famous Deaths

1743 - Francesco Stradivari, Italian violin maker and son of Antonius, dies at 70
2016 - Jim Pothecary, South African cricket medium pace bowler (3 Tests, 9 wickets; Western Province), dies at 82
2021 - Janine Brookner [née Okun], American CIA officer and lawyer who spoke out against sexual discrimination in the CIA, dies of complications of kidney disease and cancer at 80
2023 - Hodding Carter III, American White House press secretary under Jimmy Carter (1977-80), dies after a series of strokes at 88
2024 - Mary Wells Lawrence, American businesswoman and the first woman to own a major US national advertising agency (Wells Rich Greene), dies at 95

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