Friday May 16 1929 First Academy Awards held in Hollywood. 1934 Women players were allowed to wear shorts at Wimbledon. 2001 Labour Party deputy leader John Prescott was involved in a punch-up while campaigning in Rhyl.

CROW ANNIVERSARIES

May 16 - May 22

Friday May 16

1929 First Academy Awards held in Hollywood.

1934 Women players were allowed to wear shorts at Wimbledon.

2001 Labour Party deputy leader John Prescott was involved in a punch-up while campaigning in Rhyl.

Births: Henry Fonda, actor, 1905; Liberace, entertainer, 1919.

Today's birthdays: Roy Hudd, actor and comedian, 72; Judy Finnegan, of the Richard & Judy Show, 60; Pierce Brosnan, actor, 55; Debra Winger, actress, 53.

Deaths: Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, 1990; Sammy Davis Jr, entertainer, 1990.

Saturday May 17

1943 Wing commander Guy Gibson led The Dam Busters raid.

1973 The US Senate began its Watergate hearings.

Births: Dennis Potter, playwright, 1935.

Today's birthdays: Dennis Hopper, actor, 72; Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat MP 57; Sugar Ray Leonard, world champion boxer, 53; Paul Whitehouse, comedian, 50; Jeremy Vine, broadcaster, 43.

Deaths: Randolph Turpin, ex-world middleweight champion, 1966.

Sunday May 18

1936 A revolt under Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco began the Spanish Civil War.

1936 First women announcers - Jasmine Bligh and Elizabeth Cowell - employed by the BBC.

2004 India's Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi declined the position of Prime Minister.

Births: Fred Perry, British tennis legend, 1909; Perry Como, singer, 1912; Lord Hartwell, ex-editor in chief of The Daily Telegraph, 1911; Dame Margot Fonteyn, ballerina, 1919.

Today's birthdays: Nobby Stiles, England 1966 World Cup hero, 66; Rick Wakeman, keyboard player, 59; Toyah Wilcox, singer, 50.

Deaths: Elizabeth Montgomery, star of Bewitched, 1995.

Monday May 19

1649 Oliver Cromwell declared England a republican state.

1998 The Special Jury Prize at Cannes was awarded to Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

Births: Ho Chi Minh, president of North Vietnam, 1890; Malcolm X, civil rights leader, 1925.

Today's birthdays: James Fox, actor, 67; Pete Townshend, of The Who, 63; Victoria Wood, writer and comedian, 55.

Deaths: Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII, 1536; Nathaniel Hawthorne, novelist, 1864; William Gladstone, Liberal Prime Minister, 1898; T E Lawrence, otherwise Lawrence of Arabia, 1936; Sir John Betjeman, poet laureate, 1984; Jackie Kennedy Onassis, widow of President John Kennedy, 1994.

Tuesday May 20

1939 Pan Am began services to Europe.

1976 The BBC banned The Beatles record A Day in the Life.

1975 The 500th episode of Z Cars screened.

Births: John Stuart Mill, philosopher, 1806; James Stewart, actor, 1908.

Today's birthdays: Joe Cocker, singer-songwriter, 64; Cher, actress and singer, 62; Greg Dyke, ex-director general of the BBC, 61; Nick Heyward, singer-songwriter, 47; Louis Theroux, television presenter, 38.

Wednesday May 21

1827 First edition of the Evening Standard published.

1894 The opening of the Manchester Ship Canal.

1904 Fifa was set up in Paris.

1956 The US tested an H-bomb at Bikini Atoll in the south Pacific.

2001 Manchester City sacked manager Joe Royle.

2007 Fire damaged the Cutty Sark at Greenwich.

Births: Fats Waller, jazz pianist and composer, 1904; Raymond Burr, star of Perry Mason and Ironside, 1917.

Today's birthdays: Barry Norman, movie critic, 75; Mary Robinson, ex-President of Ireland, 64; Leo Sayer, singer-songwriter, 60; Andrew Neil, journalist and broadcaster, 59.

Deaths: Henry VI, 1471; Lord Kenneth Clark, historian, 1983; Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister, 1991; Dame Barbara Cartland, romantic novelist, 2000; Sir John Gielgud, actor, 2000.

Thursday May 22

1929 Mussolini banned beauty contests in Italy.

1936 The opening of the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera.

1981 Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe jailed for life for the murder of 13 women.

Births: Richard Wagner, composer, 1813; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, 1859; Laurence Olivier, actor, 1907; George Best, soccer legend, 1946.

Today's birthdays: Sir Menzies Campbell, ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats, 67; Morrissey, singer-songwriter, 49; Naomi Campbell, model, 38.

Deaths: Cecil Day Lewis, poet, 1972; Dame Margaret Rutherford, actress, 1972; Max Wall, comedian, 1990.