Major Events
- 330 Newly built city of Constantinople (Byzantium) dedicated to Emperor Constantine the Great, becomes the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire
- 1189 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg for the Third Crusade
- 1751 Pennsylvania Hospital founded by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia
- 1812 British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London. Ironically, descendants of both later stand for the same seat in Parliament at the same time but neither win.
- 1934 Great dust bowl storm sweeps across the American and Canadian prairies traveling as far as the East Coast
- 1995 More than 170 countries agree to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons [1]
- 2000 India's population officially reaches 1 billion - Astha Arora named India's billionth baby
- More May 11 Events
May 11 in Film & TV
- 1969 British comedy troupe Monty Python forms, made up of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin
May 11 in Music
- 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Cats" (based on poetry by T. S. Eliot) directed by Trevor Nunn, opens at the New London Theatre in the West End, London; runs for 8,949 performances
May 11 in Sport
- 1893 Henri Desgrange establishes world's 1st bicycle world record, travelling 35.325 km (21.95 miles) an hour
Did You Know?
Waltz introduced into English ballrooms; some observers consider it disgusting and immoral
Harriet Quimby
Salvador Dali
Louis Farrakhan
Phil Silvers
Natasha Richardson
Cory Monteith
Holly Valance
Irving Berlin
Fun Fact About May 11
American actress and #MeToo activist Alyssa Milano urges women to go on a "sex strike" after Georgia state passes new abortion law
Famous Weddings
- 1963 Prime Minister of Canada John Turner (33) weds Geills McCrae Kilgour (25)
- 1970 American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. (44) weds American entertainer Altovise Gore (26) in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania courthouse, officiated by the Rev. Jesse Jackson:, his third marriage lasts until his death in 1990
- 1996 Fashion designer Cynthia Rowley (39) weds retail store designer Bill Keenan (43) at Manhattan City Hall in New York
More May 11 Weddings
Spencer Perceval
John Herschel
John D. Rockefeller Jr
Bob Marley
Douglas Adams
Floyd PattersonArticles, Photos and Quiz
Assassination of a British Prime Minister
Only one British Prime Minister has ever been assassinated, a fact that brought the only claim to fame for Spencer Perceval.
May 11, 1812
Assassination of Spencer Perceval
British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham, drawing by John Heaviside Clark
May 11, 1812
