Events Date 1971 May | History by KabAstro

23rd Emmy Awards

May 9 23rd Emmy Awards: All in the Family, Jack Klugman & Jean Stapleton win

May 9 American Beth Bonner runs female world record marathon (3:01:42) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 9 Friends of Earth return 1500 non-returnable bottles to Schweppes
May 9 Largest walk in crowd (31,626) in Baltimore Oriole history
May 10 US special delivery rates go from 45 cents to 60 cents
May 11 Cleveland's pitcher Steve Dunning hits a grand slam off Oakland Athletics pitcher Diego Seguí
May 13 Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane seriously injured in a car accident
May 15 96th Preakness: Gustavo Avila aboard Canonero II wins in 1:54
May 15 Irish Republican Army member William 'Billy' Reid is shot dead by British soldiers in Belfast

70, Girls, 70

May 15 John Kander and Fred Ebbs' musical "70, Girls, 70", starring Hans Conried and Mildred Natwick, closes at Broadhurst Theater, NYC, after 35 performances

Musical Theater and Film Composer John Kander

May 15 Radio Nordsee International's ship bombed

Owen Wingrave

May 16 Benjamin Britten's opera "Owen Wingrave" premieres in Aldwych, London

May 16 Bulgaria adopts its constitution
May 16 US 1st class postage now costs 8 cents (was 6 cents)
May 17 Stephen Schwartz' musical "Godspell" premieres off-Broadway
May 17 Washington State bans sex discrimination
May 18 4th ABA Championship: Utah Stars beat Kentucky Colonels, 4 games to 3
May 18 Bulgarian constitution comes into effect

Stanley Cup

May 18 Stanley Cup Final, Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL: Henri Richard scores twice as Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Black Hawks for a 4-3 series victory

Event of Interest

May 18 US President Richard Nixon rejects 60 demands of Congressional Black Caucus

May 18 Vampire rapist Wayne Boden's last victim found in Calgary, Alberta
May 19 USSR launches Mars 2, becomes the 1st spacecraft to crash land on Mars
May 20 Pentagon reports blacks constitute 11% of US soldiers in SE Asia
May 21 Chelsea win 11th European Cup Winner's Cup against Real Madrid 2-1 in Athens (replay)

What's Going On

May 21 Marvin Gaye' eleventh album "What's Going On" is released; considered the best album off all-time by critic surveys in Rolling Stone (2020); The Guardian (1997); and New Music Express (1985)

May 21 National Guard mobilizes to quell riot in Chattanooga, Tennessee
May 22 A British soldier is killed by members of the Official Irish Republican Army in Belfast
May 23 American rock group Iron Butterfly ("In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida") disbands
May 24 A commuter bus plunges into Panama Canal, killing 38 of 43 aboard
May 25 The Provisional Irish Republican Army throw a time bomb into Springfield Road British Army base in Belfast, killing British Army Sergeant Michael Willetts and wounding seven officers
May 25 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
May 27 23rd Walker Cup: Britain-Ireland, 13-11