This Day in History is DUE’s daily dose of trivia for all the history buffs out there. So sit back and take a ride of all the fascinating things that happened today!
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in people, and hence, every day has been a significant one in the foibles of history. Now, let’s take a tour of “This Day in History – 4th May”.
1799: Death of Tipu Sultan
Sultan and the Tiger of Mysore died on this day while defending his territory from the British army. Tipu Sultan was a prominent hurdle for the British but after the Treaty of Seringapatam, he receded to some of their demands. He died in the fourth Mysore war when his capital was attacked by the British.
1953: Pulitzer Prize awarded to Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for “The Old Man & The Sea” in 1953. It is a short novel that also happens to be the last major work of fiction by Hemingway. It is a story of a Cuban fisherman, of hope and struggle.
1959: First Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards which were originally known as the Gramophone Awards took place for the first time on this day. They were right away compared with the Oscars and the Emmys. With only 28 categories the event took place inside the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Winners for the night included Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Kingston Trio.
1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be a British Prime-Minister
Surely a controversial figure of her times, Margaret Thatcher got elected as the United Kingdom’s first female Prime Minister. She stayed in office from 1979 until 1990, thus becoming the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. Her governance brought in major economic reforms. She privatized British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways, Rolls-Royce and other state-owned companies.
1980: Josip Broz Tito dies at the age of 87
Leader of Yugoslavia and a communist revolutionary, Josip Broz Tito died on this day with a gangrene-induced infection. He was the communist dictator of Yugoslavia from 1963 until his death. He fought in the First World War and got influenced by the Russian model. This inspiration led to the conversion of Yugoslavia to communism.
