May 21

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May 21, 1491 BCE — The Israelites leave Egypt

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One of the best known stories in the Bible, the Exodus or Exit from Egypt, is the escape of the Israelites from slavery under the Pharoahs. The particular Pharoah in question is not specified in the Bible (and speculation about who it is has been a scholarly pastime for centuries), but whoever it was, he was clearly cut from the same cloth as the most stubborn, stupid and self-destructive leaders of history.

It’s only after numerous plagues – which kill off a goodly portion of his subjects – that he agrees to let the Israelites go. And even then, he changes his mind once more, pursuing them with his army…

…only to be killed, along with his army, when Moses unparts the Red Sea and the Israelites make good their escape to the Sinai, where they spend the next four decades preparing to invade Canaan and begin the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has continued, intermittently, ever since.

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May 21, 1927 — Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight

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In the 1920’s, aviators were heroes. They were bold explorers and experimenters, pushing back the boundaries of the known. And none of them loomed larger in the public eye than Charles “Lucky” Lindbergh.

At the age of 25, this formerly obscure US Air Mail pilot was catapulted to fame and fortune when he completed the remarkable feat of being the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic. Flying a custom-built single engine monoplane named The Spirit of St Louis, he took off from from Roosevelt Field on Long Island shortly before 8AM on May 20, and landed 35 hours later at Le Bourget Field in Paris.

This exploit won him the Orteig Prize, a sum of $25,000. He was also feted and decorated, receiving the Medal of Honor from the USA and the Legion of Honour from France, among other awards.

Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of Saint Louis (Crisco restoration, with wings).jpg
By Unknown author – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division
under the digital ID cph.3a23920.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

All That Jazz — ‘Chicago’ cast

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May 21, 1929 — The Great King Rat is born

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Little is known of the circumstances of the Great King Rat’s birth, other than its date of May 21st. Even the year is an estimate.

It is known that the Great King Rat would grow up to become a notorious dirty old man, and my feeling is that he was probably involved with organized crime syndicates in London. Given the cause of his death, it seems likely that he did not use condoms.

Queen Queen.png
By May be found at the following website: http://www.queenpicturehall.com/albums/q01q.shtml, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Great King Rat — Queen

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May 21, 1973 — The Great King Rat dies

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Only three facts are known about the circumstances of the Great King Rat’s death: the proximate cause was syphillis, it was forty-four years to the day since his birth, and the date was May 21st. Even the year is an estimate.

It is known that the Great King Rat was, at the time of his death, a notorious dirty old man, and my feeling is that he was probably involved with organized crime syndicates in London. Given the cause of his death, it seems likely that he did not use condoms.

Queen Queen.png
By May be found at the following website: http://www.queenpicturehall.com/albums/q01q.shtml, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Great King Rat — Queen