A bit of catching up on dates – items and observations for the between the 27th and 31st May. On the 27th May, it seems that a Mr. Campbell was in Egypt on a visit the the Great Pyramid of Giza.
On that day s/he entered the top chamber and somehow printed on a stone CAMPBELL’s CHAMBER, MAY 27, 1837. There is quite a lot of graffiti dating back some 5000 years to the crew of builders who left there mark in the chamber before departing. It is worth watching Egypt’s Lost Cities on the BBC.
Whilst Mr, Mrs or Miss Campbell was busy despoiling the Great Pyramid, on the 27 May 1837, over in the United States, at Homer, Illinois (now called Troy Grove) James Butler Hickok a.k.a. Wild Bill, was born. He had a colourful life and became the stuff of legend, in particular the manner of his death.
On August 2, 1876, Hickok (then aged 39) was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, in the Black Hills, Dakota Territory. Hickok, as a precaution, usually sat with his back to the wall. The only seat available when he joined the poker game was a chair that put his back to a door. Twice he asked another player, Charles Rich, to change seats with him, and on both occasions Rich refused. A former buffalo hunter named John McCall (then aged 24, and better known as "Jack" or “Broken Nose Jack” McCall) walked in unnoticed. Jack McCall walked to within a few feet of Wild Bill and then suddenly drew a pistol and shouted, “Take that!” before firing. The bullet hit Hickok in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The bullet emerged through Wild Bill’s right cheek, striking Captain Massie in the left wrist. Legend has it that Hickok had lost his stake and had just borrowed $50 from the house to continue playing. When shot, he was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, all black. The fifth card is debated, or, as some say, had been discarded and its replacement had not yet been dealt. In 1979 Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
On the 28th May 1961 – English lawyer Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. Following publication of his article in The Observer 28 May 1961. Amnesty was founded in London. It is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Amnesty International draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with international laws and standards. The organisation was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its "campaign against torture’ and the United Nations Prize in the Filed of Human Rights in 1978.
It was also on the day 28th May in 1964 that the Palestine Liberation Organisation was founded.On the 29th May 1948, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) was founded on 29 May 1948, for peacekeeping in the Middle East. Its primary task was providing the military command structure to the peace keeping forces in the Middle East to enable the peace keepers to observe and maintain the cease-fire, and as may be necessary in assisting the parties to the Armistice Agreements in the supervision of the application and observance of the terms of those Agreements. The command structure of the UNTSO was maintained to cover the later peace keeper organisations of the United Nations.
On the 30th May 1972, members of a protest group from North East London, the 'Stoke Newington Eight' were prosecuted for carrying out bombings as the Angry Brigade in one of the longest criminal trials of English history (it lasted from 30 May to 6 December 1972). As a result of the trial, John Barker, Jim Greenfield, Hilary Creek and Anna Mendleson received prison sentences of 10 years. A number of other defendants were found not guilty, including Stuart Christie, who had previously been imprisoned in Spain for carrying explosives with the intent to assassinate the dictator Franco, and Angela Mason (née Weir) who became a director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights group Stonewall. She was awarded an OBE in 1999. In my early days as a Solicitor's Clerk I has assisted during the defence of Ms Angela Weir. (Part of the personal memoir) An interesting time. This documentary, introduced by Stuart Christie is worth a view.
On the 31st May 1962, Adolph Eichmann is hanged for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel. This is not pleasant.
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