May 5th – This Day In History

May 5th may be the time to celebrate Cinco De Mayo, but there are other things that also happened on this day in history!

In 1821: Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile from his beloved France at the age of 51.  Doctors tried to prolong his life by giving him arsenic. Yeah, that didn't work out too well. Sixteen years later, his corpse was shipped from England to France; the poison had kept it incredibly well preserved.

153 years ago In 1862, CINCO DE MAYO! The Mexican army scores an upset victory over the invading French army at the Battle of Puebla. Even though the Mexicans held off the French that day, they didn't win their war.  About a year later, the French successfully occupied Mexico City.  They didn't leave until the U.S. strongly pressured them to leave a few years later. it might surprise you to know that It's NOT a federal holiday in Mexico, but just a voluntary one.  And it doesn't get huge celebrations in Mexico, in fact, they barely notice it.

124 years ago in 1891: The Music Hall in New York City opens.  Two years later it was renamed Carnegie Hall, after the guy who paid for it; Andrew Carnegie.

111 years ago in 1904: Cy Young threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball against the Philadelphia Athletics.

94 years ago in 1921: COCO CHANEL debuts her perfume, CHANEL NO. 5.  It hits stores one year later and, ever since, one bottle sells every 55 seconds.

90 years ago in 1925: Biology teacher John Scopes was arrested for teaching the Theory of Evolution in Dayton, Tennessee. (After all these years...still just a theory)

54 years ago in 1961: Alan Shepard becomes the 1st American in Space! Shepard made a 15-minute sub-orbital flight.

47 years ago in 1968. Buffalo Springfield broke up. Members Stephen Stills and Neil Young  went on to form another little group with with a couple of other guys named Graham Nash and David Crosby .

25 years ago in 1990: Paul Hogan married his hot "Crocodile Dundee" costar Linda Kozlowski. Today's their 21st Anniversary, but unfortunately they're in the process of getting a divorce.

21 years ago in 1994: American teenager Michael Fay, received four lashes with a four-foot long, half-inch split bamboo rod as punishment for spray painting graffiti all around Singapore. The outcry from America was non-existent.

18 years ago in 1997: The final episode of 'Married with Children' aired on Fox.

15 years ago in 2000; Billy Bob Thornton married the most beautiful (and strange) woman in the planet. She reportedly kept a vile of his blood in a vile around her neck. They got divorced in May of 2003.