May 5th

On this day - May 5th 1821 - Napoleon died in exile 

Napoleon Bonaparte rise to power during the French Revolution and became the emperor of the French between 1804 and 1814. He was then exiled to Elba, where he escaped in 1815. His second reign lasted for a few months in 1815. Napoleon dominated European politics and led a series of war known as the Napoleonic wars. He ruled over much of mainland Europe before the collapse in 1814 and 1815. He was also the King of Italy and the Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, and had a lasting impact on Europe. He was defeated for the second time in the Battle of Waterloo. He was exiled to the island Sint Helena, a remote and unhealthy place. He died there on this day in 1821 at the age of 51. Over one million people witnessed the returns of his remains to Paris the same year.

May 4th

On this day - May 4th 1959 - The first Annual Grammy Award 

The Grammy awards is a music award ceremony held in the US. The first of the annual Grammy award was held in 1959 in two separate ceremonies held at the same time. One was hosted in New York while the other was held in Beverly Hills, California. Record, album and song of the year went to Domenico Modugno. Best Country song went to The Kingston Trio for the still well-known song "Tom Dooley".Best Jazz performance went to Ella Fitzgerald (individual) and Count Basie (Group). Best Album cover went to Frank Sinatra! The Grammy awards was not televised before the second award show in November the same year.

May 3

On this day - May 3 1960 - European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was established 

EFTA was established as a free trade organization for those western European countries who were not able to and chose not to be a part of the European Economic Community (Today's EU). The main difference between EU and EFTA was that EFTA did not set a common custom tariff, thus leaving it up to each country to decide this independently. Seven nations signed the agreement on the "Stockholm Convention" held January 1960. On May 3 was the organization officially established. Those nations who originally joined were United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal. Several other nations joined EFTA in the years which followed, but in more recent time most of the nations left to join the EU instead of. The nations left in EFTA today is Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. But perhaps United Kingdom will once again join EFTA if they choose to leave EU in the upcoming referendum?

May 2

On this day - May 2nd 2011 - Osama Bin Laden was killed

Osama Bin Laden was the founder of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is most known for taking responsibility for the September 11 attacks against the United States of America in 2001. Bin Laden founded al-Qaeda in 1988 in Saudi Arabia, the group was forced out in 1992 and settled in Sudan. The US pressured Sudan to forcing Bin Laden out of Sudan and in 1996 he left for Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan he declared war against the United States. In 1998 his involvement in the 1998 embassy bombing in Kenya, landed Bin Laden a spot on the FBI's ten most wanted list. After 9-11 the FBI upped the bounty on his head to 25 million USD. Bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan by SEAL team Six under the orders of president Barrack Obama 

May 1

On this day - May 1 1999 - George Mallory is found on mount Everest 

British mountaineer George Mallory was part of an English expedition to mount Everest in the early 1920s. In the expedition in 1924 both Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine both disappeared from the North-East ridge. The pair were attempting the first ascent of Everest, they were last seen 245 vertical meters from the summit. The bodies were not found on that expedition and their fate were unknown until Mallory's body were found in 1999. The 1999 expedition was called the Mallory and Irvine research expedition, and led by Eric Simmons. Conrad Anker was the one to find Mallory's body and it was first believed to be Irvine's body but the name tag read G. Leigh Mallory. Irvine was supposed to have a camera and experts from Kodak believes that there is a chance to develop the film if it is found. There have been a few expeditions after the one in 1999 to find Irvine's body but it remains lost. It is not known if the climbers reached the top and the camera could resolve that.