Today in History - History - December 5th

1717Blackbeard ransacks the merchant sloop "Margaret" and keeps her captain, Henry Bostock, prisoner for 8 hours before releasing him. Bostock would later provide the first recorded of Blackbeard's appearance, with specific reference to his "very black beard", providing the source for his name

2008Human remains previously found in 1991 are finally identified by Russian and American scientists as those of Tsar Nicholas II.

1892Sir John Thompson becomes the fourth Prime Minister of Canada.

1958Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.

1804Thomas Jefferson re-elected US President, George Clinton Vice President

1946Pres Harry Truman creates Committee on Civil Rights by Exec Order #9808

2006Greg Maddux signs a one-year deal with the San Diego Padres worth $10 million

1832Andrew Jackson re-elected President of US

1950Ezzard Charles KOs Nick Barone in 11 for heavyweight boxing title

198156th Australian Women Tennis: Navratilova beats Chris Evert (67 64 75)

1443Pope Julius II, Albisola, Republic of Genoa, Pope (1503-13), patron of Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael, (d. 1513)

1782Martin Van Buren, Kinderhook New York, (D) 8th US president (1837-41)

1859John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, British Admiral of the Fleet, Southampton

1839George Armstrong Custer, New Rumley, Ohio, Mjr General (Union volunteers), (d. 1876)

1901Walter Elias disney, Chicago, animator (Mickey Mouse), (d. 1966)

1903Cecil Frank Powell, Tonbridge, Kent, physicist, discovered pion (Nobel 1950), (d.1969)

2003Cold play band lead vocalist Chris Martin (35) weds actress and singer Gwyneth Paltrow (39) at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California

1926Gangster Carlo Gambino (24) weds his first cousin Catherine Castellano

1870Alexandre Dumas, French writer, dies at 68

1965Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel laureate for shock therapy (b. 1874)

2002Roone Arledge, American sports broadcasting pioneer, dies of prostate cancer at 71

2013Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner (1962-1990) and South African President (1994-99) dies of a lung infection at 95

1926Claude Monet, French impressionist, dies at 86

1784Phillis Wheatley, American poet and first published African-American woman, dies in Boston at 31