Today is Thursday, May 31, the 152nd day of 2012. There are 214 days left in the year.

1621 ― Sir Francis Bacon thrown into Tower of London for one night

1678 ― Lady Godiva rides naked through Coventry in a protest of taxes

1868 ― Dr. James Moore (U.K.) wins first recorded bicycle race in Paris, France

1870 ― E. J. DeSemdt patents asphalt pavement

1879 ― First electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition

1917 ― First jazz record released (Dark Town Strutters Ball)

1949 ― Charley Lupica begins stay on 4-foot-square platform atop a 60-yard pole, vowing to stay until Indians clinch pennant. (They don't, and he comes down 117 days later)

1989 ― First International Rock Awards

1991 ― Oldest bride; Minnie Munro, 102, weds Dudley Reid, 83, in Australia

1997 ― Donovan Bailey beats Michael Johnson in 150 meter race