THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2009

Today is Thursday, May 21, the 141st day of 2009. There are 224 days left in the year.

1840 _ New Zealand became a British colony

1892 _ Ruggiero Leoncavallo's opera ``I Pagliacci" premieres in Milan

1908 _ First horror movie (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde) premieres in Chicago

1916 _ Britain begins ``Summer Time" (Daylight Savings Time)

1922 _ Pulitzer prize awarded to Eugene O'Neill (Anna Christie)

1945 _ Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart wed

1956 _ U.S. explodes first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll

1978 _ 118 Unification church couples wed in England

1979 _ Elton John becomes first western rocker to perform live in the USSR

1982 _ British troops lands on Falkland Islands