Today is Tuesday, May 17, the 137th day of 2011. There are 228 days left in the year.
1536 ― Anne Boleyn's four ``lovers" executed
1756 ― Britain declares war on France (7 Years' or French & Indian War)
1846 ― Saxophone is patented by Antoine Joseph Sax
1884 ― Alaska becomes a U.S. territory
1916 ― British Summer Time (Daylight Savings), first introduced
1939 ― First sports telecast-Columbia vs. Princeton-college baseball
1948 ― Soviet Union recognized Israel
1960 ― First atomic reactor system to be patented, J.W. Flora, Canoga Park, Calif.
1961 ― Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers
1973 ― Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings