A swimsuit fashion show is held at the Hudson’s Bay Company in Vancouver, Canada on the 31st of May, 1932.
Monthly Archives: May 2017
On this day: the first train to Penticton
These images show the first passenger train to Penticton, Canada on the 31st of May, 1915.
Penticton, located in British Columbia, was connected by the Kettle Valley Railway. The railway has since fallen into disuse.
On this day: the first wounded in the Battle of Jutland
HMS Castor. Wounded Received After the Battle of Jutland, 31st May 1916. X
Fought in between the British Royal Navy‘s Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy‘s High Seas Fleet, the Battle of Jutland took place from the 31st of May to the 1st of June, 1916.
Part of the First World War, it was one of the last battles fought solely between ships in the history of the world.
The HMS Castor – the British ship in the painting – can be seen above.
On this day…
Dancers from the London Festival Ballet on the 31st of May, 1952. They are photographed on London’s Southbank.
The company was renamed the English National Ballet in 1989, and is today home to some of the world’s most famous ballet stars, many of them from overseas.
On this day…
On this day: work on the Uganda Railway begins.
This image was taken on the 30th of May, 1896, when construction on the Uganda Railway began.
The project was started in British East Africa, and many of the workers were brought over from India. Several thousand chose to stay on in Africa after the work was done.
Despite its name, the railway was in in what is now Kenya, with Uganda being the destination.
The Japanese conquest of Burma.
The Japanese invasion and conquest of Burma concluded in May, 1942. The campaign marked the beginning of Japan’s years-long campaign in the South-East Asian region in the Second World War.
In the image below, Japanese troops can be seen lined up at the Burmese border in January, shortly before the invasion began.
On this day: Magdeburg in Ruins
This image of the German city of Magdeburg was taken on the 29th of May, 1952, seven years after the end of the Second World War.
Trapped behind the Iron Curtain, as the city was occupied by the Soviets at the end of the war (and the region turned into East Germany), very few of the city’s pre-war buildings were ever restored. Many were left in their bombed state or simply abandoned for years before being pulled down.
On this day…
Gilbert and Sullivan‘s comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opened at the Opera Comique in London on the 25th of May, 1878.
This poster is from the second year of the show’s run.
On this day: Victoria Day in 1934
Fête de la Reine (Victoria Day) is a national holiday for Canada, celebrated on the final Monday before Queen Victoria’s birthday in late May.
This image is of children in Quebec celebrating with maypole dancing on the 24th of May, 1934.