Cricket player William Rhodes

Events in 1936 and 5-8

Events in the world in the birth year of William Rhodes

• Rome-Berlin Axis is proclaimed (Japan to join in 1940).
• King George V dies; succeeded by son, Edward VIII, who soon abdicates to marry an American-born divorcée, and is succeeded by brother, George VI.
• Spanish civil war begins. Hundreds of Americans join the "Lincoln Brigades." (Franco's fascist forces defeat Loyalist forces by 1939, when Madrid falls.)
• War between China and Japan begins, to continue through World War II.
• Japan and Germany sign anti-Comintern pact; joined by Italy in 1937.
• Gen. Anastasio Somoza leads a coup d'etat in Nicaragua ushering in Somoza family dictatorship for more than 4 decades.

Birthday William Rhodes (5-8) in history

• Day 5-8 year 1861: For the first time, the U.S. government levied an income tax.
• Day 5-8 year 1884: The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island.
• Day 5-8 year 1914: The first electric traffic lights were installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Day 5-8 year 1962: Marilyn Monroe died.
• Day 5-8 year 1963: The United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed the limited Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater.
• Day 5-8 year 1969: The U.S. space probe Mariner 7 transmitted pictures of Mars.
• Day 5-8 year 1984: Joan Benoit won the first Olympic women's marathon.
• Day 5-8 year 2002: The gun turret of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor was raised from the ocean floor.
• Day 5-8 year 2003: The Rev. Gene Robinson was approved as the first openly gay bishop by the U.S. Episcopal Church.
• Day 5-8 year 2012: The plutonium-powered rover Curiosity successfully lands on Mars. Larger than earlier rovers, Curiosity will spend two years examining the land, looking for evidence that conditions on Mars are fit for life.