Rock singer Colin Vearncombe

Events in 1962 and 26-5

Events in the world in the birth year of Colin Vearncombe

• France transfers sovereignty to new republic of Algeria (July 3).
• Cuban Missile Crisis: USSR to build missile bases in Cuba; Kennedy orders Cuban blockade, lifts blockade after Russia backs down (Aug.-Nov.).
• Pope John XXIII opens Second Vatican Council (Oct. 11).
• Cuba releases 1,113 prisoners of 1961 invasion attempt (Dec. 24).
• Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago become independent.

Birthday Colin Vearncombe (26-5) in history

• Day 26-5 year 1521: The decree of Worms banned the writings of the German theologian Martin Luther.
• Day 26-5 year 1868: President Andrew Johnson avoided conviction for impeachment charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors" by one vote.
• Day 26-5 year 1940: Allied troops began the massive naval evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, France, during World War II.
• Day 26-5 year 1959: Pittsburgh Pirates’ Harvey Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before losing, 1–0, in the 13th.
• Day 26-5 year 1977: George Willig, "the human fly," scaled the World Trade Center in New York City by attaching himself to the window washer mechanism and walking straight up until falling into police custody when he reached the top. It took Willig three and a half hours to make the climb, and $1.10 in fines—a penny per floor.
• Day 26-5 year 1978: The first legal casino to be operated in the United States outside of Nevada was opened in Atlantic City.
• Day 26-5 year 2003: Rwandans voted to approve a new constitution that instituted a balance of power between Hutu and Tutsi.
• Day 26-5 year 2011: Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general responsible for the massacre of over 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, is found and arrested in Lazarevo, a farming town north of Belgrade, Serbia.