TV actor Jonny Gray

Events in 1999 and 5-5

Events in the world in the birth year of Jonny Gray

• Russian president Boris Yeltsin survives impeachment hearings (May), reshuffles his cabinet twice (May, Aug.), and takes military action against Islamic separatists in Dagestan and Chechnya. Background: 1999 in Review.
• Nelson Mandela, first black president of South Africa, steps down (June 16), and Thabo Mbeki takes over.
• War erupts in Kosovo after Yugoslavia's president Slobodan Milosevic clamps down on the province, massacring and deporting ethnic Albanians. NATO begins Operation Allied Force on March 24, 1999, launching air strikes against Belgrade for 78 consecutive days until Milosevic relents. Background: Timeline: The Splintering of Kosovo and Timeline: NATO in Kosovo.
• Magnitude 7.4 earthquake kills more than 15,600 and leaves 600,000 homeless in Turkey (Aug. 17).
• East Timor population votes for independence from Indonesia (Aug. 30, 1999), which causes pro-Indonesian forces to massacre and uproot thousands of East Timorese.
• Pakistani government is overthrown in the midst of economic strife and intensified fighting with India over Kashmir (Oct. 12). Background: 1999 in Review.
• The world awaits the consequences of the Y2K bug, with more drastic millennial theorists warning of Armageddon.
• See also: 1999 Year in Review: News of the World

Birthday Jonny Gray (5-5) in history

• Day 5-5 year 1809: Mary Kies of South Killingly became the first woman to be granted a patent for the right to the technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
• Day 5-5 year 1821: Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte passed away on the island of Saint Helena
• Day 5-5 year 1891: Carnegie Hall (then known as Music Hall) opened in New York City. Peter Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor.
• Day 5-5 year 1925: John Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwinism.
• Day 5-5 year 1961: Alan Shepard became the first American in space.
• Day 5-5 year 1981: Bobby Sands of the Irish Republican Army died in a prison hospital on the 66th day of his hunger strike.
• Day 5-5 year 2004: Pablo Picasso's "Boy with a Pipe" became the most expensive painting ever sold.