08/05/10

Hernando de Soto reached the mouth of what is now the Mississippi River in 1541.  He named it Rio de Espíritu Santo.  The first games of the Italian football league were played in 1898.  Mt. Pelée in Martinique erupted in 1902, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing 30,000.  Estonian schoolgirls, Aili Jögi and Ageeda Paavel blew up the Soviet war memorial in Tallinn in 1946.

Born today:  Jean Henri Dunant (1828-1910), David Attenborough (1926), Phyllida Law (1932), Thomas Pynchon (1937), Dave Rowntree (1964) and Marcus Brigstocke (1973).

It is International Red Cross/Red Crescent Day.