Moments in Time: God Save the Queen
The History Channel
On May 26, 1897, Bram Stoker's now iconic horror novel "Dracula" went on sale in London. Stoker's editors had deleted the first 101 pages from his manuscript and altered the text to seem less "real," since there just so happened to be a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper on the loose in the city at that time.
On May 27, 1949, the unemployed, 22-year-old model-actress Marilyn Monroe earned $50 for posing nude for a Los Angeles photographer against a red velvet backdrop. Though it became the most famous calendar photo in history, she never earned another cent from the picture, as she had signed away all her rights to it in a release form.
On May 28, 2005, Carl Edward Roland, who was wanted by police in connection with the murder of his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Gonzalez, was removed from a crane perched 18 stories above a construction site in Atlanta, where he'd spent three days. After his capture, he was eventually found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
On May 29, 2014, transgender actor and advocate Laverne Cox appeared on the cover of TIME for its story "The Transgender Tipping Point," following a public backlash over the magazine's exclusion of Cox from its 100 most influential people reader's poll the previous month.
On May 30, 1993, after being stalled for four days by a blizzard 4,000 feet below the summit, Joni Phelps became the first blind climber to reach the top of Denali, North America's tallest mountain. She was guided by her twin sons.
On May 31, 1977, the song "God Save the Queen" by the British punk band the Sex Pistols was banned from the radio by the BBC. Three decades after its release, lead singer Johnny Rotten aptly remarked, "There are not many songs written over baked beans at the breakfast table that went on to divide a nation and force a change in popular culture."
On June 1, 1494, Friar John Cor distilled Scotland's first whisky at Lindores Abbey, under a commission from King James IV to turn eight bolls of malt into "aqua vitae," or "water of life."
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