May 13 in Pop Culture History

1607 – English in Virginia founded Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

1637 – The rounded table knife was created by Cardinal Richelieu in France.

1890 – Nikola Tesla was issued a patent (#428,057) for an electric generator.

1917 – Three children, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.

1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States was launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later became WDRC-FM.

1954 – The Pajama Game (Broadway Musical) Opened on May 13, 1954, and closed on November 24, 1956

#1 Hit May 13, 1967 – May 19, 1967: The Supremes – The Happening

1972 – A fire at the Playtown Cabaret nightclub in Osaka, Japan, killed 118 people.

1973 – Bobby Riggs beat Margaret Court in a $10,000 winner-take-all challenge tennis match. Billie Jean King played him on September 20, 1973, and won the second Battle of the Sexes.

#1 Hit May 13, 1978 – May 19, 1978: Yvonne Elliman – If I Can’t Have You

1981 – Pope John Paul II was shot by Mehmet Ali Agca.

1985 – Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode ordered police to raid the MOVE headquarters, and a small bomb was detonated on top of 6221 Osage Avenue. Six adults and five children were killed in the fire that destroyed the entire block and 250 nearby homes.

#1 Hit May 13, 1989 – May 19, 1989: Bon Jovi – I’ll Be There for You

1994 – Johnny Carson made his last television appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.

#1 Hit May 13, 2006 – June 2, 2006: Rihanna – SOS

#1 Hit May 13, 2017 – May 19, 2017: Bruno Mars – That’s What I Like