On this Day, May 9

1386 The Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England is ratified at Windsor, England, cementing and strengthening ties between the two kingdoms. The treaty guarantees the mutual security of both nations and strengthens commercial ties. It is the oldest diplomatic alliance still in force.

1671 In London, Thomas Blood, an Irish adventurer better known as ‘Captain Blood’, is captured trying to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Quite the charmer, Blood wins over King Charles II and incredibly has the crown restore his estates in Ireland as well as make him a member of the royal court with an annual pension.

1945 The European phase of World War II officially ends at one minute past midnight. It is celebrated annually as Victory Day in Russia, commemorating the 20 million Russians who died during ‘The Great Patriotic War’.

1962 A laser beam is bounced off the moon for the first time to accurately measure the distance between the earth and the moon in preparation for a manned flight to the moon. The distance is worked about by taking the round-trip time, dividing it by two and multiplying it by the speed of light to get the result. It ultimately helped lay the foundation decades later for GPS and other satellite-based technology that we’re so dependent on today.

1994 Nelson Mandela is elected unopposed as first black president of South Africa.

2009 Jacob Zuma is elected president of South Africa.

2019 French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin (72) drifts across the Atlantic Ocean in a barrel arriving in Martinique after leaving Morocco four months earlier. Three years later, the 75-year-old avid triathlete and former paratrooper is found dead near the Azores after trying to row across the Atlantic while ‘laughing at old age’.

2022 Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa submits his resignation to his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid continuing violent protests.

2023 George Harrison’s Here Comes The Sun becomes 1st Beatles song and also the oldest one by any artist to register a billion streams on Spotify.