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John Spencer (1935–2006) was an English snooker player. He reached the final of the English Amateur Championship three years in a row, winning on his third attempt in 1966. After turning professional in 1967, he won the World Snooker Championship as a debutant in 1969. He won his second world title in the 1971 event. His third, in 1977, made him the first player to win at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre where the event has been staged annually ever since. His other notable victories include the 1975 Masters, where he defeated Ray Reardon on a re-spotted black in the deciding frame of the final, the 1978 Irish Masters, and three editions of the BBC's Pot Black series. He was a snooker commentator for the BBC from 1978 to 1998, and served on the board of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for 25 years, the last 7 of those as chair. He retired from professional play in 1992 because of ill health, but continued to perform in exhibition matches. The trophy for the Seniors Masters tournament was named in his memory in 2018. (Full article...)

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Ruddigore is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan, it was first performed by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre in London in 1887. Some critics and audience members initially felt that Ruddygore (its original title) did not measure up to its predecessor, The Mikado. After changes, including respelling the title, it achieved a run of 288 performances and was profitable. This 1887 illustration by Amédée Forestier depicts scenes and characters from Ruddygore for The Illustrated London News. Since D'Oyly Carte revived the piece in 1920, it has been regularly performed.

Illustration credit: Amédée Forestier; restored by Adam Cuerden

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Did you know

Susanna Hoffs

... that Susanna Hoffs (pictured) sang on the studio recording of "Eternal Flame" naked after producer Davitt Sigerson pranked her by saying that Olivia Newton-John had done the same thing?
... that Thomas Mann insisted on omitting a passage on homoeroticism in the English translation of his work "On the German Republic"?
... that more than 100 European royals boarded the Cruise of the Kings, a 1954 cruise organised by the Greek queen consort Frederica of Hanover to promote tourism in Greece?
... that the first Acadian newspaper, Le Moniteur Acadien, was acquired in 2023 for just CA$1?
... that NCVs can assign different values to the lives of civilians of different nationalities?
... that Yuu Nagira, the author of My Beautiful Man, did not expect readers to love one of the main characters because she had written him to be creepy?
... that actress Agnes Mapes had to improvise a complex choreographed dance from basic poses for the 1907 play The Holy City?
... that in March 2022 Sonja van den Ende was the only Dutch journalist to report from the Russian-occupied Donbas on the war in Ukraine?
... that a restaurant in a Thai hotel serves "Chicken Volcano", a dish containing whiskey?

In the news

Jeremiah Manele

Following the Solomon Islands general election, Jeremiah Manele (pictured) becomes the prime minister.
Acting prime minister of Haiti Ariel Henry resigns, and the Transitional Presidential Council is sworn in.
NASA announces that the Voyager 1 space probe is sending readable data for the first time in five months.
The HDZ-led coalition wins the most seats in the Croatian parliamentary election but falls short of a majority.
Ichthyotitan, the largest known marine reptile, is formally described.

This day in history

May 5: Easter (Eastern Christianity, 2024); Lixia begins in China (2024); Children's Day in Japan; Cinco de Mayo in Mexico and the United States

Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall

1646 – First English Civil War: Charles I surrendered himself to Scottish Covenanter leader David Leslie near Newark, England.
1864 – American Civil War: Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia began with the inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County.
1891 – Carnegie Hall (interior pictured) in New York City, built by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, officially opened with a concert conducted by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
1980 – The British Special Air Service recaptured the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege by Iranian Arab separatists.
2007 – Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Cameroon, resulting in the deaths of all 114 people aboard.

Samuel Cooper (d. 1672)
William George Beers (b. 1841)
Irene Gut Opdyke (b. 1918)

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