MOMENTS IN TIME

The History Channel

• On May 22, 1455, the battle of England’s War of the Roses begins in St. Albans, 20 miles northwest of London. The forces of House of York, whose badge was a white rose, defeated the red-rose House of Lancaster. Both families claimed the throne, and the war would stretch on for 30 years.

• On May 23, 1701, at London’s Execution Dock, British privateer William Kidd, popularly known as Captain Kidd, is hanged for piracy and murder after capturing a boat that was loaded with gold, jewels, silk, sugar and guns. A colorful legend grew up around the story of Kidd, including reports of lost buried treasure.

• On May 21, 1881, in Washington, D.C., humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons founded the American National Red Cross, an organization established to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters.

• On May 26, 1897, horror writer Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, “Dracula,” is first offered for sale in London. Through fictional journal entries and letters written by the novel’s principal characters, “Dracula” tells the story of a Transylvanian vampire and his English victims.

• On May 24, 1917, after losing 373 Allied and neutral ships in one month because of attacks by German U-boat submarines, the British Royal Navy introduces a convoy system, whereby all merchant ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean would travel in groups under the protection of the British navy.

• On May 27, 1963, Bob Dylan releases his second album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” which included future hits “Blowin’ In the Wind,” “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.”

• On May 25, 1977, the communist government of China lifts its decade-old ban on the writings of William Shakespeare. Mao Tse-Tung’s 1966 revolution had banned any cultural work — music, literature, film or theater — that did not have the required ideological content. By the early 1970s China was desperate for new sources of trade, and the revolution was declared ended.

(c) 2012 King Features Synd., Inc.