That day, May 29, many years ago

IN THE WORLD

The International Day of the UN Peacekeepers. /It has been marked since 2003 in accordance with the Resolution of the UN General Assembly of December 11, 2002; that day in 1948 the UN Security Council took a decision to start the first peacekeeping operation./

The year 1453 - 550 years ago, after a long siege by the Turks under the leadership of Sultan Mehmet II, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, fell and was renamed into Istanbul. It became for centuries the capital of the Ottoman Empire until the head of the national liberation revolution, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who became the first President of the Turkish Republic (1923-1938), moved the capital deep into the Asian part of the country - to Ankara.

The year 1874 - 129 years ago Gilbert Keith CHESTERTON was born (died in 1936), an English writer, journalist, critic, one of the biggest representatives of detective literature, the author of short stories about detective-clergyman Father Brown.

The year 1953 - fifty years ago, Sherpa Norgay Tensing and New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary ascended Chomolungma in the Everest, the highest peak in the word - 8,846.1 metres.

The year 1988 - fifteen years ago (May 29 - June 2) the Soviet-American meeting at the highest level (Gorbachev - Reagan) took place in Moscow.

IN RUSSIA

The year 1787 - 216 years ago Konstantin BATYUSHKOV was born (died in 1855), a Russian poet, the author of lyrical verses ("A Merry Hour," "My Penates," "Bacchante.")

The year 1891 - 112 years ago Konstantin ARTSEULOV was born (died in 1980), one of the first pilots of Russia; the founder of aerobatics: he was the first in Russia to perform a spin.

The year 1917 - 86 years ago the All-Russia Book Chamber started its activity. This is a centre of the book, journalist and newspaper products of the country.

The year 1918 - 85 years ago the Council of People's Commissars (the name of the first Soviet government) adopted the decree on customs duties and customs houses; the Soviet customs institution was founded.

The year 1969 - 34 years ago fifteen human rights advocates (initiators P. Yakir and Ya. Plyushch) announced the formation of the Initiative Group for the Protection of Human Rights in the USSR; that was the first open independent human rights organisation in the country.

The year 1978 - 25 years since the death of Yury DOMBROVSKY (was born in 1909), a writer, the author of the stories: "Derzhavin," "The Monkey Returns to Take His Skull," "A Keeper of Antiquities," "A Faculty of Useless Things." He spent nearly eighteen years in camps for prisoners and in exile.