27 May - The Queen Mary sailed her maiden voyage 1936

 

ON THIS DAY: 27th May 1936 

The Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage and won the Blue Riband that August; she lost the title to SS Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938, holding it until 1952, when it was taken by the new SS United States. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers during the conflict. The 80,000 + tonne British Liner sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard-White Star Line and was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. She left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she was permanently moored until the present day.

26 May - British Guiana gained independence 1966

 

On 26 May 1966, , became Guyana.

British Guiana was the name of the British colony, part of the British West Indies, on the northern coast of South America, now known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to discover Guiana was Sir Walter Raleigh, an English explorer.