On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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LEAD: The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to require the Administration to tell Congress how United States Navy ships escorting Kuwaiti tankers would defend themselves against attack.
LEAD: For some reason that Arthur Blancato cannot understand, jail inmates love to stuff up their toilets. ''I've pulled out shirts, socks, sheets, blankets, TV cable wire'' said Mr. Blancato, a plumber for Ocean County. ''I've pulled out whole fruits. I've got an apple. I've got a banana.''
LEAD: The General Motors Corporation is expected to announce next week that it will try a marketing strategy pioneered by Honda, Hyundai and other automobile importers when it begins naming dealers for cars produced by its Saturn Corporation, people familiar with its plans said.
LEAD: The Board of Estimate early today approved a change in New York City's zoning resolution that would allow developers to build luxury apartment towers higher than normally allowed if they agreed to build low-income housing nearby.
LEAD: Life, as usual, is good here at the Greenwich Polo Club. The sun is warm, a soft breeze blows across a plain of rich green grass, leaves rustle in the wooded hills nearby. And a half-dozen rookies on horseback are chasing and, when they are lucky, whacking a small white ball.
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of May 20, 1987, covering May 22, 1987.
U2
Bon Jovi
Poison
Beastie Boys
Paul Simon
1987Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player[†]
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for a record 428 weeks across a record 13 different years, and finished as the year-end No. 1 a record eight times. Djokovic has won a record 24 major men's singles titles, including a record ten Australian Open titles. Overall, he has won 100 singles titles, including a record 72 Big Titles: 24 majors, a record 40 Masters, a record seven year-end championships, and an Olympic gold medal. Djokovic is the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces. In singles, he is the only man to achieve a triple Career Grand Slam, and the only player to complete a Career Golden Masters, a feat he has accomplished twice. Djokovic is the only player in singles to have won all of the Big Titles over the course of his career.
1987Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer[†]
Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chilean Primera División club Colo-Colo and the Chile national team. His displays during his time at Juventus led him to be nicknamed Il Guerriero, Rey Arturo and La Piranha by the Italian press due to his hard-tackling and aggressive, tenacious style of play. He is regarded as one of the greatest Chilean players of all time and as one of the best midfielders of his generation.
1987Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.[†]
The Hashimpura massacre was the killing of 75 Indian Muslim men by police on or around 22 May 1987 near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh state, India, during the 1987 Meerut communal riots. Around 19+ personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary rounded up 42 Indian Muslim youths from the Hashimpura mohalla (locality) of the city, took them to the outskirts of the city, shot them in cold blood and dumped their bodies in a nearby irrigation canal. A few days later, the dead bodies were found floating in the canal and a case of murder was registered. Eventually, 19 men were accused of having performed the act. In May 2000, 16 of the 19 accused surrendered and were later released on bail. The other three accused died in the intervening period. In 2002, the Supreme Court of India ordered that the case trial should be transferred from the Ghaziabad district court to a Sessions Court at the Tis Hazari court complex in Delhi.
1987First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.[†]
The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches while Australia hosted 11 matches. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who were the strong favourites and won all their matches comfortably. New Zealand defeated France 29–9 in the final at Eden Park in Auckland. The New Zealand team was captained by David Kirk and included such rugby greats as Sean Fitzpatrick, John Kirwan, Grant Fox and Michael Jones. Wales finished third, and Australia fourth, after conceding crucial tries in the dying seconds of both their semi-final against France and the third-place play-off against Wales.
In 1987, the world population was approximately 5,049,746,397 people[†]