The English and Portuguese sign the Treaty of Windsor, and happy birthdays to J. M. Barrie and Richard Adams - with a reading from Barrie's "Peter Pan."

Victory in Europe Day, smallpox is declared eradicated, and happy birthdays to Robert Johnson and Naomi Klein - with a reading from Klein's "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate."

Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiers in Vienna, Germany surrenders to end its involvement in the Second World War, and the birthday club includes Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Angela Carter - with a reading from Carter's "The Lady of the House of Love."

The Works Progress Administration is created in the U.S., and the birthday club includes Orson Welles, Bob Seger, and Martha Nussbaum - with a reading from Nussbaum's "Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities."

The birthday club includes Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Tammy Wynette, and Michael Palin - with a reading from Kierkegaard's "Either/Or."

The March 4th Movement in Beijing, the Freedom Riders get rolling, and Ohio National Guard troops shoot and kill four students at Kent State - with a reading from Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea."

The U.S. Supreme Court rules against race-based "covenants" that prevented selling homes to people of color. Happy birthdays to Septima Poinsette Clark and Pete Seeger - with a reading from Clark's "Citizenship Schools Class Workbook."

The all-Japanese-American 552nd Artillery Group rescues forced marchers from a Nazi death camp. And it is the birthday of Dr. Benjamin Spock - with a reading from Charlotte Armstrong's "The Unsuspected."

The Kingdom of Great Britain comes to be, Carl Linnaeus publishes "Species Plantarum," the Memphis Massacre, workers' rallies and the Haymarket affair give life to May Day. And happy birthday to Joseph Heller - with a reading from Heller's "Catch-22."

George Washington takes the oath for U.S. President, the U.S. acquires the Louisiana Purchase, and Niagara Falls becomes the United States' first state park. Happy birthdays to John Crowe Ransom, Annie Dillard, and Jane Campion - with a reading from Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek."