Chicago Cubs history unpacked, May 1

Cubs Birthdays: Marcus Stroman*, Rudy Meoli, Paul Carter.

Today in history:

• 1486 Christopher Columbus proposes his plan to search for a western route to India in an audience with Spanish monarch, Isabella I; full support is granted three years later.
• 1851 – First public flushing toilets the ‘Monkey Closets’ unveiled by George Jennings as part of The Great Exhibition at Hyde Park, London, costing one penny.
• 1930 – The planet Pluto is officially named by 11-year-old English schoolgirl Venetia Burney
• 1939 – Batman first appears in Detective Comics #27.
• 1941 – “Citizen Kane,” directed by Orson Welles and starring himself, premieres at the in NYC.
• 1952 – Mr. Potato Head is first introduced by toy company Hasbro.
• 1964 – First BASIC program runs on a computer at Dartmouth College.
• 1989 – Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, submits his initial proposal for the World Wide Web (WWW).
• 1999 – Animated series “SpongeBob SquarePants,” created by Stephen Hillenburg, debuts on Nickelodeon.

*pictured.