Events

328 - Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria.

1092 - Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.

1450 - 'Abd al-Latif (Timurid monarch) is assassinated.

1671 - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

1726 - Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap's molly house in London are executed at Tyburn.

1763 - The Siege of Fort Detroit begins during Pontiac's War against British forces.

1864 - Second War of Schleswig: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland.

1873 - Der Krach: Vienna stock market crash heralds the Long Depression.

1874 - The first horse-drawn bus makes its début in the city of Mumbai, traveling two routes.

1877 - Mihail Kogălniceanu reads, in the Chamber of Deputies, the Declaration of Independence of Romania. This day became the Independence Day of Romania.

1877 - A magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Peru kills 2,541, including some as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

1887 - Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London.

1901 - Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.

1904 - The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h).

1911 - The works of Gabriele D'Annunzio placed by the Vatican in the Index of Forbidden Books.

1915 - World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces.

1918 - World War I: Germans repel the British's second attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium.

1920 - Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły celebrates its capture of Kiev with a victory parade on Khreschatyk.

1926 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd's diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).

1927 - The Australian Parliament first convenes in Canberra.

1936 - Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.

1940 - World War II: The German submarine U-9 sinks the French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.

1941 - World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.

1942 - Holocaust: The SS murders 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast, Ukraine). The Zoludek Ghetto (in Belarus) is destroyed and all its inhabitants murdered or deported.

1945 - World War II: Ratification in Berlin-Karlshorst of the German unconditional surrender of May 8 in Rheims, France, with the signatures of Marshal Georgy Zhukov for the Soviet Union, and for the Western Headquarters Sir Arthur Tedder, British Air Marshal and Eisenhower's deputy, and for the German side of Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.

1945 - World War II: The Channel Islands are liberated by the British after five years of German occupation.

1946 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Humbert II.

1948 - Czechoslovakia's Ninth-of-May Constitution comes into effect.

1949 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.

1950 - Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, which according to him was indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered by some people to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.

1955 - Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.

1960 - The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making Enovid the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.

1961 - Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles becomes the first player in baseball history to hit grand slams in consecutive innings.

1964 - Ngo Dinh Can, de facto ruler of central Vietnam under his brother President Ngo Dinh Diem before the family's toppling, is executed.

1969 - Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks.

1970 - Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protesters demonstrate in front of the White House.

1974 - Watergate Scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.

1977 - Hotel Polen fire: A disastrous fire burns down the Hotel Polen in Amsterdam causing 33 deaths and 21 severe injuries.

1979 - Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000 member strong Jewish community of Iran.

1980 - In Florida, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse. 35 people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die.

1980 - In Norco, California, five masked gunman hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.

1987 - A Polish LOT Ilyushin IL-62M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" (SP-LBG) crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing 183 people.

1992 - Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the Karabakh War.

2001 - In Ghana 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium Disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of teargas by police personnel at the stadium) that followed a controversial decision by the referee.

2002 - The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.

2002 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130.

2004 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by a land mine under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.

[edit]Births

1147 - Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1199)

1740 - Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (d. 1816)

1800 - John Brown, American abolitionist (d. 1859)

1801 - Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English Member of Parliament and developer (d. 1866)

1837 - Adam Opel, German engineer and industrialist (d. 1895)

1860 - J. M. Barrie, Scottish author (d. 1937)

1861 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Poet and Nobel Laureate (d. 1941)

1866 - Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Leader of Indian Independence Movement (d. 1915)

1873 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1933)

1874 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (d. 1939)

1882 - George Barker, American painter (d. 1965)

1882 - Henry J. Kaiser, American shipbuilder (d. 1967)

1883 - José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (d. 1955)

1886 - Francis Biddle, United States Attorney General (d. 1968)

1892 - Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria-Hungary (d. 1989)

1893 - William Moulton Marston, American psychologist, writer (co-creator, Wonder Woman) (d. 1947)

1895 - Richard Barthelmess, American actor (d. 1963)

1895 - Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (d. 1961)

1888 - Rolf de Maré, Swedish art collector and museum director (d. 1964)

1907 - Kathryn Kuhlman, famed evangelist (d. 1976)

1907 - Baldur von Schirach, Nazi official (d. 1974)

1907 - Fred Warngård, Swedish athlete (d. 1950)

1908 - Mary Goldsmith, American ceramist (d. 2007)

1909 - Don Messer, Canadian country musician (d. 1973)

1912 - Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican actor (d. 1963)

1912 - Géza Ottlik, Hungarian writer (d. 1990)

1912 - Per Imerslund, Norwegian writer (d. 1943)

1914 - Denham Fouts, American male prostitute and socialite (d. 1948)

1914 - Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian musician and conductor (d. 2005)

1914 - Hank Snow, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 1999)

1918 - Moisis Michail Bourlas, Greek member of the World War II resistance (d. 2011)

1918 - Orville L. Freeman, American politician (d. 2003)

1918 - Mike Wallace, American journalist

1919 - Arthur English, English actor and comedian (d. 1995)

1920 - Richard Adams, English author

1920 - William Tenn, American author (d. 2010)

1921 - Daniel Berrigan, American peace activist

1921 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)

1921 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)

1923 - Johnny Grant, American radio personality, television producer (d. 2008)

1924 - Bulat Okudzhava, Russian writer and musician (d. 1997)

1927 - Manfred Eigen, German biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

1928 - Ralph Goings, American painter

1928 - Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (d. 1995)

1928 - Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater

1929 - Kay Dotrice, British actress (d. 2007)

1930 - Joan Sims, British actress (d. 2001)

1930 - Kalifa Tillisi, Libyan writer and linguist

1931 - Vance Brand, American astronaut

1932 - Geraldine McEwan, English actress

1933 - Jessica Steele, English romance novelist

1934 - Alan Bennett, British author

1935 - Nokie Edwards, American guitarist (The Ventures)

1935 - Roger Hargreaves, English children's author (Mr. Men) (d. 1988)

1936 - Albert Finney, British actor

1936 - Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician

1937 - José Rafael Moneo, Spanish architect

1937 - Sonny Curtis, American singer, songwriter, guitarist

1937 - David Prater, American singer (Sam & Dave) (d. 1988)

1938 - Charles Simic, Yugoslavian-born poet, 15th Poet Laureate of the United States

1939 - Ralph Boston, American athlete

1939 - Pierre Desproges, French humorist (d. 1988)

1939 - Ion Ţiriac, Romanian tennis manager

1940 - James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer

1941 - Pete Birrell, British bass guitarist

1942 - John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General

1942 - Tommy Roe, American singer and songwriter

1942 - Jerry Buchek, American baseball players

1943 - Vince Cable, British politician

1943 - Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist, writer, and historian (d. 2009)

1944 - Richie Furay, American musician (Poco and Buffalo Springfield)

1944 - Laurence Owen, American figure skater (d. 1961)

1945 - Steve Katz, American musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears)

1946 - Candice Bergen, American actress

1946 - Clint Holmes, English-born American singer and songwriter

1946 - Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, Turkish author and activist (d. 2002)

1948 - Hans Georg Bock, German mathematician

1948 - Calvin Murphy, American basketball player

1949 - Billy Joel, American musician

1950 - Tom Petersson, American bass guitarist (Cheap Trick)

1951 - Alley Mills, American actress

1953 - Bruno Brokken, Belgian high jumper

1953 - Amy Hill, American actress

1954 - Lawrence Dutton, American violist

1955 - Kevin Peter Hall, American actor (d. 1991)

1955 - Anne Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano

1956 - Wendy Crewson, Canadian actress

1960 - Tony Gwynn, American baseball player

1961 - Sean Altman, American singer (Rockapella)

1962 - John Corbett, American actor

1962 - Dave Gahan, English singer (Depeche Mode)

1962 - Paul Heaton, English singer/songwriter (Beautiful South)

1963 - Sanja Doležal, Croatian singer (Novi fosili)

1965 - Ken Nomura, Japanese racing driver

1965 - Janu Tornell, American model and Survivor contestant

1965 - Steve Yzerman, Canadian ice hockey player

1966 - Mark Tinordi, Canadian ice hockey player

1968 - David Benoit, American basketball player

1968 - Marie-José Pérec, French athlete

1969 - Amber, Dutch musician

1969 - Hudson Leick, American actress

1970 - Doug Christie, American basketball player

1970 - Ghostface Killah, American rapper

1971 - Paul McGuigan, English bassist (Oasis)

1972 - Megumi Odaka, Japanese actress and artist

1972 - Dana Perino, former White House press secretary

1972 - Daniela Silivaş, Romanian gymnast and Olympic Champion

1972 - Lisa Ann, American Pornographic Actress

1973 - Chu Sang-mi, South Korean actress

1974 - Dylan Lauren,American businesswoman & daughter of fashion designer Ralph Lauren

1975 - Brian Deegan, freestyle motocross innovator

1975 - Chris Diamantopoulos, Canadian actor

1975 - Lane Kiffin, American football coach

1975 - Tamia, Canadian singer

1976 - Christos Marangos, Greek-Cypriot footballer

1977 - Choi Jeong-yoon, South Korean actress

1977 - Maggie Dixon, American college basketball coach (d. 2006)

1977 - Iñigo Landaluze, Spanish cyclist

1978 - Leandro Damián Cufré, Argentine footballer

1978 - Santiago Dellapè, Argentine-born Italian rugby player

1978 - Aaron Harang, American baseball player

1979 - Dionysis Boukouvalas, Greek composer, pianist and musicologist

1979 - Pierre Bouvier, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)

1979 - Rosario Dawson, American actress

1979 - Matt Morris, American singer-songwriter

1979 - Andrew W.K., American musician

1979 - Brandon Webb, American baseball player

1980 - Grant Hackett, Australian swimmer

1980 - Jo Hyeon-jae, South Korean actor

1980 - Angela Nikodinov, American figure skater

1980 - Tony Schmidt, German racing driver

1981 - Bill Murphy, American baseball player

1981 - Evangelos Tsiolis, Greek footballer

1981 - Yu Yokoyama, Japanese actor and singer

1982 - Rachel Boston, American actress

1983 - Tyler Lumsden, American baseball player

1983 - Ryuhei Matsuda, Japanese actor

1983 - Leandro Rinaudo, Italian footballer

1983 - Gilles Müller, Luxembourgian tennis player

1984 - Prince Fielder, American baseball player

1985 - Henrique, Brazilian soccer player

1985 - Jake Long, American football player

1985 - Audrina Patridge, American actress

1988 - John Ryan Fitzpatrick, Canadian race truck driver

1992 - Chris Gutierrez, Filipino actor

1993 - Ryosuke Yamada, Japanese actor and singer

1997 - Zane Huett, American actor

[edit]Deaths

1315 - Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1282)

1446 - Mary of Enghien, Queen of Naples (b. 1368)

1657 - William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1590)

1707 - Dieterich Buxtehude, German composer

1745 - Tomaso Antonio Vitali, Italian violinist and composer(b. 1663)

1747 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (b. 1673)

1760 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German religious and social reformer (b. 1700)

1789 - Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French artillery specialist (b. 1715)

1790 - William Clingan, American delegate to the Continental Congress

1791 - Francis Hopkinson, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1737)

1805 - Friedrich Schiller, German poet and historian (b. 1759)

1861 - Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (b. 1805)

1889 - William S. Harney, U.S. general (b. 1800)

1914 - C.W. Post, American food manufacturer (b. 1854)

1915 - François Faber, Luxembourgish cyclist (b. 1887)

1918 - George Coşbuc, Romanian poet (b. 1866)

1931 - Albert Abraham Michelson, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)

1938 - Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (b. 1866)

1949 - Prince Louis II of Monaco (b. 1870)

1950 - Esteban Terradas i Illa, Catalan mathematician, scientist, and engineer (b. 1883)

1955 - Kate Booth, oldest daughter of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1858)

1957 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)

1957 - Sir Ernest de Silva, Sri Lankan Philanthropist (b. 1887)

1964 - Rico Lebrun, Italian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1900)

1965 - Leopold Figl, Austrian politician (b. 1902)

1968 - Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)

1968 - Finlay Currie, British actor (b. 1878)

1968 - Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1885)

1970 - Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (b. 1884)

1970 - Walter Reuther, American labor leader (b. 1907)

1976 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)

1976 - Ulrike Meinhof, German communist militant (b. 1934)

1977 - James Jones, American writer (b. 1921)

1978 - Aldo Moro, Prime Minister of Italy: 1963-1968, 1974-1976 (b. 1916)

1979 - Cyrus Eaton, Canadian-American businessman and industrialist (b. 1883)

1981 - Ralph Allen, English footballer (b. 1906)

1985 - Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)

1986 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa and 1st sherpa to climb Mt. Everest (b. 1914)

1989 - Keith Whitley, American country music singer (b. 1955)

1993 - Jacques Dextraze, French Canadian military officer (b. 1919)

1994 - Elias Motsoaledi, South African freedom fighter (b. 1924)

1997 - Rawya Ateya, Egyptian politician and first female parliamentarian in the Arab world (b. 1926)

1997 - Marco Ferreri, Italian film director (b. 1928)

1998 - Alice Faye, American actress (b. 1915)

1998 - Rommie Loudd, former American football player, coach, and executive (b. 1933)

1998 - Talat Mahmood, Indian singer (b. 1924)

2000 - Arthur Davis, American animator (b. 1905)

2001 - James E. Myers, American songwriter (Rock Around the Clock) and producer (b. 1919)

2002 - Dan Devine, American football coach (b. 1924)

2003 - Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (b. 1918)

2004 - Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen president (b. 1951)

2004 - Alan King, American comedian (b. 1927)

2005 - Nasrat Parsa, Afghan singer (b. 1969)

2007 - Dwight Wilson, second-to-last Canadian World War I veteran (b. 1901)

2007 - Edith Rodriguez, woman refused emergency room treatment for gastrointestinal perforation (b. 1964)

2008 - Jack Gibson, Australian rugby league footballer and coach (b. 1929)

2008 - Nuala O'Faolain, Irish journalist (b. 1942)

2009 - Chuck Daly, American basketball coach (b. 1930)

2009 - Evgenios Spatharis, Greek shadow theatre artist (b. 1924)

2010 - Lena Horne, American singer and actress (b. 1917)

2010 - Otakar Motejl, Czechoslvakian politician (b. 1932)

2011 - Wouter Weylandt, Belgian cyclist (b. 1984)

[edit]Holidays and observances

Anniversary of Dianetics (Church of Scientology)

Christian Feast Day

Beatus of Lungern

Beatus of Vendome

Christopher (Αγιος Χριστόφορος) (Eastern Orthodox Church)

George Preca

Gerontius of Cervia

Pachomius

Tudy of Landevennec

May 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Europe Day, commemorating the Schuman Declaration. (European Union)

Independence Day, celebrate the independence of Romania from the Ottoman Empire in 1877.

Liberation Day, commemorating the end of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II). (Guernsey, Jersey)

One of the three days of the Feast of the Lemures. (Roman Empire)

Victory Day observances, celebration of the Soviet Union victory over Nazi Germany (Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan)

Victory and Peace Day, mark the capture of Shusha in the Karabakh War and the end of World War II. (Armenia)

[edit]

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