May 1
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(Redirected from 1 May)
May 1 is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 244 days remaining after May 1 until the end of the year.
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[change] Events
- 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire as Roman Emperors.
- 1351 – Zürich becomes part of Switzerland.
- 1707 – Act of Union joins Scotland and England.
- 1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company.
- 1776 – The Illuminati are founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, by Adam Weishaupt.
- 1785 – Kamehameha I, king of Hawai'i defeats Kalanikupule, creating the Kingdom of Hawai'i.
- 1786 – The Opera, the Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is performed for the first time in Vienna, Austria.
- 1834 – British colonies abolish Slavery.
- 1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp, is introduced in the UK.
- 1844 – The Hong Kong police force is founded.
- 1851 – Queen Victoria announces the beginning of the Great Exhibition in London.
- 1863 – The Stainless Banner is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
- 1865 – Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the treaty of the Triple Alliance.
- 1900 – The Scofield Mining Disaster in Utah kills 200 men.
- 1915 – The RMS Lusitania leaves New York City on what would become its final journey across the Atlantic Ocean. It is torpedoed and sunk off Ireland on May 7.
- 1929 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes present-day Iran and Turkmenistan, killing 5,800 people.
- 1930 – The Dwarf Planet Pluto is officially given its name.
- 1931 – New York City's Empire State Building is opened.
- 1945 – World War II: The Nazi leadership announces the death of Adolf Hitler the previous day.
- 1948 – The North Korean state under Kim Il-Sung is founded.
- 1950 – Guam becomes a US Commonwealth (a state that depends on the US).
- 1956 – The Polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
- 1960 – U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union, making an international incident.
- 1977 – 36 people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during Labour Day demonstrations.
- 1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by Dog Sled, reaches the North Pole on his own.
- 1979 – Greenland gains autonomy (self government) from Denmark, with Jonathan Motzfeldt as Prime Minister.
- 1982 – Opening of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee.
- 1994 – Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna is killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix.
- 1995 – Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.
- 1997 – Tony Blair's Labour Party defeats John Major's Conservative Party in the United Kingdom General Election. Tony Blair therefore becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1999 – The remains of George Mallory are found on Mount Everest, almost 75 years after his disappearance.
- 1999 – The show Spongebob SquarePants airs for the first time.
- 2003 – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes Eastern Turkey, killing 177 people.
- 2004 – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta join the EU. This is the biggest enlargement in the EU's history.
- 2009 – Sweden allows Same-sex marriage.
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, is captured and killed by US forces in Pakistan.
[change] Births
- 1218 – Rudolph I of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1291)
- 1238 – King Magnus VI of Norway (d. 1280)
- 1672 – Joseph Addison, English author and essayist (d. 1719)
- 1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (d. 1852)
- 1829 – Jose de Alencar, Brazilian novelist (d. 1877)
- 1850 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (d. 1942)
- 1852 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1934)
- 1852 – Calamity Jane, American Wild West performer (d. 1903)
- 1857 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (d. 1891)
- 1862 – Marcel Prevost, French author and dramatist (d. 1941)
- 1864 – Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day (d. 1948)
- 1872 – Sidonio Pais, Portuguese military leader and politician (d. 1918)
- 1899 – Jon Leifs, Icelandic composer (d. 1968)
- 1907 – Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1908 – Giovanni Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
- 1909 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet (d. 1990)
- 1913 – Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (d. 1980)
- 1915 – Hanns Martin Schleyer, German business executive (d. 1977)
- 1916 – Glenn Ford, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Danielle Darrieux, French singer and actress
- 1924 – Terry Southern, American screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1924 – Art Fleming, American game show host (d. 1995)
- 1924 – Gregoire Kayibanda, 1st President of Rwanda (d. 1976)
- 1928 – Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racing driver (d. 1972)
- 1929 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-born sociologist and politician (d. 2009)
- 1930 – Little Walter, American singer (d. 1968)
- 1939 – Judy Collins, American singer
- 1945 – Rita Coolidge, American singer
- 1946 – Joanna Lumley, British actress
- 1959 – Yasmina Reza, French actress and singer
- 1962 – Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress
- 1964 – Lady Sarah Chatto, member of the extended British royal family
- 1966 – Olaf Thon, German footballer
- 1967 – Tim McGraw, American singer
- 1968 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
- 1968 – D'arcy Wretzky, American musician
- 1969 – Wes Anderson, American director and writer
- 1973 – Oliver Neuville, German footballer
- 1975 – Marc-Vivien Foe, Cameroon footballer (d. 2003)
- 1975 – Alexei Smertin, Russian footballer
- 1979 – Mauro Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
- 1980 – Zaz, French singer
- 1981 – Aliaksandr Hleb, Belarussian footballer
- 1982 – Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer
- 1982 – Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player
- 1984 – Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer
- 1986 – Christian Benitez, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1988 – Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and model
- 1990 – Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress
- 1997 – Ariel Gade, American actress
[change] Deaths
- 408 – Arcadius, Roman emperor
- 1308 – Albert I of Habsburg (murdered) (born 1255)
- 1555 – Pope Marcellus II (born 1501)
- 1572 – Pope Pius V (born 1504)
- 1731 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (born 1677)
- 1738 – Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman
- 1772 – Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (born 1719)
- 1813 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in combat) (born 1768)
- 1873 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (born 1813)
- 1899 – Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (born 1824)
- 1904 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (born 1841)
- 1937 – Snitz Edwards, American actor (born 1868)
- 1945 – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (suicide) (born 1897)
- 1945 – Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (suicide) (born 1901)
- 1963 – Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer (born 1879)
- 1965 – Spike Jones, American band leader, musician, and comedian (born 1911)
- 1970 – Yi, Eun, Crown Prince Korea (born 1897)
- 1973 – Asger Jorn, Danish painter (born 1914)
- 1976 – Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek politician and poet (born 1939)
- 1978 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (born 1903)
- 1982 – William Primrose, Scottish violist (born 1903)
- 1989 – Douglass Watson, American actor (born 1921)
- 1990 – Sergio Franchi, Italian director (born 1926)
- 1991 – Richard Thorpe, American film director (born 1896)
- 1993 – Pierre Bérégovoy, French Prime Minister (suicide) (born 1925)
- 1993 – Ranasinghe Premadasa, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (born 1924)
- 1994 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (born 1960)
- 1998 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (born 1935)
- 2000 – Steve Reeves, American actor (born 1926)
- 2008 – Anthony Mamo, first President of Malta (born 1909)
- 2008 – Philipp von Boeselager, German resistance activist (born 1917)
- 2009 – Karst Tates, Dutch attempted assassin (born 1971)
- 2010 – Helen Wagner, American actress (born 1918)
- 2011 – Henry Cooper, British heavyweight boxer (born 1934)
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi-Arabian terrorist leader (al-Qaeda) (born 1957)
