May 1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May 1 is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 243 days remaining after May 1 until the end of the year.
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[change] Events
- 1351 – Zürich becomes part of Switzerland.
- 1707 – Act of Union joins Scotland and England.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1865 – Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the treaty of the Triple Alliance.
- 1930 – The Dwarf Planet Pluto is officially given its name.
- 1931 – New York City's Empire State Building is opened.
- 1950 – Guam becomes a US Commonwealth (a state that depends on the US).
- 1960 – U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union, making an international incident.
- 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.
- 1994 – Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna is killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix.
- 1999 – The show Spongebob Squarepants airs for the first time.
- 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
- 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)
- 1864 – Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day (d. 1948)
- 1872 – Sidonio Pais, Portuguese military leader and politician (d. 1918)
- 1907 – Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1908 – Giovanni Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
- 1909 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet (d. 1990)
- 1916 – Glenn Ford, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1924 – Terry Southern, American screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 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
- 1962 – Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress
- 1966 – Olaf Thon, German footballer
- 1967 – Tim McGraw, American singer
- 1968 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
- 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
- 1981 – Aliaksandr Hleb, Belarussian footballer
- 1982 – Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer
- 1982 – Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player
- 1986 – Christian Benitez, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1988 – Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and model
- 1997 – Ariel Gade, American actress
[change] Deaths
- 408 – Arcadius, Roman emperor
- 1308 – Albert I of Habsburg (murdered) (born 1255)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
