May 2

"2 May" redirects here. For the Romanian village, see 2 Mai.

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May 2 in recent years

2011 (Monday)

2010 (Sunday)

2009 (Saturday)

2008 (Friday)

2007 (Wednesday)

2006 (Tuesday)

2005 (Monday)

2004 (Sunday)

2003 (Friday)

2002 (Thursday)

May 2 is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 243 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
• 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
• 1335 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.
• 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
• 1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the beginning Scottish Reformation.
• 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
• 1611 – King James Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
• 1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
• 1672 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
• 1757 – End of Konbaung-Hanthawaddy War, and end of Burmese Civil War (1740–1757)
• 1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
• 1816 – Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Charlotte Augusta.
• 1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of the HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
• 1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
• 1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.
• 1879 – The Spanish Socialist Worker's Party is founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers' leader Pablo Iglesias.
• 1885 – Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time.
• 1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
• 1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.
• 1889 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, which gives Italy control over Eritrea.
• 1906 – Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.
• 1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
• 1920 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• 1932 – Comedian Jack Benny's radio show airs for the first time.
• 1933 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
• 1941 – Following the coup d'état against Iraq Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
• 1945 – World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.
• 1945 – World War II: Italian Campaign – General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.
• 1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead inmates, most starved to death.
• 1946 – The "Battle of Alcatraz" takes place, killing two guards and three inmates.
• 1952 – The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.
• 1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• 1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship.
• 1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
• 1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
• 1972 – In the early morning hours a fire broke out at the Sunshine mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, ID, killing 91 workers.
• 1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
• 1989 – Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
• 1994 – In a bus disaster in Poland, 32 people die.
• 1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, Serb forces fire cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing 7 and wounding over 175 civilians.
• 1998 – The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.
• 1999 – Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
• 2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
• 2002 – Marad massacre of eight Hindus near Palakkad in Kerala.
• 2004 – Yelwa massacre of more than 630 nomad Muslims by Christians in Nigeria.
• 2008 – Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Myanmar killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
• 2008 – Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
• 2011 – The 2011 E. coli O104:H4 outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.

Births

• 1360 – Yongle Emperor, of China (d. 1424)
• 1451 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1508)
• 1458 – Leonor of Viseu, queen of Portugal (d. 1525)
• 1551 – William Camden, English historian (d. 1623)
• 1601 – Athanasius Kircher, German Jesuit scholar (d. 1680)
• 1660 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
• 1695 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-born architect (d. 1766)
• 1702 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian (d. 1782)
• 1729 – Catherine II of Russia, Empress of Russia (d. 1796)
• 1737 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1805)
• 1740 – Elias Boudinot, President of the American Continental Congress (d. 1821)
• 1750 – John André, British Army officer of the American Revolutionary War (d. 1780)
• 1772 – Novalis, German writer (d. 1801)
• 1773 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher (d. 1845)
• 1802 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (d. 1870)
• 1806 – Catherine Labouré, French visionary and saint (d. 1876)
• 1808 – Emma Wedgwood, English naturalist, wife of Charles Darwin, (d. 1896)
• 1810 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer (d. 1874)
• 1828 – Désiré Charnay, French archaeologist (d. 1915)
• 1843 – Elijah McCoy, Canadian-born Inventor (d. 1929)
• 1859 – Jerome Klapka Jerome, English writer (d. 1927)
• 1860 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist/Zionist (d. 1904)
• 1865 – Clyde Fitch, American playwright (d. 1909)
• 1867 – Giuseppe Morello, Sicilian-American gangster (d. 1930)
• 1873 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet (d. 1944)
• 1879 – James F. Byrnes, American statesman, and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1972)
• 1881 – Alexander Kerensky, Russian politician (d. 1970)
• 1885 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and gossip columnist (d. 1966)
• 1886 – Gottfried Benn, German author (d. 1956)
• 1887 – Vernon Castle, English dancer (d. 1918)
• 1887 – Eddie Collins, American baseball player (d. 1951)
• 1889 – Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesian education pioneer and national hero (d. 1959)
• 1890 – E. E. Smith, American writer (d. 1965)
• 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen, German World War I pilot – the Red Baron (d. 1918)
• 1894 – Joseph Henry Woodger, British theoretical biologist (d. 1981)
• 1895 – Lorenz Hart, American lyricist (d. 1943)
• 1896 – Helen of Greece and Denmark, queen of Romania (d. 1982)
• 1897 – J. Fred Coots, American songwriter (d. 1985)
• 1898 – Henry Hall, British bandleader (d. 1989)
• 1903 – Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and author (d. 1998)
• 1906 – Philippe Halsman, American photographer (d. 1979)
• 1906 – Aileen Riggin, American swimmer (d. 2002)
• 1907 – Pinky Lee, American vaudeville performer (d. 1993)
• 1910 – Alexander Bonnyman, U.S. Marine (d. 1943)
• 1912 – Axel Cäsar Springer, German publisher (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Nigel Patrick, English actor (d. 1981)
• 1915 – Doris Fisher, American songwriter (d. 2003)
• 1915 – Peggy Mount, English actress (d. 2001)
• 1917 – Albert Castelyns, Belgian water polo player and bobsledder
• 1917 – Van Tien Dung, Vietnamese general and politician (d. 2002)
• 1920 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian writer and ecological activist (d. 2000)
• 1921 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director (d. 1992)
• 1922 – Serge Reggiani, Italian-born French singer and actor (d. 2004)
• 1922 – A.M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born newspaper editor (d. 2006)
• 1924 – Jamal Abro, Sindhi writer (d. 2004)
• 1924 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-born actor and singer
• 1925 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1925 – John Neville, English theatre and film actor
• 1926 – Gérard D. Lévesque, Quebec politician (d. 1993)
• 1927 – Ray Barrett, Australian actor (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, third king of Bhutan (d. 1972)
• 1929 – Édouard Balladur, French Prime Minister
• 1929 – Link Wray, American guitarist (d. 2005)
• 1930 – Marco Pannella, Italian politician and activist
• 1931 – Phil Bruns, American actor
• 1932 – Maury Allen, American sportswriter
• 1935 – King Faisal II of Iraq (d. 1958)
• 1935 – Lance LeGault, American actor
• 1935 – Luis Suárez Miramontes, Spanish footballer and manager
• 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, Indian-born singer
• 1936 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (d. 1972)
• 1937 – Lorenzo Music, American actor (d. 2001)
• 1938 – Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (d. 1996)
• 1939 – Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist
• 1941 – Tony Adamowicz, American racing driver
• 1941 – Clay Carroll, American baseball player
• 1942 – Jacques Rogge, Belgian International Olympic Committee president
• 1945 – Gene Deckerhoff, American sports announcer
• 1945 – Judge Dread, English musician (d. 1998)
• 1945 – Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan socialite
• 1945 – Sarah Weddington, American attorney
• 1946 – Lesley Gore, American singer
• 1946 – David Suchet, English actor
• 1948 – Larry Gatlin, American musician
• 1949 – Alan Titchmarsh, English television presenter
• 1950 – Duncan Gay, Australian politician
• 1950 – Lou Gramm, American vocalist (Foreigner)
• 1952 – Christine Baranski, American actress
• 1952 – Mari Natsuki, Japanese singer, dancer and actress
• 1953 – Valery Gergiev, Russian-born conductor
• 1954 – Roberta Pedon, American glamour model (d. 1982)
• 1954 – Stephen Venables, British mountaineer
• 1954 – Angela Bofill, American singer songwriter
• 1955 – Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer
• 1956 – David Rhodes, English guitarist
• 1956 – Amir Mokri, Iranian-born American cinematographer
• 1957 – Michael Coyle, American Composer
• 1958 – David O'Leary, Irish football manager and player
• 1959 – Alan Best, Canadian animation director and producer
• 1959 – Tony Wakeford, English musician (Sol Invictus)
• 1961 – Stephen Daldry, English film director
• 1961 – Steve James, English snooker player
• 1961 – Phil Vickery, English celebrity chef
• 1962 – Elizabeth Berridge, American actress
• 1962 – Mitzi Kapture, American actress
• 1962 – Ray Traylor, American wrestler (d. 2004)
• 1962 – Jimmy White, English snooker player
• 1965 – Félix José, Dominican baseball player
• 1966 – Belinda Stronach, Canadian politician
• 1967 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1995)
• 1967 – Mika Brzezinski, American journalist
• 1968 – Jeff Agoos, American footballer
• 1968 – Hikaru Midorikawa, Japanese voice actor
• 1968 – Ziana Zain, Malaysian singer and actress
• 1969 – Brian Lara, Trinidadian West Indies cricketer
• 1971 – Musashimaru Kōyō, American Samoan sumo wrestler, the 67th Yokozuna
• 1972 – Paul Adcock, English footballer
• 1972 – Pandora Boxx, American drag queen and reality TV personality
• 1972 – Dwayne Johnson, American professional wrestler and actor
• 1973 – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, German film director and screenwriter
• 1974 – Matt Berry, English actor
• 1974 – Horacio Carbonari, Argentine footballer
• 1974 – Garðar Thór Cortes, Icelandic tenor
• 1974 – Andy Johnson, Welsh footballer
• 1975 – David Beckham, English footballer
• 1975 – Eva Santolaria, Spanish actress
• 1977 – Brian Cardinal, American basketball player
• 1977 – Luke Hudson, American baseball player
• 1977 – Fredrik Malm, Swedish politician
• 1977 – Jenna von Oy, American actress
• 1978 – Steve Bays, Canadian musician
• 1978 – Intars Busulis, Latvian singer, trombone player
• 1978 – Melvin Ely, American basketball player
• 1978 – Mike Weaver, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Jason Chimera, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Ioannis Kanotidis, Greek footballer
• 1979 – Roman Lyashenko, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
• 1980 – Tim Borowski, German footballer
• 1980 – Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canadian skateboarder
• 1980 – Zat Knight, English footballer
• 1980 – Troy Murphy, American basketball player
• 1980 – Brad Richards, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 – Robert Buckley, American actor
• 1981 – Chris Kirkland, English footballer
• 1981 – Tiago Mendes, Portuguese footballer
• 1981 – Matt Murray, English footballer
• 1982 – Johan Botha, South African cricketer
• 1982 – Lorie, French singer
• 1983 – Alessandro Diamanti, Italian footballer
• 1983 – Christa Rigozzi, Swiss model
• 1983 – Daniel Sordo, Spanish rally driver
• 1984 – Saulius Mikoliūnas, Lithuanian footballer
• 1984 – Thabo Sefolosha, American basketball player
• 1985 – Lily Allen, English singer and songwriter
• 1985 – Kyle Busch, American racing driver
• 1985 – Ashley Harkleroad, American tennis player
• 1985 – Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
• 1985 – David Nugent, English footballer
• 1985 – Jarrod Saltalamacchia, American baseball player
• 1986 – Emily Hart, American actress
• 1986 – James Kirk, Canadian actor
• 1987 – Nana Kitade, Japanese singer
• 1987 – Kris Russell, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 – Neftali Feliz, Dominican baseball player
• 1988 – Lara Liang, Taiwanese-American Singer
• 1989 – Jeanette Pohlen, American basketball player for the Indiana Fever
• 1990 – Paul George, American basketball player
• 1990 – Kay Panabaker, American actress

Deaths

• 373 – Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria (b. 298)
• 756 – Emperor Shōmu, Emperor of Japan (b. 701)
• 907 – Boris I of Bulgaria
• 1219 – Leo I, King of Armenia (b. 1150)
• 1230 – William de Braose, Norman-English nobleman (b. 1197)
• 1300 – Blanche of Artois, regent of Navarre (b. 1248)
• 1450 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English military leader (b. 1396)
• 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian inventor and painter (b. 1452)
• 1564 – Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (b. 1500)
• 1627 – Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Italian composer (b. 1560)
• 1667 – George Wither, English writer (b. 1588)
• 1683 – Stjepan Gradić, Croatian philosopher and scientist (b. 1613)
• 1711 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English statesman (b. 1641)
• 1802 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (b. 1762)
• 1810 – Rev. Dr. Henry Jerome de Salis, divine (b. 1740)
• 1819 – Mary Moser, English painter (b. 1744)
• 1857 – Alfred de Musset, French writer (b. 1810)
• 1864 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (b. 1791)
• 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser, German soap and candle maker and father-in-law of Adolphus Busch, founder of the Anheuser-Busch Company (b. 1805)
• 1927 – Ernest Starling, British physiologist (b. 1866)
• 1945 – Martin Bormann, Nazi official (b. 1900)
• 1945 – Joe Corbett, American baseball player (b. 1875)
• 1945 – Ludwig Stumpfegger, German SS doctor (b. 1910)
• 1947 – Dorothea Binz, Nazi war criminal (b. 1920)
• 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)
• 1960 – Caryl Chessman, American robber and rapist (b. 1921)
• 1964 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician (b. 1879)
• 1969 – Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
• 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, American director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)
• 1979 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
• 1980 – Clarrie Grimmett, Australian cricketer (b. 1891)
• 1980 – George Pal, Hungarian-born film director (b. 1908)
• 1983 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football star (b. 1926)
• 1984 – Jack Barry, television game show producer and host (b. 1918)
• 1985 – Attilio Bettega, Italian rallydriver (b. 1951)
• 1985 – Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Sergio Cresto, American rally co-driver (b. 1956)
• 1986 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish rallydriver (b. 1956)
• 1989 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (b. 1902)
• 1989 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian Catholic Cardinal (b. 1906)
• 1990 – David Rappaport, English actor (b. 1951)
• 1991 – Ronald McKie, Australian author (b. 1909)
• 1992 – Wilbur Mills, American politician (b. 1909)
• 1995 – Sir Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)
• 1997 – John Carew Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1903)
• 1997 – Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator (b. 1921)
• 1998 – Justin Fashanu, English footballer (b. 1961)
• 1998 – Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)
• 1998 – Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, Japanese musician (b. 1964)
• 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
• 1999 – Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
• 2001 – Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (b. 1961)
• 2001 – Ted Rogers, British comedian (b. 1935)
• 2002 – John Nathan-Turner, English television producer (b. 1947)
• 2002 – W. T. Tutte, English-born codebreaker (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Kenneth B. Clark, American psychologist (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Wee Kim Wee, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Louis Rukeyser, American columnist (b. 1933)
• 2007 – Brad McGann, New Zealand film director and screenwriter (b. 1964)
• 2008 – Beverlee McKinsey, American actress (b. 1940)
• 2009 – Kiyoshiro Imawano, Japanese musician (b. 1951)
• 2009 – Jack Kemp, American politician, former American football player (b. 1935)
• 2010 – Kama Chinen, Japanese citizen and world's oldest living person (b. 1895)
• 2010 – Moshe Hirsch, Jerusalem based anti-Zionist Neturei Karta rabbi (b. 1923)
• 2010 – Lynn Redgrave, British actress (b. 1943)
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda and 'the most wanted man in the world' (b. 1957)

Holidays and observances

• Birth Anniversary of Third Druk Gyalpo, also Teacher's Day (Bhutan)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Athanasius of Alexandria (Western Christianity)
  • Boris I of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
  • Germanus of Normandy
  • Waldebert (Roman Catholic Church)
  • May 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Flag Day (Poland)
• Holiday of the Region of Madrid (Community of Madrid)
• National Education Day (Indonesia)
• Teacher's Day (Iran)
• The last day of the Festival of Ridván (Bahá'í Faith)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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