May 4

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 1415 &ndash; Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
* 1436 &ndash; Assassination of Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson.
* 1471 &ndash; Wars of the Roses: Battle of Tewkesbury – Edward IV of England defeats the Lancastrian Army under Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, who is killed in the battle.
* 1493 &ndash; Pope Alexander VI divides the "New World" between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
* 1626 &ndash; Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives at the island that is now known as Manhattan.
* 1675 &ndash; Charles II of England orders the construction of the Greenwich Royal Observatory.
* 1776 &ndash; Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to withdraw its allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.
* 1780 &ndash; The first derby in horse racing is held at Epsom, England.
* 1799 &ndash; Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: Battle of Seringapatam – Siege of Seringatapatam ends with the city being invaded and Tipu Sultan being killed by the besieging British army under command of George Harris.
* 1814 &ndash; Napoleon I begins his exile on the Italian island of Elba.
* 1814 &ndash; Ferdinand VII returns Spain to absolute rule.
* 1859 &ndash; The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge, linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in the Southwest of England.
* 1869 &ndash; The naval Battle of Hakodate is fought in Japan.
* 1886 &ndash; Haymarket Square Riot: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, killing 8 people and injuring 60. The police fire into the crowd.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1902 &ndash; Eight fishermen die in the Galway Bay drowning tragedy.
* 1904 &ndash; The construction of the Panama Canal begins.
* 1904 &ndash; German football club FC Schalke 04 is founded.
* 1910 &ndash; The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
* 1912 &ndash; Italy occupies the island of Rhodes.
* 1919 &ndash; May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, against the Treaty of Versailles, which would transfer Chinese territory to Japan.
* 1924 &ndash; The 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris begin.
* 1932 &ndash; Gangster Al Capone begins an eleven–year prison sentence for tax evasion.
* 1942 &ndash; World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the US aircraft carrier USS *Yorktown* on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi island in the Solomon Islands, which Japanese forces had invaded a day before.
* 1945 &ndash; World War II: British forces liberate Neuengamme Concentration camp near Hamburg.
* 1945 &ndash; World War II: At Lüneburg Heath, the North German army surrenders to British field marshal Bernard Montgomery.
* 1945 &ndash; World War II: Denmark is liberated.
* 1946 &ndash; United States Marines stop a two–day riot at Alcatraz, in which five people were killed.
* 1949 &ndash; In Italy, almost the whole entire Torino football team is killed in a plane crash.
* 1953 &ndash; Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
* 1959 &ndash; The first Grammy Awards are given.
* 1961 &ndash; Civil rights: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the Southern United States.
* 1970 &ndash; Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard opens fire on student anti–war demonstrators at Kent State University. Four students are killed, and nine students are injured.
* 1974 &ndash; An all–female Japanese team reaches the summit of Manaslu in the Himalayas. This is the first time that women have reached the top of a peak over 8000 metres high.
* 1979 &ndash; Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
* 1980 &ndash; Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito dies in Ljubljana, at the age of 87.
* 1982 &ndash; Argentine bombers destroy the HMS Sheffield in the Falklands War, as 20 sailors are killed.
* 1988 &ndash; The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of space shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
* 1989 &ndash; Iran-Contra Affair: Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions are later overturned.
* 1990 &ndash; Latvia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
* 1993 &ndash; A new democratic constitution takes effect in Andorra, ending its feudal system, which had lasted since 1278. It becomes a co–principality with the elected President of France and the Catalan Bishop of Urgel as joint heads of state, with an elected Prime Minister as Head of Government.
* 1994 &ndash; Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord regarding Palestinian autonomy granting self–rule to Jericho and the Gaza Strip.
* 1998 &ndash; "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is given four life sentences in prison.
* 2000 &ndash; Ken Livingstone becomes Mayor of London.

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; Guido Westerwelle becomes leader of Germany's Free Democratic Party.
* 2002 &ndash; A plane crash in a suburb of Kano, Nigeria kills more than 148 people.
* 2002 &ndash; NASA launches the satellite *Aqua* to explore the role of water in Earth's ecosystem.
* 2007 &ndash; Greensburg, Kansas, is destroyed by a tornado.
* 2010 &ndash; The painting *Nude, Green Leaves and Bust* by Pablo Picasso is sold at auction, at a record price for a work of art.
* 2018 &ndash; It is announced that the awarding of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature will be delayed until October 2019 because of a sexual harassment and corruption scandal at the Swedish Academy.
* 2019 &ndash; The first of three days of coronation ceremonies takes place for King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 1008 &ndash; King Henry I of France (d. 1060)
* 1649 &ndash; Chhatrasal, Indian warrior (d. 1731)
* 1654 &ndash; Kangxi Emperor of China (d. 1722)
* 1655 &ndash; Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker (d. 1731)
* 1733 &ndash; Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1799)
* 1752 &ndash; John Brooks, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
* 1767 &ndash; Tyagaraja, Indian composer (d. 1847)
* 1772 &ndash; Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
* 1777 &ndash; Louis Jacques Thenard, French chemist (d. 1857)
* 1796 &ndash; Horace Mann, American educator (d. 1859)
* 1810 &ndash; Count Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski, son of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1868)
* 1820 &ndash; Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
* 1822 &ndash; Charles Boucher de Boucherville, 3rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1915)
* 1825 &ndash; Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist and educator (d. 1895)
* 1825 &ndash; Augustus Le Plongeon, British–American photographer and antiquarian (d. 1908)
* 1826 &ndash; Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
* 1827 &ndash; John Hanning Speke, British explorer (d. 1864)
* 1845 &ndash; William Kingdon Clifford, British philosopher and mathematician (d. 1879)
* 1852 &ndash; Alice Pleasance Liddell, inspiration for Alice in Wonderland (d. 1934)
* 1864 &ndash; Marie Booth, English daughter of William Booth and Catherine Booth (d. 1937)
* 1870 &ndash; Alexandre Benois, Russian artist (d. 1960)
* 1872 &ndash; A. Mitchell Palmer, United States Attorney General (d. 1936)
* 1873 &ndash; Joe De Grasse, Canadian–American actor and director (d. 1940)
* 1875 &ndash; John J. Blaine, 24th Governor of Wisconsin (d. 1934)
* 1881 &ndash; Alexander Kerensky, Russian political figure (d. 1970)
* 1883 &ndash; Wang Jingwei, Chinese politician (d. 1944)
* 1887 &ndash; Andrew Dasburg, American painter (d. 1979)
* 1889 &ndash; Francis Spellman, American archbishop (d. 1967)
* 1890 &ndash; Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
* 1895 &ndash; Cornelius Van Til, Dutch theologian (d. 1987)
* 1899 &ndash; Fritz von Opel, German industrialist, rocket pioneer and racing driver (d. 1971)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1903 &ndash; Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
* 1904 &ndash; Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (d. 1975) (official birthdate)
* 1907 &ndash; Walter Walsh, American FBI agent and Olympic shooter (d. 2014)
* 1907 &ndash; Lincoln Kirstein, American writer and impresario (d. 1996)
* 1913 &ndash; Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (d. 2007)
* 1914 &ndash; Maedayama Eigoro, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1971)
* 1916 &ndash; Jane Jacobs, American–Canadian journalist, writer and activist (d. 2006)
* 1918 &ndash; Kakuei Tanaka, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
* 1919 &ndash; Basil Yamey, South African economist
* 1921 &ndash; Harry K. Daghlian, Jr., American physicist (d. 1945)
* 1922 &ndash; Eugenie Clark, American icthyologist (d. 2015)
* 1922 &ndash; King Fleming, American jazz pianist (d. 2014)
* 1922 &ndash; John Paul Hammerschmidt, American politician (d. 2015)
* 1922 &ndash; Paul-Emile Charbonneau, Canadian bishop (d. 2014)
* 1923 &ndash; Eric Sykes, British comedian (d. 2012)
* 1925 &ndash; Luis Herrera Campins, former President of Venezuela (d. 2007)
* 1925 &ndash; Jeno Buzansky, Hungarian footballer (d. 2015)
* 1927 &ndash; Terry Scott, English actor (d. 1994)
* 1928 &ndash; Hosni Mubarak, former President of Egypt (d. 2020)
* 1928 &ndash; Maynard Ferguson, Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader (d. 2006)
* 1928 &ndash; Wolfgang von Trips, German racecar driver (d. 1961)
* 1929 &ndash; Sydney Lamb, American linguist and academic
* 1929 &ndash; Audrey Hepburn, Belgian–born British actress (d. 1993)
* 1929 &ndash; Manuel Contreras, Chilean general, convicted of crimes against humanity (d. 2015)
* 1930 &ndash; Katherine Jackson, mother of Jackson musical family
* 1930 &ndash; Roberta Peters, American soprano
* 1931 &ndash; Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor
* 1934 &ndash; Tatiana Samoilova, Russian actress (d. 2014)
* 1935 &ndash; Don Friedman, American jazz pianist (d. 2016)
* 1937 &ndash; Ron Carter, American jazz musician
* 1938 &ndash; Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican writer and journalist (d. 2010)
* 1939 &ndash; Paul Gleason, American actor (d. 2006) 
* 1940 &ndash; Robin Cook, American physician and writer
* 1940 &ndash; Sean Barrett, British voice actor
* 1943 &ndash; Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 1971)
* 1943 &ndash; Mihail Chemyakin, Russian painter and sculptor
* 1944 &ndash; Russi Taylor, American voice actress
* 1944 &ndash; Monica Bleibtreu, Austrian actress (d. 2009)
* 1945 &ndash; Jan Mulder, Dutch footballer
* 1947 &ndash; Trivimi Velliste, Estonian politician
* 1947 &ndash; Richard Jenkins, American actor
* 1948 &ndash; George Tupou V, King of Tonga (d. 2012)
* 1949 &ndash; Stella Parton, American singer-songwriter and actress
* 1950 &ndash; Darryl Hunt, musician

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Jackie Jackson, American singer, member of the Jackson musical family
* 1951 &ndash; Gérard Jugnot, French actor and director
* 1951 &ndash; Mick Mars, American musician (Mötley Crüe)
* 1951 &ndash; Colleen Hanabusa, American politician
* 1953 &ndash; Oleta Adams, American singer and pianist
* 1954 &ndash; Pia Zadora, American actress and singer
* 1956 &ndash; Charlotte Green, English radio and television presenter
* 1956 &ndash; Michael L. Gernhardt, American engineer and astronaut
* 1956 &ndash; David Guterson, American novelist
* 1956 &ndash; Ulrike Meyfarth, German athlete
* 1958 &ndash; Keith Haring, American artist (d. 1990)
* 1958 &ndash; Caroline Spelman, British politician
* 1959 &ndash; Inger Nilsson, Swedish actress
* 1959 &ndash; Maurizio Cheli, Italian astronaut and air force officer
* 1959 &ndash; Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter, musician and actor
* 1960 &ndash; Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria
* 1961 &ndash; Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer
* 1961 &ndash; Chris Packham, English wildlife expert and television presenter
* 1961 &ndash; Luis Herrera, Colombian cyclist
* 1963 &ndash; Vange Leonel, Brazilian singer-songwriter, journalist, novelist, playwright and activist (d. 2014)
* 1964 &ndash; Monica Bardem, Spanish actress
* 1964 &ndash; Rocco Siffredi, Italian pornographic actor and director
* 1967 &ndash; Ana Gasteyer, American actress
* 1968 &ndash; Francesca Bortolozzi, Italian fencer
* 1970 &ndash; Paul Wiseman, New Zealand cricketer
* 1970 &ndash; Will Arnett, Canadian actor
* 1972 &ndash; Mike Dirnt, American musician (Green Day)
* 1973 &ndash; Guillermo Barros Schelotti, Argentine footballer
* 1974 &ndash; Tony McCoy, Northern Irish jockey
* 1975 &ndash; Louise Hansen, Danish footballer
* 1975 &ndash; Catherine Trudeau, Canadian actress

### From 1976 
* 1977 &ndash; Emily Perkins, Canadian actress
* 1978 &ndash; Daisuke Ono, Japanese voice actor
* 1979 &ndash; Lance Bass, American singer (*NSYNC)
* 1979 &ndash; Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan–born rugby player
* 1982 &ndash; Nathan Tyson, English footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Trisha Krishnan, Indian actress
* 1984 &ndash; Little Boots, British singer
* 1985 &ndash; Ravinder Bopara, English cricketer
* 1987 &ndash; Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
* 1987 &ndash; Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer
* 1988 &ndash; David Gray, Scottish footballer
* 1989 &ndash; Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
* 1989 &ndash; Daniel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
* 1990 &ndash; Shunki Takahashi, Japanese footballer
* 1992 &ndash; Ashley Rickards, American actress
* 1992 &ndash; Courtney Jines, American actress
* 1994 &ndash; Alexander Gould, American actor
* 1994 &ndash; Pauline Ducruet, Monegasque royal
* 2002 &ndash; Anastasiya Petryk, Ukrainian singer
* 2009 &ndash; Prince Henrik of Denmark

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 1406 &ndash; Coluccio Salutati, Italian humanist and politician (b. 1331)
* 1436 &ndash; Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish statesman
* 1471 &ndash; Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (b. 1453)
* 1471 &ndash; Edmund of Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, English military commander (b. 1438)
* 1519 &ndash; Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (b. 1492)
* 1566 &ndash; Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
* 1604 &ndash; Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (b. 1533)
* 1605 &ndash; Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian physician and naturalist (b. 1522)
* 1615 &ndash; Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish mathematician (b. 1561)
* 1677 &ndash; Isaac Barrow, English mathematician and theologian (b. 1630)
* 1729 &ndash; Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de Noailles, French cardinal (b. 1651)
* 1734 &ndash; James Thornhill, English painter
* 1774 &ndash; Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick (b. 1714)
* 1790 &ndash; Matthew Tilghman, American planter and revolutionary leader (b. 1718)
* 1799 &ndash; Tipu Sultan, Indian military leader (b. 1750)
* 1811 &ndash; Mikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
* 1839 &ndash; Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (b. 1784)
* 1849 &ndash; Hokusai, Japanese artist (b. 1760)
* 1859 &ndash; Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician (b. 1771)
* 1880 &ndash; Edward Clark, 8th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
* 1897 &ndash; Duchess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria (b. 1847)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1901 &ndash; John Jones Ross, 7th Premier of Quebec (b. 1831)
* 1903 &ndash; Goce Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary figure (b. 1872)
* 1916 &ndash; Easter Rising leaders executed in Ireland:
**Edward Daly (b. 1891)
**Joseph Mary Plunkett (b. 1887)
**Willie Pearse (b. 1891)
* 1921 &ndash; Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian pacifist and writer (b. 1864)
* 1923 &ndash; Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1877)
* 1924 &ndash; E. Nesbit, English writer and poet (b. 1858)
* 1938 &ndash; Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist (b. 1889)
* 1945 &ndash; Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1877)
* 1949 &ndash; Torino footballers killed in plane crash:
**Aldo Ballarin, Italian footballer (b. 1922)
**Dino Ballarin, Italian footballer (b. 1925)
**Guglielmo Gabetto, Italian footballer (b. 1916)
**Leslie Lievesley, English footballer (b. 1911)
**Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (b. 1919)
**Romeo Menti, Italian footballer (b. 1919)
* 1953 &ndash; Alexandre Pharamond, French rugby player (b. 1876)
* 1955 &ndash; George Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
* 1961 &ndash; Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher (b. 1908)
* 1961 &ndash; Anita Stewart, American actress (b. 1895)
* 1970 &ndash; Victims of the Kent State shootings:
**Allison Krause, Kent State victim (b. 1951)
**Jeffrey Miller, Kent State victim (b. 1950)
**Sandra Scheuer, Kent State victim (b. 1949)
**William Schroeder, Kent State victim (b. 1950)
* 1971 &ndash; Seamus Elliott, Irish cyclist (b. 1934)
* 1972 &ndash; Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist (b. 1886)
* 1980 &ndash; Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
* 1984 &ndash; Willie Ormond, Scottish footballer (b. 1927)
* 1984 &ndash; Diana Dors, English actress (b. 1931)
* 1985 &ndash; Clarence Wiseman, 10th General of the Salvation Army (b. 1907)
* 1987 &ndash; Paul Butterfield, American musician (b. 1942)
* 1991 &ndash; Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter and mandolin player (b. 1907)
* 2000 &ndash; Hendrik Casimir, Dutch physicist (b. 1909)

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; François Adam, Belgian cyclist (b. 1911)
* 2008 &ndash; Kishan Maharaj, Indian tabla player (b. 1923)
* 2009 &ndash; Dom DeLuise, American entertainer (b. 1933)
* 2010 &ndash; Luigi Poggi, Italian cardinal (b. 1917)
* 2012 &ndash; Adam Yauch, American musician (Beastie Boys) (b. 1964)
* 2012 &ndash; Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (b. 1963)
* 2013 &ndash; Christian de Duve, Belgian biochemist (b. 1917)
* 2013 &ndash; Otis R. Bowen, 44th Governor of Indiana (b. 1918)
* 2013 &ndash; Mario Machado, Chinese–American journalist and actor (b. 1935)
* 2014 &ndash; Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian–born British tennis player (b. 1983)
* 2014 &ndash; Dick Ayers, American comic book artist and cartoonist (b. 1924)
* 2014 &ndash; Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
* 2014 &ndash; Tatiana Samoilova, Russian actress (b. 1934)
* 2015 &ndash; Eva Aeppli, Swiss artist (b. 1925)
* 2015 &ndash; Ellen Albertini Dow, American actress (b. 1913)
* 2015 &ndash; Andrew Lewis, Guyanese boxer (b. 1970)
* 2015 &ndash; Joshua Ozersky, American food writer (b. 1967)
* 2015 &ndash; Zhivko Gospodinov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1957)
* 2016 &ndash; Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, President of Burundi (b. 1946)
* 2016 &ndash; Bob Bennett, American politician (b. 1933)
* 2016 &ndash; Karl W. Butzer, German–American geographer (b. 1934)
* 2016 &ndash; Olle Ljungström, Swedish singer–songwriter and guitarist (b. 1961)
* 2016 &ndash; Rita Renoir, French entertainer and actress (b. 1934)
* 2016 &ndash; Friedrich Schattleitner, Austrian sports shooter (b. 1923)
* 2017 &ndash; William Baumol, American economist (b. 1922)
* 2017 &ndash; Bart Carlier, Dutch footballer (b. 1929)
* 2017 &ndash; C. Jackson Grayson, American businessman and writer (b. 1923)
* 2017 &ndash; Victor Lanoux, French actor (b. 1936)
* 2017 &ndash; Edwin Sherin, American–Canadian television director and producer (b. 1930)
* 2017 &ndash; R. Lee Wrights, American political activist and consultant (b. 1958)
* 2018 &ndash; Abi Ofarim, Israeli musician (b. 1937)
* 2018 &ndash; Naser Cheshm Azar, Iranian musician, composer and arranger (b. 1950)
* 2018 &ndash; Renate Dorrestein, Dutch writer and journalist (b. 1954)
* 2019 &ndash; Prospero Nograles, Filipino politician (b. 1947)
* 2019 &ndash; Rachel Held Evans, American Christian writer (b. 1981)
* 2019 &ndash; Terje Moe Gustavsen, Norwegian politician (b. 1954)

## Observances 
* Unofficial Star Wars Day ("May the fourth be with you")
* International Firefighters Day
* Youth Day (China, Fiji)
* Greenery Day (Japan)
* Bird Day (United States)
* Cassinga Day (Namibia)
* Remembrance of the Dead (Netherlands)