May 2

Events
Up to 1900
1194 - Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
1335 - Otto, Duke of Austria, known as "Otto the Merry", becomes Duke of Carinthia.
1536 - Anne Boleyn is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
1559 - John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become leader of the Scottish Reformation.
1568 - Mary, Queen of Scots escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
1611 - The King James Bible is published.
1670 - King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company, to open up fur trade in Canada.
1808 - The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. This event is later memorised in a painting by Francisco de Goya.
1829 - Charles Fremantle of the HMS Challenger declares the Swan River Colony in present-day Western Australia.
1863 - American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson is wounded in the Battle of Chancellorsville. He dies of his injuries on May 10.
1866 - Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
1876 - Start of the April Uprising in Bulgaria. In the Julian calendar used at the time, this date was April 20, which is why the uprising is named after the month of April.
1879 - The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is founded in Madrid by Pablo Iglesias.
1885 - The first issue of Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale.
1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium creates the Congo Free State, the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Central Africa. It is estimated that millions may have died during the colonial rule there.
1889 - Menelik II of Ethiopia signs a treaty that gives Italy control of Eritrea.
1901 2000
1906 - Closing ceremony of the 1906 Olympics, which are not officially recognized by the IOC as part of the modern Olympic Games.
1918 - General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company in Delaware.
1920 - The first Negro National League baseball game is played in Indianapolis.
1933 - Adolf Hitler bans trade unions in Germany.
1945 - The Soviet Union captures Berlin in World War II.
1946 - "Battle of Alcatraz" - In one of the most violent events on the prison island in San Francisco Bay - kills two guards and three inmates.
1952 - The first jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, makes its first flight from London to Johannesburg.
1953 - Hussein of Jordan becomes King, after his father, Talal of Jordan, is declared unfit to rule.
1964 - Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the ship USS Card while it is in the dock at Saigon. The Viet Cong is suspected of having carried out the attack.
1964 - First successful climb of Shishapangma, the 14th-highest mountain in the world, and the smallest of those with a height over 8000 metres.
1969 - The Ocean Liner Queen Elizabeth 2 leaves for its first voyage to New York.
1972 - An early-morning fire at Sunshine Mine between the towns of Kellogg and Wallace, Indiana, kills 91 workers.
1982 - Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
1986 - Chernobyl is evacuated, six days after the nuclear reactor disaster there.
1989 - Hungary opens its western border.
1994 - A bus crash in Gdansk kills 32 people.
1995 - Croatian War of Independence: Serbian forces fire cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing 7 people and injuring 175.
1997 - Tony Blair takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after his Labour Party won the previous day's General Election with a landslide win over John Major's Conservative Party.
1998 - The European Central Bank is formed in Brussels.
1999 - Mireya Moscoso is elected as the first female President of Panama.
From 2001
2004 - Over 630 Muslim nomads are killed by Christians in religious violence in Nigeria.
2006 - The band Tool releases its 4th album 10,000 Days.
2008 - Tropical Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma, where it kills tens of thousands of people.
2008 - The Chaiten volcano in Chile begins erupting. 4,500 people are evacuated from their homes.
2011 - US President Barack Obama announces the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a US military operation in Pakistan.
2011 - A Europe-wide E. coli outbreak, centred in Germany, begins.
2011 - Stephen Harper's Conservative Party of Canada wins an overall majority in parliament in Canada's election. The Liberal Party of Canada finishes third, behind the New Democratic Party of Jack Layton, who dies a few months later.
2012 - A pastel version of Edvard Munch's The Scream sells for 120 million US Dollars, setting a new record for a work of art sold at auction.
2014 - A landslide in Afghanistan kills at least 350 people, with many reported missing.
2014 - Violent clashes in Odessa during the Ukrainian political crisis lead to a building fire in which at least 31 pro-Russian activists are killed.
2018 - Basque separatist group ETA announces its intention to dissolve.
Births
Up to 1900
1360 - Yongle, Chinese Emperor (d. 1424)
1451 - Rene II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1503)
1458 - Eleanor of Viseu, Queen of Portugal (d. 1525)
1551 - William Camden, English historian and antiquarian (d. 1623)
1579 - Tokugawa Hidetada, Japanese shogun (d. 1632)
1601 - Athanasius Kircher, German scholar (d. 1680)
1660 - Antonio Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
1702 - Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian (d. 1782)
1729 - Empress Catherine II of Russia (d. 1796)
1737 - William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1805)
1740 - Elias Boudinot, American lawyer and statesman (d. 1821)
1754 - Vicente Martin y Soler, Spanish composer (d. 1806)
1772 - Novalis, German writer and philosopher (d. 1801)
1773 - Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher (d. 1845)
1797 - Abraham Pineo Gesner, Canadian physician and geologist (d. 1864)
1802 - Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German scientist (d. 1870)
1806 - Charles Gleyre, Swiss painter (d. 1874)
1808 - Emma Wedgwood, English naturalist (d. 1896)
1810 - Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer (d. 1874)
1815 - William Buell Richards, 1st Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1889)
1830 - Otto Staudinger, German entomologist (d. 1900)
1843 - Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American inventor and engineer (d. 1929)
1856 - Vasily Rozanov, Russian philosopher (d. 1919)
1859 - Jerome K. Jerome, English writer (d. 1927)
1860 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian writer and Zionist (d. 1904)
1860 - D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Scottish biologist, mathematician and classical scholar (d. 1948)
1860 - John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist (d. 1936)
1868 - Robert W. Wood, American experimental physicist (d. 1955)
1872 - Karl Nessler, American hairdresser (d. 1951)
1879 - James F. Byrnes, 49th United States Secretary of State and 104th Governor of South Carolina (d. 1972)
1880 - Bill Horr, American athlete (d. 1955)
1881 - Alexander Kerensky, Russian politician (d. 1970)
1885 - Hedda Hopper, American actress and columnist (d. 1966)
1886 - Gottfried Benn, German writer (d. 1956)
1889 - Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesian education pioneer (d. 1959)
1890 - E. E. Smith, American food engineer (d. 1965)
1892 - Manfred von Richthofen, German fighter pilot (d. 1918)
1895 - Lorenz Hart, American playwright (d. 1943)
1896 - Helen of Greece of Denmark (d. 1982)
1901 1950
1902 - Arturo Licata, Sicilian supercentenarian (d. 2014)
1903 - Benjamin Spock, American writer (d. 1998)
1913 - Nigel Patrick, English actor (d. 1981)
1915 - Van Alexander, American jazz composer, arranger and bandleader (d. 2015)
1917 - Van Tien Dung, Vietnamese general and politician (d. 2002)
1917 - Albert Castelyns, Belgian water polo player and bobsledder (d. unknown)
1920 - Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
1920 - Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-Brazilian activist (d. 2000)
1920 - Vasantrao Deshpande, Indian singer and sitar player (d. 1983)
1920 - Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter, 1948 Olympic champion (d. 2004)
1921 - Satyajit Ray, Indian movie maker (d. 1992)
1923 - Patrick Hillery, President of Ireland (d. 2008)
1924 - Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American actor and singer (d. 2015)
1924 - Hugh Cortazzi, English businessman and diplomat (d. 2018)
1925 - Maria Barroso, Portuguese actress and politician (d. 2015)
1928 - Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (d. 1972)
1929 - Edouard Balladur, former Prime Minister of France
1929 - Eddie Garcia, Filipino actor, director and television personality (d. 2019)
1930 - Marco Pannella, Italian politician and activist (d. 2016)
1930 - Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter, journalist and critic (d. 2013)
1931 - Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, English lawyer and judge
1932 - Bruce Glover, American actor
1933 - Gerard Jouannest, French pianist (d. 2018)
1933 - Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, English lawyer and judge
1935 - Luis Suarez Miramontes, Spanish footballer
1935 - King Faisal II of Iraq (d. 1958)
1936 - Norma Aleandro, Argentine actress, director and screenwriter
1936 - Engelbert Humperdinck, British singer
1937 - Lance LeGault, American actor (d. 2012)
1937 - Lorenzo Music, American screenwriter, actor and producer (d. 2001)
1938 - King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (d. 1996)
1941 - Jules Wijdenbosch, former President of Suriname
1941 - Eddy Louiss, French jazz musician (d. 2015)
1942 - Jacques Rogge, Belgian Olympic official (d. 2021)
1943 - Manfred Schnelldorfer, German figure skater
1944 - Kim Yong-il, North Korean politician
1945 - Judge Dread, English musician (d. 1998)
1945 - Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan-born activist
1946 - Lesley Gore, American singer (d. 2015)
1946 - David Suchet, British actor
1947 - James Dyson, British inventor
1947 - Prashanta Nanda, Indian actor, director, producer and politician
1949 - Alan Titchmarsh, British television presenter
1949 - Alfons Schuhbeck, German chef and cookery writer
1949 - Alan Gross, American government contractor
1950 - Lou Gramm, American singer
1951 1975
1951 - John Glascock, English musician (d. 1979)
1952 - Christine Baranski, American actress
1952 - Christopher Doyle, Australian director and screenwriter
1953 - Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor
1955 - Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer
1956 - Regis Lebeaume, Canadian politician, 41st Mayor of Quebec City
1958 - Yasushi Akimoto, Japanese television writer, songwriter, record producer and professor
1958 - David O'Leary, Irish footballer
1962 - Jimmy White, English snooker player
1964 - Silvia Neid, German footballer and coach
1967 - Bengt Akerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1995)
1967 - Luigi Apolloni, Italian footballer
1968 - Hikaru Midorikawa, Japanese voice actor
1968 - Ziana Zain, Malaysian singer-songwriter and actress
1969 - Brian Lara, West Indies cricketer
1971 - Musashimaru Koyo, American Samoan sumo wrestler
1972 - Dwayne Johnson, American professional wrestler and actor
1972 - Ahti Heinla, Estonian programmer and entrepreneur
1973 - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, German movie director
1974 - Matt Berry, English actor
1975 - David Beckham, English footballer
1975 - Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger, American astronaut
From 1976
1977 - Jan Fitschen, German runner
1977 - Kalle Palander, Finnish skier
1979 - Jason Chimera, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 - Roman Lyashenko, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
1980 - Tim Borowski, German footballer
1980 - Zat Knight, English footballer
1980 - Troy Murphy, American basketball player
1980 - Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canadian skateboarder
1981 - Chris Kirkland, English footballer
1981 - Tiago Mendes, Portuguese footballer
1982 - Lorie, French singer
1982 - Johan Botha, South Korean cricketer
1983 - Alessandro Diamanti, Italian footballer
1983 - Derek Boateng, Ghanaian footballer
1983 - Maynor Figueroa, Honduran footballer
1983 - Tina Maze, Slovenian skier
1985 - Lily Allen, English singer
1985 - Kyle Busch, American racing driver
1985 - Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
1985 - David Nugent, English footballer
1985 - Oh Land, Danish singer-songwriter and record producer
1985 - Alexander Galimov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
1986 - Emily Hart, American actress
1986 - Sani Kaita, Nigerian footballer
1987 - Saara Aalto, Finnish singer
1987 - Kris Russell, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 - Nana Kitade, Japanese singer-songwriter and musician
1988 - Stephen Henderson, Irish footballer
1990 - Kay Panabaker, American actress
1990 - Paul George, American basketball player
1991 - Jeong Jinwoon, South Korean actor and singer
1994 - Josh Bolt, English actor
1996 - Julian Brandt, German footballer
1997 - Bambam, South Korean dancer, rapper and singer
2015 - Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
Deaths
Up to 1900
373 - Athanasius of Alexandria (b. 298)
756 - Emperor Shomu of Japan (b. 701)
907 - Boris I of Bulgaria
1219 - Leo I, King of Armenia (b. 1150)
1300 - Blanche of Artois (b. 1248)
1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist and inventor (b. 1452)
1627 - Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Italian composer (b. 1560)
1802 - Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (b. 1762)
1819 - Mary Moser, English painter (b. 1744)
1821 - Hester Thrale, Welsh diarist (b. 1741)
1825 - Michail Leontievich Bulatov, Russian military (b. 1760)
1857 - Alfred de Busset, French writer (b. 1810)
1864 - Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (b. 1791)
1880 - Eberhard Anheuser, German-American businessman (b. 1805)
1880 - Tom Willis, Australian cricketer and co-founder of Australian rules football (b. 1835)
1901 2000
1909 - Manuel Amador Guerrero, 1st President of Panama (b. 1833)
1915 - Clara Immerwahr, German chemist, doctor and activist (b. 1870)
1918 - Juri Vilms, Estonian politician (b. 1889)
1927 - Ernest Starling, English physiologist (b. 1866)
1930 - Isidor Gunsberg, Hungarian chess player (b. 1854)
1945 - Martin Bormann, Nazi politician (b. 1900)
1957 - Joseph McCarthy, US Senator (b. 1908)
1960 - Caryl Chessman, American, controversially executed (b. 1921)
1964 - Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-British politician (b. 1879)
1969 - Franz von Papen, German politician (b. 1879)
1972 - J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI (b. 1895)
1979 - Giulio Natta, Italian chemist (b. 1903)
1983 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football player (b. 1926)
1983 - Pridi Banomyong, Prime minister of Thailand (b. 1900)
1984 - Bob Clampett, American animator, producer and director (b. 1913)
1985 - Attilio Bettega, Italian rally driver (b. 1953)
1989 - Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (b. 1902)
1989 - Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1902)
1993 - Andre Moynet, French fighter pilot, entrepreneur, politician and racing driver (b. 1921)
1995 - Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)
1995 - Werner Veigel, German television journalist (b. 1928)
1997 - Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and philosopher (b. 1921)
1997 - Sir John Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist (b. 1903)
1998 - Hide, Japanese musician (b. 1964)
1998 - Justin Fashanu, English footballer (b. 1961)
1998 - Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)
1999 - Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
From 2001
2005 - Wee Kim Wee, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
2009 - Augusto Boal, Brazilian theatre director (b. 1931)
2009 - Jack Kemp, American politician and football player (b. 1935)
2010 - Kama Chinen, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1895)
2010 - Lynn Redgrave, British actress (b. 1943)
2011 - Osama Bin Laden, Saudi Islamist terrorist (b. 1957)
2012 - Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian physician and politician (b. 1955)
2012 - Junior Seau, American football player (b. 1969)
2013 - Ivan Turina, Croatian footballer (b. 1980)
2013 - Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist (Slayer) (b. 1964)
2014 - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (b. 1918)
2014 - Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Iranian classical musician (b. 1947)
2014 - Nigel Stepney, English mechanic (b. 1958)
2014 - Pauline Wagner, American actress (b. 1910)
2015 - Ruth Rendell, English writer (b. 1930)
2015 - Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1925)
2015 - Konstantin K. Kuzminsky, Russian performance poet (b. 1940)
2015 - Sarah Correa, Brazilian swimmer (b. 1992)
2015 - Guy Carawan, American folk musician (b. 1927)
2015 - Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (b. 1945)
2015 - Stuart Archer, British recipient of the George Cross (b. 1915)
2015 - Philip S. Goodman, American director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1926)
2016 - Afeni Shakur, African American music businesswoman, philanthropist, political activist, and Black Panther. Mother of Tupac Shakur (b. 1947)
2016 - Jonathan Cainer, British astrologer (b. 1957)
2016 - John Kaye, Australian politician (b. 1955)
2016 - Roger Millward, British rugby league player (b. 1947)
2017 - Harold Bedoya Pizarro, Colombian military commander and politician (b. 1938)
2017 - Abelardo Castillo, Argentine author and essayist (b. 1935)
2017 - Kevin Garcia, American musician (b. 1975)
2017 - Heinz Kessler, German politician (b. 1920)
2017 - George Hugh Niederauer, American archbishop (b. 1936)
2017 - Leo K. Thorsness, American air force officer (b. 1932)
2017 - Moray Watson, British actor (b. 1928)
2017 - Roy Gater, English footballer (b. 1940)
2018 - Gord Brown, Canadian politician (b. 1960)
2018 - Tony Cucchiara, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
2018 - Herman Krebbers, Dutch violinist (b. 1923)
2018 - Vadim Mulerman, Soviet-Ukrainian singer (b. 1938)
2018 - Bill Torrey, Canadian ice hockey executive (b. 1934)
2018 - Wang Danfeng, Chinese actress (b. 1924)
2018 - Wolfgang Volz, German actor (b. 1930)
2018 - Janos Juszko, Hungarian cyclist (b. 1939)
2019 - Michel Crauste, French rugby union player (b. 1934)
2019 - Rafael Hernandez Colon, Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1936)
2019 - Fatimih Davila, Uruguayan model (b. 1988)
2019 - Master Hirannaiah, Indian actor (b. 1934)
2019 - Frank Ivancie, American businessman and politician (b. 1924)
2019 - Red Kelly, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1927)
2019 - Micha Lindenstrauss, German-born Israeli judge (b. 1937)
2019 - Ali Mroudjae, Prime minister of the Comoros (b. 1939)
2019 - Lord Toby Jug, British politician (b. 1935)
2019 - Chris Reccardi, American animator (b. 1964)
2019 - John Starling, American bluegrass musician (b. 1940)
2019 - Juan Vicente Torrealba, Venezuelan harpist and composer (b. 1917)
Observances
Polish Flag day celebrated
Last day of the Baha'i festival to select members of the Universal House of Justice.
National Education Day (Indonesia)
Teachers' Day (Iran, Bhutan)
May 02