May 2
May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years ). There are 243 days remaining.
Events
1194 - King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter .
1335 - Otto the Merry , Duke of Austria , becomes Duke of Carinthia
1568 - Mary I of Scotland escapes from Loch Leven Castle .
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.
1808 - Peninsular War : The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation.
1816 - Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Charlotte Augusta are wed.
1829 - After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger , declares the Swan River Colony in Australia .
1863 - American Civil War : The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson .
1885 - Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time.
1885 - The Congo Free State is established by King Leopold II of Belgium .
1889 - Menelik II , Emperor of Ethiopia , signs a treaty of amity with Italy , which gives Ethiopia control over Eritrea .
1900 - Oscar II , King of Sweden, declares support for Britain at the time of the Boer War .
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 - The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness monster is reported.
1933 - Adolf Hitler bans trade unions .
1939 - Lou Gehrig 's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it.
1940 - The British passenger liner City of Exeter encounters the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis , but without incident.
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 buildingGerman forces surrender in Italy .
1945 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued.
1948 - Hour of Charm's last broadcast.
1952 - The first commercial jet plane, the BOAC 's Comet , is put into service
1953 - Hussein is crowned King of Jordan .
1955 - Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1963 - Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a rocket with three stages with a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres. 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.
1966 - Upper Hutt in New Zealand is proclaimed a city.
1969 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 New York City .
1970 - The Ohio National Guard arrives at Kent State University in response to arson on an ROTC building.
1970 - Vietnam War : Joint forces continue attack into Cambodia
1972 - Buddy Baker became the first stock car driver to finish a 500-mile race in less than three hours en route to winning the Winston Select 500 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega , Alabama .
1972 - Production of the movie Jaws 1982 - Falklands War : The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano .
1982 - The Weather Channel goes on the air.
1984 - Sunday in the Park with George Broadway .
1986 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada opens.
1988 - The last B-1 Lancer is delivered.
1997 - The Labour Party's Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , ending 18 years of Conservative Party rule. At 44, he is the youngest prime minister for 185 years.
1998 - The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the EU 's monetary policy.
1999 - Norman J. Sirnic and Karen Sirnic are murdered in their Weimar, Texas parsonage by Angel Maturino Resendiz . The couple are his fourth and fifth victims in his fourth attack.
2000 - Bill Clinton announces that GPS access equivalent to the U.S. military would be available for regular citizens.
Births
1601 - Athanasius Kircher , German Jesuit scholar (d. 1680 )
1660 - Alessandro Scarlatti , Italian composer (d. 1725 )
1729 - Empress Catherine II of Russia (d. 1796 )
1740 - Elias Boudinot , American President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821 )
1772 - Novalis , German writer (d. 1801 )
1860 - Theodor Herzl , Austrian journalist, Zionist leader (d. 1904 )
1881 - Alexander Kerensky , Russian politician (d. 1970 )
1884 - Elijah McCoy , Canadian-born inventor (d. 1929 )
1885 - Hedda Hopper , American actress, gossip columnist (d. 1966 )
1886 - Gottfried Benn , German author (d. 1956 )
1887 - Vernon Castle , dancer (d. 1918 )
1887 - Eddie Collins , Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1951 )
1890 - E. E. Smith , American science fiction writer (d. 1965 )
1892 - Manfred von Richthofen , "The Red Baron" German World War I pilot (d. 1918 )
1895 - Lorenz Hart , American lyricist (d. 1943 )
1903 - Dr. Benjamin Spock , American pediatrician, Olympic Games gold medalist in rowing , author (d. 1998 )
1907 - Pinky Lee , vaudeville performer, children's television host (d. 1993 )
1912 - Axel Cäsar Springer , publisher (d. 1985 )
1913 - Nigel Patrick , actor (d. 1981 )
1915 - Doris Fisher , American singer, songwriter (d. 2003 )
1920 - Jean-Marie Auberson , Swiss conductor (d. 2004 )
1921 - Satyajit Ray , Indian director (d. 1992 )
1924 - Theodore Bikel , actor, singer
1925 - Roscoe Lee Browne , actor
1929 - Link Wray , guitarist
1935 - King Faisal II of Iraq (d. 1958 )
1936 - Engelbert Humperdinck , singer
1937 - Lorenzo Music , writer, producer (d. 2001 )
1941 - Stephen J. Cannell , producer
1942 - Jacques Rogge , Belgian IOC president
1945 - Sarah Weddington , attorney in Roe v. Wade case
1946 - David Suchet , actor
1946 - Lesley Gore , singer
1949 - Alan Titchmarsh , gardener, TV presenter, writer
1955 - Donatella Versace , fashion designer
1961 - Steve James , English snooker player
1962 - Jimmy White , English snooker player
1969 - Brian Lara , Trinidadian cricketer
1972 - The Rock , professional wrestler and actor
1975 - David Beckham , English footballer
1985 - Sarah Hughes , figure skating champion
Deaths
373 - Athanasius , bishop of Alexandria (b. 298 )
1230 - William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny (b. c. 1197 )
1300 - Blanche of Artois , regent of Navarre, Countess of Lancaster
1450 - William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (b. 1396 )
1519 - Leonardo da Vinci , inventor, painter (b. 1452 )
1802 - Herman Willem Daendels , Dutch statesman (b. 1762 )
1819 - Mary Moser , painter (b. 1744 )
1857 - Alfred de Musset , French dramatist, poet, and novelist (b. 1810 )
1864 - Giacomo Meyerbeer , German composer (b. 1791 )
1957 - Joseph McCarthy , U.S. Senator (b. 1908 )
1964 - Nancy Astor , first woman elected to the British Parliament (b. 1879 )
1972 - J. Edgar Hoover , director of the FBI (b. 1895 )
1980 - George Pál , director, producer (b. 1908 )
1989 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri , a senior cardinal (b. 1906 )
1983 - Norm Van Brocklin , American football star
1990 - David Rappaport , English actor (b. 1951 )
1995 - Michael Hordern , English actor (b. 1911 )
1997 - John Carew Eccles , Nobel Prize winner (b. 1903 )
1998 - Hideto "hide" Matsumoto , musician (b. 1964 )
1999 - Oliver Reed , actor (b. 1938 )
1999 - Norman J. and Karen Sirnic
2002 - John Nathan-Turner , English television producer (b. 1947 )
2002 - W. T. Tutte , codebreaker and mathematician (b. 1917 )
Holidays and observances
External links
May 1 - May 3 - April 2 - June 2 -- listing of all days
