History of Today in India – 05 May

Explore the history of today 05 May in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 05 May 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 05 May in World History

05 May 2023: The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency. Read more
05 May 2010: Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis. Read more
05 May 2007: Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing all 114 aboard, making it the deadliest aircraft disaster in Cameroon. Read more
05 May 2006: The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army. Read more
05 May 1994: The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Read more
05 May 1994: American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism. Read more
05 May 1991: A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man. Read more
05 May 1987: Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States. Read more
05 May 1985: Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech. Read more
05 May 1981: Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. Read more
05 May 1980: Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. Read more
05 May 1973: Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record. Read more
05 May 1972: Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. Read more
05 May 1964: The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day. Read more
05 May 1961: Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. Read more
05 May 1955: The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect. Read more
05 May 1946: The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Read more
05 May 1945: World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation. Read more
05 May 1945: World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon. Read more
05 May 1945: World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, one of only two battles in that war in which American and German troops fought cooperatively. Read more
05 May 1941: Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day. Read more
05 May 1940: World War II: Norwegian campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms. Read more
05 May 1936: Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Read more
05 May 1930: The 1930 Bago earthquake, the first of two major earthquakes in southern Burma, kills as many as 7,000 in Yangon and Bago. Read more
05 May 1920: Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder. Read more
05 May 1912: The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published. Read more
05 May 1905: The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder. Read more
05 May 1904: Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. Read more
05 May 1891: The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. Read more
05 May 1887: The Peruvian Academy of Language is founded. Read more
05 May 1886: Workers marching for the eight-hour day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what became known as the Bay View Massacre. Read more
05 May 1877: American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. Read more
05 May 1866: Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York. Read more
05 May 1865: American Civil War: The Confederate government is declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia. Read more
05 May 1864: American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County. Read more
05 May 1862: Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico. Read more
05 May 1835: The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen. Read more
05 May 1821: Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Read more
05 May 1821: The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published. Read more
05 May 1809: Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 05 May in World History

05 May 2004: Jenna Davis, American actress and YouTuber Jenna Davis is an American actress, Internet personality, and singer-songwriter. She is best known for voicing the titular character of the horror film M3GAN (2022) and its sequel, M3GAN 2.0 (2025). As a child actress, she had recurring roles on the Brat network and the Disney Channel series Raven's Home (2018–2019). Her voice work includes Treehouse Detectives (2018) and Vampirina (2018–2020). She rose to prominence after her first single released with SMACK records "DiCaprio", which the music video on her YouTube channel has reached over 4 million views. Read more
05 May 2004: Kirsty Muir, Scottish freestyle skier Kirsty Muir is a Scottish freestyle skier representing Great Britain who competes in big air and slopestyle. She came second in the big air event at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, and won the slopestyle competition at the 2026 Winter X Games. Read more
05 May 2003: Carlos Alcaraz, Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz Garfia is a Spanish professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2022 and 2025. Alcaraz has won 26 ATP Tour–level singles titles, including seven majors and eight ATP Masters 1000 titles. He is the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam in singles. Read more
05 May 1999: Nathan Chen, American figure skater Nathan Wei Chen is an American figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion, a ten-time Grand Prix medalist, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the team event, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, and a six-time U.S. national champion (2017–22). At the junior level, Chen is the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, 2013–14 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 World Junior bronze medalist, and a six-time Junior Grand Prix medalist. He became the youngest skater to win a U.S. Championship at the novice level in 2010, at age ten, a title he successfully defended the following season. Read more
05 May 1999: Justin Kluivert, Dutch footballer Justin Dean Kluivert is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Bournemouth and the Netherlands national team. Read more
05 May 1998: Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is the current world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA and is a former No. 1 in doubles. Sabalenka has won 24 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including four majors – two each at the Australian Open and the US Open – as well as 11 WTA 1000 events. She has also won six doubles titles, including the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open, both with Elise Mertens. Read more
05 May 1997: Logan Gilbert, American baseball player Logan Keith Gilbert is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021 and was an All-Star in 2024. Read more
05 May 1997: Mitch Marner, Canadian hockey player Mitchell Daniel Marner is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL entry draft. Read more
05 May 1996: Christopher Eubanks, American tennis player Christopher Eubanks is an American former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 29, achieved on 31 July 2023 and a best doubles ranking of No. 142, reached on 12 August 2024. His most notable result was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2023 Wimbledon. Read more
05 May 1996: Mayar Sherif, Egyptian tennis player Mayar Sherif Ahmed Abdel-Aziz is an Egyptian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA ranking of No. 31 in singles, making her the highest ranked Egyptian singles player, male or female, in the Open Era. She also has a career-high of No. 65 in doubles.
Sherif has won one singles title on the WTA Tour and two titles in doubles. She has also won a record eight WTA 125 singles titles and two doubles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour along with eleven singles and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She is the younger sister of Rana Sherif Ahmed. Read more
05 May 1995: James Conner, American football player James Earl Conner is an American professional football running back for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. In 2014, he garnered AFCA first-team All-American honors and was awarded the ACC Player of the Year. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft. Read more
05 May 1994: Celeste, British singer Celeste Epiphany Waite, known by the mononym Celeste, is an English singer and songwriter. She began her career in 2014 providing vocals for electronic producers such as Avicii, Tieks and Real Lies, while also self-publishing music onto SoundCloud on the side. She made her solo debut via Lily Allen's vanity label Bank Holiday Records with the EP The Milk & the Honey (2017), and then released her second EP Lately (2019) after signing with Polydor Records in 2018. Read more
05 May 1991: Raúl Jiménez, Mexican footballer Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Fulham and the Mexico national team. Read more
05 May 1989: Chris Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor Christopher Maurice Brown is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. A pop and hip-hop influenced R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "King of R&B" by some contemporaries. His lyrics often address emotional and hedonistic themes. His singing and dancing skills have often been compared favorably to those of Michael Jackson. Read more
05 May 1989: Agnes Knochenhauer, Swedish curler Agnes Ellinor Knochenhauer is a Swedish curler from Stockholm. She currently plays second on Team Anna Hasselborg. With Hasselborg, Knochenhauer has won three Olympic medals, gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo and bronze at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She also won a silver medal at the 2014 Games in Sochi as alternate for the Margaretha Sigfridsson rink. Read more
05 May 1988: Adele, English singer-songwriter Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a British cultural icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. Her accolades include 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. Read more
05 May 1987: Graham Dorrans, Scottish footballer Graham Dorrans is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Johnstone Burgh. Read more
05 May 1985: Shoko Nakagawa, Japanese actress and singer Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese media personality, singer, actress, voice actress, illustrator, YouTuber, and cosplayer. Also known by her nickname Shokotan (しょこたん), she is best known as the presenter of Pokémon Sunday, and as the performer of the opening theme from the anime Gurren Lagann. Read more
05 May 1985: Emanuele Giaccherini, Italian footballer Emanuele Giaccherini is an Italian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Read more
05 May 1985: P. J. Tucker, American basketball player Anthony Leon "P.J." Tucker Jr. is an American professional basketball player who last played for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Regarded as a reliable perimeter defender all throughout his career, Tucker won an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. He played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns. Outside his NBA career, he was also the 2008 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, and Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP and also won championships overseas in the Israeli Super League in 2008 with the Hapoel Holon, the German League and the German Cup in 2012 with Brose Bamberg. Read more
05 May 1983: Henry Cavill, English actor Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He gained wide recognition for portraying Superman in the DC Extended Universe (2013–2023), beginning with the film Man of Steel (2013) and reprising the role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), in addition to a cameo appearance in Black Adam (2022) and The Flash (2023). Read more
05 May 1982: Vanessa Bryant, American philanthropist and model Vanessa Marie Bryant is a Mexican-American businesswoman and philanthropist. She was married to American professional basketball player Kobe Bryant. Following the death of her husband and daughter Gianna in a January 26, 2020, helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, Bryant filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, which was settled in 2023. Read more
05 May 1982: Corey Parker, Australian rugby league footballer Corey Parker is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. A Queensland State of Origin and Australia international representative, Parker played in the lock, second-row and prop positions. Parker played his entire professional career at the Broncos club, with whom he won the 2006 NRL Premiership. He also fulfilled goal kicking duties for the Broncos. Read more
05 May 1981: Craig David, English singer-songwriter, musician and producer Craig Ashley David is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. He rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, Born to Do It, was released in 2000, to great commercial success. He followed it up with eight more studio albums: Slicker Than Your Average (2002), The Story Goes… (2005), Trust Me (2007), Signed Sealed Delivered (2010), Following My Intuition (2016), The Time Is Now (2018), 22 (2022), and Commitment (2025). Over his career, David has collaborated with a diverse array of artists, including Sting, Tinchy Stryder, Big Narstie, Tiwa Savage and JoJo. Read more
05 May 1981: Danielle Fishel, American actress Danielle Christine Fishel Karp is an American actress and director. Her career started in community theater, and she made her screen debut with guest roles on shows such as Full House (1992–1993) and Harry and the Hendersons (1993). Fishel's breakthrough came with the role of Topanga Lawrence on the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World (1993–2000), which she later reprised in its successor, Girl Meets World (2014–2017), on Disney Channel. For the role, she received a YoungStar Award in 1998. Read more
05 May 1980: Yossi Benayoun, Israeli footballer Yossi Shai Benayoun is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Israel and England and captained the Israel national team. Born in Dimona, he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona" in Israel. As of 2023, he has been the sporting director of the Israel national team. Read more
05 May 1980: Hank Green, American entrepreneur, educator, and vlogger William Henry Green II is an American YouTuber, science communicator, novelist, stand-up comedian, and entrepreneur. He produces the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers with his older brother, author John Green, and hosts the educational YouTube channels Crash Course and SciShow. He has advocated for and organized social activism, created and hosted a number of other YouTube channels and podcasts, released music albums, and amassed a large following on TikTok. Read more
05 May 1979: Vincent Kartheiser, American actor Vincent Paul Kartheiser is an American actor. He gained acclaim for his role as Pete Campbell on the AMC drama series Mad Men from 2007 to 2015. He had starring roles in films such as Alaska (1996), Masterminds (1997), and Another Day in Paradise (1998). Kartheiser also played Connor on The WB television series Angel and Dr. Jonathan Crane in the third season of the HBO series Titans. For his role as William Bradford in Saints & Strangers he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. Read more
05 May 1977: Tiffany Roberts, American footballer Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak is an American soccer coach, former defender, and Olympic gold medalist. She was also a member of the 1999 U.S. national team that won the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. She became the 16th player in U.S. history to play over 100 matches for her country and was a founding member of the WUSA, the first women's professional soccer league in the United States. She is currently head coach of the women's soccer team at the University of Central Florida. Read more
05 May 1976: Dieter Brummer, Australian actor (died 2021) Dieter Kirk Brummer was an Australian actor. He was best known for his roles in television soap operas, including playing Shane Parrish in Home and Away from 1992 to 1996 and Troy Miller in Neighbours from 2011 to 2012. He also starred in crime drama Underbelly: The Golden Mile, after having a smaller role in the previous series. Read more
05 May 1976: Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentinian footballer and sportscaster Juan Pablo Sorín is an Argentine former footballer and current sports broadcaster, who played as a left-back or left midfielder. He had a successful club career in his native Argentina with River Plate, in Brazil with Cruzeiro, and with various teams in Europe, including Barcelona, Lazio, Paris Saint-Germain and Villarreal. Read more
05 May 1975: Meb Keflezighi, American runner Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi is a retired American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and finished in fourth place in the 2012 Summer Olympics. He won the 2009 New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009, and the 2014 Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014, becoming the first American man to win each race since 1982 and 1983, respectively. Keflezighi is a graduate of UCLA, where he won four NCAA championships competing for the UCLA Bruins track and field team. He came in fourth in the 2014 New York City Marathon on November 2, 2014, eighth in the 2015 Boston Marathon on April 20, 2015, and second in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Read more
05 May 1972: James Cracknell, English rower James Edward Cracknell, is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles. Cracknell was appointed OBE for "services to sport" in the 2005 New Year Honours List. Read more
05 May 1972: Žigmund Pálffy, Slovak ice hockey player Žigmund Pálffy, nicknamed "Ziggy" in English and "Žigo" in Slovak, is a Slovak former professional ice hockey player. Read more
05 May 1972: Mikael Renberg, Swedish ice hockey player Mikael Bo Renberg is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player, last playing for Skellefteå AIK in Elitserien. He spent ten seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and eight in the Swedish Elite League. Read more
05 May 1971: Harold Miner, American basketball player Harold David Miner is an American former professional basketball player and two-time champion of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Slam Dunk Contest. He attended college at the University of Southern California (USC) and was a star player on that school's men's basketball team. He left school in 1992 to pursue his professional career, and played in the NBA for the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite comparisons to Michael Jordan, Miner's NBA career lasted only four years. Read more
05 May 1967: Adam Hughes, American author and illustrator Adam Hughes is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as Wonder Woman and Catwoman. He is known as one of comics' foremost cheesecake artists, and one of the best known and most distinctive comic book cover artists. Throughout his career Hughes has provided illustration work for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, Playboy magazine, Joss Whedon's Mutant Enemy Productions, and Sideshow Collectibles. He is also a fixture at comics conventions where his commissioned sketches command long lines. Read more
05 May 1967: Charles Nagy, American baseball player Charles Harrison Nagy is an American former Major League Baseball All-Star right-handed pitcher who played for 14 seasons in the major leagues from 1990 to 2003. He played for the Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres. He served as the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2011 to 2013 and the Los Angeles Angels from 2016 to 2018. Read more
05 May 1967: Alexis Sinduhije, Burundian journalist and politician Alexis Sinduhije is a Burundian journalist and politician. After founding Radio Publique Africaine during the Burundi Civil War, Sinduhije received a CPJ International Press Freedom Award and was named to the Time 100 list of most influential people. In 2007, he left journalism to run for president, but was arrested in 2008 on a charge of "insulting the president," Pierre Nkurunziza, drawing protests on his behalf from the U.S., U.K., and Amnesty International. He was found not guilty and released in 2009. The film Kamenge, Northern Quarters follows Sinduhije before, during, and after his incarceration. Read more
05 May 1966: Shawn Drover, Canadian drummer Shawn Drover is a Canadian drummer, best known for his work with the American heavy metal band Megadeth. He uses Sabian cymbals and Yamaha drums, Pro-mark drum sticks, Toca Percussion, Evans Drumheads and Extreme Isolation headphones. Read more
05 May 1966: Sergei Stanishev, Bulgarian politician, 46th Prime Minister of Bulgaria Sergey Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who served Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Socialist Party, which he led from 2001 to 2014, he later served as Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2024. Stanishev was also the President of the European Socialists from 2011 to 2022 and a Member of the National Assembly from 1997 to 2005 and from 2009 to 2014. Read more
05 May 1966: Josh Weinstein, American screenwriter and producer Joshua Weinstein is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Weinstein and Bill Oakley became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans School; Weinstein then attended Stanford University and was editor-in-chief of the Stanford Chaparral. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period. Read more
05 May 1964: Jean-François Copé, French politician, French Minister of Budget Jean-François Copé is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—including Minister of the Budget—at the same time. He also served as the member of the National Assembly for the 6th constituency of Seine-et-Marne and president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) group in the National Assembly. In November 2010 he became the party's secretary-general. In August 2012 he announced that he would run for the presidency of the UMP, facing the former Prime Minister François Fillon. Read more
05 May 1964: Heike Henkel, German high jumper Heike Henkel is a German former athlete competing in high jump. She was Olympic, World and European champion. She won the high jump gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Read more
05 May 1964: Don Payne, American screenwriter and producer (died 2013) William Donald Payne was an American writer and producer. He wrote several episodes of The Simpsons after 2000, many of these with John Frink, whom he met while studying at the University of California, Los Angeles. The duo began their careers writing for the short-lived sitcom Hope and Gloria. Payne later moved into writing feature films, including My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), and co-wrote Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Thor (2011) and its sequel Thor: The Dark World (2013). Payne died from heart failure caused by bone cancer in March 2013. Read more
05 May 1964: Minami Takayama, Japanese voice actress and singer Minami Takayama is a Japanese voice actress, narrator and singer who is currently affiliated with 81 Produce. She is also the main vocalist of Two-Mix and ES CONNEXION when it was active. Her uncle was former New Japan Pro-Wrestling managing director Hisashi Shinma. Read more
05 May 1963: James LaBrie, Canadian singer-songwriter Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has been fronting since 1991. Read more
05 May 1963: Simon Rimmer, English chef and author Simon Peter Rimmer is an English celebrity chef, best known for his on-screen partnership with Tim Lovejoy. Read more
05 May 1963: Scott Westerfeld, American author and composer Scott David Westerfeld is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the Uglies and the Leviathan series. Read more
05 May 1961: Marg Downey, Australian actress Marg Downey is an Australian comedian and actress, best known for her roles in The D Generation, Fast Forward and Full Frontal Read more
05 May 1961: Hiroshi Hase, Japanese wrestler and politician Hiroshi Hase is a Japanese politician and semi-retired professional wrestler who served as the governor of Ishikawa Prefecture from 2022 to 2026. As a professional wrestler, Hase primarily worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and also for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Stampede Wrestling. During his affiliation with AJPW, he also served as the chairman for the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF), which is the governing body for all championships in the promotion. Among his numerous title wins, Hase held the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship once, making him a one-time world champion. Read more
05 May 1960: Doug Hawkins, Australian footballer and sportscaster Douglas James Hawkins is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Footscray and Fitzroy in the Australian Football League (AFL). He also enjoyed a brief career in media and ran for the Senate, as a member of Palmer United Party, in the 2013 Australian federal election. Read more
05 May 1959: Bobby Ellsworth, American singer and bass player Robert Ellsworth, best known as Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, is an American singer who is the lead vocalist of New Jersey thrash metal band Overkill. He has been the vocalist of Overkill since its inception in 1980, and he and bassist D. D. Verni are the band's only constant members. Read more
05 May 1959: Ian McCulloch, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Echo & the Bunnymen. Read more
05 May 1959: Brian Williams, American journalist Brian Douglas Williams is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a correspondent for NBC Nightly News starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in December 2004. Read more
05 May 1958: Robert DiPierdomenico, Australian footballer and sportscaster Berto "Robert" DiPierdomenico is a retired Australian rules footballer who represented Hawthorn in the Australian Football League (AFL) from the 1970s to the 1990s. Popularly known by his nickname "Dipper", DiPierdomenico is one of the most successful Italian Australians to play Australian football, and his contribution to the game was recognised by selection in the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century. Read more
05 May 1957: Richard E. Grant, Swazi-English actor, director, and screenwriter Richard E. Grant is a Swazi-English actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy Withnail and I (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Marielle Heller's drama film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), winning various awards including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He also received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Read more
05 May 1956: Steve Scott, American runner and coach Steve Scott is an American former track athlete who competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Olympics. Track & Field News ranked Scott #1 in the U.S. on ten occasions, and eleven times during his career he was ranked in the top ten in the world by T&FN. Scott is also regarded as the founder of speed golf in 1979. Read more
05 May 1955: Jon Butcher, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and freelance multimedia producer Jon Butcher is an American rock, blues songwriter, guitarist and freelance multimedia producer. Read more
05 May 1952: Ed Lee, American politician and attorney, 43rd Mayor of San Francisco (died 2017) Edwin Mah Lee was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death in 2017. Read more
05 May 1950: Maggie MacNeal, Dutch singer Maggie MacNeal is a Dutch singer. She was a member of Mouth & MacNeal, a pop duo from the Netherlands, who are best known for their million-selling recording of "How Do You Do" in 1972, which topped the Dutch chart and became a US top ten hit, and for representing the Netherlands at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third with the song "I See a Star", which went on to become a UK top ten hit. In 1980, she represented the Netherlands at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing fifth with the song Amsterdam. Read more
05 May 1948: Bill Ward, English drummer and songwriter William Thomas Ward is an English drummer. He is the original drummer of Black Sabbath, co-founding the pioneering heavy metal band in 1969 alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. He has released three solo albums, the most recent being Accountable Beasts in 2015. Read more
05 May 1946: Jim Kelly, American actor, athlete, and martial artist (died 2013) James Milton Kelly was an American athlete, martial artist actor, and professional tennis player. After winning several karate championships, he rose to fame in the early 1970s appearing in action films within the martial arts and blaxploitation genres. Kelly played opposite Bruce Lee in 1973's Enter the Dragon, and had lead roles in 1974's Black Belt Jones as the title character and Three the Hard Way as Mister Keyes. Read more
05 May 1945: Kurt Loder, American journalist, author, and critic Kurt Loder is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at Rolling Stone, during a tenure that Reason later called "legendary." He has contributed to articles in Reason, Esquire, Details, New York, and Time. He has also made cameos in several films and television series. He is best known for his role at MTV News beginning in the 1980s and for appearing in other MTV-related television specials. He has hosted the SiriusXM radio show True Stories since 2016. Read more
05 May 1944: Bo Larsson, Swedish footballer (died 2023) Bo-Göran "Bosse" Larsson was a Swedish professional footballer who played as a midfielder and striker. Best remembered for his time with Malmö FF, he also represented VfB Stuttgart and Trelleborgs FF during his career. A full international between 1964 and 1978, he won 70 caps for the Sweden national team and scored 17 goals. He also represented Sweden at the 1970, 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups. Read more
05 May 1944: John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor and screenwriter John Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor known for portraying Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise. He has received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, with one win, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Read more
05 May 1944: Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor and director (died 2015) Roger Rees was a Welsh-American actor and director. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also received Obie Awards for his role in The End of the Day and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015. Read more
05 May 1943: Michael Palin, English actor and screenwriter Sir Michael Edward Palin is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019. Read more
05 May 1943: Ignacio Ramonet, Spanish journalist and author Ignacio Ramonet Miguez is a Spanish academic, journalist, and writer who has been based in Paris for much of his career. After becoming first known for writing on film and media, he became editor-in-chief of Le Monde diplomatique, serving from 1991 until March 2008. Under his leadership, LMD established editorial independence in 1996 from Le Monde, with which it had been affiliated since 1954. Read more
05 May 1942: Jean Corston, Baroness Corston, English lawyer and politician Jean Ann Corston, Baroness Corston,, is a British politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol East from 1992 to 2005, during which time she served as Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 2001 to 2005. Read more
05 May 1942: Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1998) Tammy Wynette was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a woman's perspective to the male-dominated country music field that helped other women find representation in the genre. Her characteristic vocal delivery has been acclaimed by critics, journalists and writers for conveying unique emotion. Twenty of her singles topped the US country chart during her career. Her signature song "Stand by Your Man" received both acclaim and criticism for its portrayal of women's loyalty to their husbands. Read more
05 May 1940: Lance Henriksen, American actor Lance Henriksen is an American actor. He is known for his roles in various science fiction, action and horror genre productions, including Bishop in the Alien film franchise and Frank Black in the television series Millennium (1996–99) and The X-Files (1999). Read more
05 May 1939: Ray Gosling, English journalist, author, and activist (died 2013) Raymond Arthur Gosling was an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and gay rights activist. Read more
05 May 1938: Michael Murphy, American actor Michael George Murphy is an American film, television and stage actor. He often plays unethical or morally ambiguous characters in positions of authority, including executives, politicians, law enforcement agents, lawyers, judges, academics, doctors and clerics. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with director Robert Altman, having appeared in twelve productions directed by Altman in a period spanning from 1963 to 2004, including his leading titular role in the HBO cable miniseries Tanner '88. Read more
05 May 1937: Beryl Burton, English racing cyclist (died 1996) Beryl Burton OBE was an English racing cyclist who dominated the women's sport, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records. In 1967, she set a world record for the 12-hour time-trial which exceeded the men's record for two years. Read more
05 May 1937: Delia Derbyshire, English musician, arranger and composer (died 2001) Delia Ann Derbyshire was an English musician and composer of electronic music. She worked with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including an electronic arrangement of the theme music to the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. She has been referred to as "the unsung heroine of British electronic music", having influenced musicians including Aphex Twin, the Chemical Brothers and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital. Read more
05 May 1936: Sandy Baron, American actor and comedian (died 2001) Sandy Baron was an American actor and comedian who performed on stage, in films, and on television. He is best known for his recurring role of Jack Klompus on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. Read more
05 May 1935: Eddie Linden, Scottish poet and magazine editor (died 2023) Edward Sean Linden was a Scottish-Irish poet, literary magazine editor, and political activist. From 1969 to 2002, he published and edited the poetry magazine Aquarius, which The Irish Post said made him "one of the leading figures on the international poetry scene". The journal was significant in the growth of British, Irish, and international poets and has been described as Linden's "crowning gift to literature—the nurturing and developing of poetic talent". Read more
05 May 1935: Bernard Pivot, French journalist, talk show host, and producer (died 2024) Bernard Pivot was a French journalist, interviewer and host of cultural television programmes. He was chairman of the Académie Goncourt from 2014 to 2020. Read more
05 May 1934: Henri Konan Bédié, Ivorian politician, 2nd President of Côte d'Ivoire (died 2023) Aimé Henri Konan Bédié was an Ivorian politician. He was President of Côte d'Ivoire from 1993 to 1999, and formerly President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast – African Democratic Rally (PDCI–RDA). Prior to becoming president, he was a member and president of the National Assembly of Ivory Coast. He unsuccessfully sought another term as president in the 2020 presidential election. Read more
05 May 1934: Victor Garland, Australian accountant and politician, 26th Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs (died 2022) Sir Ransley Victor Garland KBE, usually known as Vic Garland, was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1981, representing the Liberal Party, and served as a minister in the McMahon and Fraser governments. He later served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1983. Read more
05 May 1933: Collie Smith, Jamaican cricketer (died 1959) O'Neil Gordon "Collie" Smith was a West Indian international cricketer. Read more
05 May 1932: Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (died 2014) Stan Goldberg was an American comic book artist, best known for his work with Archie Comics and as a Marvel Comics colorist who in the 1960s helped design the original color schemes of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other major characters. He was inducted into the National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame in 2011. Read more
05 May 1929: Ilene Woods, American actress (died 2010) Jacqueline Ruth Woods, better known as Ilene Woods, was an American actress and singer. Woods was best known as the original voice of the title character of Walt Disney animated film Cinderella, for which she was named a Disney Legend in 2003. Read more
05 May 1927: Pat Carroll, American actress (died 2022) Patricia Ann Carroll was an American actress and comedian. She is best known for providing the voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. She made guest appearances in many popular television series including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laverne & Shirley, and ER; she also had a regular role on The Danny Thomas Show as Bunny Halper. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee. Read more
05 May 1925: Leo Ryan, American soldier, educator, and politician (died 1978) Leo Joseph Ryan Jr. was an American politician and teacher. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented California's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 until his assassination in the Jonestown massacre in 1978. Before that, he served in the California State Assembly, representing the state's 27th district. Read more
05 May 1923: William C. Campbell, American golfer (died 2013) William Cammack Campbell, often known as Bill Campbell or William C. Campbell, became one of the most distinguished amateur golfers in golf history. Campbell was two-time President of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and one time Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990. Read more
05 May 1923: Cathleen Synge Morawetz, Canadian mathematician (died 2017) Cathleen Synge Morawetz was a Canadian mathematician who spent much of her career in the United States. Morawetz's research was mainly in the study of the partial differential equations governing fluid flow, particularly those of mixed type occurring in transonic flow. She was professor emerita at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the New York University, where she had also served as director from 1984 to 1988. She was president of the American Mathematical Society from 1995 to 1996. She was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1998. Read more
05 May 1922: Irene Gut Opdyke, Polish nurse and humanitarian (died 2003) Irene Gut Opdyke was a Polish nurse who gained international recognition for aiding Polish Jews persecuted by Nazi Germany during World War II. She was honored as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for risking her life to save 12 Jews. Read more
05 May 1921: Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999) Arthur Leonard Schawlow was an American physicist who, along with Charles Townes, developed the theoretical basis for laser science. His central insight was the use of two mirrors as the resonant cavity to take maser action from microwaves to visible wavelengths. He shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nicolaas Bloembergen and Kai Siegbahn for his work using lasers to determine atomic energy levels with great precision. Read more
05 May 1919: Georgios Papadopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, 169th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1999) Georgios Papadopoulos was a Greek military officer and dictator who led a coup d'etat in Greece in 1967 and became the country's Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973. He also was the President of Greece under the junta in 1973, following a referendum. However, after causing a massacre by deploying military riflemen and a tank brigade to attack non-violent protestors to suppress the Athens Polytechnic uprising, he was, in turn, overthrown by hardliner Dimitrios Ioannidis, in a string of events that would culminate in the fall of the regime in 1974. His and the dictatorship's legacy, as well as its methods he constructed and effects on Greek economy and society as a whole, are still fiercely debated. Read more
05 May 1916: Zail Singh, Indian politician, 7th President of India (died 1994) Giani Zail Singh was an Indian politician who served as President of India from 1982 to 1987 and chief minister of Punjab in the 1970s. He was the first Sikh to become president. Read more
05 May 1915: Alice Faye, American actress and singer (died 1998) Alice Faye was an American actress and singer. A musical star of 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Faye starred in such films as On the Avenue (1937) and Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938). She is often associated with the Academy Award–winning standard "You'll Never Know", which she introduced in the 1943 musical film Hello, Frisco, Hello. Read more
05 May 1914: Tyrone Power, American actor (died 1958) Tyrone Edmund Power III was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include Jesse James, The Mark of Zorro, Marie Antoinette, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, Witness for the Prosecution, The Black Rose, and Captain from Castile. Power's own favorite film among those in which he starred was Nightmare Alley. Read more
05 May 1913: Duane Carter, American race car driver (died 1993) Duane Claude Carter was an American racecar driver. He raced midget cars, sprint cars, and IndyCars. Carter was born in Fresno, California, and he died in Indianapolis, Indiana. His son Pancho raced in Indy cars, along with Johnny Parsons. Read more
05 May 1911: Andor Lilienthal, Russian-Hungarian chess player (died 2010) Andor Arnoldovich Lilienthal was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against ten male and female world champions, beating Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Vera Menchik. Read more
05 May 1911: Pritilata Waddedar, Indian educator and activist (died 1932) Pritilata Waddedar was a Bengali revolutionary nationalist from Chittagong who was influential in the Indian independence movement. She is often praised as "Bengal's first woman martyr". Read more
05 May 1910: Leo Lionni, American author and illustrator (died 1999) Leo Lionni was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Born in the Netherlands, he moved to Italy and lived there before moving to the United States in 1939, where he worked as an art director for several advertising agencies, and then for Fortune magazine. He returned to Italy in 1962 and started writing and illustrating children's books. In 1962, his book Inch by Inch was awarded the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Read more
05 May 1907: Daryna Dmytrivna Polotniuk, Bukovinian (Ukrainian) journalist and author (died 1982) Daryna Polotniuk, better known by her pen name Iryna Vilde, was a Ukrainian and Soviet writer and correspondent. Vilde's works are now considered classics of Ukrainian literature. Read more
05 May 1905: Floyd Gottfredson, American author and illustrator (died 1986) Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip, which he worked on from 1930 until his retirement in 1975. His contribution to Mickey Mouse comics is comparable to Carl Barks's on the Donald Duck comics. 17 years after his death, his memory was honored with the Disney Legends award in 2003 and induction into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006. Read more
05 May 1903: James Beard, American chef and author (died 1985) James Andrews Beard was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, Oregon, and lectured widely. He emphasized American cooking, prepared with fresh and wholesome American ingredients, to a country just becoming aware of its own culinary heritage. Beard taught and mentored generations of professional chefs and food enthusiasts. He published more than twenty books, and his memory is honored by his foundation's annual James Beard Awards. Read more
05 May 1901: Janne Mustonen, Finnish politician (died 1964) Johannes Aadolfinpoika Mustonen was a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Communist Party of Finland and the Finnish People's Democratic League, he represented Oulu Province between April 1945 and February 1962 and between December 1963 and May 1964. Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for eight years for political reasons. Read more
05 May 1900: Helen Redfield, American geneticist (died 1988) Helen Redfield, was an American geneticist. Redfield graduated from Rice University in 1920, followed by earning her Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1921. While at Rice, she worked in the mathematics department. She joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1925 and that same year she became a National Research Fellow at Columbia University. In 1926 she married Jack Schultz, the couple had two children. Redfield retained her maiden name upon her marriage. In 1929 she worked as a teaching fellow at New York University. Ten years later she worked as a geneticist in the Kerckhoff Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. Starting in 1942, during World War II, she worked as a lab scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory during the summer. From 1951 until 1961 she served as a research associate at the Institute for Cancer Research. Read more
05 May 1899: Freeman Gosden, American actor and screenwriter (died 1982) Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden was an American radio comedian, actor and pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form. He is best known for his work in the Amos 'n' Andy radio series. Read more
05 May 1898: Elsie Eaves, American engineer (died 1983) Elsie Eaves was a pioneering American female engineer. She was the first female associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the first female member of the American Association of Cost Engineers. Read more
05 May 1898: Blind Willie McTell, American Piedmont blues singer and guitar player (died 1959) Blind Willie McTell was an American Piedmont blues and ragtime singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played in a fluid, syncopated finger picking guitar style common among many East Coast, Piedmont blues players. Like his Atlanta contemporaries, he came to use twelve-string guitars exclusively. McTell was also adept at slide guitar, unusual among ragtime bluesmen. He sang in a smooth and often laid-back tenor which differed greatly from the harsher voices of many Delta bluesmen such as Charley Patton. He performed in various musical styles including blues, ragtime, religious music, and hokum and recorded more than 120 titles during fourteen recording sessions. Read more
05 May 1892: Dorothy Garrod, British archaeologist (died 1968) Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod, CBE, FBA was an English archaeologist who specialised in the Palaeolithic period. She held the position of Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1939 to 1952, and was the first woman to hold a chair at either Oxford or Cambridge. Read more
05 May 1890: Christopher Morley, American journalist and author (died 1957) Christopher Darlington Morley was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures. Read more
05 May 1889: Herbie Taylor, South African cricketer and soldier (died 1973) Herbert Wilfred Taylor was a South African cricketer who played 42 Test matches for his country including 18 as captain of the side. Specifically a batsman, he was an expert on the matting pitches which were prevalent in South Africa at the time and scored six of his seven centuries at home. His batting was also noted for quick footwork and exceptional 'backplay'. He became the first South African to pass 2,500 Test runs and was selected one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1925. In domestic cricket, he played for Natal, Transvaal and Western Province. Read more
05 May 1887: Mervyn S. Bennion, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1941) Mervyn Sharp Bennion was a United States Navy captain who served during World War I and was killed while he was in command of battleship USS West Virginia during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage, and complete disregard of his own life." Read more
05 May 1885: Kingsley Fairbridge, South African-Australian scholar and politician (died 1924) Kingsley Ogilvie Fairbridge was the founder of a child emigration scheme from Britain to its colonies as well as the Fairbridge Schools. Read more
05 May 1884: Chief Bender, American baseball player and coach (died 1954) Charles Albert "Chief" Bender was a Native American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball during the 1900s and 1910s. In 1911, Bender tied a record by pitching three complete games in a single World Series. He finished his career with a 212–127 win–loss record for a .625 winning percentage and a career 2.46 earned run average (ERA). Read more
05 May 1883: Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English general and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (died 1950) Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded in the Second Battle of Ypres. In the Second World War, he served initially as Commander-in-Chief Middle East, in which role he led British forces to victory over the Italian Army in Eritrea-Abyssinia, western Egypt and eastern Libya during Operation Compass in December 1940, only to be defeated by Erwin Rommel's Panzer Army Africa in the Western Desert in April 1941. He served as Commander-in-Chief, India, from July 1941 until June 1943 and then served as Viceroy of India until his retirement in February 1947. Read more
05 May 1883: Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler, American mathematician (died 1966) Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler was an American mathematician. She is best known for early work on linear algebra in infinite dimensions, which has later become a part of functional analysis. Read more
05 May 1882: Sylvia Pankhurst, English women's suffrage movement leader and socialist activist (died 1960) Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English feminist and socialist activist and writer. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, she worked to organise working-class women in London's East End. This, together with her refusal in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with the government, caused her to break with the suffragette leadership of her mother and sister, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. Pankhurst welcomed the Russian Revolution and conferred in Moscow with Lenin. But as an advocate of workers' control, she rejected the Leninist party line and criticised the Bolshevik regime. Read more
05 May 1874: Thomas Bavin, New Zealand-Australian politician, 24th Premier of New South Wales (died 1941) Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin, was an Australian lawyer and politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1927 to 1930. He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Australia at the age of 15, where he studied law and became a barrister. He served as personal secretary to Australia's first two prime ministers, Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. Bavin was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1917. He served two terms as Attorney General of New South Wales before leading the Nationalist Party to victory at the 1927 state election, in a coalition with the Country Party. His predecessor Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) defeated his government after a single term at the 1930 state election. Read more
05 May 1873: Leon Czolgosz, American assassin of William McKinley (died 1901) Leon Frank Czolgosz was an American wireworker and anarchist who assassinated United States president William McKinley in 1901. Czolgosz had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism. He regarded McKinley as a symbol of oppression and believed that it was his duty as an anarchist to assassinate him. Czolgosz shot McKinley in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, and was immediately arrested. McKinley died on September 14 after his wound became infected. A month later, Czolgosz was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to death. He was executed by the electric chair on October 29. Read more
05 May 1869: Fabián de la Rosa, Filipino painter and educator (died 1937) Don Fabián de la Rosa y Cueto was a Filipino painter. He was the uncle and mentor to the Philippines' national artist in painting, Fernando Amorsolo, and to his brother Pablo. He is regarded as a "master of genre" in Philippine art. Read more
05 May 1869: Hans Pfitzner, German composer and conductor (died 1949) Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina (1917), very loosely based on the life of the sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and his Missa Papae Marcelli. Read more
05 May 1866: Thomas B. Thrige, Danish businessman (died 1938) Thomas Barfoed Thrige was a Danish entrepreneur, industrialist and businessman. In 1894, he started the company Thomas B. Thrige, a manufacturer of electric motors, now known as T-T Electric. The power station of his factory in Odense is now the Thriges Kraftcentral museum run by Odense City Museums. Read more
05 May 1865: Helen Maud Merrill, American litterateur and poet (died 1943) Helen Maud Merrill was an American litterateur and poet from Maine. Her first published poem was in the Waterville Sentinel, in 1882. During the decade of 1882–1892, Merrill contributed numerous poems to the St. Nicholas Magazine, Portland Transcript, the Gospel Banner and other journals. She also engaged in editorial work. Read more
05 May 1864: Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (died 1922) Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and for an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. She ushered in the era of stunt girl reporting and helped advance a new kind of immersion journalism. Read more
05 May 1859: Charles B. Hanford, American Shakespearean actor (died 1926) Charles Barnum Hanford was an American stage actor, known as one of the most popular American Shakespearean actors of his time. After an early career working with leading actors such as Edwin Booth, Thomas W. Keene, and Julia Marlowe, he established his own company and appeared often opposite his wife, the actress Marie Drofnah. Read more
05 May 1858: John L. Leal, American physician (died 1914) John Laing Leal was an American physician and water treatment expert who, in 1908, was responsible for conceiving and implementing the first disinfection of a U.S. drinking water supply using chlorine. He was one of the principal expert witnesses at two trials which examined the quality of the water supply in Jersey City, New Jersey, and which evaluated the safety and utility of chlorine for production of "pure and wholesome" drinking water. The second trial verdict approved the use of chlorine to disinfect drinking water which led to an explosion of its use in water supplies across the U.S. Read more
05 May 1846: Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916) Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz, also known by the pseudonym Litwos, was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as the Trilogy series and especially for his internationally known best-seller Quo Vadis (1895–1896). Read more
05 May 1843: William George Beers, Canadian dentist and patriot (died 1900) William George Beers was a Canadian dentist who founded Canada's first dental journal and served as the founding dean of the Dental College of the Province of Quebec. In addition, he is referred to as the "father of modern lacrosse" for his work establishing the first set of playing rules for the game. Read more
05 May 1834: Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter and architect (died 1873) Viktor Aleksandrovich Hartmann or Gartman was a Russian architect and painter. He was associated with the Abramtsevo Colony, purchased and preserved beginning in 1870 by Savva Mamontov, and the Russian Revival. Read more
05 May 1833: Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer and academic (died 1905) Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen, better known in English as Baron von Richthofen, was a German traveller, geographer, and scientist. He is noted for coining the terms "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" = "Silk Road(s)" or "Silk Route(s)" in 1877. He also standardized the practices of chorography and chorology. Read more
05 May 1832: Hubert Howe Bancroft, American ethnologist and historian (died 1918) Hubert Howe Bancroft was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote, published, and collected works concerning the Western United States, Texas, California, Alaska, Mexico, Central America, and British Columbia. Read more
05 May 1830: John Batterson Stetson, American businessman, founded the John B. Stetson Company (died 1906) John Batterson Stetson was an American hat maker who invented the cowboy hat in the 1860s. He founded the John B. Stetson Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1865, and it became one of the largest hat manufacturers in the world. The company's hats are now commonly referred to simply as Stetsons. Read more
05 May 1826: Eugénie de Montijo, French wife of Napoleon III (died 1920) Eugénie de Montijo was Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until he was overthrown on 4 September 1870. From 28 July to 4 September 1870, she was the de facto head of state of France. Read more
05 May 1818: Karl Marx, German philosopher, sociologist, and journalist (died 1883) Karl Marx was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He developed the theory of historical materialism, analyzing class struggle under capitalism and predicting the system's overthrow by the proletariat in favor of communism. Marx co-authored The Communist Manifesto (1848) with his lifelong friend Friedrich Engels, and undertook a critique of classical political economy in his magnum opus, Das Kapital (1867–1894). Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence and have influenced revolutions and uprisings in many countries. Read more
05 May 1813: Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and author (died 1855) Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Lutheran theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christianity, morality, ethics, psychology, love, and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony, and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", highlighting the importance of authenticity, personal choice and commitment, and the duty to love. Kierkegaard prioritized concrete human reality over abstract thinking. Read more
05 May 1800: Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (died 1864) Louis Christophe François Hachette was a French publisher who established a Paris publishing house designed to produce books and other material to improve the system of school instruction. Publications were initially focused on the classics and subsequently expanded to include books and magazines of all types. The firm is currently part of a global publishing house. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 05 May in World History

05 May 2024: Jeannie Epper, American stuntwoman and actress (born 1941) Jean Luann Epper was an American stuntwoman and actress. She performed stunts in over 100 feature films and television series and is perhaps best known as Lynda Carter's stunt double on the 1970s television series Wonder Woman. She was featured in Amanda Micheli's 2004 documentary Double Dare, along with New Zealand stuntwoman and actress Zoë Bell. Entertainment Weekly noted that many consider her "the greatest stuntwoman who's ever lived." Read more
05 May 2024: Bernard Hill, English actor (born 1944) Bernard Hill was an English actor. He was known for his versatile performances in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years. Read more
05 May 2024: César Luis Menotti, Argentine footballer and manager (born 1938) César Luis Menotti, known as El Flaco ("Slim"), was an Argentine football player and manager who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team. Read more
05 May 2020: Millie Small, Jamaican singer-songwriter (born 1947) Millicent Dolly May Small CD was a Jamaican singer who is best known for her international hit "My Boy Lollipop" (1964). The song reached number two in both the UK and US charts and sold over seven million copies worldwide. It was also the first major hit for Island Records and helped to achieve the label its mainstream success. She was the Caribbean's first international recording star and its most successful female performer. Read more
05 May 2017: Binyamin Elon, Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician (born 1954) Rabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon was an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Moledet and the National Union between 1996 and 2009. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, Elon lived in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, for over twenty years, and was married to author and journalist Emuna Elon. They had six children. His father, Menachem Elon, was the former Deputy Chief Justice of Israel. His brother, disgraced Rabbi Mordechai Elon, has been a prominent controversial figure in the Religious Zionist Movement. Read more
05 May 2017: Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, Mauritanian politician (born 1953) Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was a Mauritanian political and military figure. Following a coup d'état in August 2005, he served as the transitional military leader of Mauritania until 19 April 2007, when he relinquished power to an elected government. Read more
05 May 2015: Jobst Brandt, American cyclist, engineer, and author (born 1935) Jobst Brandt was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, bicycle enthusiast, educator, and author. Read more
05 May 2015: Hans Jansen, Dutch linguist, academic, and politician (born 1942) Johannes Juliaan Gijsbert "Hans" Jansen was a Dutch politician, scholar of contemporary Islam and author. Read more
05 May 2014: Michael Otedola, Nigerian journalist and politician, 9th Governor of Lagos State (born 1926) Michael Agbolade Otedola KSS was a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Lagos State during the Nigerian Third Republic. Read more
05 May 2013: Sarah Kirsch, German poet and author (born 1935) Sarah Kirsch was a German poet. Read more
05 May 2013: Robert Ressler, American FBI agent and author (born 1937) Robert Kenneth Ressler was an American FBI agent and author. He played a significant role in the psychological profiling of violent offenders in the 1970s and is often credited with coining the term "serial killer", though the term is a direct translation of the German term Serienmörder coined in 1930 by Berlin investigator Ernst Gennat. After retiring from the FBI, he authored a number of books on serial murders, and often gave lectures on criminology. Read more
05 May 2012: Surendranath, Indian cricketer (born 1937) Surendra Nath was an Indian cricketer who played in eleven Test matches between 1958 and 1961. He was primarily a medium-pace swing bowler, who enjoyed a particularly successful tour of England in 1959. Read more
05 May 2012: Carl Johan Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (born 1916) Carl Johan Arthur, Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, was the fourth son and fifth and youngest child of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught. Read more
05 May 2012: Aatos Erkko, Finnish journalist and publisher (born 1932) Aatos Juho Michel Erkko was a Finnish newspaper editor, newspaper publisher, and the main owner of the Sanoma Corporation and the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, of which he was also the editor in chief. Read more
05 May 2012: George Knobel, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager (born 1922) George Knobel was a Dutch football manager. Read more
05 May 2012: Roy Padayachie, South African lawyer and politician, South African Minister of Communications (born 1950) Radhakrishna Lutchmana "Roy" Padayachie was a South African politician and activist. He was a cabinet minister between November 2010 and his death in May 2012. At the same time he represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly between April 2004 and May 2012. Read more
05 May 2011: Claude Choules, English-Australian soldier (born 1901) Claude Stanley Choules was a British-born military serviceman from Pershore, Worcestershire, who at the time of his death was the oldest combat veteran of the First World War. He served with the Royal Navy from 1915 until 1926. After having emigrated to Australia he served with the Royal Australian Navy, from 1926 until 1956, as a chief petty officer and was a naturalised Australian citizen. He was the last surviving military witness to the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow in 1919 and the last surviving veteran to have served in both world wars. At the time of his death, he was the third-oldest verified military veteran in the world and the oldest known living man in Australia. He was the seventh-oldest living man in the world. Choules became the oldest man born in the United Kingdom following the death of Stanley Lucas on 21 June 2010. Choules died at the age of 110 years and 63 days. He had been the oldest British-born man; following his death, that honour went to the Reverend Reginald Dean. In December 2011, the landing ship HMAS Choules was named after him, only the second Royal Australian Navy vessel named after a sailor. Read more
05 May 2011: Yosef Merimovich, Israeli footballer and manager (born 1924) Yosef "Yosale" Merimovich was a football player and manager. A one-club man, he played as a forward for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 1947 and 1958, winning six championships and six cups. Born in Cyprus, he represented the Israel national team at international level. He went on to coach both Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israel national team on multiple occasions. Read more
05 May 2011: Dana Wynter, British actress (born 1931) Dana Wynter was a German-born British actress who was raised in the United Kingdom and southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1950s. One of her best-known film performances was in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). A tall, dark, elegant beauty, she played both victim and villain. Her characters both in film and on television sometimes faced horrific dangers, which they often did not survive, but she also played scheming, manipulative women on television mysteries and crime procedural dramas. Read more
05 May 2010: Giulietta Simionato, Italian soprano (born 1910) Giulietta Simionato was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned the period from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966. Read more
05 May 2010: Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, Nigerian academic and politician, 13th President of Nigeria (born 1951) Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2007 until his death in May 2010. He won the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 2007. Read more
05 May 2008: Irv Robbins, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (born 1917) Irvine "Irv" Isaac Robbins was a Canadian-born American businessman. He co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain in 1945 with his partner and brother-in-law Burt Baskin. Read more
05 May 2008: Jerry Wallace, American singer and guitarist (born 1928) Jerry Leon Wallace was an American country and pop singer. Between 1958 and 1964, Wallace charted nine hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including the No. 8 "Primrose Lane" that was later used as the theme song for the television series The Smith Family. He made his debut on the country music charts in 1965, entering it thirty-five times between then and 1980. In that timespan, Wallace charted within the country Top Ten four times. His only number one song was "If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry," a song which gained popularity after it was used in an episode of the 1970s TV series Night Gallery. Read more
05 May 2007: Theodore Harold Maiman, American-Canadian physicist and engineer, created the laser (born 1927) Theodore Harold Maiman was an American engineer and physicist who is widely credited with the invention of the laser. Maiman's laser led to the subsequent development of many other types of lasers. The laser was successfully fired on May 16, 1960. In a July 7, 1960, press conference in Manhattan, Maiman and his employer, Hughes Aircraft Company, announced the laser to the world. Maiman was granted a patent for his invention, and he received many awards and honors for his work. His experiences in developing the first laser and subsequent related events are recounted in his book, The Laser Odyssey, later being republished in 2018 under a new title, The Laser Inventor: Memoirs of Theodore H. Maiman. Read more
05 May 2006: Naushad Ali, Indian composer and producer (born 1919) Naushad Ali was an Indian composer for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is respectfully remembered as "Moseeqar-e-Azam" in the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the use of classical music in films. Read more
05 May 2006: Atıf Yılmaz, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1925) Atıf Yılmaz Batıbeki was a renowned Turkish film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was very much a legend in the film industry of Turkey with 119 movies directed. He also wrote screenplays for 53 movies and produced 28 movies from 1951 right up till his death in 2006. He was active in almost every period of the Turkish film industry. Read more
05 May 2003: Sam Bockarie, Sierra Leonean commander (born 1964) Samuel Sam Bockarie, widely known as Mosquito, was a Sierra Leonean politician and army commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone Civil War for his brutal tactics, which included amputation, mutilation, and rape. He earned the nickname "Mosquito" for his ability to attack when his enemies were off-guard, mainly during the night. In the book Merchant of Death, the author states the nickname came from Bockarie's claims that he would "suck the life out of his enemies." During his service in the RUF, he befriended future Liberian president Charles Taylor, and RUF commander Foday Sankoh. When Sankoh was imprisoned from March 1997 until April 1999, Bockarie served as commander of the RUF in his place. Read more
05 May 2003: Walter Sisulu, South African activist and politician (born 1912) Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), he was Accused No.2 in the Rivonia Trial and was incarcerated on Robben Island where he served more than 25 years' imprisonment for his anti-Apartheid revolutionary activism. He had a close partnership with Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, with whom he played a key role in organising the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the establishment of the ANC Youth League and Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was also on the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party. Read more
05 May 2002: Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, 62nd President of Bolivia (born 1926) Hugo Banzer Suárez was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 as a military dictator; and then again from 1997 to 2001, as a democratically elected president. Read more
05 May 2002: Paul Wilbur Klipsch, American engineer, founded Klipsch Audio Technologies (born 1904) Paul Wilbur Klipsch was an American engineer and high fidelity audio pioneer, known for developing a high-efficiency folded horn loudspeaker. Unsatisfied with the sound quality of phonographs and early speaker systems, Klipsch used scientific principles to develop a corner horn speaker that sounded more lifelike than its predecessors. Read more
05 May 2002: George Sidney, American director and producer (born 1916) George Sidney was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics Bye Bye Birdie (1963) and Viva Las Vegas (1964). With an extensive background in acting, stage direction, film editing, and music, Sidney created many of post-war Hollywood's big budget musicals, such as Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Show Boat (1951), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Jupiter's Darling (1955), and Pal Joey (1957). He was also a president of the Screen Directors Guild for 16 years. Read more
05 May 2002: Louis C. Wyman, American lawyer and politician (born 1917) Louis Crosby Wyman was an American politician and lawyer. He was a United States representative and a U.S. senator from New Hampshire. He was a member of the Republican Party. Read more
05 May 2001: Morris Graves, American painter and educator (born 1910) Morris Cole Graves was an American painter. He was one of the earliest Modern artists from the Pacific Northwest to achieve national and international acclaim. His style, referred to by some reviewers as Mysticism, used the muted tones of the Northwest environment, Asian aesthetics and philosophy, and a personal iconography of birds, flowers, chalices, and other images to explore the nature of consciousness. Read more
05 May 2001: Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, created CliffsNotes (born 1918) Clifton K. Hillegass was the creator and publisher of CliffsNotes. Read more
05 May 2000: Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (born 1914) Gino Bartali,, nicknamed Gino the Pious and Ginettaccio, was a champion road cyclist. He was the most renowned Italian cyclist before the Second World War, having won the Giro d'Italia twice, in 1936 and 1937, and the Tour de France in 1938. After the war, he added one more victory in each event: the Giro d'Italia in 1946 and the Tour de France in 1948. His second and last Tour de France victory in 1948 gave him the largest gap between victories in the race. Read more
05 May 2000: Bill Musselman, American basketball player and coach (born 1940) William Clifford Musselman was an American basketball coach in the NCAA, the ABA, the WBA, the CBA, and the NBA. Read more
05 May 1999: Vasilis Diamantopoulos, Greek actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1920) Vasilis Diamantopoulos was a Greek actor. He was one of the founders of the Modern Theater and was the first actor to appear live on Greek television in the single act play Him and his pants by Iakovos Kambanellis in 1966. His most characteristic role was that of the austere professor in Giannis Dalianidis' movie Law 4000 and later in shorts including Ekmek Ice Cream in private TV. Read more
05 May 1995: Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player and coach (born 1911) Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who held five world titles in three different reigns. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess, the last of which he was awarded an honorary mathematics degree for. Read more
05 May 1994: Mário Quintana, Brazilian poet and translator (born 1906) Mário de Miranda Quintana was a Brazilian writer and translator. Read more
05 May 1993: Irving Howe, American literary and social critic (born 1920) Irving Howe was an American author, literary and social critic, and a key figure in the democratic socialist movement in the U.S. He co-founded and served as longtime editor of Dissent magazine. In 1976, he wrote the National Book Award-winning World of Our Fathers, a history of East European Jews who immigrated to America. Read more
05 May 1988: Michael Shaara, American author and academic (born 1928) Michael Shaara was an American author of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. Read more
05 May 1985: Donald Bailey, English engineer, designed the Bailey bridge (born 1901) Sir Donald Coleman Bailey, OBE was an English civil engineer who invented the Bailey bridge. Field Marshal Montgomery is recorded as saying that "without the Bailey bridge, we should not have won the war." Read more
05 May 1983: Horst Schumann, German physician (born 1901) Horst Schumann was an SS-Sturmbannführer (major) and medical doctor who conducted sterilization and castration experiments at Auschwitz and was particularly interested in the mass sterilization of Jews by means of X-rays. Hors d'atteinte, a book by Frédéric Couderc, published in France by Les Escales and Pocket, reveals the extent of Schumann's crimes and his life as a fugitive in Africa. Read more
05 May 1983: John Williams, English-American actor (born 1903) Hugh Ernest Leo Williams, known professionally as John Williams, was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as Chief Inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, as the chauffeur in Billy Wilder's Sabrina, as Mr. Brogan-Moore in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and as the second "Mr. French" on TV's Family Affair in its first season (1967). Read more
05 May 1981: Bobby Sands, PIRA volunteer and hunger striker (born 1954) Robert Gerard Sands was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland. Sands helped to plan the 1976 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing in Dunmurry, which was followed by a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Sands was arrested while trying to escape and sentenced to 14 years for firearms possession. Read more
05 May 1977: Ludwig Erhard, German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1897) Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician and economist who served as the second chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. Affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is known for leading the West German postwar economic reforms and economic recovery in his role as Minister of Economic Affairs under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer from 1949 to 1963. During that period, he promoted the concept of the social market economy, on which Germany's economic policy in the 21st century continues to be based. Read more
05 May 1973: Zekai Özger, Turkish poet and academic (born 1948) Zekai Özger, better known under his pen name Arkadaş Z. Özger, was a young Turkish poet. Read more
05 May 1971: Violet Jessop, Argentinean-English nurse (born 1887) Violet Constance Jessop was an Irish-Argentine ocean liner stewardess and Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in the early 20th century. She survived the sinking of both RMS Titanic in 1912 and sister ship HMHS Britannic in 1916, as well as having been aboard the eldest of the three ships of that class, RMS Olympic, when it collided with the British warship HMS Hawke in 1911. Read more
05 May 1965: Nikos Gounaris, Greek tenor and composer (born 1915) Nikos Gounaris was a Greek tenor who was enormously popular as a light music singer in the 1950s. Read more
05 May 1965: John Waters, American director and screenwriter (born 1893) John Waters was an American film director, second unit director and, initially, an assistant director. His career began in the early days of silent film and culminated in two consecutive Academy Award nominations in the newly instituted category of Best Assistant Director. He won on his second nomination, for MGM's Viva Villa!, and received a certificate of merit; the certificate was replaced with an Oscar statuette in 1965. Read more
05 May 1962: Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (born 1889) George Ernest Tyldesley was an English cricketer. The younger brother of Johnny Tyldesley and the leading batsman for Lancashire. He remains Lancashire's most prolific run-getter of all time, and is one of only a few batsmen to have scored 100 centuries in the first-class game. Read more
05 May 1959: Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentinian academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1878) Carlos Saavedra Lamas was an Argentine academic and politician, and in 1936, the first Latin American Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Read more
05 May 1957: Leopold Löwenheim, German mathematician and logician (born 1878) Leopold Löwenheim [ˈle:o:pɔl̩d ˈlø:vɛnhaɪm] was a German mathematician doing work in mathematical logic. The Nazi regime forced him to retire because under the Nuremberg Laws he was considered only three quarters Aryan. In 1943 much of his work was destroyed during a bombing raid on Berlin. Nevertheless, he survived the Second World War, after which he resumed teaching mathematics. Read more
05 May 1947: Ty LaForest, Canadian-American baseball player (born 1917) Byron Joseph LaForest was a Canadian professional baseball player who appeared in 52 games in the major leagues, primarily as a third baseman, for the Boston Red Sox during the latter months of the 1945 season. He was born in Edmundston, New Brunswick, and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1921. He attended Waltham High School in the Boston suburb and graduated from Dorchester High School. Listed as 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall and 165 pounds (75 kg), he threw and batted right-handed. Read more
05 May 1942: Qemal Stafa, Albanian politician (born 1920) Qemal Stafa was an Albanian politician and one of the founding members of the Albanian Communist Party, and the leader of its youth section. Read more
05 May 1941: Platon of Banja Luka, Serbian Orthodox bishop (born 1874) Platon of Banja Luka was a Serbian Orthodox cleric who served as the Bishop of Banja Luka between 1940 and 1941. His tenure ended in May 1941, when he was abducted, tortured and killed by followers of the Ustaše movement. Read more
05 May 1931: Glen Kidston, English pilot and race car driver (born 1899) George Pearson Glen Kidston was a British motor racing driver and aviator who completed a record-breaking flight from Netheravon, Wiltshire to Cape Town, South Africa, in 1931. He was one of the "Bentley Boys". Read more
05 May 1924: A. Sabapathy, Sri Lankan journalist and politician (born 1853) Arunachalam Sabapathy was a Ceylon Tamil newspaper editor, politician and member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. Read more
05 May 1921: Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian journalist and publicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1864) Alfred Hermann Fried was an Austrian Jewish pacifist, publicist, journalist, co-founder of the German peace movement, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911. Fried was also a supporter of Esperanto. He is the author of an Esperanto textbook and an Esperanto–German and German–Esperanto dictionary, first published in 1903 and republished in 1905. Read more
05 May 1916: John MacBride, executed Irish soldier and rebel (born 1865) John MacBride was an Irish republican and military leader. He was executed by the British government for his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. Read more
05 May 1916: Maurice Raoul-Duval, French polo player (born 1866) Maurice Raoul-Duval was a French polo player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. Read more
05 May 1913: Henry Moret, French painter (born 1856) Henry Moret was a French Impressionist painter. He was one of the artists who associated with Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven in Brittany. He is best known for his involvement in the Pont-Aven artist colony and his richly colored landscapes of coastal Brittany. Read more
05 May 1907: Şeker Ahmed Pasha, Turkish soldier and painter (born 1841) Ahmed Ali Pasha, better known as "Şeker" Ahmed Pasha, was an Ottoman painter, soldier and government official. His nickname "Şeker" meant "sugar" in Turkish, which he earned due to his very easy-going nature. Read more
05 May 1902: Bret Harte, American short story writer and poet (born 1836) Francis Brett Hart, known as Bret Harte, was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he also wrote poetry, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches. Read more
05 May 1901: Mariano Ignacio Prado, Peruvian general, twice President of Peru (born 1825) Mariano Ignacio Prado Ochoa was a Peruvian army general who served twice as President of Peru. Read more
05 May 1896: Silas Adams, American lawyer and politician (born 1839) Silas Adams was an American attorney and politician from Kentucky who served for one term as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky's 11th congressional district. Read more
05 May 1892: August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist and academic (born 1818) August Wilhelm von Hofmann was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the groundwork for his student Charles Mansfield's practical methods for extracting benzene and toluene and converting them into nitro compounds and amines. Hofmann's discoveries include formaldehyde, hydrazobenzene, the isonitriles, and allyl alcohol. He prepared three ethylamines and tetraethylammonium compounds and established their structural relationship to ammonia. Read more
05 May 1883: John O'Shanassy, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Victoria (born 1818) Sir John O'Shanassy, KCMG, was an Irish-Australian politician who served as the 2nd Premier of Victoria. O'Shanassy was born near Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of a surveyor, and came to the Port Phillip District in 1839. He went into business in Melbourne as a draper, and by 1846 he was rich enough to be elected to the Melbourne City Council and to become the founding chairman of the Colonial Bank of Australasia. By the 1850s he was a major landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the colony. He also became a recognised leader of the large Irish Catholic community. Read more
05 May 1860: Jean-Charles Prince, Canadian bishop (born 1804) Jean-Charles Prince was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, teacher, seminary administrator, editor, and Bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe, Lower Canada from 1852 to 1860. Read more
05 May 1859: Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (born 1805) Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was a German mathematician. In number theory, he proved special cases of Fermat's Last Theorem and created analytic number theory. In analysis, he advanced the theory of Fourier series and was one of the first to give the modern formal definition of a function. In mathematical physics, he studied potential theory, boundary-value problems, heat diffusion, and hydrodynamics. Read more
05 May 1855: Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (born 1786) Sir Robert Harry Inglis, 2nd Baronet, FRS was a British Conservative politician, noted for his staunch high church views. Read more
05 May 1833: Sophia Campbell, English-Australian painter (born 1777) Sophia Campbell was an early Australian settler. She was the wife of politician Robert Campbell. Read more
05 May 1827: Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (born 1750) Frederick Augustus I of Saxony was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as the last Elector of Saxony from 1763 to 1806 and as the first King of Saxony from 1806 to 1827. He was also Duke of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815, a short-lived disputed Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1812, and a legitimate candidate to the Polish throne. Read more
05 May 1821: Napoleon, French general and emperor (born 1769) Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804 until his first abdication in 1814, with a brief restoration during the Hundred Days in 1815. He rose to prominence as a general during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe and the Middle East during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. As a statesman, he implemented numerous legal and administrative reforms in France and Europe. Read more
05 May 1808: Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist and philosopher (born 1757) Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis was a French physiologist, Freemason, materialist philosopher and leading idéologue. Read more

Why is 05 May Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 05 May, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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On 05 May, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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