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

Events

• 1194 - King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
• 1335 - Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia
• 1568 - Mary I of Scotland escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
• 1670 - King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
• 1672 - John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
• 1808 - Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation.
• 1816 - Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Charlotte Augusta are wed.
• 1829 - After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson.
• 1885 - Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time.
• 1885 - The Congo Free State is established by King Leopold II of Belgium.
• 1889 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, which gives Ethiopia control over Eritrea.
• 1900 - Oscar II, King of Sweden, declares support for Britain at the time of the Boer War.
• 1918 - General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
• 1920 - The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• 1932 - Comedian Jack Benny's radio show airs for the first time.
• 1933 - The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness monster is reported.
• 1933 - Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
• 1939 - Lou Gehrig's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it.
• 1940 - The British passenger liner City of Exeter encounters the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, but without incident.
• 1945 - World War II: Fall of Berlin - The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building. German forces surrender in Italy.
• 1945 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued.
• 1948 - Hour of Charm's last broadcast.
• 1952 - The first commercial jet plane, the BOAC's Comet, is put into service
• 1953 - Hussein is crowned King of Jordan.
• 1955 - Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• 1963 - Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a rocket with three stages with a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship.
• 1966 - Upper Hutt in New Zealand is proclaimed a city.
• 1969 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
• 1970 - The Ohio National Guard arrives at Kent State University in response to arson on an ROTC building.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Joint forces continue attack into Cambodia
• 1972 - Buddy Baker became the first stock car driver to finish a 500-mile race in less than three hours en route to winning the Winston Select 500 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama.
• 1972 - Production of the movie Jaws begins.
• 1982 - Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
• 1982 - The Weather Channel goes on the air.
• 1984 - Sunday in the Park with George opens on Broadway.
• 1986 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens.
• 1988 - The last B-1 Lancer is delivered.
• 1997 - The Labour Party's Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, ending 18 years of Conservative Party rule. At 44, he is the youngest prime minister for 185 years.
• 1998 - The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the EU's monetary policy.
• 1999 - Norman J. Sirnic and Karen Sirnic are murdered in their Weimar, Texas parsonage by Angel Maturino Resendiz. The couple are his fourth and fifth victims in his fourth attack.
• 2000 - Bill Clinton announces that GPS access equivalent to the U.S. military would be available for regular citizens.

Births

• 1601 - Athanasius Kircher, German Jesuit scholar (d. 1680)
• 1660 - Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
• 1729 - Empress Catherine II of Russia (d. 1796)
• 1740 - Elias Boudinot, American President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821)
• 1772 - Novalis, German writer (d. 1801)
• 1860 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist, Zionist leader (d. 1904)
• 1881 - Alexander Kerensky, Russian politician (d. 1970)
• 1884 - Elijah McCoy, Canadian-born inventor (d. 1929)
• 1885 - Hedda Hopper, American actress, gossip columnist (d. 1966)
• 1886 - Gottfried Benn, German author (d. 1956)
• 1887 - Vernon Castle , dancer (d. 1918)
• 1887 - Eddie Collins, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1951)
• 1890 - E. E. Smith, American science fiction writer (d. 1965)
• 1892 - Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron" German World War I pilot (d. 1918)
• 1895 - Lorenz Hart, American lyricist (d. 1943)
• 1903 - Dr. Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician, Olympic Games gold medalist in rowing, author (d. 1998)
• 1907 - Pinky Lee, vaudeville performer, children's television host (d. 1993)
• 1912 - Axel Cäsar Springer , publisher (d. 1985)
• 1913 - Nigel Patrick , actor (d. 1981)
• 1915 - Doris Fisher, American singer, songwriter (d. 2003)
• 1920 - Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004)
• 1921 - Satyajit Ray, Indian director (d. 1992)
• 1924 - Theodore Bikel, actor, singer
• 1925 - Roscoe Lee Browne , actor
• 1929 - Link Wray, guitarist
• 1935 - King Faisal II of Iraq (d. 1958)
• 1936 - Engelbert Humperdinck, singer
• 1937 - Lorenzo Music, writer, producer (d. 2001)
• 1941 - Stephen J. Cannell, producer
• 1942 - Jacques Rogge, Belgian IOC president
• 1945 - Sarah Weddington, attorney in Roe v. Wade case
• 1946 - David Suchet, actor
• 1946 - Lesley Gore, singer
• 1949 - Alan Titchmarsh, gardener, TV presenter, writer
• 1955 - Donatella Versace, fashion designer
• 1961 - Steve James, English snooker player
• 1962 - Jimmy White, English snooker player
• 1969 - Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer
• 1972 - The Rock, professional wrestler and actor
• 1975 - David Beckham, English footballer
• 1985 - Sarah Hughes, figure skating champion

Deaths

• 373 - Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria (b. 298)
• 1230 - William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny (b. c. 1197)
• 1300 - Blanche of Artois, regent of Navarre, Countess of Lancaster
• 1450 - William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (b. 1396)
• 1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, inventor, painter (b. 1452)
• 1802 - Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (b. 1762)
• 1819 - Mary Moser, painter (b. 1744)
• 1857 - Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist (b. 1810)
• 1864 - Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (b. 1791)
• 1957 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)
• 1964 - Nancy Astor, first woman elected to the British Parliament (b. 1879)
• 1972 - J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI (b. 1895)
• 1980 - George Pál, director, producer (b. 1908)
• 1989 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, a senior cardinal (b. 1906)
• 1983 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football star
• 1990 - David Rappaport, English actor (b. 1951)
• 1995 - Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)
• 1997 - John Carew Eccles, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1903)
• 1998 - Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, musician (b. 1964)
• 1999 - Oliver Reed, actor (b. 1938)
• 1999 - Norman J. and Karen Sirnic
• 2002 - John Nathan-Turner, English television producer (b. 1947)
• 2002 - W. T. Tutte, codebreaker and mathematician (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith: Last day of the Festival of Ridván
• Poland - Flag Day
• Islam - Muhammad's Birthday (2004)
• Madrid Region - Day of the Region.

External links

• BBC: On This Day

May 1 - May 3 - April 2 - June 2 -- listing of all days