May 2
May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). There are 243 days remaining.
Events:
- 1194 - King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter
- 1568 - Mary I of Scotland escapes from Loch Leven.
- 1670 - The Hudson's Bay Company is formed in England
- 1672 - John Maitland becomes duke of Lauderdale and earl of March
- 1808 - Peninsular War: Citizens of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation
- 1813 - The Battle of Lützen
- 1816 - Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Charlotte Augusta are wed
- 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 of Sweden declares support of Great Britain at the time of the Boer War
- 1920 - The first game of the National Negro Baseball League is played in Indianapolis, Indiana
- 1933 - Adolf Hitler bans trade unions
- 1939 - Lou Gehrig establishes a new Major League Baseball record when he plays his 2130th game. It would take another 57 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 - The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin. Soviet soldiers hoist the red flag over the Reichstag building. German forces surrender in Italy.
- 1945 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued
- 1952 - The first commercial jet plane, the BOAC Comet, is put into service
- 1953 - Hussein of Jordan is throned
- 1955 - Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- 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
- 1982 - The ARA General Belgrano is sunk during the Falklands War
- 1984 - Sunday in the Park with George opens on Broadway
- 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 in 185 years.
- 2002 - Bill Clinton announces that GPS access equivalent to the U.S. military would be available for regular citizens
Births:
- 1660 - Alessandro Scarlatti, composer (+ 1725)
- 1729 - Empress Catherine II of Russia (+ 1796)
- 1740 - Elias Boudinot, the fourth President of the United States in Congress assembled under the Articles of Confederation (+ 1821)
- 1772 - Novalis, poet (+ 1801)
- 1860 - Theodor Herzl, Zionist leader (+ 1904)
- 1881 - Alexander Karensky, Russian politician (+ 1970)
- 1884 - Elijah McCoy, inventor
- 1885 - Hedda Hopper, gossip columnist, journalist (+ 1966)
- 1886 - Gottfried Benn, lyricist, dramatist, narrator and essayist (+ 1956)
- 1887 - Vernon Castle, dancer (+ 1918)
- 1890 - E. E. Smith, science fiction writer (+(1965)
- 1892 - Manfred von Richtofen, The Red Baron pilot (+ 1918)
- 1895 - Lorenz Hart, lyricist (+ 1943)
- 1903 - Dr. Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, Olympic Games gold medalist in rowing, author (+ 1998)
- 1904 - Bing Crosby, actor and singer (+ 1977)
- 1907 - Pinky Lee, vaudeville performer, children's television host (+ 1993)
- 1912 - Axel Cäsar Springer, publisher (+ 1985)
- 1913 - Nigel Patrick, actor (+ 1981)
- 1915 - Doris Fisher, songwriter (+ 2003)
- 1921 - Satyajit Ray, Indian director (+ 1992)
- 1924 - James Baldwin, American author (+ 1987)
- 1924 - Theodore Bikel, actor, singer
- 1925 - Roscoe Lee Browne, actor
- 1927 - Carmen Basilio, boxer
- 1927 - Link Wray, guitarist
- 1935 - King Faisal II of Iraq (+ 1958)
- 1937 - Lorenzo Music, writer, producer
- 1936 - Englebert Humperdink, singer
- 1941 - Stephen J. Cannell, producer
- 1946 - David Suchet, actor
- 1946 - Lesley Gore, singer
- 1955 - Donatella Versace, fashion designer
- 1975 - David Beckham, English footballer
- 1983 - Rose Falcon, actress, singer
- 1985 - Sarah Hughes, figure skating champion
Deaths:
- 373 - Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria
- 1230 - William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny
- 1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, inventor, painter
- 1857 - Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist
- 1864 - Giacomo Meyerbeer, composer
- 1934 - Paul von Hindenburg, German chancellor
- 1957 - Senator Joseph McCarthy
- 1960 - Caryl Chessman, convicted sex offender (executed)
- 1972 - J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI
- 1980 - George Pal, director, producer
- 1989 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, a senior cardinal
- 1983 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football star
- 1995 - Michael Hordern, actor
- 1997 - John Carew Eccles, Nobel Prize winner
- 1999 - Oliver Reed, actor
- 2002 - W. T. Tutte, codebreaker and mathematician
Holidays and Observances:
- Bahá'í Faith: Last day of the Festival of Ridván
See Also:
May 1 - May 3 - April 2 - June 2 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December