May 2

Birthdays:

2015~ Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, the daughter of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.

1980~ Ellie Kemper (née Elizabeth Claire Kemper), American actress known for her role as Erin Hannon on the television sit-com The Office.

1975~ David Beckham (né David Robert Joseph Beckham), English soccer player.

1972~ Dwayne Douglas  “The Rock” Johnson, American actor and professional wrestler.

1955~ Donatella Francesca Versace, Italian fashion designer.

1952~ Christine Jane Baranski, American actress.

1950~ Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (d. Apr. 12, 2009), American academic scholar who pioneered “queer theory.”  She died of breast cancer less than 3 weeks before her 59^thbirthday.

1946~ Lesley Gore (né Lesley Sue Goldstein, d. Feb. 16, 2015), American feminist icon and singer best known for her song, It’s My Party.  She died of lung cancer at age 68.

1945~ Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan socialite and former wife of Mick Jagger.

1942~ Alexis Mardas (né Yanni Alexis Madras, d. Jan. 13, 2017), the Greek electronics engineer and madcap inventor who befriended the Beatles. He was known as Magic Alex.  He died of complications from pneumonia at age 74.

1936~ Engelbert Humperdinck (né Arnold George Dorsey), British singer.

1935~ Faisal II of Iraq (d. July 14, 1958), last king of Iraq.  He was executed in a coup d’état during the July 14 Revolution.  He was 23 years old.

1931~ Martha Grimes, American detective and mystery writer.

1924~ Theodore Bikel (d. July 21, 2015), Austrian singer and actor.  He was named after Theodor Herzl, who was also born on this date.  He died at age 91.

1922~ Roscoe Lee Browne (d. Apr. 11, 2007), African-American actor.  He died less than a month before his 85^thbirthday.

1916~ Bernard C. Meltzer (d. Mar. 25, 1998), American radio host.  He died at age 81.

1903~ Benjamin McLane Spock (d. Mar. 15, 1998), American pediatrician and writer.  He was born in New Haven, Connecticut.  He died at age 94.

1892~ Manfred von Richthofen (d. Apr. 21, 1918), German pilot known as the Red Baron.  He was killed at 11 days before his 26^thbirthday while in an air battle during World War I.

1885~ Hedda Hopper (née Elda Furry, d. Feb. 1, 1966), American gossip columnist.  She died of pneumonia at age 80.

1882~ James Francis Byrnes (d. Apr. 9, 1972), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from July 1941 until October 1942.  He went on to become the 49^thUnited States Secretary of State under President Harry Truman.  He served in that capacity from July 1945 until January 1947.  He then became the 104^thGovernor of South Carolina. He listed his birthday as May 2, 1879 so that he could apply for work after his father died.  His actual birthdate, however, was May 2, 1882.  He died a month before his 90^thbirthday.

1875~ Owen Roberts (d. May 17, 1955), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Herbert Hoover.  He served on the Court from May 1930 until July 1945.  He died 15 days after his 80^thbirthday.

1860~ Theodor Herzl (d. July 3, 1904), Austrian journalist and Zionist.  He advocated Jewish migration to what is now Israel.  He died at age 44 of heart disease.

1859~ Jerome K. Jerome (néJerome Klapka Jerome, d. June 14, 1927), British author.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 68.

1808~ Emma Wedgwood Darwin (d. Oct. 2, 1896), English naturalist and wife and first cousin of Charles Dickens.  She was the granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood, of Wedgwood pottery fame.  She died at age 88.

1740~ Elias Boudinot (d. Oct. 24, 1821), Early-American politician.  He served as the 10^thPresident of the Continental Congress, from November 1782 until November 1783.  He died at age 81.

1737~ William Petty, 1^stMarquis of Lansdowne, also known as the 2^ndEarl of Shelburne (d. May 7, 1805), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister during the reign of King George III, from July 1782 until April 1783.  He died 5 days after his 68^thbirthday.

1729~ Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great of Russia (d. Nov. 17, 1796), Empress of Russia.  She became Empress after her husband, Peter III of Russia, was assassinated in 1762.  She died at age 67.

1660~ Alessandro Scarlatti (d. Oct. 22, 1725), Italian composer.  He died at age 65.

1360~ Yongle (d. Aug. 12, 1424), 3^rdChinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  He died at age 64.

Events that Changed the World:

2008~ The Chaitén Volcano began erupting in Chile.

2000~ President Bill Clinton (b. 1946) announced that accurate Global Positioning Systems (GPS) would not be restricted solely to United States military usage.

1999~ Mireya Moscoso (b. 1946) became the first woman to be elected to the office of President of Panama.

1986~ The city of Chernobyl was finally evacuated, six days after the nuclear meltdown.

1955~ Tennessee Williams (1911 ~ 1983) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

1952~ The first jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet made its maiden voyage from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa.

1945~ The United States 82^ndAirborne Division liberated Wöbbelin concentration camp.  Over 1000 of the prisoners were dead from starvation.

1885~ The first issue of the Good Housekeepingmagazine went on sale.

1863~ Confederate General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson (1824 ~ 1863) was wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War.  He died of his wounds compounded by a case of pneumonia 8 days later.

1670~ The Hudson’s Bay Company was chartered by King Charles II (1630 ~ 1685) of England, to open up the fur trade in North America.

1611~ The King James Bible was published for the first time in London, England.

1559~ John Knox (1513 ~ 1572) returned to Scotland from having been in exile.  He subsequently became the leader of the Scottish Reformation.

1536~ Anne Boleyn (1501 ~ 1536), Queen of England, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.  She would be executed 17 days later.

Good-Byes:

2017~ Anne Louise Morrissy Merick (b. Oct. 28, 1933), American pioneering journalist who covered Vietnam.  She is best known for persuading the Pentagon to reverse an order, known as the Westmoreland Edict, which had prevented female reporters from accompanying troops on the front lines during the Vietnam War.  She died at age 83.

2015~ Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh (b. Feb. 17, 1930), English writer of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.  She died at age 85.

2015~ Guy Hughes Carawan, Jr. (b. July 27, 1927), American folksinger who popularized We Shall Overcome.  He died at age 87.

2015~ Maya Plisetskaya (b. Nov. 20, 1925), Russian ballerina who stayed loyal to the USSR.  Her father was executed as an “enemy of the people” when she was 11, and her mother spent time in a labor camp, and although she was banned from touring in the West for fear that she would defect, Maya stayed in the Soviet Union because of her love of the Bolshoi Theater.  She was 89 years old.

2014~ Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (b. Nov. 30, 1918), American actor, best known for his role in the TV show, The FBI.  He died at age 95.

2011~ Osama bin Laden (b. Mar. 10, 1957), Saudi Islamist and al-Quada terrorist who was killed in Pakistan by US operatives. President Barack Obama announced his death on May 1 in the United States, however, due to the time difference between the United States and Abbottabad, Pakistan, he was actually killed on May 2 local time.  He was 54 years old.

2010~ Lynn Rachel Redgrave (d. Mar. 8, 1943), the British pedigreed actress who had the common touch.  She died at age 67 of breast cancer.

2009~ Jack French Kemp (b. July 13, 1935), American politician and professional football player.  He served as the 9^thUnited States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from February 1989 until January 1993 in the George H.W. Bush administration.  He died at age 73.

2009~ Marilyn French (b. Nov. 21, 1929), American feminist author best known for her 1977 novel, The Women’s Room. She was 79.

2008~ Mildred Loving (b. July 22, 1939), African-American woman who, along with her white husband Richard (1933 ~ 1975), helped legalize interracial marriage in the United States.  They were arrested and sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other.  Their case eventually went to the United States Supreme Court as Loving v. Virginia, which unanimously held that the prohibition against interracial marriage was unconstitutional.  It was also portrayed in the 2016 film, Loving. She died at age 68.

2002~ W.T. Tutte (né William Thomas Tutte, b. May 14, 1917), British mathematician.  He was a codebreaker during World War II.  He died 12 days before his 85^thbirthday.

1997~ Sir John Carew Eccles (b. Jan. 27, 1903), Australian neurophysiologist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 94.

1993~ Julio Gallo (b. Mar. 21, 1910), American vintner who, along with his brother, Ernest Gallo (1909-2007), founded the E&J Gallo Winery.  Julio was killed from injuries sustained in a single car crash.  He was 83 at the time of his death.

1992~ Wilbur Mills (né Wilber Daigh Mills, b. May 24, 1909), American politician, whose political career ended when he was found cavorting with stripper Fanne Foxe in 1974.  He died 22 days before his 83^rdbirthday.

1979~ Guilio Natta (b. Feb. 26, 1903), Italian chemist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 76.

1972~ J. Edgar Hoover (né John Edgar Hoover, b. Jan. 1, 1895), 1^stDirector of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  He died at age 77.

1964~ Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor (b. May 19, 1879), American socialite and British politician.  She moved to England at age 26.  Her second husband was Waldorf Astor.  She became the first woman Member of Parliament.  She died 17 days before her 85^thbirthday. 

1957~ Joseph Raymond McCarthy (b. Nov. 14, 1908), U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, and head of the Un-American Activities Committee who tried to route out Communism in the US.  He fueled the Red Scare in the 1950s and led the investigations of numerous individuals alleging they supported Communism.  He died at age 48.

1945~ Joe Corbett (né Joseph Aloysius Corbett, b. Dec. 4, 1875), American baseball player.  He died at age 69.

1915~ Clara Immerwahr (b. June 21, 1870), German chemist and women’s rights activist.  She was the first woman chemist to be awarded a doctorate in Germany.  Although born Jewish, she converted to Christianity.  She committed suicide at age 44.

1880~ Eberhard Anheuser (b. Sept. 27, 1806), German-American manufacturer and co-founder of the Anheuser-Busch company.  He died at age 73.

1819~ Mary Moser (b. Oct. 27, 1744), British artist and painter.  She was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy.  She died at age 74.

1683~ Stjepan Gradić (b. Mar. 6, 1613), Croatian philosopher and mathematician.  He died at age 70.

1519~ Leonardo da Vinci (b. Apr. 15, 1452), Italian painter, sculpture, scientist and Renaissance man.  He died 17 days after his 67^thbirthday.

907~ Boris I of Bulgaria.  The date of his birth is unknown.