May 3

Birthdays:

 

2001 ~ Rachel Zegler (née Rachel Anne Zegler), American actress and singer.  She was born in Hackensack, New Jersey.

 

1975 ~ Willie Geist (né William Russell Geist), American journalist and television personality.  He is a co-host on Morning Joe.  He was born in Evanston, Illinois.

 

1975 ~ Christina Hendricks (née Christina Rene Hendricks), American actress best known for her role as Joan on MadMen.  She was married to actor Geoffrey Arend from 2009 until 2019.  She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.

 

1969 ~ Amy Ryan (née Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Holly on The Office.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1961 ~ David Vitter (né David Bruce Vitter), United States Senator from Louisiana, who caught frequenting a prostitution service in Washington, D.C., but was still reelected to serve the State of Louisiana in Congress.  He served in the Senate from January 2005 until January 2017.  He was born in New Orleans, New Orleans.

 

1948 ~ Chris Mulkey, American actor.  He was born in Viroqua, Wisconsin.

 

1947 ~ Doug Henning (né Douglas James Henning, d. Feb. 7, 2000), Canadian magician.  He was born in Winnipeg, Manatoba, Canada.  He died of liver cancer at age 52 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1940 ~ David Koch (né David Hamilton Koch; d. Aug. 23, 2019), American billionaire who shaped conservative politics.  He was born in Wichita, Kansas.  He died of cancer at age 79 in Southampton, New York.

 

1935 ~ Ron Popeil (né Ronald Martin Popeil; d. July 28, 2021), American TV pitchman and inventor who blanketed late-night cable.  He was the founder of the direct response marketing company Ronco and its ubiquitous infomercials.  He was born in Manhattan, New York.  He died in Los Angeles, California at age 86.

 

1933 ~ James Brown (né James Joseph Brown; d. Dec. 25, 2006), American singer-songwriter.  He was known as the Godfather of Soul.  He was born in Barnwell, South Carolina.  He died of congestive heart failure at age 73 in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

1933 ~ Steven Weinberg (d. July 23, 2021), American physicist and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died in Austin Texas at age 88.

 

1928 ~ Jacques-Louis Lions (d. May 17, 2001), French mathematician.  He died 2 weeks after his 73^rd birthday in Paris, France.

 

1928 ~ Edwin P. Wilson (né Edwin Paul Wilson, d. Sept. 10, 2012), American CIA agent who was convicted in 1983 for selling arms to Libya.  It was later discovered that the Department of Justice had covered up evidence, and his conviction was overturned.  He was freed in 2004.  He was born in Nampa, Idaho.  He died at age 84 in Seattle, Washington.

 

1927 ~ Mell Lazarus (né Melvin Lazarus; d. May 24, 2016), American cartoonist.  He is best known for his comic strips Momma and Miss Peach.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died 21 days after his 89^th birthday in Los Angeles, California.

 

1926 ~ Eleanor Storrs (d. May 20, 2018), American biologist who studied the link between armadillos and leprosy.  She was born in Cheshire, Connecticut.  In 1967, she earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Texas before moving to Louisiana.  She was the key scientist to discover that the armadillo is the ideal animal for leprosy research.  In 1978, she and her husband, Dr. Harry P Burchfield, moved to Indialantic, Florida where she worked as a research professor at the Florida Institute of Technology.  She died 17 days after her 92^nd birthday in Indialantic, Florida.

 

1924 ~ Yehuda Amichai (d. Sept. 22, 2000), German-born Israeli poet.  He died of cancer at age 76.

 

1924 ~ Michel Bacos (d. Mar. 26, 2019), French airline pilot who became a hero at Entebbe.  He was the captain of Air France Flight 139 when it was hijacked by a Palestinian terrorist group in June 1976.  He was born in Port Said, Egypt.  He died at age 94 in Nice, France.

 

1923 ~ Clara Luper (née Clara Mae Shepard; d. June 8, 2011), African-American schoolteacher who pioneered the sit-in.  She was active in civil rights.  She was born in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma.  She died a month after her 88^th birthday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

 

1921 ~ Sugar Ray Robinson (né Walker Smith, Jr.; d. Apr. 12; 1989), African-American professional boxer.  He was born in Ailey, Georgia.  He died less than a month before his 68^th birthday in Los Angeles, California.

 

1919 ~ Pete Seeger (né Peter Seeger; d. Jan. 27, 1914), American folk singer, musician and composer who championed social change.  He was born and died in Manhattan, New York.  He died at age 94.

 

1913 ~ William Inge (né William Motter Inge; d. June 10, 1973), American playwright.  He was born in Independence, Kansas.  He died by suicide using carbon monoxide about a month after his 60^th birthday in Los Angeles, California.

 

1912 ~ May Sarton (née Eleanore Marie Sarton; d. July 16, 1995), Belgian-born author and poet.  She was born in Wondelgem, Belgium.  She died in of breast cancer in York, Maine at age 83.

 

1907 ~ Earl Wilson (né Harvey Earl Wilson; d. Jan. 16, 1987), American journalist and gossip columnist.  He is best known for his weekly column entitled It Happened Last Night.  He was born in Rockford, Ohio.  He died at age 79 in Yonkers, New York.

 

1905 ~ Werner Fenchel (né Moritz Werner Fenchel; d. Jan. 24, 1988), German-born Dutch mathematician.  He left Germany to escape the Nazi suppression of intellectuals.  He was born in Berlin, Germany.  He died at age 82 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

1903 ~ Bing Crosby (né Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr.; d. Oct. 14, 1977), American singer and actor.  He was born in Tacoma, Washington.  He died at age 74 of a heart attack while on vacation in Alcobendas, Spain.

 

1902 ~ Alfred Kastler (d. Jan. 7, 1984), French physicist and recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 81.

 

1898 ~ Golda Meir (née Golda Mabovitz, aka Golda Meyerson; d. Dec. 8, 1978), 4^th Prime Minister of Israel and first woman to hold that position.  She was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (now known as Kyiv, Ukraine).  As a young child, her family left Russia to avoid the pogroms and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  In the 1920s she moved to what is now Israel.  In March 1969 she became the 4^th Prime Minister of Israel.  She resigned following the Yom Kippur War in 1973.  She was born in Kyiv, Kyiv Governorate, Russian Empire (current day Kyiv, Ukarine).  She died of lymphoma at age 80 in Jerusalem, Israel.

 

1892 ~ Sir George Paget Thomson (d. Sept. 10, 1975), English physicist and recipient of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He was born and died in Cambridge, England.  He died at age 83.

 

1886 ~ Marcel Dupré (d. May 30, 1971), French organist and composer.  He was born in Rouen, France.  He died 27 days after his 85^th birthday in Meudon, France.

 

1874 ~ François Coty (né Joseph Marie François Spoturno; d. July 25, 1934), French businessman, perfumer and founder of Coty, Inc.  He died at age 60 of pneumonia.

 

1860 ~ Vito Volterra (d. Oct. 11, 1940), Italian mathematician.  He is best known for his contributions to mathematical biology.  He died at age 80 in Rome, Kingdom of Italy.

 

1853 ~ E. W. Howe (né Edgar Watson Howe; d. Oct. 3, 1937), American novelist and magazine editor.  He was born in Wabash County, Indiana.  He died at age 84 in Atchinson, Kansaa.

 

1849 ~ Jacob Riis (né Jacob August Riis; d. May 26, 1914), Dutch-born American journalist and photographer.  He devoted his career to social reformer.  He was born in Ribe, Denmark.  He died 3 weeks after his 65^th birthday in Barre, Massachusetts.

 

1849 ~ Bertha Benz (née Bertha Ringer; d. May 5, 1944), German automotive pioneer.  She was married to Karl Benz (1844 ~ 1929), and together they formed the Benz automotive manufacturing company.  She is also known for being the first person to take a long distance road trip when she took her two sons from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany.  She died two days after her 95^th birthday.

 

1826 ~ Charles XV, King of Sweden (d. Sept. 18, 1872).  He reigned as king from July 1859 until his death 13 years later.  His coronation, however, was in 1860 on his 34^th birthday.  He was married to Louise of the Netherlands (1828 ~ 1871).  They married in 1850.  He was of the House of Bernadotte.  He was the son of Oscar I, King of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg.  He was of the Church of Sweden.  He died at age 46.  He was succeeded by his younger brother, Oscar II, King of Sweden.

 

1469 ~ Niccolò Machiavelli (d. June 21, 1527), Italian statesman and political author best known for his book The Prince.  He is sometimes considered the father of modern political science.  He was born and died in Florence, Republic of Florence.  He died at age 58.

 

1446 ~ Margaret of York (d. Nov. 23, 1503), Duchess consort of Burgundy and third wife of Charles the Bold (1433 ~ 1477).  They married in 1468.  She was of the House of York.  She was the daughter of Richard Plantagenet and Cecily Neville.  She was born on her mother’s 31^st birthday.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 57.

 

1415 ~ Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. May 31, 1495), English noblewoman and wife of Richard Plantagenet, 3^rdDuke of York (1411 ~ 1460).  They were the parents of King Edward IV and King Richard III of England.  She was also the mother of Margaret of York (1446 ~ 1503) who was born on her 31^st birthday.  She was of the House of Neville.  She was the daughter of Ralph Neville, 1^st Earl of Westmoreland and Joan Beaufort.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died 28 days after her 80^th birthday.

 

1276 ~ Louis, Count of Évreux (d. May 19, 1319), member of the French royal family.  He was married to Margaret of Artois (1285 ~ 1311).  They were the parents of Philip III, King of Navarre.  He was the founder of the House of Évreux.  He was the son of Philip III, King of France and Marie of Brabant.  He was Roman Catholic.  He died 16 days after his 43^rd birthday.

 

612 ~ Constantine III (d. 641), Byzantine emperor.  This is the traditional date of his birth; the exact day and year is unknown.  The exact date of his death is unknown.  He is believed to have been 28 or 29 when he died.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2023 ~ A medical facility in Atlanta, Georgia was the site of a mass shooting, which left one person dead, and four others wounded.  The shooter fled but was apprehended several hours later and charged with murder.

 

2018 ~ A crater of the Kīlauea volcano collapsed on the Big Island of Hawaii and began erupting.  Rivers of molten rock and clouds of toxic gas poured into neighborhoods, causing hundreds of residents to flee.  The lava continued flowing until September 2018.

 

2007 ~ Days before her 4^th birthday, Madeleine McCann (b. May 12, 2003), a young British toddler, disappeared in Portugal where her family was vacationing.  Her disappearance was widely reported around the world.  To date, she is still considered missing.

 

2003 ~ The famous Old Man of the Mountain, formed on the face of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, collapsed.

 

1979 ~ Margaret Thatcher (1925 ~ 2013) was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  She assumed office the following day, on May 4, 1979.

 

1973 ~ The 108-story Sears Tower, now known as the Willis Tower, in Chicago became the tallest building in the world at 1,451 feet.  It had this title until 1998.  As of 2021, it ranks as the 22^nd tallest building in the world.

 

1960 ~ The Anne Frank House opened as a museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

 

1952 ~ The Kentucky Derby was televised nationally for the first time.

 

1948 ~ The United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of Shelley v. Kraemer, that covenants prohibiting the sale of immovable property to blacks and other minorities were unenforceable.

 

1937 ~ Margaret Mitchell (1900 ~ 1948) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, Gone with the Wind.

 

1936 ~ Joe DiMaggio (1914 ~ 1999) played in his first major league baseball game when he started with the New York Yankees.

 

1921 ~ West Virginia became the first State in the Union to legislate a state sales tax.

 

1916 ~ The leaders of the Easter Rising of Ireland were executed in Dublin.  The executions took place between May 3 and May 13, until all 14 leaders had been killed.

 

1913 ~ The Indian film industry began with the release of Raja Harishchandra, India’s first full-length film.

 

1901 ~ The Great Fire of 1901 destroyed much of the city of Jacksonville, Florida.  The fire burned 146 city blocks and left over 10,000 residents homeless.  To date, this is the third worst fire that occurred in the United States, behind the Great Chicago Fire and the 1906 San Francisco Fire.

 

1867 ~ The Hudson’s Bay Company gave up all claims to Vancouver Island.

 

1860 ~ On his 34^th birthday Charles XV (1826 ~ 1972) was crowned king of Sweden.

 

1830 ~The first regular passenger train service began in Kent, England.  There were great celebrations and in Canterbury, the cathedral bells were rung and guns were fired in salute.

 

1802 ~ Washington, D.C., was incorporated as a city.

 

1715 ~ A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe and northern Asia.  Edmond Halley (1656 ~ 1742) had predicted this eclipse.

 

1481 ~ The largest of three earthquakes that occurred in 1481 hit the island of Rhodes.  An estimated 30,000 people were killed.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2020 ~ Richard O’Brien (né Richard William O’Brien; b. Aug. 12, 1966), American law enforcement officer.  He was a 25-year veteran of the Cook County, Illinois sheriff’s department.  He kept working despite having been diagnosed with leukemia in January 2020.  He died at age 53 of Covid-19.

 

2020 ~ Tendol Gyalzur (née Tendol Dolkar; b. 1951), Tibetan-Swiss humanitarian.  She fled her native Tibet following the deaths of her parents and brother in the 1959 uprising against the Chinese Communist Party.  She returned to the region in the 1990s to open Tibet’s first private orphanages.  She died in Chur, Switzerland at age 69 of complications from Covid-19.

 

2020 ~ Dave Greenfield (né David Paul Greenfield; b. Mar. 29, 1949), British keyboardist and singer-songwriter.  He was a member of the influential British punk band The Stranglers.  He wrote the music to the band’s biggest hit, Golden Brown.  He was born in Brighton, England.  He died at age 71 of Covid-19.

 

2016 ~ Kaname Harada (b. Aug. 11, 1916), Japanese fighter ace who became a pacifist.  He was one of Japan’s top fighter pilots during World War II.  He was born and died in Nagano, Japan.  He died at age 99.

 

2014 ~ Gary Becker (né Gary Stanley Becker; b. Dec. 2, 1930), American economist and recipient of the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.  He was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 83 in Chicago, Illinois.

 

2009 ~ Robert B. Choate (né Robert Burnett Choate, Jr.; b. Nov. 6, 1924), American businessman and “citizen lobbyist” for consumer protection in the cereal industry.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 84 in Lemon Grove, California.

 

2007 ~ Wally Schirra (né Walter Marty Schirra, Jr.; b. Mar. 12, 1923), American astronaut.  He was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts.  He was also on Gemini 6, the first mission to rendezvous with another the capsule.  In 1968,he was the commander of Apollo 7.  He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey.  He died at age 84 in San Diego, California.

 

2003 ~ Suzy Parker (née Cecilia Ann Renee Parker; b. Oct. 28, 1932), American actress and model.  She was born in Long Island, New York.  She died of kidney failure at age 70 in Montecito, California.

 

1991 ~ Jerzy Kosiński (né Józef Lewinkopf; b. June 14, 1933), Polish-born author.  He was a holocaust survivor.  He was born in Łódź, Poland.  He died by suicide at age 57 in New York, New York.

 

1989 ~ Christine Jorgensen (né George William Jorgensen, Jr.; b. May 30, 1926), American transgender woman.  She was the first American to have sex reassignment surgery.  She was born in The Bronx, New York.  She died of cancer 3 weeks before her 63^rd birthday in San Clemente, California.

 

1988 ~ Lev Pontryagin (b. Sept. 3, 1908), Soviet mathematician.  He was legally blind.  He was born and died in Moscow, Soviet Union.  He died at age 79.

 

1979 ~ Charles Angoff (b. Apr. 22, 1902), Russian-born American journalist and editor.  He was born in Minsk, Russia.  His family moved to the United States when he was 5 years old.  He became a naturalized citizen in 1923.  He died at age 77 in New York, New York.

 

1954 ~ Earnest Hooton (né Earnest Albert Hooton; b. Nov. 20, 1887), American physical anthropologist.  He is best known for his work in racial classification.  He was born in Clemansville, Wisconsin.  He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 66.

 

1910 ~ Howard Taylor Ricketts (b. Feb. 9, 1871), American pathologist.  He is known for identifying the disease agent causing Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.  The pathogen, Rickettsia, was named after him.  He was born in Findlay, Ohio.  He died at age 39 after contracting typhus in Mexico City, Mexico.

 

1816 ~ James McHenry (b. Nov. 16, 1753), Irish-American military surgeon.  He served as the 3^rd United States Secretary of War.  He served under Presidents George Washington and John Adams.  He served as the Secretary of War from January 1796 through May 1800.  Ft. McHenry of Civil War fame was named in his honor.  He was born in Ballymena, Ireland.  He died at age 62 in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1779 ~ John Winthrop (b. Dec. 19, 1714), American mathematician and astronomer.  He served as the acting President of Harvard College from 1769 until 1773.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 64.

 

1758 ~ Pope Benedict XIV (né Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini; b. Mar. 31, 1675).  He was Pope from 1740 until his death on this date 18 years later.  He was born in Bologna, Papal States.  He died at age 83 in Rome, Papal States.

 

1703 ~ Samuel Oppenheimer (b. June 21, 1630), German diplomat and banker.  He supplied Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor with military equipment.  Although the Jews had been expelled from Vienna, the Emperor allowed him to settle there.  He was born in Frankfurt, Germany.  He died at age 72 in Vienna.

 

1514 ~ Anna of Brandenburg (b. Aug. 27, 1487), Duchess consort of Schleswig and Holstein and first wife of Frederick I, Duke of Schleswig and Holstein.  They married in 1502.  Her husband later became Frederick I, King of Denmark, but she had died before he ascended to the throne, thus was never the queen consort.  They were the parents of Christian III, King of Denmark.  She was of the House of Hohenzollern.  She was the daughter of John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg and Margaret of Thuringia.  She died at age 26.

 

1410 ~ Antipope Alexander V (né Peter of Candia; b. 1339), Antipope during the Western Schism.  He reigned from June 1409 until his death a year later.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

 

1270 ~ Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206).  He ruled Hungary and Croatian from 1235 until his death 35 years later.  He was married to Maria Laskarina (1206 ~ 1270).  They married in 1235.  He was of the Árpád Dynasty.  He was the son of Andrew II, King of Hungary and Gertrude of Meraina.  He was Roman Catholic.  The actual date of his birth is unknown.  He is believed to have been about age 63 or 64 at the time of his death.

 

1152 ~ Matilda, Countess of Boulogne (b. 1105), Queen consort of England and wife of Stephen, King of England (1090s ~ 1154).  They married in 1125.  She was the Countess of Boulogne in her own right.  She was of the House of Flanders.  She was the daughter of Eustace III, Count of Boulogne and Princess Mary of Scotland.  The date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about age 46 or 47 at the time of her death.  She died of a fever.

 

762 ~ Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (b. Sept. 8, 685), 7^th Emperor of the Tang dynasty.  He was emperor from September 713 until August 756.  He died at age 76.

May 2

Birthdays:

 

2015 ~ Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, member of the British royal family.  She is of the House of Windsor.  She is the daughter of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.  She is great-granddaughter of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom.

 

1981 ~ Duda Salabert Rosa, Brazilian politician and environmentalist.  In 2020, she became the first transgender person to serve on the city council of Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

 

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

 

1975 ~ David Beckham (né David Robert Joseph Beckham), English soccer player.  He was born in London, England.

 

1972 ~ Dwayne Johnson (né Dwayne Douglas Johnson), American actor and professional wrestler.  His professional wrestling name is The Rock.  He was born in Haywood, California.

 

1967 ~ Mika Brzezinksi (née Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski), American journalist.  She is the daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinksi.  In 2018, she married, Joe Scarborough, her second husband.  She was born in New York, New York.

 

1955 ~ Donatella Versace (née Donatella Francesca Versace), Italian fashion designer.  She was born in Riggio Calabria, Italy.

 

1952 ~ Christine Baranski (née Christine Jane Baranski), American actress.  She was born in Buffalo, New York.

 

1950 ~ Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (née Eve Kosofsky; d. Apr. 12, 2009), American academic scholar who pioneered “queer theory.”  She was born in Dayton, Ohio.  She died of breast cancer less than 3 weeks before her 59^th birthday in New York, New York.

 

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 was born and died in New York, New York.  She died of lung cancer at age 68.

 

1945 ~ Bianca Jagger (née Blanca Pérez-Mora Macías), Nicaraguan socialite and former wife of Mick Jagger.  She was born in Managua, Nicaragua.

 

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

 

1936 ~ Engelbert Humperdinck (né Arnold George Dorsey), British singer.  He was born in Madras, British India (now known as Chennai, India).

 

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 writer of detective and mystery novels.  She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

1930 ~ Bernard Slade (né Bernard Slade Newbound; d. Oct. 30, 2019), Canadian playwright who created The Partridge Family.  He was also the creator of The Flying Nun.  He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.  He died at age 89 in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1924 ~ Theodore Bikel (né Theodore Meir Bikel; d. July 21, 2015), Austrian singer and actor.  He was named after Theodor Herzl, who was also born on this date.  In 1938, his family moved to Israel.  He was born in Vienna, Austria.  He died at age 91 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1922 ~ Roscoe Lee Browne (d. Apr. 11, 2007), African-American actor.  He was born in Woodbury, New Jersey.  He died in Los Angeles, California less than a month before his 85^th birthday.

 

1916 ~ Bernard C. Meltzer (d. Mar. 25, 1998), American radio host and personality.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 81 in Manhattan, New York.

 

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

 

1901 ~ Edouard Zeckendorf (d. May 16, 1983), Belgian doctor and mathematician.  He is best known for his work on Fibonacci numbers.  He died 2 weeks after his 82^nd birthday.

 

1896 ~ Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark (d. Nov. 28, 1982), member of the Greek royal family and Queen Mother of Romania.  In 1921, she married Carol, Crown Prince of Romania.  She was his second wife.  They divorced in 1928 before he became King, thus she was never the Queen consort.  They were the parents of Michael I, King of Romania.  She is recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel for her humanitarian efforts to save Romanian Jews during World War II.  She was of the House of Glücksburg.  She was the daughter of Constantine I, King of Greece and Princess Sophia of Prussia.  She was Eastern Orthodox.  She died at age 86.

 

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

 

1887 ~ Vernon Castle (né William Vernon Blythe; d. Feb. 15, 1918), British-born dancer.  He and his wife, Irene Castle (1893 ~ 1969), revitalized the popularity of modern dancing.  He was a pilot with the Royal Air Force.  He was killed in a plane crash during a test flight near Fort Worth, Texas.  He was 30 years old.

 

1885 ~ Hedda Hopper (née Elda Furry; d. Feb. 1, 1966), American gossip columnist.  She was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.  She died of pneumonia at age 80 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1882 ~ James Francis Byrnes (d. Apr. 9, 1972), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He replaced James McReynolds on the Court.  He was succeeded by Wiley Rutledge.  He served on the Court from July 1941 until October 1942.  He resigned after serving 15 months to head the Office of Economic Stabilization.  His tenure on the Court is one of the shortest in Court history.  He went on to become the 49^th United States Secretary of State under President Harry Truman.  He served in that capacity from July 1945 until January 1947.  He then became the 104^th Governor 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 was born in Charleston, South Carolina.  He died a month before his 90^th birthday in Columbia, South Carolina.

 

1875 ~ Owen Roberts (né Owen Josephus Roberts; d. May 17, 1955), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Herbert Hoover.  He replaced Edward Stanford on the Court.  He was succeeded by Harold Burton.  He served on the Court from May 1930 until July 1945.  He also led two Roberts Commissions, the first of which investigated the Pearl Harbor attack.  The second commission investigated the works of cultural value during World War II.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died in West Vincent, Pennsylvania 15 days after his 80^th birthday.

 

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

 

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

 

1808 ~ Emma Darwin (née Emma Wedgwood; d. Oct. 2, 1896), English naturalist and wife and first cousin of Charles Dickens.  They married in 1839.  She was the granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood, of Wedgwood pottery fame.  She died at age 88.

 

1750 ~ John André (d. Oct. 2, 1780), British Army officer during the American Revolutionary War.  He was hanged as a spy by American forces.  He was 30 years old at the time of his death.  He was born in London, England and died in Tappan, New York.

 

1740 ~ Elias Boudinot (d. Oct. 24, 1821), Early-American politician.  He served as the President of the Continental Congress, from November 1782 until November 1783.  He also served as the Director of the United States Mint from October 1795 until July 1805.  He was born in Philadelphia, Provence of Pennsylvania, British America.  He died at age 81 in Burlington, New Jersey.

 

1737 ~ William Petty, 1^st Marquis of Lansdowne, also known as the 2^nd Earl 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 was born in Dublin, Ireland.  He died 5 days after his 68^th birthday in Westminster, England.

 

1729 ~ Catherine II, Empress of Russia (née Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; d. Nov. 17, 1796).  She was known as Catherine the Great.  She became Empress after her husband, Peter III, Tsar of Russia (1728 ~ 1762), was assassinated in 1762.  They had married in 1745.  They were the parents of Paul I, Tsar of Russia.  She ruled the country from July 1762 until her death in November 1796.  She was of the House of Ascania.  She was the daughter of Christina August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp.  She converted from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodox upon her marriage.  She died at age 67.

 

1660 ~ Alessandro Scarlatti (né Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti; d. Oct. 22, 1725), Italian composer.  He was born in Sicily.  He died at age 65 in Naples, Italy.

 

1458 ~ Eleanor of Viseu (d. Nov. 17, 1525), Queen consort of Portugal and wife of John II, King of Portugal (1455 ~ 1495).  They married in 1470.  She was of the House of Aviz.  She was the daughter of Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu and Beatrice of Portugal.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 67.

 

1402 ~ Eleanor of Aragon (d. Feb. 19, 1445), Queen consort of Portugal and wife of Edward, King of Portugal (1391 ~ 1438).  They married in 1438.  They were the parents of Afonso V, King of Portugal.  She was of the House of Trastámara.  She was the daughter of Ferdinand I, King of Aragon and Eleanor of Albuquerque.  She died of a prolonged respiratory illness at age 42.

 

1360 ~ Yongle (d. Aug. 12, 1424), 3^rd Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.  He ruled from July 1402 until his death 22 years later.  He died at age 64.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2022 ~ A draft version of the United States Supreme Court decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was leaked to the press.  The draft indicated that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade.

 

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.  She served as President beginning in September 1999 until September 2004.

 

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^nd Airborne Division liberated Wöbbelin concentration camp.  Over 1000 of the prisoners had died of starvation.

 

1933 ~ The first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness monster was reported in a local Scottish newspaper.

 

1885 ~ The first issue of the Good Housekeeping magazine 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:

 

2022 ~ Rob Stein (b. Oct 26, 1943), American political strategist who revved up liberal fundraising.  He was the founder of the Democracy Alliance.  He was born in Wheeling West Virginia.  He died of prostate cancer at age 78 in Washington, D.C.

 

2021 ~ Bobby Unser (née Robert William Unser; b. Feb 20, 1934), American hard-charger who triumphed at the Indy 500.  He was from the Unger racing family.  He was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He died at age 87 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

2017 ~ Anne Morrissy Merick (née Anne Louise Morrissy; 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.  As a college student, she was the first female reported allowed in the Yale Bowl press box.  She was born in Manhattan, New York.  She died at age 83 in Naples, Florida.

 

2017 ~ Leo Thorsness (né Leo Keith Thorsness; b. Feb. 14, 1932), American war hero who shared a cell with John McCain.  He had been shot down and captured in Vietnam while on his 93^rd mission.  He was born in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.  He died at age 85 in St. Augustine, Florida.

 

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

 

2015 ~ Guy Carawan (né Guy Hughes Carawan, Jr., b. July 27, 1927), American folksinger who popularized We Shall Overcome.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.  He died at age 87 in New Market, Tennessee.

 

2015 ~ Maya Plisetskaya (née Maya Mikhailovna 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 born in Moscow, Soviet Union.  She was 89 years old in Munich, Germany.

 

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

 

2011 ~ Osama bin Laden (b. Mar. 10, 1957), Saudi Islamist and al-Quada terrorist who was killed in Pakistan by United States 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.

 

2011 ~ Frank Tyger (b. Dec. 24, 1929), American cartoonist.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of Parkinson’s Disease at age 81.

 

2010 ~ Lynn Redgrave (née Lynn Rachel Redgrave; d. Mar. 8, 1943), the British pedigreed actress who had the common touch.  She was born in London, England.  She died at age 67 of breast cancer in Kent, Connecticut.

 

2009 ~ Jack Kemp (né Jack French Kemp; b. July 13, 1935), American politician and professional football player.  He served as the 9^th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from February 1989 until January 1993 in the George H.W. Bush administration.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.  He died of cancer at age 73 in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

 

2009 ~ Marilyn French (née Marilyn Edwards; b. Nov. 21, 1929), American feminist author best known for her 1977 novel, The Women’s Room.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York.  She died of heart failure at age 79 in Manhattan, New York.

 

2008 ~ Mildred Loving (née Mildred Delores Jeter; 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 was born in Central Point, Virginia.  She died at age 68 in Milford, Virginia.

 

2002 ~ W.T. Tutte (né William Thomas Tutte, b. May 14, 1917), British mathematician.  He was a code-breaker during World War II.  He died 12 days before his 85^th birthday in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

 

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

 

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 born in Antioch, California.  Julio was killed from injuries sustained in a single car crash in Tracy, California.  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 finished his term in the House of Representatives but did not run for re-election.  He had represented Arkansas in the House from January 1939 until his term ended in 1976.  He was born in Kensette, Arkansas.  He died 22 days before his 83^rd birthday in Searcy, Arkansas.

 

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), American law enforcement officer and 1^st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  He served in that position from May 1924 until his death 48 years later.  He was born and died in Washington, D.C.  He died in Office at age 77 of a heart attack.

 

1964 ~ Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor (née Nancy Witcher Langhorne; 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 was born in Danville, Virginia.  She died 17 days before her 85^th birthday in Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.

 

1957 ~ Joseph McCarthy (né Joseph Raymond McCarthy; b. Nov. 14, 1908), United States Senator from Wisconsin, and head of the Un-American Activities Committee who tried to root out Communism in the United States.  He fueled the Red Scare in the 1950s and led the investigations of numerous individuals alleging they supported Communism.  He was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin.  He died at age 48 in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

1945 ~ Joe Corbett (né Joseph Aloysius Corbett; b. Dec. 4, 1875), American professional baseball player.  He was the younger brother of boxer James Corbett.  He was born and died in San Francisco, California.  He died at age 69.

 

1929 ~ Tad Dorgan (né Thomas Aloysius Dorgan; d. Apr. 29, 1877), American cartoonist.  He was born in San Francisco, California.  He died of heart disease 3 days after his 52^nd birthday in Great Neck, New York.

 

1922 ~ Richard Greener (né Richard Theodore Greener; b. Jan. 30, 1844), lawyer who was the first African-American to graduate from Harvard College.  He went on to become the dean of the Howard University School of Law.  He was the father of Belle da Costa Green who served as the personal librarian to J.P. Morgan.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died age 78 in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1915 ~ Clara Immerwahr (née Clara Helene 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 was the wife on Fritz Haber, recipient of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  She died by suicide at age 44 following an argument with her husband.

 

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

 

1880 ~ Eunice Waite Cobb (née Eunice Hale Waite; b. Jan. 27, 1803), American writer, social activist, and public speaker.  She and her husband, the Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, were very active in the Universalist Church.  She was born in Kennebunk, Maine.  She died at age 77 in East Boston, Massachusetts.

 

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

 

1813 ~ Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia (b. May 23, 1730), member of the Prussian royal family.  In 1755, he married his niece, Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1738 ~ 1820).  He was of the House of Hohenzollern.  He was the son of Frederick William I, King of Prussia and Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover.  He was the grandson of George I, King of England.  He was born and died in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia.  He died 21 days before his 83^rd birthday.

 

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

 

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

 

1302 ~ Blanche of Artois (b. 1248), Queen consort of Navarre.  She was the wife of Henry I, King of Navarre (1244 ~ 1274).  He was her first husband.  After his death, she married Edmund Crouchback (1245 ~ 1296), an English prince. They married in 1276.  She was his second wife.  She was of the House of Artois.  She was the daughter of Robert I, Count of Artois and Matilda of Brabant.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about age 53 or 54 at the time of her death.

 

1293 ~ Meir of Rothenburg (b. 1215), German rabbi and poet.  The date of his birth is not known.

 

907 ~ Boris I, Tsar of Bulgaria.  He was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire.  He ruled from 852 until he abdicated the throne in 889 to become a monk.  He was married to Maria.  Little is known of her.  The date of his birth is unknown.

May 1

International Worker’s Day

 

Birthdays:

 

1950 ~ Dann Florek (né Ezekial Dan Florek), American actor best known for his role as Captain Donald Cragen on Law and Order.  He was born in Flat Rock, Michigan.

 

1945 ~ Rita Coolidge, American singer-songwriter.  She was born in Lafayette, Tennessee.

 

1940 ~ Elsa Peretti (d. Mar. 18, 2021), Italian model who became an iconic jewelry designer.  She had a long-term contract with Tiffany’s for her jewelry sales.  She was born in Florence, Italy.  She died at age 80 in Sant Martí Vell, Spain.

 

1940 ~ Yury Yershov, Russian mathematician.  He was born in Novosibirsk, Russia.

 

1939 ~ Wilhelmina Cooper (née Wilhelmina Gertrud Frieda Behmenburg; b. Mar. 1, 1980), Dutch-American model who started her own modeling agency, Wilhelmina Models.  She was born in Culemborg, Netherlands.  She died of lung cancer at age 40 in Greenwich, Connecticut.

 

1939 ~ Max Robinson (né Maxie Cleveland Robinson, Jr.; d. Dec. 20, 1988), African-American journalist.  He was born in Richmond, Virginia.  He died of AIDS at age 49 in Washington, D.C.

 

1939 ~ Judy Collins (né Judith Marjorie Collins), American folk singer.  She was born in Seattle, Washington.

 

1930 ~ Richard Riordan (né Richard Joseph Riordan; d. Apr. 19, 2023), American investor who led Los Angeles through tumult.  He was the 39^th Mayor of Los Angeles, California.  He served as Mayor from July 1993 to July 2001.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died 12 days before his 93^rd birthday in Los Angeles, California.

 

1927 ~ Gary Bertini (d. Mar. 17, 2005), Israeli conductor.  He died at age 77.

 

1926 ~ Peter Lax (né Lax Péter Dávid), Hungarian-born mathematician.  He family left Hungary in 1941 during World War II.  He became an American citizen.  He was born in Budapest, Hungary.

 

1925 ~ Scott Carpenter (né Malcolm Scott Carpenter; d. Oct. 10, 2013), American astronaut.  He was one of the original seven astronauts in the Mercury project.  He was born in Boulder, Colorado.  He died at age 88 in Denver, Colorado.

 

1925 ~ Helen Rae Bamber (née Helen Balmuth; d. Aug. 21, 2014), British campaigner who cared for torture victims.  She was a psychologist and established the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.  She worked with Holocaust survivors following the liberation of the concentration camps.  She was born and died in London, England.  She died at age 89.

 

1925 ~ Chuck Bednarik (né Charles Philip Bednarik; d. Mar. 21, 2015), American professional football player who epitomized football’s toughness.  He was known as the “60-Minute Man” because he played both offense and defense on a regular basis.  He was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  He died in Richland, Pennsylvania.  He was 89 years old.

 

1924 ~ Art Fleming (né Arthur Fleming Fazzin; d. Apr. 25, 1995), American television game show host, best known for hosting Jeopardy!  He was born in New York, New York.  He died in Crystal River, Florida of pancreatic cancer 6 days before his 71^st birthday.

 

1924 ~ Evelyn Boyd Granville (née Evelyn Boyd; d. June 27, 2023), African-American mathematician.  She earned her Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University.  She performed pioneering work in the field of computing.  She was born in Washington, D.C.  She died at age 99 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

 

1923 ~ Joseph Heller (d. Dec. 12, 1999), American novelist, best known for his novel, Catch-22.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of a heart attack at age 76 in East Hampton, New York.

 

1918 ~ Jack Paar (né Jack Harold Paar; d. Jan. 27, 2004), American comedian and television host.  He was born in Canton, Ohio.  He died at age 85 in Greenwich, Connecticut.

 

1917 ~ Ahron Soloveichik (d. Oct 4, 2001), Russian rabbi and biblical scholar.  He died at age 84.

 

1917 ~ Danielle Darrieux (née Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux; d. Oct 17, 2017), French actress and great beauty who dominated the French cinema, stage, and television.  She died at age 100.

 

1908 ~ Morris Kline (d. June 10, 1992), American mathematician.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died at age 84.

 

1907 ~ Kate Smith (née Kathryn Elizabeth Smith; d. June 17, 1986), American singer.  She was known as the First Lady of Radio.  She was born in Greenville, Virginia.  She died at age 79 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

 

1900 ~ Ignazio Silone (né Secondino Tranquilli; d. Aug. 22, 1978), Italian novelist and political leader.  He is best known for his power anti-Fascist novels.  He died at age 78 in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

1864 ~ Anna Jarvis (née Anna Marie Javis; d. Nov. 24, 1948), American founder of Mother’s Day.  She was born in Webster, West Virginia.  She died at age 84 in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

 

1857 ~ Theo van Gogh (né Theodorus van Gogh; d. Jan. 25, 1891), Dutch art dealer and younger brother of painter Vincent van Gogh.  He died in Ultrecht, Netherlands of Dementia paralytic just six months after Vincent van Gogh’s suicide.  Theo was 33 years old at the time of his death.

 

1855 ~ Cecilia Beaux (d. Sept. 17, 1942), American painter.  She is best known for her portrait paintings.  She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She died at age 87 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

 

1852 ~ Calamity Jane (née Martha Jane Canary Burke; d. Aug. 1, 1903), American Wild West frontierswoman and sharpshooter.  She was born in Princeton, Missouri.  She died at age 51 in Terry, South Dakota.

 

1852 ~ Santiago Ramón y Cajal (d. Oct. 17, 1934), Spanish neuroscientist and recipient of the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in histology of the central nervous system.  He is considered the father of modern neuroscience.  He died at age 82 in Madrid, Spain.

 

1850 ~ Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (né Arthur William Patrick Albert; d. Jan. 16, 1942), member of the British royal family.  He was the 10^th Governor General of Canada.  He was the only British prince to hold this Office.  He married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (1860 ~ 1917).  They married in 1879.  They had three children.  He was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1917 when the family became known as Windsor.  He was the seventh child and third son of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert.  He died at age 91.

 

1837 ~ Mother Jones (née Mary G. Harris; d. Nov. 30, 1930), Irish-born American labor organizer.  Her actual birthdate is unknown, although she was baptized on August 1, 1837.  May 1 is sometimes ascribed to her birth because it is International Labor Day.  She was born in Cork, Ireland.  She died in Silver Spring, Maryland.  She was 93 at the time of her death.

 

1831 ~ Emily Stowe (née Emily Howard Jennings; d. Apr. 30, 1903), Canadian physician.  She was the first female physician to practice in Canada.  She was also an activist for women’s rights, and she campaigned for the country’s first medical college for women.  She was born in Norwich Township, Ontario, Canada.  She died 1 day before her 72^ndbirthday.

 

1825 ~ Johann Jakob Balmer (d. Mar. 12, 1898), Swiss mathematician and mathematical physicist.  He died at age 72 in Basel, Switzerland.

 

1780 ~ John McKinley (d. July 19, 1852), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Martin Van Buren.  This seat was established by President Van Buren.  He served in this position from January 1838 until his death 15 years later.  During his term on the Court, he wrote 22 opinions, many of which were dissenting opinions that favored preserving States’ rights.  He was succeeded by John Campbell.  He had previously served as a United States Senator from Alabama.  He was born in Culpeper County, Virginia.  He died at age 72 in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

1769 ~ Arthur Wellesley, 1^st Duke of Wellington (d. Sept. 14, 1852), Irish-English field marshal.  He served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for two terms in the early 1800s.  He served his first term from January 1828 until November 1830, during the reigns of King George IV and King William IV.  He served a second term for a month from November 1834 until December 1834 during the reign of King William IV.  He is the individual referred to when one is speaking of The Duke of Wellington.  He was born in Dublin, Ireland.  He died at age 83.

 

1764 ~ Benjamin Henry Latrobe (né Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe; d. Sept. 3, 1820), English-American architect, most famous for his design of the United States Capitol.  He has been known as the Father of American Architecture.  He died at age 56 of yellow fever in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

1751 ~ Judith Sargent Murray (née Judith Sargent; d. June 9, 1820), American activist for women’s rights and playwright.  She was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts and died in Natchez, Mississippi.  She was 69 years old at the time of her death.

 

1738 ~ Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (b. May 1819).  The exact date of his birth and death is unknown.  He may have been born as early as 1736.

 

1594 ~ John Haynes (d. Jan. 9, 1653), 1^st Governor of Colonial Connecticut from 1639 until 1636.  He also served as the 5^th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1635 to 1636.  He died at age 59 in what is now Hartford, Connecticut.

 

1527 ~ Johannes Stadius (d. June 17, 1579), Flemish astronomer and mathematician.  He died at age 52.

 

1238 ~ Magnus VI, King of Norway (né Magnús Hákonarson; d. May 9, 1280).  He was King from December 1263 until his death in May 1280.  His nickname was Magnus the Law-mender and was known for the modernization and nationalization of Norway.  In 1261, he married Princess Ingeborg Eriksdatter of Denmark (1244 ~ 1287).  He was of the House of Sverre.  He was the son of Haakon IV, King of Norway and Margrete Skulesdatter.  He died 8 days after his 42^nd birthday.

 

1218 ~ Rudolph I, King of Germany (d. July 15, 1291).  He ruled from September 1273 until his death in July 1291.  He was married twice.  His first wife was Gertrude of Hohenberg (1225 ~ 1281).  His second wife was Isabella of Burgundy (1270 ~ 1323).  They married in 1284 when she was 14 and he was nearly 66.  There were no children of this marriage.  After his death, Isabella married Pierre IX de Chambly, Lord of Neaufles.  Rudolph was of the House of Habsburg.  He was the son of Albert IV, Count of Habsburg and Hedwig of Kyburg.  He died at age 73.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2019 ~ Naruhito (b. 1960) became Emperor of Japan following the resignation of his father, Akihito (b. 1933).

 

2011 ~ United States President Barak Obama (b. 1961) announced that Osama bin Laden (1957 ~ 2001) had been killed by United States Special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.  Due to the time difference between Pakistan and the United States, bin Laden had actually been killed on May 2.

 

2011 ~ Pope John Paul II (1920 ~ 2005) was beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI (1927 ~ 2022).  He would be elevated to sainthood on April 27, 2014.

 

2009 ~ Same-sex marriage became legal in Sweden.

 

2004 ~ Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the European Union.

 

2003 ~ In what became known as the Mission Accomplished speech, United States President George W. Bush (b. 1946) declared that the major combat operations in the invasion of Iraq had ended.  It hadn’t ended.  It was only a part of the Iraq War.

 

1999 ~ SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on Nickelodeon.

 

1987 ~ Pope John Paul II (1920 ~ 2005) beatified Edith Stein (1891 ~ 1942), who was born Jewish but converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun.  She was gassed at Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

 

1982 ~ During Operation Black Buck, the British Royal Air Force attacked the Argentine Air Force during the Falklands War.

 

1982 ~ The 1982 World’s Fair opened in Knoxville, Tennessee.  The Fair ran through October 31, 1982.

 

1971 ~ Amtrak took over operations of all United States passenger rail services.

 

1961 ~ The first American plane was hijacked to Cuba for political purposes.

 

1960 ~ Francis Gary Powers’ (1929 ~ 1977) U-2 spy plane was shot down when Soviet missiles attacked his plane while he was spying over Russian territory.  This event is portrayed in Giles Whittell’s book, Bridge of Spies.

 

1956 ~ The polio vaccine as developed by Jonas Salk (1914 ~ 1995) became available to the public.

 

1950 ~ Guam became organized as a commonwealth of the United States.

 

1940 ~ The 1940 Summer Olympics were cancelled due to World War II.

 

1931 ~ The Empire State Building was dedicated in New York City.

 

1930 ~ The Planet Pluto was official named.  Fifty years later it would be downgraded to a dwarf planet.

 

1927 ~ Imperial Airways, ancestor to British Airways, served the first cooked meals on a scheduled flight.  Passengers were served a meal on a flight between London and Paris.

 

1915 ~ The RMS Lusitania left New York City for it cross across the Atlantic.  It would be the 202^nd and final crossing. Six days later, on May 7, it was torpedoed by a German U-Boat off the coast of Ireland.  Nearly 1200 passengers and crew lost their lives in the disaster.  The event is recounted in Erik Larson book, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania.

 

1900 ~ The Scofield mine disaster in Scofield, Utah killed over 200 miners, making it one of the worst mining disasters in the United States.

 

1898 ~ During the first battle of the Spanish-American War, the Battle of Manila Bay, the United States Navy destroyed the Spanish Pacific fleet.

 

1893 ~ The World’s Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1886 ~ Rallies were held throughout the United States demanding an 8-hour work week.

 

1885 ~ The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opened for business.

 

1884 ~ Moses Fleetwood Walker (1856 ~ 1924) became the first African-American professional baseball player when he played as catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings.  He only played for the team for one year.

 

1875 ~ The Alexandra Palace in London, England, reopened after having burned down in an 1873 fire.

 

1863 ~ The Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War began.

 

1862 ~ The Union Army captured the City of New Orleans during the American Civil War.

 

1851 ~ Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819 ~ 1901) opened the Great Exhibition in London.

 

1844 ~ Asia’s first modern police force was established in Hong Kong.

 

1840 ~ The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, was issued and put into use in the United Kingdom.  The stamp was first used on May 6, 1840.  This was the first usage of pre-paid postage, thus stamps from Great Britain do not identify the name of the country.

 

1807 ~ The Slave Trade Act of 1807, which abolished the slave trade within the British Empire, became effective.

 

1795 ~ Kamehameha I (1735 ~1819), the King of Hawaii, defeated Kalanikūpule and thus established the Kingdom of Hawaii.

 

1786 ~ The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Mozart (1756 ~ 1791) premiered in Vienna, Austria.

 

1759 ~ The Wedgwood pottery company was founded by Josiah Wedgwood (1730 ~ 1795) in Great Britain.

 

1753 ~ Carl Linnaeus (1701 ~ 1778) published his Species Planatarum, which became the impetus for the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature to use names for plant taxonomy.

 

1707 ~ The Act of Union which joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, took effect.

 

1328 ~ Under the terms of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, England recognized Scotland as an independent state.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2023 ~ Gordon Lightfoot (né Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr.; b. Nov. 17, 1938), Canadian troubadour who sang of loss.  He is best known for his ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  He was born in Orillia, Ontario, Canada.  He died at age 84 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

2022 ~ Kathy Boudin (b. May 19, 1943), American left-wing activist who joined a fatal robbery.  She was a member of the Weather Underground and was convicted of felony murder for her role in the 1981 Brink’s robbery.  She was paroled in 2003 and became an adjunct professor at Columbia University.  She was born and died in New York, New York.  She died of cancer 18 days before her 79^th birthday.

 

2022 ~ Régine Zylberger (née Rachelle Zylberberg; b. Dec. 26, 1929), Belgium-born French singer who was the glamourous founder of the first discotheque.  She was known as the Queen of the Night.  She was born in Anderlecht, Belgium.  She died at age 92 in Paris, France.

 

2021 ~ Olympia Dukakis (née Olympia Mary Dukakis; b. June 20, 1931), American state veteran who had a cinematic second act.  She was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.  She died at age 89 in Manhattan, New York.

 

2021 ~ Helen Murray Free (née Helen Murray; b. Feb. 20, 1923), American pioneering chemist who helped invent a lifesaving diabetes test.  She co-developed a dip-and-read diabetes test that revolutionized diagnosis of the disease.  She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She died at age 98 of complications of a stroke in Elkhart, Indiana.

 

2017 ~ Stanley Weston (b. Apr. 1, 1933), American licensing agent who put G.I. Joe in America’s toy chest.  He sold the concept to Hasbro, but never made much money over the toy.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died a month after his 84^th birthday in Santa Monica, California.

 

2014 ~ Assi Dayan (né Asaf Dayan; b. Nov. 23, 1945), Israeli actor and youngest son of Moshe Dayan.  He died of a massive heart attack in Tel Aviv, Israel.  He was 68 years old.

 

2011 ~ J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. (né Jesse Ernest Wilking, Jr.; b. Nov. 27, 1923), African-American nuclear scientist, mechanical engineer and mathematician.  He entered the University of Chicago at age 13, becoming the youngest student ever to attend that school.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died at age 87 in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

 

2008 ~ Philipp Frieherr von Boeselager (b. Sept. 6, 1917), German officer who involved in the July 20, 1944 Plot, which was a conspiracy among high-ranking Wehrmach officers to assassinate Hitler.  He died at age 90.

 

2005 ~ Kenneth B. Clark (né Kenneth Bancroft Clark; b. July 14, 1914), African-American educator psychologist and civil rights activist who, along with his wife, Mamie Phipps Clark (1917 ~ 1983), fought segregation.  He was born in the Panama Canal Zone.  He died at age 90 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.  His wife was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and she died at age 66.

 

2001 ~ Chandra Levy (née Chandra Ann Levy; b. Apr. 14, 1977), American murder victim.  She was an intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C.  The exact date of her death is unknown, but she went missing on May 1, 2001.  She disappeared 2 weeks after her 24^th birthday.  She was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

1998 ~ Eldridge Cleaver (né Leroy Eldridge Cleaver; b. Aug. 31, 1935), African-American political rights activist during the Civil Rights Movement.  He was an early leader in the Black Panther Party.  He was born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas.  He died at age 62 in Pomona, California.

 

1965 ~ Spike Jones (né Lindley Armstrong Jones; b. Dec. 14, 1911), American bandleader, musician, and comedian.  He was born in Long Beach, California.  He died of emphysema at age 53 in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1945 ~ Joseph Goebbels (né Paul Joseph Goebbels; b. Oct. 29, 1897), Nazi Minister of Propaganda.  He and his wife Magda (b. Nov. 11, 1901) killed their children then both committed suicides to avoid trial for war crimes at the end of World War II.  He was 47; his wife was 41 at the time of their suicides.

 

1945 ~ René Lalique (né René Jules Lalique; b. Apr. 6, 1860), French art nouveau jeweler and art deco glass artist.  He less than a month after his 85^th birthday in Paris, France.

 

1928 ~ Xiang Jingyu (b. Sept. 4, 1895), Chinese revolutionary.  She is considered a pioneer of the women’s movement in China.  She was one of the first female members of the Communist Party of China.  In 1922, she became the first director of the Chinese Communist Women’s Bureau.  She advocated for women’s education and organized mass labor strikes.  She was ultimately arrested and executed for her political activities.  She was killed at age 32.

 

1920 ~ Princess Margaret of Connaught (b. Jan. 15, 1882), Crown Princess of Sweden.  She was the first wife of Gustaf Adolf, Crown Prince of Sweden (1882 ~ 1973), who later became Gustaf IV Adolf, King of Sweden.  They married in 1905.  She died 30 years before her husband became king, so was never the queen consort.  She was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.  She was the daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia.  She was the granddaughter of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom.  She died suddenly at age 38 of blood poisoning.

 

1904 ~ Antonín Dvořák (né Antonín Leopold Dvořák; b. Sept. 8, 1841), Czech composer.  He died of an undisclosed illness at age 62.

 

1873 ~ David Livingston (b. Mar. 19, 1813), Scottish missionary and explorer.  He is known for exploring Africa to find the source of the Nile River.  He died of malaria and dysentery in what is today known as Zambia.  He was 60 years old.

 

1731 ~ Johann Ludwig Bach (b. Feb 14, 1677), German violinist and composer.  He was a third cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach.  He died at age 54.

 

1572 ~ Pope Saint Pius V (né Antonio Ghislieri, b. Jan. 17, 1504).  He was Pope from January 1566 until his death 6 years later.  He is best known for his role in the Council of Trent and the standardization of the rituals within the Latin Church.  He died at age 68.

 

1555 ~ Pope Marcellus II (né Marcello Cervini degli Spannochi; b. May 6, 1501).  He was Pope for less than a month, from April 9, 1555 until his death in May 1555.  He died 5 days before his 54^th birthday.

 

1539 ~ Infanta Isabella of Portugal (b. Oct. 24, 1503), Holy Roman Empress consort and wife of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500 ~ 1558).  They married in 1526.  They were the parents of Philip II, King of Spain.  She played a huge role in Spanish politics because her husband spent a lot of time traveling.  She was of the House of Aviz.  She was the daughter of Manuel I, King of Portugal and Infanta Maria of Aragon.  She was the granddaughter of Isabella I, Queen of Castile and Ferdinand II, King of Aragon.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 35 following complications related to pregnancy.

 

1308 ~ Albert I, King of Germany (b. July 1255).  He ruled Germany from July 1298 until his death in May 1308.  He was married to Elizabeth of Carinthia (1262 ~ 1312).  They married in December 1274.  He was of the House of Habsburg.  He was the son of Rudolph I, King of Germany and Gertrude of Hohenberg.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 52 at the time of his death.

 

1277 ~ Stefan Uroš I, King of Serbia (b. 1223).  He was King of Serbia from 1243 until 1276 when he was forced to abdicate.  He is considered one of the more important rulers of Serbia.  He was married to Helen of Anjou (1235 ~ 1314).  He was of the Nemanjić dynasty.  He was the son of Stefan Nemanjić and Anna Dandolo.  He died at about age 55.

 

1256 ~ Infanta Mafalda of Portugal (b. 1195), Queen consort of Castile.  She was the wife of Henry I, King of Castile.  They married in 1215, but the marriage was annulled a year later on grounds of consanguinity.  They were still young, and the marriage was not consummated.  She chose not remarry but entered into a convent instead.  She was of the Portuguese House of Burgundy.  She was the daughter of Sancho I, King of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon.  She was Catholic.  She exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 61 at the time of her death.

 

1118 ~ Matilda of Scotland (née Edith; b. 1080), Queen consort of England and first wife of Henry I, King of England (1068 ~ 1135).  They married in 1100.  She was also known as Edith of Scotland.  She was of the House of Dunkeld.  She was the daughter of Malcolm III, King of Scotland and Margaret of Wessex.  She was Roman Catholic.  The exact date of her birth is unknown.  She is believed to have been about 37 or 38 at the time of her death.