What happened on May 5? There are more than 249 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About May 5
May 5 is the 126th day of the year 2024. There are 240 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday. This day falls under the 18th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Pattonsburg, Missouri 64670 sunrise occured at 06:09 AM and sunset occured at 08:17 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Taurus. The modern birthstone for this month is Emerald while the mystical birthstone is Sapphire.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 269 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For May 5
- 553The Second Council of Constantinople begins.
- 1215Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
- 1260Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
- 1494Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.
- 1640King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.
- 1762Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
- 1789In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614.
- 1809Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
- 1809The Swiss canton of Aargau denies citizenship to Jews.
- 1811In the second day of fighting at the Peninsular War Battle of Fuentes de Onoro the French army, under Marshall Massena, drive in the Duke of Wellington’s overextended right flank, but French frontal assaults fail to take the town of Fuentes de Onoro and the Anglo-Portugese army holds the field at the end of the day.
- 1821Emperor Napoleon I dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
- 1835In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.
- 1860Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy.
- 1862Cinco de Mayo: troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
- 1864American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
- 1865In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.
- 1866Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
- 1877Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
- 1886The Bay View Tragedy: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing seven.
- 1891The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
- 1904Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
- 1905The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.
- 1920Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.
- 1925Scopes Trial: serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
- 1925The government of South Africa declares Afrikaans an official language
- 1936Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- 1940World War II: Norwegian Campaign – Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to the Nazis after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms.
- 1940World War II: Norwegian refugees form a government-in-exile in London
- 1941Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots’ Victory Day.
- 1944German troops execute 216 civilians in the village of Kleisoura in Greece
- 1945World War II: Canadian and UK troops liberate the Netherlands and Denmark from Nazi occupation when Wehrmacht troops capitulate.
- 1946The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- 1949The Treaty of London establishes the Council of Europe in Strasbourg as the first European institution working for European integration.
- 1950Bhumibol Adulyadej crowns himself King Rama IX of Thailand.
- 1955West Germany gains full sovereignty.
- 1961The Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, making a sub-orbital flight of 15 minutes.
- 1964The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day.
- 1972Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy.
- 1980Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
- 1981Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
- 1987Iran-Contra affair: start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America
- 1991A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.
- 1994American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that many in the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime. However, significant numbers of Americans were also in favor of it.
- 1994The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
- 2006The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
- 2007All 114 aboard Kenya Airways Flight 507 die when the pilots lose control of the plane and it crashes in Douala, Cameroon.
- 2010Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek debt crisis.
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Who Were Born On May 5?
- 867Uda, Emperor of Japan (d. 931)
- 1210King Afonso III of Portugal (d. 1279)
- 1479Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (d. 1574)
- 1546Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (d. 1623)
- 1684Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné, niece of Madame de Maintenon and ancestress of the Heir to the Belgian throne (d. 1739)
- 1747Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1792)
- 1764Robert Craufurd, British general (d. 1812)
- 1800Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (d. 1864)
- 1813Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (d. 1855)
- 1818Karl Marx, German political philosopher (d. 1883)
- 1826Empress Eugénie de Montijo of France, wife of Napoleon III (d. 1920)
- 1830John Batterson Stetson, American hat manufacturer (d. 1906)
- 1832H.H. Bancroft, American historian and publisher (d. 1918)
- 1833Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer (d. 1905)
- 1834Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter (d. 1873)
- 1846Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
- 1864Nellie Bly, American journalist and writer (d. 1922)
- 1866Thomas B. Thrige, Danish industrialist (d. 1938)
- 1869Hans Pfitzner, German composer (d. 1949)
- 1883Agustín Barrios, Paraguayan guitarist and composer (d. 1944)
- 1883Archibald Wavell, British general (d. 1950)
- 1887Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1972)
- 1889Herbie Taylor, South African cricketer (d. 1973)
- 1890Christopher Morley, American writer (d. 1957)
- 1899Freeman Gosden, American radio comedian (Amos-Amos ‘n’Andy) (d. 1982)
- 1901Blind Willie McTell, American singer (d. 1959)
- 1903James Beard, American chef and cookbook writer (d. 1985)
- 1908Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989)
- 1909Miklós Radnóti, Hungarian poet (d. 1944)
- 1911Andor Lilienthal, Hungarian chess grandmaster (d. 2010)
- 1914Tyrone Power, American actor (d. 1958)
- 1915Alice Faye, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1919Georgios Papadopoulos, Greek dictator (d. 1999)
- 1921Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- 1923Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (d. 2003)
- 1925Leo Ryan, United States Congressman (d. 1978)
- 1926Ann B. Davis, American actress
- 1927Pat Carroll, American actress
- 1928Nora Denney, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1931Michel Regnier, Belgian comic-book writer (Achille Talon) (d. 1999)
- 1932Will Hutchins, American actor
- 1934Ace Cannon, American saxophonist
- 1935Bernard Pivot, French journalist and television host
- 1935Douglas Marland, American television writer (d. 1993)
- 1935Robert Rehme, American film producer
- 1936Ervin Lázár, Hungarian writer (d. 2006)
- 1936Patrick Gowers, British composer
- 1937Delia Derbyshire, British electronic music composer (d. 2001)
- 1937Johnnie Taylor, American singer (d. 2000)
- 1938Michael Murphy, American actor
- 1939Cesare Fiorio, Italian sporting director of various Formula One teams
- 1940Lance Henriksen, American actor and painter
- 1940Lasse Åberg, Swedish artist, actor and musician
- 1940Michael Lindsay-Hogg, American film director
- 1941Alexander Ragulin, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1942István Bujtor, Hungarian actor (d. 2009)
- 1942Marc Alaimo, American actor
- 1942Tammy Wynette, American musician (d. 1998)
- 1943Michael Palin, British writer, actor, and comedian
- 1944Bo Larsson, Swedish footballer
- 1944John Rhys-Davies, English-born Welsh actor
- 1944Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor
- 1948Bill Ward, British drummer
- 1951Rudolf Finsterer, German rugby player and coach
- 1952Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster (d. 2005)
- 1954Dave Spector, American television personality and commentator
- 1955Lisa Jane Persky, American actress
- 1955Melinda Culea, American actress
- 1956Robert Marien, Québécois actor, singer and songwriter
- 1957Peter Howitt, British actor and film director
- 1957Richard E. Grant, British actor
- 1958Robert DiPierdomenico, Australian rules footballer
- 1958Ron Arad, Israeli aircraft navigator missing in action
- 1959Brian Williams, American news anchor
- 1959Ian McCulloch, English singer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
- 1959Johann Gajda, German footballer
- 1961Hiroshi Hase, Japanese professional wrestler and politician
- 1962Jenifer McKitrick, American songwriter
- 1963Heidi Kozak, American actress
- 1963James LaBrie, Canadian singer (Dream Theater)
- 1963Simon Rimmer, English chef
- 1964John Lee, Korean-born American football player
- 1965Glenn Seton, Australian racing driver
- 1966Josh Weinstein, American writer
- 1966Shawn Drover, Canadian drummer (Megadeth)
- 1967Maro Mavri, Greek fashion-model and actress
- 1967Takehito Koyasu, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
- 1970Kyan Douglas, American TV-personality
- 1970LaPhonso Ellis, American basketball player
- 1970Soheil Ayari, French racer
- 1970Todd Newton, American TV-personality, two-time game-show host
- 1971Harold Miner, American basketball player
- 1971Mike Redmond, American baseball player
- 1972Žigmund Pálffy, Slovak ice-hockey player
- 1972Brad Bombardir, Canadian ice-hockey player
- 1972Devin Townsend, Canadian musician (Strapping Young Lad)
- 1972James Cracknell, British rower
- 1972Mikael Renberg, Swedish ice-hockey player
- 1973Casino Versus Japan, American composer
- 1973Tina Yothers, American actress
- 1974Seiji Ara, Japanese racing driver
- 1976Anastasios Pantos, Greek footballer
- 1976Dieter Brummer, Australian actor
- 1976Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentine footballer
- 1977Choi Kang-hee, South Korean actress
- 1978Bruno Cheyrou, French footballer
- 1978John Wilshere, Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer
- 1978Morgan Pehme, American filmmaker and writer
- 1978Santiago Cabrera, Chilean actor
- 1979Vincent Kartheiser, American actor
- 1980DerMarr Johnson, American basketball player
- 1980Hank Green, Musician, video blogger and founder of ecogeek.org
- 1980Yossi Benayoun, Israeli footballer
- 1981Chris Duncan, American baseball player
- 1981Craig David, English singer
- 1981Danielle Fishel, American actress
- 1981Marcelle Bittar, Brazilian model
- 1982Jay Bothroyd, English footballer
- 1982Randall Gay, American football player
- 1982Wouter D'Haene, Belgian flatwater-canoeist
- 1983Henry Cavill, Jersey actor
- 1983Scott Ware, American football player
- 1984Wade MacNeil, Canadian guitarist (Alexisonfire)
- 1985Emanuele Giaccherini, Italian footballer
- 1985Marcos Rogério, Brazilian footballer
- 1985Shoko Nakagawa, Japanese actress, illustrator and singer
- 1985Terrence Wheatley, American football player
- 1987Jessie Cave, English actress
- 1987Marija Šestić, Bosnian singer
- 1988Adele, English singer
- 1988Brooke Hogan, American singer and television personality
- 1988Jessica Dubroff, American pilot trainee (d. 1996)
- 1989Chris Brown, American singer and actor
- 1989Larissa Wilson, English actress
- 1991Xenofon Fetsis, Greek footballer
- 1999Nathan Chen, American figure skater
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Who Died On May 5?
- 200Sun Ce, warlord of the Han Dynasty (b. 175)
- 311Galerius, Roman Emperor
- 984Gerberga of Saxony, Queen of Western Francia
- 1028King Alfonso V of Castile, León, and Galicia (b. 994)
- 1194King Casimir II of Poland (b. 1138)
- 1219King Leo II of Armenia (b. 1150)
- 1309King Charles II of Naples (b. 1254)
- 1426Ephraim of Nea Makri, Greek Orthodox saint (b. 1384)
- 1525Frederick III of Saxony (b. 1463)
- 1586Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1529)
- 1604Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (b. 1533)
- 1671Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, English politician (b. 1602)
- 1672Samuel Cooper, English painter (b. 1609)
- 1705Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1640)
- 1760Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English murderer (b. 1720)
- 1766Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (b. 1684)
- 1808Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist (b. 1757)
- 1811Robert Mylne, Scottish architect (b. 1734)
- 1821Napoleon Bonaparte (b. 1769)
- 1827Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (b. 1750)
- 1833Sophia Campbell, Australian artist (b. 1777)
- 1855Sir Robert Inglis, Bt, English politician (b. 1786)
- 1859Peter Gustav Dirichlet, German mathematician (b. 1805)
- 1892August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist (b. 1818)
- 1896Silas Adams, American lawyer and politician (b. 1839)
- 1900Ivan Aivazovsky, Russian painter (b. 1817)
- 1916John MacBride, Irish Nationalist and member of the Easter Rising (b. 1865)
- 1921Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
- 1931Glen Kidston, British aviator and racing driver (b. 1899)
- 1941Natalija Obrenović, Queen of Serbia (b. 1859)
- 1942Qemal Stafa, Albanian politician (b. 1920)
- 1945Peter Van Pels, Jewish Refugee (b. 1926)
- 1947Ty LaForest, Canadian baseball player (b. 1917)
- 1959Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
- 1962Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (b. 1889)
- 1965Nikos Gounaris, Greek tenor (b. 1915)
- 1971Violet Jessop, Titanic survivor (b. 1887)
- 1977Ludwig Erhard, German politician (CDU) and Chancellor of Germany from 1963 until 1966 (b. 1897)
- 1981Bobby Sands, Irish activist (b. 1954)
- 1983Horst Schumann, Nazi physician (b. 1901)
- 1985Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
- 1988Michael Shaara, American author (b. 1928)
- 1992Jean-Claude Pascal, French singer (b. 1927)
- 1994Mario Quintana, Brazilian poet (b. 1906)
- 1995Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player, grandmaster and world champion (b. 1911)
- 1997Walter Gotell, German actor (b. 1924)
- 1999Vasilis Diamantopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1920)
- 2000Bill Musselman, American basketball head coach (b. 1940)
- 2000Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (b. 1914)
- 2001Clifton Hillegass, American writer and publisher (b. 1918)
- 2001Raymond Kessler, American midget wrestler
- 2002George Sidney, American film director (b. 1916)
- 2002Hugo Banzer, Bolivian dictator (b. 1926)
- 2002Paul Klipsch, American engineer, noted for his loudspeaker designs (b. 1904)
- 2003Sam Bockarie, RUF Rebel commander (b. 1964)
- 2003Walter Sisulu, South African activist (b. 1912)
- 2004Ritsuko Okazaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
- 2005Edgar Ponce, Mexican actor and dancer (b. 1974)
- 2005Elisabeth Fraser, American television, film, and stage actress (b. 1920)
- 2006Naushad Ali, Indian composer (b. 1919)
- 2007Theodore Harold Maiman, American physicist, noted for making the first working laser (b. 1927)
- 2008Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (b. 1917)
- 2010Giulietta Simionato, Italian mezzo-soprano (b. 1910)
- 2010Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, 12th president of Nigeria (b. 1951)
- 2011Claude Choules, last surviving World War I veteran (b. 1901)
- 2011Yosef Merimovich, Israeli football player and manager (b. 1924)
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