May 4
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May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). There are 241 days remaining.
Events
- 1471 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury – Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward, Prince of Wales.
- 1493 - Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Demarcation Line.
- 1494 - Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica.
- 1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.
- 1675 - King Charles II of England orders the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
- 1776 - Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
- 1814 - Emperor Napoleon I of France arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
- 1855 - American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
- 1859 - Cornwall Railway opened across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville – The battle ends with a Union retreat.
- 1865 - Abraham Lincoln buried in Springfield, Illinois, three weeks after his assassination.
- 1869 - The Naval Battle of Hakodate takes place in Japan.
- 1871 - The National Association, the first professional baseball league, begins its first season.
- 1886 - Haymarket Square Riot: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, Illinois, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.
- 1904 - Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal.
- 1910 - The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
- 1912 - Italy occupies the island of Rhodes.
- 1919 - May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
- 1924 - The 1924 Summer Olympics open in Paris, France.
- 1930 - British police arrest Mahatma Gandhi and place him in Yeravda Central Prison.
- 1932 - In Atlanta, Georgia, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of the Coral Sea – The battle begins with the launch of attack aircraft from American and Japanese aircraft carriers.
- 1945 - World War II: Liberation of the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg by the British Army.
- 1945 - World War II: Surrender of the North Germany Army to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
- 1946 - In San Francisco Bay, US Marines from the Treasure Island Marine Barracks stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people are killed in the riot.
- 1948 - Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, is published.
- 1949 - The entire Torino football (soccer) team (except for one player who did not take the trip due to an injury) is killed in a plane crash at the Superga hill at the edge of Turin, Italy.
- 1953 - Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
- 1961 - American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.
- 1970 - Vietnam War: Kent State shootings – The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after the ROTC building was burnt down, opens fire on students protesting at the United States' invasion of Cambodia. Four students are killed, nine are wounded.
- 1972 - The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changed its name to "Greenpeace Foundation".
- 1974 - An all-female Japanese team reaches the summit of Manaslu, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak.
- 1979 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1980 - President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia dies in Ljubljana at the age of 87.
- 1989 - Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and was acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, are later overturned on appeal.
- 1990 - Latvia proclaims independence.
- 1994 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord regarding Palestinian autonomy granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
- 1996 - José María Aznar is appointed Prime Minister of Spain, thus ending 13 years of Socialist rule.
- 1998 - A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
- 1999 - In California, Manuel Babbitt is executed for the 1980 murder of Leah Schendel. While on death row Babbitt was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries he received in the Vietnam War.
- 2002 - An EAS Airlines BAC 1-11-500 crashes in a suburb of Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff killing more than 148 people.
- 2003 - The Outbreak of 2003 begins. Ninety-four tornadoes begin the week-long outbreak.
Births
- 1008 - King Henry I of France (d. 1060)
- 1654 - Kangxi Emperor of China (d. 1722)
- 1655 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (d. 1731)
- 1715 - Richard Graves, English writer (d. 1804)
- 1733 - Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (d. 1799)
- 1772 - Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
- 1781 - Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher (d. 1832)
- 1796 - Horace Mann, American educator (d. 1859)
- 1820 - Julia Tyler, First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
- 1825 - Thomas Henry Huxley, English scientist (d. 1895)
- 1825 - Augustus Le Plongeon, French archaeologist (d. 1908)
- 1826 - Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
- 1827 - John Hanning Speke, British explorer (d. 1864)
- 1852 - Alice Pleasance Liddell, English schoolgirl model for Alice in Wonderland (d. 1934)
- 1864 - Marie Booth, the third daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1937)
- 1870 - Alexandre Benois, Russian artist (d. 1860)
- 1873 - Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (d. 1940)
- 1889 - Francis Cardinal Spellman, American religious leader (d. 1967)
- 1903 - Luther Adler, American stage actor (d. 1984)
- 1918 - Tanaka Kakuei, Japanese political leader (d. 1993)
- 1918 - Thomas Mead, Australian politician and journalist (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Edo Murtić, Croatian painter (d. 2005)
- 1923 - Ed Cassidy, American musician (Spirit)
- 1923 - Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian
- 1925 - Maurice R. Greenberg, American businessman
- 1928 - Maynard Ferguson, Canadian musician
- 1928 - Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt
- 1929 - Audrey Hepburn, Belgian actress (d. 1993)
- 1929 - Sidney Lamb, American linguist
- 1930 - Roberta Peters, American soprano
- 1931 - Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian composer
- 1936 - El Cordobes, Spanish bullfighter
- 1937 - Dick Dale, American guitarist
- 1939 - Amos Oz, Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist
- 1941 - George Will, American writer
- 1942 - Nickolas Ashford, American record producer, songwriter, musician (Ashford and Simpson)
- 1944 - Roger Rees, British-born actor
- 1945 - Narasinham Ram, Indian journalist
- 1946 - John Watson, Northern Irish racecar driver
- 1949 - John Force, American race car driver
- 1951 - Colin Bass, British bassist(Camel)
- 1951 - Mick Mars, American guitarist(Mötley Crüe)
- 1954 - Pia Zadora, American actress
- 1956 - David Guterson, American author
- 1956 - Ulrike Meyfarth, German athlete
- 1958 - Keith Haring, American graphical artist (d. 1990)
- 1959 - Randy Travis, American musician
- 1962 - Oleta Adams, American singer
- 1967 - Ana Gasteyer, American actress
- 1968 - Julian Barratt, English Comedian and Musician, one half of The Mighty Boosh
- 1972 - Mike Dirnt, American musician (Green Day)
- 1976 - Jason Michaels, baseball player
- 1979 - Lance Bass, American musician (*NSYNC)
- 1981 - Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer
- 1982 - Robert Hill, Australian athlete
- 1984 - Markus Rogan, Austrian swimmer
- 1985 - Anthony Fedorov, American singer
- 1987 - Francesc Fabregas, Spanish footballer
- 1994 - Alexander Gould, American actor
Deaths
- 1471 - Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (killed in battle) (b. 1453)
- 1471 - Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, English military commander (executed)
- 1506 - Husayn Bayqarah, ruler of Herat (b. 1438)
- 1519 - Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (b. 1492)
- 1566 - Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
- 1615 - Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish mathematician (b. 1561)
- 1626 - Arthur Lake, Bishop of Bath and Wells, English bishop and Bible translator (b. 1569)
- 1677 - Isaac Barrow, English mathematician (b. 1630)
- 1684 - John Nevison, English highwayman (b. 1639)
- 1729 - Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de Noailles, French cardinal (b. 1651)
- 1734 - James Thornhill, English painter
- 1737 - Eustace Budgell, English writer (b. 1686)
- 1774 - Anthony Ulrich II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1714)
- 1776 - Jacques Saly, French sculptor (b. 1717)
- 1790 - Matthew Tilghman, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1718)
- 1799 - Tipu Sultan, Indian military leader
- 1824 - Joseph Joubert, French essayist and moralist (b. 1754)
- 1849 - Hokusai, Japanese artist (b. 1760)
- 1880 - Edward Clark, Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
- 1903 - Goce Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary (b. 1872)
- 1922 - Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian Bolshevik politician (b. 1888)
- 1938 - Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1889)
- 1955 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- 1961 - Anita Stewart, American film actress (b. 1895)
- 1969 - Osbert Sitwell, English writer (b. 1892)
- 1970 - Kent State victims:
- Allison Krause (b. 1951)
- Jeffrey Miller (b. 1950)
- Sandra Scheuer (b. 1949)
- William Schroeder (b. 1950)
- 1972 - Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
- 1975 - Moe Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1897)
- 1980 - Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
- 1984 - Bob Clampett, American cartoonist (b. 1913)
- 1984 - Diana Dors, British actress (b. 1931)
- 1985 - Clarence Wiseman, the 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
- 1986 - Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (b. 1956)
- 2005 - David Hackworth, U.S. Army officer and military journalist (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances
- International - World Asthma Day.
- International Firefighters' Day.
- Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
- The Netherlands - Remembrance of the dead (1940-1945).
- People's Republic of China - Youth Day (青年节, commemorating May Fourth Movement).
- Republic of China - Literary Day (文藝節, commemorating May Fourth Movement).
- In the year 2006 at Two minutes and Three seconds past One in the morning the date will read: 01:02:03 04/05/06 (in the UK date format).
- In the year 2006 at Two minutes and One second past Three in the morning the date will read: 06-05-04 03:02:01.00 (in big-endian date/time format ignoring centuries - years-months-days hours:minutes:seconds ).
Puns
- Star Wars Day. "May the Fourth be with you" (parody of "May the Force be with you").
- In the way dates are written in many countries (not the USA), this day in 2006 comes out as 04/05/06 - which are also the numbers of the episodes of the original Star Wars trilogy.
External links
May 3 - May 5 - April 4 - June 4 – listing of all days