May 5 - Definition and Overview

May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (126th in leap years). There are 240 days remaining.

There are usually 92 days in Spring. We are considered halfway through Spring on May 5.

Events

1600-1899

• 1640 - King Charles I of England disbands the Short Parliament.
• 1646 - King Charles I of England and Scotland surrenders to the Scottish Presbyterian Army at Newark.
• 1762 - Peace treaty between Russia and Prussia.
• 1809 - Mary Kies becomes the first woman to be awarded a US patent (which was for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread).
• 1809 - The Swiss canton of Aargau denies Jews citizenship.
• 1814 - British-American War (War of 1812): The British attack Fort Ontario at Oswego, New York.
• 1835 - In Belgium a railway is opened between Brussels and Mechelen. It is the first railway in continental Europe.
• 1862 - French-Mexican War: The Mexican army defeats the French army in the Battle of Puebla (on May 9 this day was made into the Cinco de mayo holiday).
• 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
• 1865 - In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the United States takes place.
• 1877 - Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
• 1891 - The Music Hall in New York (now known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance (Tchaikovsky is the guest conductor).
• 1892 - The U.S. Congress passes the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act: All Chinese in the United States must register or risk deportation.
• 1893 - Panic of 1893: Crash on the New York Stock Exchange starts a depression.

1900-1999

• 1912 - The 1912 Summer Olympics open in Stockholm, Sweden.
• 1916 - American marines invade the Dominican Republic.
• 1922 - In The Bronx, construction begins on Yankee Stadium.
• 1925 - Scopes Trial: Dayton, Tennessee biology teacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
• 1936 - Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• 1940 - World War II: In London, a Norwegian government in exile is formed.
• 1941 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa.
• 1943 - The film curator of the Library of Congress, Howard Walls announces that about 5,000 films will be preserved in the library.
• 1944 - Mohandas Gandhi is freed from prison.
• 1945 - World War II:
  • A Japanese bomb, launched by balloon and called a fire balloon, explodes near Lakewood, Oregon, killing a woman and five children who were examining it during a church picnic (the bomb exploded as the children were dragging it from the woods).
  • German troops in the Netherlands and Denmark capitulate.
  • Mauthausen concentration camp is liberated.
  • Canadian soldiers liberate the city of Amsterdam from Nazi occupation.
• 1949 - The Council of Europe is formed.
• 1950 - Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King Rama IX of Thailand.
• 1954 - General Alfredo Stroessner takes power in Paraguay by coup.
• 1955 - West Germany gains full sovereignty.
• 1961 - Mercury program: Mercury 3 - Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into space. He makes a flight of 15 minutes, making less than one complete orbit.
• 1970 - Shri Mataji Nirmala Shrivastava claims to have discovered a historical process of en-masse Self Realization.
• 1978 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds has his 3000th major league hit.
• 1980 - Operation Nimrod: The Special Air Service storm the Iranian embassy in London after a six day siege.
• 1984 - In Luxembourg, Herreys win the twenty-ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Diggi-loo, diggi-ley".
• 1986 - The Love Boat aired its last episode.
• 1987 - Iran-Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings.
• 1990 - Capital punishment: Jesse Tafero is executed in Florida after three electric chair malfunctions caused flames to shoot from his head.
• 1990 - In Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), Toto Cutugno wins the thirty-fifth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Insieme: 1992" (Together: 1992).
• 1992 - The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution receives its 38th ratification by the Alabama Legislature and therefore becomes law.
• 1992 - Wolfenstein 3D is released, the first ever first-person shooter computer game.
• 1995 - British film producer Ray Santilli unveils his "alien autopsy" footage to a group of UFO researchers. The film is widely regarded as a hoax.
• 1994 - American Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore as punishment for spray-painting two cars.

2000-2099

• 2000 - Conjunction of all traditional planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Moon and Sun).
• 2001 - Chandra Levy's parents report her missing to Washington, DC police.
• 2002 - The first "Free Comic Book Day" promotional event to promote popular interest in the medium in North America; timed to coincide with the premiere of the film, Spider-Man.

Births

1200-1899

• 1210 - King Afonso III of Portugal (d. 1279)
• 1813 - Søren Kierkegaard, philosopher (d. 1855)
• 1818 - Karl Marx, political philosopher (d. 1883)
• 1826 - Empress Eugenie of France, empress as wife of Napoleon III (d. 1920)
• 1832 - H.H. Bancroft, historian and publisher
• 1833 - Ferdinand von Richthofen, geographer (d. 1905)
• 1846 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, author, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1905 (d. 1916)
• 1865 - Elizabeth Jane Cochran ("Nellie Bly"), journalist, writer (d. 1922)
• 1869 - Hans Pfitzner, composer (d. 1949)
• 1883 - Archibald Wavell, World War II general (d. 1950)
• 1890 - Christopher Morley, writer (d. 1957)

1900-1999

• 1901 - Blind Willie McTell, blues singer (d. 1959)
• 1903 - James Beard, chef, cookbook writer (d. 1985)
• 1908 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989)
• 1914 - Tyrone Power, actor (d. 1958)
• 1915 - Alice Faye, actress (d. 1998)
• 1926 - Ann B. Davis, actress, The Brady Bunch
• 1935 - Douglas Marland, soap opera writer (As the World Turns) (d. 1993)
• 1940 - Michael Lindsay-Hogg, director
• 1941 - Alexander Ragulin, ice hockey player (d. 2004)
• 1943 - Michael Palin, British writer, actor and comedian ("Monty Python")
• 1944 - Roger Rees, actor
• 1944 - John Rhys-Davies, actor
• 1957 - Richard E. Grant, actor*
• 1987 - Raimundo J. Barros Navarrete, film director
• 1989 - Robert Lucas Christian, Famous Architect

Deaths

1000-1899

• 1028 - Alfonso V, king of León and Galicia
• 1192 - Duke Ottokar IV of Styria, last independent ruler of Styria, which is henceforth under common rule with Austria
• 1194 - King Casimir II of Poland (b. 1138)
• 1309 - King Charles II of Naples, king of Naples (b. c. 1248)
• 1525 - Frederick III of Saxony (b. 1463)
• 1705 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1640)
• 1766 - Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (b. 1684)
• 1807 - P. D. Q. Bach, fictitious composer (b. 1742)
• 1811 - Robert Mylne, architect (b. 1734)
• 1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte, ruler of France (1799-1815) (b. 1769)
• 1827 - Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (b. 1750)
• 1859 - Peter Dirichlet, mathematician

1900-1999

• 1981 - Bobby Sands, Provisional IRA activist (b. 1954)
• 1988 - Michael Shaara, author (b. 1928)
• 1995 - Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion (b. 1911)
• 1992 - Jean-Claude Pascal, French singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner (b.1927)
• 1997 - Walter Gotell, actor (b. 1924)

2000-2099

• 2001 - Cliff Hillegass, creator of Cliffs Notes
• 2003 - Walter Sisulu, anti-apartheid activist (b. 1912)
• 2004 - Catherine Craig, Methane Overdose

Holidays and observances

• Denmark: Liberation Day (1945)
• The Netherlands: May 5, Liberation day (1945)
• Ethiopia: Liberation Day (1941)
• Northern Territory, Australia: May Day
• Japan: Tango no Sekku - Boy's Day; or Kodomo no hi - Children's Day
• Mexico and the Southwestern United States: Cinco de Mayo (1862)
• Guyana: Indian Immigration Day (1838)
• Council of Europe: Europe Day

May 4 - May 6 - April 5 - June 5 -- listing of all days