May 4 is the 124th day of the year (125th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 241 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
- 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
- 1436 – Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
- 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 Line of Demarcation.
- 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.
- 1686 – The Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.
- 1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
- 1799 – Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is invaded and Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.
- 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I of France arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
- 1814 – King Ferdinand VII of Spain signs the Decrete of the 4th of May, returning Spain to absolutism.
- 1836 – Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians
- 1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
- 1859 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with a Union retreat.
- 1869 – The Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay is fought in Japan.
- 1871 – The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
- 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 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
- 1904 – Charles Stewart Rolls meets Frederick Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, England.
- 1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
- 1912 – Italy occupies the Greek 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.
- 1932 – In Atlanta, Georgia, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.
- 1945 – World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
- 1945 – World War II: The North German Army surrenders to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
- 1946 – In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people are killed in the riot.
- 1949 – The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash at the Superga hill at the edge of Turin, Italy.
- 1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
- 1959 – The 1st Grammy Awards are held.
- 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 disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the United States' invasion of Cambodia.
- 1972 – The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes 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 female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1982 – Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.
- 1988 – The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of space shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
- 1989 – Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, are later overturned on appeal.
- 1990 – Latvia proclaims the renewal of its independence after the Soviet occupation.
- 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.
- 1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
- 2000 – Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London.
- 2001 – The Milwaukee Art Museum addition, the first Santiago Calatrava-designed structure in the United States, opens to the public.
- 2002 – An EAS Airlines BAC 1-11-500 crashes in a suburb of Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff killing more than 148 people.
- 2007 – Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7 mi wide EF-5 tornado.
Births
- 1008 – Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Persian Sufi (d. 1088)
- 1008 – Henry I of France (d. 1060)
- 1649 – Maharaja Chhatrasal (d. 1731)
- 1654 – Kangxi Emperor of China (d. 1722)
- 1655 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian musical instrument maker, inventor of the piano (d. 1731)
- 1715 – Richard Graves, English writer (d. 1804)
- 1733 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor (d. 1799)
- 1752 – John Brooks, American politician, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
- 1767 – Tyagaraja, Indian composer (d. 1847)
- 1772 – Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
- 1781 – Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher (d. 1832)
- 1796 – Horace Mann, American educator (d. 1859)
- 1796 – William H. Prescott, American historian (d. 1859)
- 1820 – Julia Gardiner Tyler, American first lady, second wife of John Tyler (d. 1889)
- 1822 – Charles Boucher de Boucherville, Canadian politician (d. 1915)
- 1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley, English scientist (d. 1895)
- 1825 – Augustus Le Plongeon, French antiquitarian (d. 1908)
- 1826 – Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
- 1827 – John Hanning Speke, English explorer (d. 1864)
- 1852 – Alice Liddell, English schoolgirl model for Alice in Wonderland (d. 1934)
- 1864 – Marie Booth, English daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1937)
- 1870 – Alexandre Benois, Russian artist (d. 1960)
- 1873 – Joe De Grasse, Canadian director (d. 1940)
- 1889 – Francis Spellman, American archbishop (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist, founder of the Group of Seven (d. 1945)
- 1903 – Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
- 1907 – Lincoln Kirstein, American writer and impresario (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (d. 1971)
- 1916 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian author and activist (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Richard Proenneke, American naturalist (d. 2003)
- 1917 – Edward T. Cone, American composer, theorist, pianist, and philanthropist (d. 2004)
- 1918 – Kakuei Tanaka, Japanese politician, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Thomas Mead, Australian politician and journalist (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Dory Funk, American wrestler (d. 1973)
- 1921 – John van Kesteren, Dutch operatic tenor (d. 2008)
- 1921 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Paul-Émile Charbonneau, Canadian bishop
- 1923 – Ed Cassidy, American drummer (Spirit and Rising Sons)
- 1923 – Stanley Biber, American physician, pioneer of transgender surgery (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Eric Sykes, English actor and comedian (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Godfrey Quigley, English actor (d. 1994)
- 1923 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer and author (d. 1986)
- 1925 – Maurice R. Greenberg, American businessman
- 1928 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian jazz musician and bandleader (Big Bop Nouveau) (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian politician and military commander, 4th President of Egypt
- 1928 – Wolfgang von Trips, German race car driver (d. 1961)
- 1928 – Betsy Rawls, American golfer
- 1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Anglo-Dutch actress (d. 1993)
- 1929 – Sidney Lamb, American linguist
- 1929 – Ronald Golias, Brazilian comedian and actor (d. 2005)
- 1930 – Roberta Peters, American soprano
- 1930 – Katherine Jackson, American mother of the Jackson musical family
- 1931 – Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor
- 1931 – Thomas Stuttaford, English doctor and writer
- 1933 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and writer
- 1934 – Tatiana Samoilova, Russian actress
- 1935 – Harry Fujiwara, American wrestler
- 1936 – El Cordobés, Spanish matador
- 1937 – Ron Carter, American jazz bassist
- 1937 – Dick Dale, American guitarist
- 1937 – Mr. Fuji, American wrestler and manager
- 1938 – Tyrone Davis, American singer (d. 2005)
- 1938 – Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican writer
- 1939 – Paul Gleason, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1939 – Amos Oz, Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist
- 1939 – Léon Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1940 – Robin Cook, American novelist
- 1941 – George Will, American writer
- 1942 – Nickolas Ashford, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Ashford and Simpson) (d. 2011)
- 1943 – Mikhail Chemiakin, Russian painter
- 1943 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer
- 1944 – Dave, Dutch singer
- 1944 – Peggy Santiglia, American singer-songwriter (The Angels and The Delicates)
- 1944 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress
- 1945 – Narasimhan Ram, Indian journalist
- 1946 – John Watson, Irish race car driver
- 1946 – Gary Bauer, American politician
- 1947 – Willem van Beusekom, Dutch broadcaster and disk jockey (d. 2006)
- 1947 – John Bosley, Canadian politician
- 1947 – Richard Jenkins, American actor
- 1948 – Hurley Haywood, American race car driver
- 1948 – George Tupou V (d. 2012)
- 1949 – John Force, American race car driver
- 1949 – Stella Parton, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1949 – Graham Swift, English author
- 1950 – Darryl Hunt, English musician (The Pogues)
- 1951 – Colin Bass, English musician songwriter, and producer (Camel and 3 Mustaphas 3)
- 1951 – Jackie Jackson, American singer-songwriter, musician, and dancer (The Jackson 5)
- 1951 – Gérard Jugnot, French actor, director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1951 – Mick Mars, American musician and songwriter (Mötley Crüe)
- 1951 – Tirso Cruz III, Filipino actor and singer
- 1952 – Michael Barrymore, English comedian and actor
- 1953 – Oleta Adams, American singer, pianist, and actress
- 1953 – Salman Hashimikov, Soviet wrestler
- 1954 – Marilyn Martin, American singer-songwriter
- 1954 – Robert Michael Snyder, American author
- 1954 – Pia Zadora, American actress
- 1955 – Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1955 – Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
- 1956 – Michael L. Gernhardt, American astronaut
- 1956 – David Guterson, American author
- 1956 – Ulrike Meyfarth, German athlete
- 1956 – Ken Oberkfell, American baseball player
- 1956 – Sharon Jones, American singer Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
- 1957 – Kathy Kreiner, Canadian alpine ski racer
- 1958 – Delbert Fowler, American football player
- 1958 – Keith Haring, American graphical artist (d. 1990)
- 1958 – Antonis Minou, Greek footballer
- 1959 – Joseph James, Jr., American wrestling referee
- 1959 – Inger Nilsson, Swedish actress
- 1959 – Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
- 1959 – Bob Tway, American golfer
- 1960 – Andrew Denton, Australian television producer and comedian
- 1960 – Werner Faymann, Austrian politician, Chancellor of Austria
- 1961 – Luis Herrera, Colombian cyclist
- 1961 – Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer (Bucks Fizz)
- 1964 – Mónica Bardem, Spanish actress
- 1964 – Zsuzsa Mathe, Hungarian painter and visual artist, founder of transrealism
- 1964 – Rocco Siffredi, Italian porn actor
- 1964 – Goran Prpić, Croatian tennis player
- 1966 – Jane McGrath, English-Australian activist, co-founder of the McGrath Foundation (d. 2008)
- 1967 – Ana Gasteyer, American actress
- 1967 – Kate Garraway, English journalist
- 1967 – Akiko Yajima, Japanese voice actress
- 1968 – Julian Barratt, English comedian, actor, musician, and producer, one half of The Mighty Boosh
- 1969 – Micah Aivazoff, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Ryan Shamrock, American wrestling manager
- 1970 – Gregg Alexander, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (New Radicals)
- 1970 – Paul Wiseman, New Zealand cricketer
- 1970 – Sergio Basañez, Mexican actor
- 1970 – Will Arnett, American actor
- 1970 – Dawn Staley, American basketball player
- 1971 – Joe Borowski, American baseball player
- 1971 – Luiz Garcia, Jr., Brazilian race car driver
- 1971 – Rudresh Mahanthappa, Indian-American saxophonist, composer, and educator
- 1972 – Manny Aybar, Dominican baseball player
- 1972 – Mike Dirnt, American musician and songwriter (Green Day, The Frustrators, Screeching Weasel, and Foxboro Hot Tubs)
- 1972 – Chris Tomlin, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1973 – Matthew Barnaby, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Argentine footballer
- 1973 – John Madden, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974 – Miguel Cairo, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1974 – Tony McCoy, Irish horse racing jockey
- 1975 – Laci Peterson, American murder victim (d. 2002)
- 1975 – Catherine Trudeau, Canadian actress
- 1976 – Ben Grieve, American baseball player
- 1976 – Jason Michaels, American baseball player
- 1977 – Nestoras Kommatos, Greek basketball player
- 1977 – Emily Perkins, Canadian actress
- 1977 – Mariano Pernía, Argentine-Spanish footballer
- 1977 – John Tripp, German ice hockey player
- 1978 – Erin Andrews, American sportscaster and journalist
- 1978 – Brett Burton, Australian football player
- 1978 – Shaenon K. Garrity, American writer and artist
- 1978 – Vladimíra Uhlířová, Czech tennis player
- 1978 – Daisuke Ono, Japanese voice actor
- 1979 – Lance Bass, American singer, dancer, actor, producer, and author (*NSYNC)
- 1979 – Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan rugby player
- 1979 – Marie Poissonnier, French pole vaulter
- 1979 – Wes Butters, English broadcaster and writer
- 1979 – Kristin Harmel, American novelist
- 1980 – Andrew Raycroft, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Franziska Weisz, Austrian actress
- 1981 – Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer
- 1982 – Kleopas Giannou, Greek footballer
- 1982 – Hector King, Mexican singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Markus Rogan, Austrian swimmer
- 1982 – Giorgos Tsiaras, Greek basketball player
- 1983 – Trisha Krishnan, Indian actress
- 1983 – Jesse Moss, Canadian actor
- 1983 – Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Rubén Olivera, Uruguayan footballer
- 1984 – Manjural Islam Rana, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2007)
- 1984 – Kevin Slowey, American baseball player
- 1984 – Montell Owens, American football player
- 1984 – Sarah Meier, Swiss figure skater
- 1985 – Anthony Fedorov, American singer
- 1985 – Ravinder Bopara, English cricketer
- 1986 – George Hill, American basketball player
- 1986 – Devan Dubnyk, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1987 – Anjeza Shahini, Albanian singer
- 1988 – Georgios Ioannidis, Greek footballer
- 1988 – Robert Lacy, American writer
- 1989 – Rory McIlroy, Irish golfer
- 1989 – Aris Tatarounis, Greek basketball player
- 1989 – James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
- 1990 – Irina Falconi, American tennis player
- 1992 – Courtney Jines, American actress
- 1994 – Pauline Ducruet, Monegasque daughter of Princess Stéphanie of Monaco
- 1994 – Alexander Gould, American actor
- 2009 – Prince Henrik of Denmark
Deaths
- 1436 – Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish statesman
- 1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (b. 1453)
- 1471 – Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, English military commander (b. 1438)
- 1506 – Husayn Bayqarah, Timurid ruler of Herat (b. 1438)
- 1519 – Lorenzo 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 – Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick (b. 1714)
- 1776 – Jacques Saly, French sculptor (b. 1717)
- 1790 – Matthew Tilghman, American planter and Revolutionary leader, delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1718)
- 1799 – Tipu Sultan, Indian military leader (b. 1750)
- 1811 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
- 1824 – Joseph Joubert, French essayist and moralist (b. 1754)
- 1849 – Hokusai, Japanese artist (b. 1760)
- 1858 – Aimé Bonpland, French explorer and botanist (b. 1773)
- 1859 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician (b. 1771)
- 1880 – Edward Clark, American politician, 8th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
- 1901 – John Jones Ross, Canadian politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (b. 1831)
- 1903 – Goce Delchev , Greek revolutionary figure, leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (b. 1872)
- 1916 – Members of the Easter Rising
- Edward Daly, Irish nationalist and Member of the Easter Rising (b. 1891)
- Joseph Mary Plunkett, Irish nationalist and Leader of the Easter Rising (b. 1887)
- Willie Pearse, Irish nationalist and Member of the Easter Rising (b. 1891)
- 1919 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak politician, French general and astronomer (b. 1880)
- 1922 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian-Bolshevik politician (b. 1888)
- 1937 – Noel Rosa, Brazilian singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1910)
- 1938 – Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1889)
- 1945 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1880)
- 1955 – George Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- 1961 – Anita Stewart, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1969 – Osbert Sitwell, English writer (b. 1892)
- 1970 – Allison Krause American student, victim of the Kent State shootings (b. 1951)
- 1970 – Eugenia Livanos, Greek socialite (b. 1927)
- 1970 – Jeffrey Miller, American student, victim of the Kent State shootings (b. 1950)
- 1970 – Sandra Scheuer, American student victim of the Kent State shootings (b. 1949)
- 1970 – William Knox Schroeder, American student victim of the Kent State shootings (b. 1950)
- 1971 – Seamus Elliott, Irish cyclist (b. 1934)
- 1972 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
- 1973 – Jane Bowles, American writer and playwright (b. 1917)
- 1975 – Moe Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1897)
- 1980 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman, 1st President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
- 1984 – Bob Clampett, American cartoonist (b. 1913)
- 1984 – Diana Dors, English actress (b. 1931)
- 1985 – Clarence Wiseman, English-Canadian 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
- 1987 – Paul Butterfield, American singer and musician (b. 1942)
- 1987 – Cathryn Damon, American actress (b. 1930)
- 1990 – Emily Remler American jazz guitarist (b.1957)
- 1992 – Gregor Mackenzie, LEnglish politician (b. 1927)
- 1995 – Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player (b. 1922)
- 2001 – Bonnie Lee Bakley, American murder victim, wife of Robert Blake (b. 1956)
- 2005 – David Hackworth, American army officer and journalist (b. 1930)
- 2008 – Kishan Maharaj, Indian tabla player (b.1923)
- 2009 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Ernie Harwell, American sportscaster (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Haukur Angantýsson, Icelandic chess player (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Alexander Chikvaidze, Russian diplomat (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Charlotte Hawkins Flowers, American super-centenarian (b. 1900)
- 2012 – Angelica Garnett, English writer and painter (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Mort Lindsey, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Bob Stewart, American television producer, founded Stewart Tele Enterprises (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Adam Yauch, American rapper, songwriter, musician, and director (Beastie Boys) (b. 1964)
- 2012 – Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (b. 1963)
Holidays and observances
External links
Months and days of the year
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