May 2 May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). There are 243 days remaining. Events 1100-1899 1194 - King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. 1335 - Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia 1568 - Mary I of Scotland escapes from Loch Leven Castle. 1670 - King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America. 1672 - John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March. 1808 - Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. 1816 - Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Charlotte Augusta are wed. 1829 - After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declared the Swan River Colony in Australia. 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends, with a defeat of the Army of the Potomac under General Joseph Hooker by Confederate troops under Stonewall Jackson. 1874 - John B. Jones becomes Major in Texas Rangers. 1885 - Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time. 1885 - The Congo Free State is established by King Leopold II of Belgium. 1889 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, which gives Ethiopia control over Eritrea. 1900-1999 1900 - Oscar II, King of Sweden, declares support for Britain at the time of the Boer War. 1918 - General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware. 1920 - The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana. 1924 - Patrick Mahon is arrested as a murder suspect at Waterloo railway station, London. 1932 - Comedian Jack Benny's radio show is aired for the first time. 1933 - The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness monster is reported. 1933 - Adolf Hitler bans trade unions. 1939 - Lou Gehrig's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it. 1940 - The British passenger liner City of Exeter encounters the German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, but without incident. 1945 - World War II: Fall of Berlin - The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building. German forces surrender in Italy. 1945 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued. 1948 - Hour of Charm's last broadcast. 1952 - The first commercial jet plane, the BOAC's Comet, is put into service 1953 - Hussein is crowned King of Jordan. 1955 - Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 1964 - Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while it was docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship. 1966 - Upper Hutt in New Zealand is proclaimed a city. 1969 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City. 1970 - The Ohio National Guard arrives at Kent State University in response to arson on an ROTC building. 1970 - Vietnam War: Joint forces continue attack into Cambodia 1972 - Buddy Baker became the first stock car driver to finish a 500-mile race in less than three hours en route to winning the Winston Select 500 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama. 1972 - Jaws production begins. 1982 - Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano. 1982 - The Weather Channel goes on the air. 1984 - Sunday in the Park with George opens on Broadway. 1986 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens. 1988 - The last B-1 Lancer is delivered. 1997 - The Labour Party's Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, ending 18 years of Conservative Party rule. At 44, he is the youngest prime minister for 185 years. 1998 - The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the EU's monetary policy. 1999 - Norman J. Sirnic and Karen Sirnic are murdered in their Weimar, Texas parsonage by Angel Maturino Resendiz. The couple are his fourth and fifth victims in his fourth incident. 2000-2099 2000 - Bill Clinton announces that GPS access equivalent to the U.S. military would be available for regular citizens. Births 1600-1899 1601 - Athanasius Kircher, German Jesuit scholar (d. 1680) 1660 - Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725) 1729 - Empress Catherine II of Russia (d. 1796) 1740 - Elias Boudinot, American President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821) 1772 - Novalis, German writer (d. 1801) 1860 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist, Zionist leader (d. 1904) 1881 - Alexander Kerensky, Russian politician (d. 1970) 1884 - Elijah McCoy, Canadian-born inventor (d. 1929) 1885 - Hedda Hopper, American actress, gossip columnist (d. 1966) 1886 - Gottfried Benn, German author (d. 1956) 1887 - Vernon Castle, dancer (d. 1918) 1887 - Eddie Collins, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1951) 1890 - E. E. Smith, American science fiction writer (d. (1965) 1892 - Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron" German World War I pilot (d. 1918) 1895 - Lorenz Hart, American lyricist (d. 1943) 1900-1999 1903 - Dr. Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician, Olympic Games gold medalist in rowing, author (d. 1998) 1907 - Pinky Lee, vaudeville performer, children's television host (d. 1993) 1912 - Axel Cäsar Springer, publisher (d. 1985) 1913 - Nigel Patrick, actor (d. 1981) 1915 - Doris Fisher, American singer, songwriter (d. 2003) 1920 - Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004) 1921 - Satyajit Ray, Indian director (d. 1992) 1924 - Theodore Bikel, actor, singer 1925 - Roscoe Lee Browne, actor 1929 - Link Wray, guitarist 1935 - King Faisal II of Iraq (d. 1958) 1936 - Engelbert Humperdinck, singer 1937 - Lorenzo Music, writer, producer (d. 2001) 1941 - Stephen J. Cannell, producer 1942 - Jacques Rogge, Belgian IOC president 1946 - David Suchet, actor 1946 - Lesley Gore, singer 1949 - Alan Titchmarsh, gardener, TV presenter, writer 1955 - Donatella Versace, fashion designer 1961 - Steve James, English snooker player 1962 - Jimmy White, English snooker player 1969 - Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer 1972 - The Rock, WWE professional wrestler turned actor 1975 - David Beckham, English footballer 1983 - Rose Falcon, actress, singer 1985 - Sarah Hughes, figure skating champion Deaths 300-1899 373 - Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria (b. 298) 1230 - William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny (b. c. 1197) 1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, inventor, painter (b. 1452) 1802 - Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (b. 1762) 1819 - Mary Moser, painter (b. 1744) 1857 - Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist (b. 1810) 1864 - Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (b. 1791) 1900-1999 1957 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908) 1964 - Nancy Astor, first woman elected to the British Parliament (b. 1879) 1972 - J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI (b. 1895) 1980 - George Pál, director, producer (b. 1908) 1989 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, a senior cardinal (b. 1906) 1983 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football star 1990 - David Rappaport, English actor (b. 1951) 1995 - Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911) 1997 - John Carew Eccles, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1903) 1998 - Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, musician (b. 1964) 1999 - Oliver Reed, actor (b. 1938) 1999 - Norman J. and Karen Sirnic 2000-2099 2002 - John Nathan-Turner, English television producer (b. 1947) 2002 - W. T. Tutte, codebreaker and mathematician (b. 1917) Holidays and observances Bahá'í Faith: Last day of the Festival of Ridván Poland - Flag Day Islam - Muhammad's Birthday (2004) Madrid Region - Day of the Region. May 1 - May 3 - April 2 - June 2 -- listing of all days FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2