May 1: Day of the year

May 1 is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 244 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1900

• 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire as Roman Emperors.
• 524 - King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orleans after an eight-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar.
• 880 - The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
• 1328 - The Scottish Wars of Independence end: The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton leads the Kingdom of England to agree to recognize the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.
• 1351 – Zürich becomes part of Switzerland.
• 1460 - Italian seafarer Antonio de Noli, sailing for Portugal, discovers the Cape Verde island of Maio, which he names after the date of his discovery.
• 1464 - Edward IV of England marries Elizabeth Woodville.
• 1707 – Act of Union joins Scotland and England.
• 1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company.
• 1776 – The Illuminati are founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, by Adam Weishaupt.
• 1778 - American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
• 1785 – Kamehameha I, king of Hawai'i defeats Kalanikupule, creating the Kingdom of Hawai'i.
• 1786 – The Opera, the Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is performed for the first time in Vienna, Austria.
• 1794 - War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain almost the land they had lost to Spain in 1793.
• 1834 – British colonies abolish Slavery.
• 1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp, is introduced in the UK.
• 1844 – The Hong Kong police force is founded.
• 1851 – Queen Victoria announces the beginning of the Great Exhibition in London.
• 1852 - The Philippines Peso is introduced into circulation.
• 1856 - The province of Isabela is created in the Philippines.
• 1863 – The Stainless Banner is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
• 1865 – Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.
• 1875 - Alexandra Palace in London re-opens after being burned down in a fire in 1873.
• 1884 - Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first African American to play a professional baseball game in the US.
• 1893 - The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: Battle of Manila Bay - The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
• 1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster in Utah kills 200 men.

1901 – 2000

• 1901 - Start of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
• 1915 – The RMS Lusitania leaves New York City on what would become its final journey across the Atlantic Ocean. It is torpedoed and sunk off Ireland on May 7.
• 1925 - The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded.
• 1927 - The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.
• 1929 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes present-day Iran and Turkmenistan, killing 5,800 people.
• 1930 – The dwarf planet Pluto is officially given its name.
• 1931 – New York City's Empire State Building is opened.
• 1933 - The Humanist Manifesto I is published.
• 1940 - World War II: The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled because of the war.
• 1941 - World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk, Libya.
• 1941 - Orson Welles's movie Citizen Kane is released in cinemas.
• 1945 – World War II: The Nazi leadership announces the death of Adolf Hitler the previous day.
• 1945 - World War II: Yugoslav partisans liberate the city of Trieste.
• 1947 - Porta della Ginestra massacre against people in May Day celebrations in Sicily by bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano, killing 11 people and wounding 33.
• 1948 – The North Korean state under Kim Il-Sung is founded.
• 1950 – Guam becomes a US Commonwealth (a state that depends on the US).
• 1956 – The Polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
• 1956 - Minamata disease is first discovered in Japan.
• 1957 - 34 people are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashes in Hampshire, southern England.
• 1960 – U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union, making an international incident.
• 1960 - Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
• 1961 - Then-Prime Minister of Cuba Fidel Castro announces that Cuba is a Communist country, and a one-party state, without elections.
• 1977 – 36 people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during Labour Day demonstrations.
• 1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by Dog Sled, reaches the North Pole on his own.
• 1979 – Greenland gains autonomy (self government) from Denmark, with Jonathan Motzfeldt as Prime Minister.
• 1982 – Opening of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• 1983 – Jack Catain Jr., an American businessman, marries his third and final wife, Phyllis Sherwood, an American performer, singer and actress who is the widow of Bobby Sherwood, an actor, in Los Angeles, California.
• 1989 - Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
• 1993 - President of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa is killed by a suicide bomber in Colombo.
• 1993 - Prime Minister of France Pierre Bérégovoy commits suicide.
• 1994 – Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna is killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix.
• 1995 – Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.
• 1997 – Tony Blair's Labour Party defeats John Major's Conservative Party in the United Kingdom General Election. Tony Blair therefore becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1999 – The remains of George Mallory are found on Mount Everest, almost 75 years after his disappearance.
• 1999 – The show SpongeBob SquarePants airs for the first time.

From 2001

• 2003 – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes Eastern Turkey, killing 177 people.
• 2004 – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta join the EU. This is the biggest enlargement in the EU's history.
• 2008 - Hangzhou Wen Daqiao Bridge is opened between Cixi and Jiaxing, People's Republic of China.
• 2009 – Sweden allows Same-sex marriage.
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, is captured and killed by US forces in Pakistan.
• 2018 - Scotland introduces a new minimum price for alcohol.
• 2019 - Naruhito becomes Emperor of Japan, succeeding his father Akihito; Japan's Reiwa period starts.

Up to 1850

• 1218 – Rudolph I of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1291)
• 1218 - John I, Count of Hainaut (d. 1257)
• 1238 – King Magnus VI of Norway (d. 1280)
• 1582 - Marco da Gagliano, Italian poet (d. 1641)
• 1591 - Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German missionary and astronomer (d. 1666)
• 1653 - Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne of Great Britain (d. 1708)
• 1672 – Joseph Addison, English writer and essayist (d. 1719)
• 1751 - Judith Sargent Murray, American poet, playwright, essayist and women's rights activist (d. 1820)
• 1764 - Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English-American architect (d. 1820)
• 1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (d. 1852)
• 1814 - Prince Karl of Auersperg, Austro-Hungarian politician (d. 1890)
• 1821 - Henry Ayers, 8th Premier of South Australia (d. 1897)
• 1825 - Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1898)
• 1827 - Jules Breton, French painter (d. 1906)
• 1829 – José de Alencar, Brazilian novelist (d. 1877)
• 1830 - Guido Gezelle, Flemish poet (d. 1899)
• 1831 - Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (d. 1903)
• 1837 - Walter Hauser, Swiss politician (d. 1902)
• 1850 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (d. 1942)

1851 – 1900

• 1852 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1934)
• 1852 – Calamity Jane, American Wild West performer (d. 1903)
• 1855 - Cecilia Beaux, American painter (d. 1942)
• 1857 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (d. 1891)
• 1859 - Jacqueline Comerre-Paton, French artist (d. 1935)
• 1862 – Marcel Prevost, French writer and dramatist (d. 1941)
• 1864 – Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day (d. 1948)
• 1868 - Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (d. 1940)
• 1871 - Seakle Greijdanus, Dutch theologian (d. 1948)
• 1872 – Sidónio Pais, Portuguese military leader and politician (d. 1918)
• 1872 - Hugo Alfvén, Swedish composer and conductor (d. 1960)
• 1874 - Romaine Brooks, American painter and sculptor (d. 1970)
• 1881 - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher (d. 1955)
• 1881 - John Svanberg, Swedish long-distance runner (d. 1957)
• 1884 - Francis Curzon, 5th Earl of Howe, British naval officer and racing driver (d. 1964)
• 1885 - Ralph Stockpole, American sculptor and painter (d. 1973)
• 1887 - Vincenzo Cardarelli, Italian journalist and writer (d. 1959)
• 1888 - John Francis O'Hara, American cardinal (d. 1962)
• 1896 - J. Lawton Collins, American general (d. 1987)
• 1896 - Herbert Backe, German Nazi politician (d. 1947)
• 1898 - Eugene R. Black, Sr., 3rd President of the World Bank (d. 1992)
• 1899 – Jón Leifs, Icelandic composer (d. 1968)
• 1900 - Ignazio Silone, Italian writer and politician (d. 1978)

1901 – 1950

• 1905 - Henry Koster, German-American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1988)
• 1907 – Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
• 1908 – Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
• 1909 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet (d. 1990)
• 1913 - Balraj Sahni, Indian actor (d. 1973)
• 1913 – Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (d. 1980)
• 1914 - Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)
• 1915 - Archie Williams, American sprinter (d. 1993)
• 1915 – Hanns Martin Schleyer, German business executive (d. 1977)
• 1916 – Glenn Ford, Canadian-American actor (d. 2006)
• 1916 - Rong Yiren, Chinese politician (d. 2005)
• 1917 – Danielle Darrieux, French singer and actress (d. 2017)
• 1917 - Wendy Toye, English actress (d. 2010)
• 1918 - Jack Paar, American writer and television and radio host (d. 2004)
• 1919 - Dan O'Herlihy, Irish actor (d. 2005)
• 1919 - Mohammed Karim Lamrani, former Prime Minister of Morocco (d. 2018)
• 1919 - Manna Dey, Indian playback singer (d. 2013)
• 1923 - Frank Brian, American basketball player (d. 2017)
• 1923 - Billy Steel, Scottish footballer (d. 1982)
• 1924 – Terry Southern, American screenwriter (d. 1995)
• 1924 – Art Fleming, American game show host (d. 1995)
• 1924 - Evelyn Boyd Granville, American mathematician and educator
• 1924 – Grégoire Kayibanda, 1st President of Rwanda (d. 1976)
• 1925 - Scott Carpenter, American astronaut, pilot and aquanaut (d. 2013)
• 1925 - Chuck Bednarik, American football player (d. 2015)
• 1925 - Gabriele Amorth, Italian priest and exorcist (d. 2016)
• 1926 - Doug Cowie, Scottish footballer
• 1926 - Peter Lax, Hungarian-American mathematician
• 1927 - Mustafa Nurul Islam, Bangladeshi academic (d. 2018)
• 1927 - Laura Betti, Italian actress (d. 2004)
• 1927 - Walter Zeman, Austrian footballer (d. 1991)
• 1928 – Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racing driver (d. 1972)
• 1929 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-born sociologist and politician (d. 2009)
• 1930 – Little Walter, American singer (d. 1968)
• 1930 - Richard Riordan, former Mayor of Los Angeles
• 1930 - Ollie Matson, American football player (d. 2011)
• 1932 - Sandy Woodward, British admiral (d. 2013)
• 1934 - Cuauhtémoc Cardenas, Mexican politician
• 1936 - Hasse Wallman, Swedish entrepreneur, composer, director, writer and producer (d. 2014)
• 1937 - Una Stubbs, English actress and dancer
• 1937 - Bo Nilsson, Swedish composer and songwriter
• 1939 – Judy Collins, American singer
• 1939 - Rosy Armen, French singer
• 1940 - Fakhruddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi economist and politician
• 1941 - Asil Nadir, Turkish-Cypriot businessman
• 1943 - Joe Walsh, Irish politician (d. 2014)
• 1944 - Costa Cordalis, Greek-German singer
• 1945 – Rita Coolidge, American singer
• 1946 – Joanna Lumley, English actress
• 1946 - John Woo, Chinese movie director
• 1950 - Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer

1951 – 1975

• 1951 - Antony Worrall Thompson, English chef and broadcaster
• 1954 - Ray Parker Jr., American singer, musician and actor
• 1956 - Catherine Frot, French actress
• 1957 - Uberto Pasolini, Italian movie producer, director and investment banker
• 1959 – Yasmina Reza, French actress, writer and playwright
• 1960 - Bart Chilton, American civil servant (d. 2019)
• 1961 - Clint Malarchuk, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1961 - Timna Brauer, Austrian-Israeli singer
• 1962 – Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress
• 1962 - Ted Sundquist, American football player, coach and manager
• 1964 – Lady Sarah Chatto, member of the extended British royal family
• 1964 - Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed skater
• 1965 - Todd Spikes, American former police officer and convicted sex offender
• 1966 – Olaf Thon, German footballer
• 1967 – Tim McGraw, American singer
• 1968 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
• 1968 – D'arcy Wretzky, American musician
• 1968 - Johnny Colt, American bass guitarist
• 1969 – Wes Anderson, American director and writer
• 1969 - Mary Lou McDonald, Irish politician, leader of Sinn Féin
• 1973 – Oliver Neuville, German footballer
• 1974 - Lornah Kiplagat, Kenyan-Dutch runner
• 1975 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (d. 2003)
• 1975 – Alexey Smertin, Russian footballer
• 1975 - Nina Hossain, English journalist

From 1976

• 1976 - Violante Placido, Italian actress and singer
• 1979 – Mauro Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
• 1979 - Lars Berger, Norwegian biathlete
• 1979 - Pauli Rantasalmi, Finnish musician
• 1980 – Zaz, French singer
• 1980 - Jay Reatard, American rock musician (d. 2010)
• 1981 – Aliaksandr Hleb, Belarussian footballer
• 1981 - Derek Asamoah, Ghanaian footballer
• 1981 - Manny Acosta, Panamanian baseball player
• 1982 – Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer
• 1982 – Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player
• 1982 - Mark Warren, Irish footballer (d. 2016)
• 1983 - Alain Bernard, French rower
• 1984 – Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer
• 1984 - Farah Fath, American actress
• 1986 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorean footballer (d. 2013)
• 1987 - Leonardo Bonucci, Italian footballer
• 1987 - Shahar Pe'er, Israeli tennis player
• 1988 – Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and model
• 1990 – Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress
• 1991 - Levina, German singer
• 1992 - Sammy Ameobi, English footballer
• 1997 – Ariel Gade, American actress

Up to 1950

• 408 – Arcadius, Roman emperor
• 524 - King Sigismund of Burgundy
• 1118 - Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England (born 1080)
• 1277 - Stephen Uros I of Serbia (born 1223)
• 1308 – Albert I of Habsburg (murdered) (born 1255)
• 1555 – Pope Marcellus II (born 1501)
• 1572 – Pope Pius V (born 1504)
• 1731 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (born 1677)
• 1738 – Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman
• 1772 – Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (born 1719)
• 1813 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in combat) (born 1768)
• 1873 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (born 1813)
• 1881 - Romolo Gessi, Italian soldier and explorer (born 1831)
• 1893 - Alexander Kaufmann, German poet (born 1817)
• 1899 – Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (born 1824)
• 1904 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (born 1841)
• 1920 - Princess Margaret of Connaught (born 1882)
• 1928 - Ebenezer Howard, English town planner, founder of the Garden City movement (born 1850)
• 1931 - Thomas Cooper Gotch, British painter (born 1854)
• 1935 - Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (born 1889)
• 1937 – Snitz Edwards, American actor (born 1868)
• 1943 - Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian religious leader (born 1871)
• 1945 – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (suicide) (born 1897)
• 1945 – Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (suicide) (born 1901)

1951 – 2000

• 1963 – Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer (born 1879)
• 1965 – Spike Jones, American band leader, musician, and comedian (born 1911)
• 1968 - Jack Adams, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach and manager (born 1895)
• 1970 – Yi, Eun, Crown Prince Korea (born 1897)
• 1973 – Asger Jorn, Danish painter (born 1914)
• 1976 – Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek politician and poet (born 1939)
• 1978 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (born 1903)
• 1982 – William Primrose, Scottish violist (born 1903)
• 1989 – Douglass Watson, American actor (born 1921)
• 1990 – Sergio Franchi, Italian director (born 1926)
• 1991 – Richard Thorpe, American movie director (born 1896)
• 1993 – Pierre Bérégovoy, Prime Minister of France (suicide) (born 1925)
• 1993 – Ranasinghe Premadasa, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (born 1924)
• 1993 - Warren P. Knowles, Governor of Wisconsin (born 1908)
• 1994 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (born 1960)
• 1996 - Luana Patten, American actress (born 1938)
• 1997 - Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist (born 1927)
• 1998 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (born 1935)
• 2000 – Steve Reeves, American actor (born 1926)

From 2001

• 2008 – Anthony Mamo, first President of Malta (born 1909)
• 2008 – Philipp von Boeselager, German resistance activist (born 1917)
• 2009 – Karst Tates, Dutch attempted assassin (born 1971)
• 2010 – Helen Wagner, American actress (born 1918)
• 2011 – Henry Cooper, British heavyweight boxer (born 1934)
• 2011 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi-Arabian terrorist leader (al-Qaeda) (born 1957)
• 2013 - Chris Kelly, American rapper (Kris Kross) (born 1978)
• 2014 - Assi Dayan, Israeli movie director and actor (born 1945)
• 2014 - Juan Formell, Cuban musician and composer (born 1942)
• 2014 - Juan de Dios Castillo, Mexican footballer and coach (born 1951)
• 2014 - Richard Percival Lister, English writer poet and artist (born 1914)
• 2014 - Manfred von Richthofen, German sports official (born 1934)
• 2014 - Georg Stollenwerk, German footballer (born 1930)
• 2014 - Mel Clark, American baseball player (born 1926)
• 2015 - David Day, Australian broadcaster (born 1951)
• 2015 - Pete Brown, American golfer (born 1935)
• 2015 - Geoff Duke, British motorcycle racer (born 1923)
• 2015 - Stephen Milburn Anderson, American movie director and writer (born 1947)
• 2015 - Grace Lee Whitney, American actress (born 1930)
• 2015 - Vafa Guluzade, Azerbaijani diplomat (born 1940)
• 2015 - Beth Whittall, Canadian swimmer (born 1936)
• 2015 - Harry Geisinger, American politician (born 1933)
• 2015 - Dave Goldberg, American executive (born 1967)
• 2016 - Jean-Marie Girault, French politician (born 1926)
• 2016 - Solomon W. Golomb, American mathematician, engineer and educator (born 1922)
• 2016 - Madeleine LeBeau, French actress (born 1923)
• 2017 - Erkki Kurenniemi, Finnish musician and designer (born 1941)
• 2017 - Mike Lowry, American politician, Governor of Washington (born 1939)
• 2017 - Sam Mele, American baseball player (born 1922)
• 2017 - Mohamed Talbi, Tunisian historian and professor (born 1921)
• 2017 - Bruce Hampton, American musician (born 1947)
• 2017 - Yisrael Friedman, Israeli rabbi and educator (born 1923)
• 2017 - Karel Schoeman, South African novelist and translator (born 1939)
• 2018 - Elmar Altvater, German political scientist (born 1938)
• 2018 - Chuck Missler, American evangelist and writer (born 1934)
• 2018 - Universo 2000, Mexican professional wrestler (born 1963)
• 2018 - Peter Temple-Morris, British politician (born 1938)
• 2018 - Arthur Barnard, American sprinter (born 1929)
• 2018 - Max Berrú, Ecuadorean-Chilean singer and musician (born 1942)
• 2019 - Dinko Dermendzhiev, Bulgarian footballer (born 1941)
• 2019 - Alessandra Panaro, Italian actress (born 1939)
• 2019 - Arvi Parbo, Estonian-Australian businessman and philanthropist (born 1926)
• 2019 - B. Subhashan Reddy, Indian judge (born 1943)

• Saints of the Day: Saint Joseph the Worker; Saint Jeremiah, prophet
• May Day
• International Workers' Day
• Beltane in Neo-Pagan Tradition
• Lei Day (Hawaii)
• Constitution Day (Latvia and Marshall Islands)
• Loyalty Day