May 1

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

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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Events

305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.
1328 - Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton – England recognises Scotland as an independent nation.
1699 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville founds the first European settlement in the Mississippi River Valley.
1707 - The Act of Union joins England, and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1753 - Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1776 - Adam Weishaupt founds the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Germany.
1786 - Opening night of the opera The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna.
1790 - The United States completes its first census.
1834 - The British colonies abolish slavery.
1840 - The Penny Black postage stamp is put on sale in the United Kingdom.
1848 - Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji), collegiate social fraternity, founded at Jefferson College (now Washington and Jefferson College) in Canonsburg, PA
1851 - The Great Exhibition opens in London.
1860 - A chondrite-type meteorite falls to earth in Muskingum County, Ohio, near the town of New Concord.
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins – Union forces under Major General Joseph Hooker begin to fight Confederate troops commanded by General Robert E. Lee (Union defeat).
1869 - The Folies Bergères open in Paris.
1873 - The 1873 Vienna World's Fair opens in Vienna.

1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody put on his first Wild West Show.
1884 - Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States
1886 - The start of the general strike which eventually wins the eight-hour workday in the United States. These events are today commemorated as May Day or Labour Day in most industrialized countries.
1893 - The World Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago, Illinois.
1894 - Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington D.C..
1897 - The Hindu monastic order Shri Ramakrishna Math and Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The Battle of Manila Bay - The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
1898 - Sikasso falls to the French colonial army.
1900 - The Scofield mine disaster kills 200 in Scofield, Utah in the now fifth worst mining accident in United States history.
1901 - The Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York.
1930 - The planet Pluto is officially named as such.
1931 - The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
1940 - The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.
1941 - Orson Welles's Citizen Kane premieres in New York City
1941 - World War II: German forces launch major attack on Tobruk.
1941 - Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by the General Mills cereal company.
1948 - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il Sung as president.
1950 - Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
1956 - The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1960 - Bombay Province was split into Maharashtra and Gujarat on linguistic grounds. (states of India)
1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis – Francis Gary Powers, in a U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking off a crisis.
1967 - Elvis Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu.
1971 - Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) is formed to take over U.S. passenger rail service.
1972 - Vietnam War: Easter Offensive – North Vietnamese troops capture Quang Tri City, effectively giving them control Quang Tri Province.
1978 - Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
1980 - Foundation of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey.
1982 - The 1982 World's Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.
1983 - Edwin El Chapo Rosario wins boxing's vacant WBC world Lightweight title by beating Jose Luis Ramirez in San Juan, by points in 12 rounds, becoming Puerto Rico's 14th world boxing champion. A young Julio Cesar Chavez also wins as part of the undercard.
1994 - Formula One driver Ayrton Senna is killed during the San Marino Grand Prix.
1997 - HM Prison Pentridge, Melbourne, Australia is officially closed.
1999 - Three spectators are killed at a IRL race at Lowe's Motor Speedway when a collision propells a tire into the stands.
2003 - War in Iraq: U.S. President George W. Bush announces the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
2004 - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union.

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Births

1218 - John I, Count of Hainaut (d. 1257)
1218 - Rudolph I of Germany, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1291)
1285 - Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1326)
1582 - Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (d. 1643)
1594 - John Haynes, Massachusetts colonial magistrate
1672 - Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (d. 1719)
1804 - Aleksey Khomyakov, Russian poet (d. 1860)
1830 - Mother Jones, American labor activist (d. 1930)
1831 - Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (b.1903)
1852 - Calamity Jane, American Wild West performer (d. 1903)
1852 - Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish histologist and neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1934)
1881 - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French palaeontologist and philosopher (d. 1955)
1887 - Alan Gordon Cunningham, British army officer (d. 1983)
1896 - Mark Clark, American general (d. 1984)
1901 - Heinz Eric Roemheld, American film composer (d. 1985)
1905 - Henry Koster, German film director (d. 1988)
1908 - Giovanni Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
1909 - Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
1913 - Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)
1913 - Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (d. 1980)
1915 - Archie Williams, American athlete (d. 1993)
1916 - Glenn Ford, Canadian actor
1917 - John Beradino, American actor and baseball player (d. 1996)
1918 - Jack Paar, American television host (d. 2004)
1919 - Dan O'Herlihy, Irish film actor (d. 2005)
1923 - Joseph Heller, American novelist (d. 1999)
1924 - Art Fleming, American game show host (d. 1995)
1925 - Chuck Bednarik, American football player
1925 - Scott Carpenter, American astronaut
1929 - Ralf Dahrendorf, German-born sociologist and politician
1930 - Richard Riordan, Mayor of Los Angeles, California
1934 - Joan Hackett, American actress (d. 1983)
1935 - Ann Robinson, American actress
1939 - Judy Collins, American folk singer
1939 - Max Robinson, American broadcast journalist (d. 1988)
1940 - Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
1941 - Eric Burdon, British singer (The Animals)
1944 - Rita Coolidge, American singer
1944 - Suresh Kalmadi, Indian politician
1946 - Joanna Lumley, British actress
1946 - John Woo, Hong Kong director, producer, writer, and actor
1950 - Dann Florek, American actor
1954 - Ray Parker Jr., American singer and songwriter
1960 - Steve Cauthen, American jockey
1962 - Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress
1964 - Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed skater
1967 - Tim McGraw, American musician
1968 - Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
1968 - D'arcy, American musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
1973 - Curtis Martin, American football player
1973 - Oliver Neuville, German footballer
1975 - Alexei Smertin, Russian footballer
1981 - Aleksander Hleb, Belarusian footballer
1990 - Caitlin Stasey, Australian Actress

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Deaths

408 - Arcadius, Roman emperor
1308 - Albert I of Habsburg (murdered) (b. 1255)
1572 - Pope Pius V (b. 1504)
1731 - Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (b. 1677)
1738 - Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman
1813 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (killed in combat) (b. 1768)
1873 - David Livingstone, Scottish missionary (b. 1813)
1899 - Ludwig Büchner, German philosopher and physician (b. 1824)
1904 - Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)
1945 - Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (suicide) (b. 1897)
1965 - Spike Jones, American band leader, musician, and comedian (b. 1911)
1970 - Yi, Eun, Crown Prince Korea (b. 1897)
1978 - Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (b. 1903)
1982 - William Primrose, Scottish violist (b. 1903)
1989 - Douglass Watson, American actor (b. 1921)
1993 - Pierre Bérégovoy, French minister (suicide) (b. 1925)
1993 - Ranasinghe Premadasa, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1924)
1994 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1960)
1998 - Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935)
2000 - Steve Reeves, American actor (b. 1926)
2003 - Miss Elizabeth, American wrestler (b. 1960)

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Holidays and observances

May Day, Labour Day, Loyalty Day, Workers' Day, Day of the International Solidarity of Workers - see event section above.
Switzerland - official feast of Spring.
Czech Republic - "National Love Day" – couples tend to flock to the memorial of a poet in Prague and kiss.
Lei Day - Hawaiian holiday for the Lei.
Beltane, Lá Bealtaine, the first day of Summer in modern Ireland was celebrated by the Celts, and is now also celebrated by Neopagans and Wiccans.
Roman Empire - all-female festival in honour of Bona Dea
Roman Empire - fourth and last day of the Floralia in honour of Flora
United States - Law Day
Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
- Saint Joseph the Worker (also known as Saint Joseph's Day)
- Philip the Apostle
- James the Less
- Jeremiah
- Andeol
- Brieuc
- Sigismund of Burgundy
- Theodulf
- Augustin Schoeffer
Festival of Matsu in Taiwan and various locales along the southern coast of China (2005)