Who are famous people born on May 5?

Famous people born on May 5 include: Jenna Davis, Kirsty Muir, Carlos Alcaraz.

What famous people died on May 5?

Notable historical figures who died on May 5 include: Chris Phelan, Jeannie Epper, Bernard Hill.

May 5 in History

Q: What happened on May 5 in history?

On May 5, 1987: Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States.

1987 — Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States

May 5 spans 51 recorded events across recorded history — from 553 – 2023. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · May 5 — Wikipedia

Historical Events 51 events 553 – 2023

Did you know

In 1987, Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

The United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate formed committees in January 1987 to investigate the Iran–Contra affair. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

The committees held joint hearings and issued a joint report. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

The hearings ran from 5 May 1987 to 6 August 1987, and the report was published in November, with a dissenting Minority Report signed by six Republican congressmen and two Republican senators. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

In 1987, Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.

The Second Council of Constantinople begins.

Ecumenical council held in 553 in response to the Three Chapters controversy

The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and recognition of it are varied. Some Protestants, such as Calvinists, recognize the first four councils, whereas Lutherans and most Anglo-Catholics accept all seven. Constantinople II was convoked by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I under the presidency of Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople. It was held from 5 May to 2 June 553. Participants were overwhelmingly Eastern bishops—only sixteen Western bishops were present, including nine from Illyricum and seven from Africa, but none from Italy—out of the 152 total.

553

Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem marries Henry II, Count of Champagne.

Queen of Jerusalem (r. 1190/1192–1205)

Isabella I was the queen of Jerusalem who reigned from the early 1190s to her death. She received the homage of her vassals as the rightful heir to the throne after the death of her half-sister Queen Sibylla in 1190, but Sibylla's widower, Guy of Lusignan, held onto the kingdom until 1192. Isabella became queen upon her coronation in 1198. Having little political ambition, she passed the government on to three successive husbands, Conrad of Montferrat, Henry II of Champagne, and Aimery of Lusignan, all of whom included her in the issuing of their charters. Isabella's co-reign with Aimery saw the compilation of the Livre au Roi, a law treatise establishing the rights and obligations of queens regnant of Jerusalem.

1192

Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.

King of England from 1199 to 1216

John was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empire and contributing to the subsequent growth in power of the French Capetian dynasty during the 13th century. The baronial revolt at the end of John's reign led to the sealing of Magna Carta, a document considered a foundational milestone in English and later British constitutional history.

1215

Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.

Emperor of Yuan China from 1271 to 1294

Kublai Khan, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the dynastic name "Great Yuan" in 1271, and ruled Yuan China until his death in 1294.

1260

Election of Count Adolf of Nassau as King of the Romans in the Dominican monastery of Frankfurt.

King of Germany from 1292 to 1298

Adolf was the count of Nassau from about 1276 and the elected king of Germany from 1292 until his deposition by the prince-electors in 1298. He was never crowned by the pope, which would have secured him the imperial title. He was the first physically and mentally healthy ruler of the Holy Roman Empire ever to be deposed without a papal excommunication. Adolf died shortly afterwards in the Battle of Göllheim fighting against his successor Albert of Habsburg.

1292

On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declares Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown.

Italian navigator and explorer (1451–1506)

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish transatlantic voyages in the name of the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.

1494

Daimyō (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.

16/17th-century Japanese warlord; leader of Satsuma Domain

Shimazu Tadatsune was a tozama daimyō of Satsuma, the first to hold it as a formal fief (han) under the Tokugawa shogunate, and the first Japanese to rule over the Ryūkyū Kingdom. As lord of Satsuma, he was among the most powerful lords in Japan at the time, and formally submitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1602, to prove his loyalty, being rewarded as a result with the name Matsudaira Iehisa; Matsudaira being a branch family of the Tokugawa, and "Ie" of "Iehisa" being taken from "Ieyasu", this was a great honor. As of 1603, his holdings amounted to 605,000 koku.

1609

King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.

King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625 to 1649

Charles I was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649.

1640

Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh.

1654 act of the Parliament of England

Cromwell's Act of Grace, or, more formally, the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, was an Act of the Parliament of England that declared that the people of Scotland were pardoned for any crimes they might have committed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It was proclaimed at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh on 5 May 1654. General George Monck, the English military governor of Scotland, was present in Edinburgh, having arrived the day before for two proclamations also delivered at the Mercat Cross, the first of which declared Oliver Cromwell to be the protector of England, Ireland and Scotland, and that Scotland was united with the Commonwealth of England.

1654

Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St.

Petersburg.

Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world, spanning eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. With a population of over 140 million, Russia is the most populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia, while Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and a major cultural centre.

1762

In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614.

Country primarily in Western Europe

France, officially the French Republic, is a country primarily located in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany to the northeast; Switzerland to the east; Italy and Monaco to the southeast; Andorra and Spain to the south; and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its 18 integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of 632,702 km2 (244,288 sq mi), with a total population estimated at over 69.1 million in 2026. Its capital, largest city and main cultural and economic centre is Paris.

1789

Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S.

patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.

Mary Dixon Kies was an American inventor. On May 5, 1809, her patent for a new technique of weaving straw with silk and thread to make hats was signed by President James Madison.

1809

Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

French general and emperor (1769–1821)

Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804 until his first abdication in 1814, with a brief restoration during the Hundred Days in 1815. He rose to prominence as a general during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe and the Middle East during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. As a statesman, he implemented numerous legal and administrative reforms in France and Europe.

1821

The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published.

British national daily newspaper

The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK.

1821

The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.

Belgium was heavily involved in the early development of railway transport. Belgium was the second country in Europe, after Great Britain, to open a railway and produce locomotives. The first line, between the cities of Brussels and Mechelen opened in 1835. Belgium was the first state in Europe to create a national railway network and the first to possess a nationalised railway system. The network expanded fast as Belgium industrialised, and by the early 20th century was increasingly under state-control. The nationalised railways, under the umbrella organisation National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB), retained their monopoly until liberalisation in the 2000s.

1835

Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.

Annual celebration held on May 5

Cinco de Mayo is an annual celebration held on May 5 to celebrate Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza. Zaragoza died months after the battle from an illness, however, and a larger French force ultimately defeated the Mexican army at the Second Battle of Puebla and then occupied Mexico City. Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States began lending money and guns to the Mexican Liberals, pushing France and Mexican Conservatives to the edge of defeat. At the opening of the French chambers in January 1866, Napoleon III announced that he would withdraw French troops from Mexico. In reply to a French request for American neutrality, the American secretary of state William H. Seward replied that French withdrawal from Mexico should be unconditional.

1862

American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County.

1861–1865 conflict in the United States

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

1864

American Civil War: The Confederate government is declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia.

The conclusion of the American Civil War commenced with the articles of surrender agreement of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, at Appomattox Court House, by General Robert E. Lee and concluded with the surrender of CSS Shenandoah on November 6, 1865, bringing the hostilities of the American Civil War to a close. Legally, the war did not end until a proclamation by President Andrew Johnson on August 20, 1866, when he declared "that the said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquillity, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole of the United States of America." The Confederate government being in the final stages of collapse, the war ended by debellatio, with no definitive capitulation from the rapidly disintegrating Confederacy; rather, Lee's surrender marked the effective end of Confederate military operations. The Confederate cabinet held its final meeting on May 5, at which point it declared the Confederacy dissolved, ending its substantive existence; despite this, some remnant Confederate units did not surrender for another month.

1865

Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.

Federal holiday in the United States

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May.

1866

American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.

Frontier conflicts in North America, 1609–1890s

The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas against various American Indian tribes in North America. These conflicts occurred from the time of the earliest colonial settlements in the 17th century until the end of the 19th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety of factors, the most common being the desire of settlers and governments for Indian tribes' lands. The European powers and their colonies enlisted allied Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some entailed cycles of violent reprisal.

1877

Workers marching for the eight-hour day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what became known as the Bay View Massacre.

Social movement to regulate the length of the working day

The eight-hour day movement was a social movement that appeared in various countries to regulate the length of a working day. The goal was preventing excesses and abuses of working time.

1886

The Peruvian Academy of Language is founded.

Spanish language academy in Peru

The Peruvian Academy of Language is a cultural institution that brings together literary figures, writers, poets, linguists, and scholars specializing in the use of the Spanish language in Peru. It is a collective member of the Association of Spanish Language Academies.

1887

The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.

Concert venue in Manhattan, New York

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue at 881 Seventh Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by its namesake, industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the venue is one of the most prestigious in the world for both classical music and popular music. Carnegie Hall has its own artistic programming, development, and marketing departments and presents about 250 performances each season. It is also rented out to performing groups, though it has not had a resident company since the New York Philharmonic moved to Lincoln Center in 1962.

1891

Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.

Player who pitches the ball in baseball

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the defensive numbering system used in baseball, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closer.

1904

The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.

1905 British murder case; first to use fingerprints as conclusive evidence

Alfred Edward Stratton (1882-1905) and his brother Albert Ernest Stratton (1884-1905) were the first men to be convicted in Britain for murder based on fingerprint evidence. They were both executed at 9 am on 23 May 1905 at HM Prison Wandsworth. The case, otherwise known as the Mask Murders, the Deptford Murders or the Farrow Murders, was one of the earliest convictions made using forensic science.

1905

The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published.

Faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party

The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Bolshevik party, formally established in 1912, seized power in Russia in the October Revolution of 1917 and was later renamed the Russian Communist Party, All-Union Communist Party, and ultimately the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Its ideology, based on Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist principles, became known as Bolshevism.

1912

Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.

Italian American anarchist duo executed by Massachusetts

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists, controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a guard and a paymaster, during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Seven years later, they were executed in the electric chair at Charlestown State Prison. Most historians consider their conviction unfair due to prejudice against immigrants and radicals.

1920

The 1930 Bago earthquake, the first of two major earthquakes in southern Burma, kills as many as 7,000 in Yangon and Bago.

Earthquake in Myanmar

An earthquake affected Myanmar on 5 May 1930 with a moment magnitude (Mw ) of 7.4. The shock occurred 35 km (22 mi) beneath the surface with a maximum Rossi–Forel intensity of IX. The earthquake was the result of rupture along a 131 km (81 mi) segment of the Sagaing Fault—a major strike-slip fault that runs through the country. Extensive damage was reported in the southern part of the country, particularly in Bago and Yangon, where buildings collapsed and fires erupted. At least 550, and possibly up to 7,000 people were killed. A moderate tsunami struck the Burmese coast which caused minor damage to ships and a port. The earthquake was felt over 570,000 km2 (220,000 sq mi) and as far as Shan State and Thailand; it was followed by many aftershocks including several damaging ones. A further, related, earthquake in December was similarly sized and also occurred along the Sagaing Fault.

1930

Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1936 Italian advance on Addis Ababa

The March of the Iron Will was an Italian offensive occurring from 26 April to 5 May 1936, during the final days of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Its goal was to capture the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, in a show of force for Fascist propaganda. An Italian mechanized column under the command of Pietro Badoglio, Marshal of Italy, advanced from the town of Dessie to take Addis Ababa. The march covered a distance of approximately 200 miles (320 km).

1936

World War II: Norwegian campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms.

1939–1945 global conflict

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

1940

Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day.

Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974

Haile Selassie I was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930.

1941

World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.

Partially successful 1945 rebellion in German-occupied Czechoslovakia

The Prague uprising was a partially successful attempt by the Czech resistance movement to liberate the city of Prague from German occupation in May 1945, during the end of World War II. The preceding six years of occupation had fuelled anti-German sentiment and the rapid advance of Allied forces from the Red Army and the United States Army offered the resistance a chance of success.

1945

World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon.

WWII Japanese incendiary weapon

Fu-Go was an incendiary balloon weapon deployed by Japan against the United States during World War II. It consisted of a hydrogen-filled paper balloon 33 feet (10 m) in diameter, with a payload of four 11-pound (5.0 kg) incendiary devices and one 33-pound (15 kg) high-explosive anti-personnel bomb. The uncontrolled balloons were carried over the Pacific Ocean from Japan to North America by fast, high-altitude air currents, today known as the jet stream, and used a sophisticated sandbag ballast system to maintain their altitude. The bombs were intended to ignite large-scale forest fires and spread panic.

1945

World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, one of only two battles in that war in which American and German troops fought cooperatively.

1945 battle of World War II

The Battle of Castle Itter was fought on 5 May 1945, in the Austrian village of Itter in the North Tyrol region of the country, during the last days of the European Theater of World War II.

1945

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Post–World War II war crimes trials

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946, to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their crimes against peace, conventional war crimes, and crimes against humanity, leading up to and during World War II. The IMTFE was modeled after the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg, Germany, which prosecuted the leaders of Nazi Germany for their war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity.

1946

The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect.

1952 treaty giving limited sovereignty to West Germany

The Bonn–Paris conventions were signed in May 1952 and came into force after the 1955 ratification. The conventions put an end to the Allied occupation of West Germany.

1955

Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.

Initial American crewed spaceflight program (1958–1963)

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. Taken over from the US Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted 20 uncrewed developmental flights, and six successful flights by astronauts. The program, which took its name from Roman mythology, cost $2.83 billion. The astronauts were collectively known as the "Mercury Seven", and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.

1961

The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day.

International organisation

The Council of Europe is an international organisation which aims to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, representing 46 European member states. The council is an official United Nations observer. It operates with an annual ordinary budget of 656 million euros.

1964

Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy.

1972 passenger plane crash near Palermo, Italy

Alitalia Flight 112 was a scheduled flight from Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, Italy, to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Italy, with 115 on board. On 5 May 1972, the Douglas DC-8-43 crashed into Mount Longa, about 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Palermo while on approach to the airport, killing all 115 passengers and crew onboard. Investigators believe that the crew had three miles visibility and did not adhere to the established vectors issued by air traffic control, while according to an independent investigation the accident was caused by an explosion on board.

1972

Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record.

American Thoroughbred racehorse (1970-1989)

Secretariat, also known as Big Red, was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the ninth winner of the American Triple Crown, setting and still holding the fastest time record in all three of its constituent races. He became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and his record-breaking victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, which he won by 31 lengths, is often considered the greatest race ever run by a thoroughbred racehorse. During his racing career, he won five Eclipse Awards, including Horse of the Year honors at ages two and three. Widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time, he was nominated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Secretariat was second to Man o' War.

1973

Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.

1980 hostage situation in London

The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy on Prince's Gate in South Kensington, London.

1980

Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.

Irish Provisional IRA member (1954–1981)

Robert Gerard Sands was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland. Sands helped to plan the 1976 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing in Dunmurry, which was followed by a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Sands was arrested while trying to escape and sentenced to 14 years for firearms possession.

1981

Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.

President of the United States from 1981 to 1989

Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in the American conservative movement. The period encompassing his presidency is known as the Reagan era.

1985

A riot breaks out in the Mt.

Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.

The 1991 Washington, D.C., riot, sometimes referred to as the Mount Pleasant riot or Mount Pleasant Disturbance, occurred in May 1991, when rioting broke out in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in response to an African-American female police officer having shot a Salvadoran man in the chest following a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

1991

The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

1994 ceasefire ending the First Nagorno-Karabakh war

The Bishkek Protocol was a provisional ceasefire agreement, signed by the representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, and Russia on May 12, 1994, in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

1994

American teenager Michael P.

Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism.

In 1994, the District Court in Singapore sentenced an American teenager, Michael Fay, to be lashed six times with a cane for violating the Vandalism Act. This caused a temporary strain in relations between Singapore and the United States.

1994

The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.

Country in Northeast Africa

Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 51.8 million people as of 2025 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum.

2006

Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing all 114 aboard, making it the deadliest aircraft disaster in Cameroon.

2007 aviation accident in Cameroon

Kenya Airways Flight 507 was a scheduled international passenger service between Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Nairobi, Kenya with a stopover in Douala, Cameroon, operated by Kenya Airways. On 5 May 2007, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft serving the flight crashed immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Cameroon, killing all 114 occupants onboard.

2007

Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis.

2010–12 civil unrest over the government debt crisis and resulting policies

The anti-austerity movement in Greece involved a series of demonstrations and general strikes that took place across the country. The events, which began on 5 May 2010, were provoked by plans to cut public spending and raise taxes as austerity measures in exchange for a €110 billion bail-out, aimed at solving the Greek government-debt crisis. Three people were killed on 5 May in one of the largest demonstrations in Greece since 1973.

2010

The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency.

Specialized agency of the United Nations

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide. Only sovereign states are eligible to join, and it is the largest intergovernmental health organization at the international level.

2023

Born on May 5

20 people 1985 – 2004

Jenna Davis

American actress and YouTuber

Jenna Davis is an American actress, Internet personality, and singer-songwriter. She is best known for voicing the titular character of the horror film M3GAN (2022) and its sequel, M3GAN 2.0 (2025). As a child actress,…

2004

Kirsty Muir

Scottish freestyle skier

Kirsty Muir is a Scottish freestyle skier representing Great Britain who competes in big air and slopestyle. She came second in the big air event at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, and won the slopestyle competition at…

2004

Carlos Alcaraz

Spanish tennis player

Carlos Alcaraz Garfia is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2022 and 2025.…

2003

Nathan Chen

American figure skater

Nathan Wei Chen is an American figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion in both the men's singles and team event, a three-time World champion, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final…

1999

Justin Kluivert

Dutch footballer

Justin Dean Kluivert is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Bournemouth and the Netherlands national team.

1999

Aryna Sabalenka

Belarusian tennis player

Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is the current world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA and is a former No. 1 in doubles. Sabalenka has won 24 WTA Tour-level singles titles,…

1998

Logan Gilbert

American baseball player

Logan Keith Gilbert is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021 and was an All-Star in 2024.

1997

Mitch Marner

Canadian hockey player

Mitchell "Mitch" Daniel Marner is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Maple…

1997

Christopher Eubanks

American tennis player

Christopher Eubanks is an American former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 29, achieved on 31 July 2023 and a best doubles ranking of No. 142, reached on 12 August 2024. His…

1996

Mayar Sherif

Egyptian tennis player

Mayar Sherif Ahmed Abdel-Aziz is an Egyptian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA ranking of No. 31 in singles, making her the highest ranked Egyptian singles player, male or female, in the Open Era.…

1996

James Conner

American football player

James Earl Conner is an American professional football running back for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. In 2014, he garnered AFCA…

1995

Celeste

British singer

Celeste Epiphany Waite, known by the mononym Celeste, is an English singer and songwriter. She began her career in 2014 providing vocals for electronic producers such as Avicii, Tieks and Real Lies, while also…

1994

Raúl Jiménez

Mexican footballer

Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Mexico national team.

1991

Tatiana Schlossberg

American journalist and author (died 2025)

Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg was an American environmental journalist and author. She worked as a science and climate reporter for The New York Times and wrote for several other publications, including The…

1990

Agnes Knochenhauer

Swedish curler

Agnes Ellinor Knochenhauer is a Swedish curler from Stockholm. She currently plays second on Team Anna Hasselborg. With Hasselborg, Knochenhauer has won three Olympic medals, gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in…

1989

Adele

English singer-songwriter

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is an English singer and songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. Her accolades include 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit…

1988

Mervyn Westfield

English cricketer

Mervyn Simon Westfield is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler who until September 2010 played for Essex. In January 2012, he became the first English cricketer to be…

1988

Graham Dorrans

Scottish footballer

Graham Dorrans is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Johnstone Burgh.

1987

Emanuele Giaccherini

Italian footballer

Emanuele Giaccherini is an Italian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

1985

P. J. Tucker

American basketball player

Anthony Leon "P.J." Tucker Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. Regarded as a reliable corner three-point shooter and perimeter defender all throughout his career, Tucker won an NBA championship…

1985

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Died on May 5

20 people 2011 – 2026

Chris Phelan

Irish-Australian rugby league player (born 1955)

Chris Phelan was an Irish-born Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s. He was a state representative versatile forward for Queensland and a two-time New South Wales Rugby League premiership-winner…

2026

Jeannie Epper

American stuntwoman and actress (born 1941)

Jean Luann Epper was an American stuntwoman and actress. She performed stunts in over 100 feature films and television series and is perhaps best known as Lynda Carter's stunt double on the 1970s television series…

2024

Bernard Hill

English actor (born 1944)

Bernard Hill was an English actor. He was known for his versatile performances in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years.

2024

César Luis Menotti

Argentine footballer and manager (born 1938)

César Luis Menotti, known as El Flaco ("Slim"), was an Argentine football player and manager who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team.

2024

Millie Small

Jamaican singer-songwriter (born 1947)

Millicent Dolly May Small CD was a Jamaican singer who is best known for her international hit "My Boy Lollipop" (1964). The song reached number two in both the UK and US charts and sold over seven million copies…

2020

Binyamin Elon

Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician (born 1954)

Rabbi Binyamin "Benny" Elon was an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Moledet and the National Union between 1996 and 2009. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, Elon lived in…

2017

Ely Ould Mohamed Vall

Mauritanian politician (born 1953)

Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was a Mauritanian political and military figure. Following a coup d'état in August 2005, he served as the transitional military leader of Mauritania until 19 April 2007, when he…

2017

Jobst Brandt

American cyclist, engineer, and author (born 1935)

Jobst Brandt was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, bicycle enthusiast, educator, and author.

2015

Hans Jansen

Dutch linguist, academic, and politician (born 1942)

Johannes Juliaan Gijsbert "Hans" Jansen was a Dutch politician, scholar of contemporary Islam and author.

2015

Michael Otedola

Nigerian journalist and politician, 9th Governor of Lagos State (born 1926)

Michael Agbolade Otedola KSS was a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Lagos State during the Nigerian Third Republic.

2014

Sarah Kirsch

German poet and author (born 1935)

Sarah Kirsch was a German poet.

2013

Robert Ressler

American FBI agent and author (born 1937)

Robert Kenneth Ressler was an American FBI agent and author. He played a significant role in the psychological profiling of violent offenders in the 1970s and is often credited with coining the term "serial killer",…

2013

Surendranath

Indian cricketer (born 1937)

Surendra Nath was an Indian cricketer who played in eleven Test matches between 1958 and 1961. He was primarily a medium-pace swing bowler, who enjoyed a particularly successful tour of England in 1959.

2012

Carl Johan Bernadotte

Count of Wisborg (born 1916)

Carl Johan Arthur, Prince Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, was the fourth son and fifth and youngest child of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught.

2012

Aatos Erkko

Finnish journalist and publisher (born 1932)

Aatos Juho Michel Erkko was a Finnish newspaper editor, newspaper publisher, and the main owner of the Sanoma Corporation and the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, of which he was also the editor in chief.

2012

George Knobel

Dutch footballer, coach, and manager (born 1922)

George Knobel was a Dutch football manager.

2012

Roy Padayachie

South African lawyer and politician, South African Minister of Communications (born 1950)

Radhakrishna Lutchmana "Roy" Padayachie was a South African politician and activist. He was a cabinet minister between November 2010 and his death in May 2012. At the same time he represented the African National…

2012

Claude Choules

English-Australian soldier (born 1901)

Claude Stanley Choules was a British-born military serviceman from Pershore, Worcestershire, who at the time of his death was the oldest combat veteran of the First World War. He served with the Royal Navy from 1915…

2011

Yosef Merimovich

Israeli footballer and manager (born 1924)

Yosef "Yosale" Merimovich was a football player and manager. A one-club man, he played as a forward for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 1947 and 1958, winning six championships and six cups. Born in Cyprus, he represented the…

2011

Dana Wynter

British actress (born 1931)

Dana Wynter was a German-born British actress who was raised in the United Kingdom and southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1950s. One of her best-known film…

2011

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May 5 in the Blog

World Health Organization Founded — May 5, 1948

61 countries signed the WHO's constitution in 1948 in Geneva, Switzerland, to establish global health as a human right, achieving universal coverage…

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What happened on May 5 in history?

On May 5, one notable event in history was 1987: Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States..

This date currently highlights 51 recorded events on thisDay.info, spanning 553 – 2023.

DateMay 5

Featured year1987

Locationthe United States

Events listed51

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1987 — Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States

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1987 — Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States

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