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This day in history

This day in history: 5 May

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day146 · 95

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Key facts

292 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 5 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2023: The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency.

Holidays and observances

Children's Day (Japan, South Korea)

Christian feast day: Angelus of Jerusalem

Christian feast day: Aventinus of Tours

Christian feast day: Blessed Caterina Cittadini

Christian feast day: Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice

Christian feast day: Blessed Grzegorz Bolesław Frąckowiak

Christian feast day: Frederick the Wise (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)

Christian feast day: Gotthard of Hildesheim

Christian feast day: Hilary of Arles

Christian feast day: Jutta of Kulmsee

Christian feast day: May 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Stanisław Kazimierczyk

Events

2023The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency.

2010Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis.

2007Kenya 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.

2006The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.

1994American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism.

1994The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

1991A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.

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

1985Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.

1981Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital (Northern Ireland) after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.

1980Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.

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

1972Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy.

1964The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day.

1961Project Mercury: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.

1955The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect.

1946The 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.

1945World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon.

1945World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, one of only two battles in that war in which American and German troops fought cooperatively.

1945World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.

1941Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day.

1940World 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.

1936March of the Iron Will: Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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

1920US authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.

1912The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published.

1905The 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.

1904Pitching 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.

1891The 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.

1887The Peruvian Academy of Language is founded.

1886Workers marching for the eight-hour day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what becomes known as the Bay View Massacre.

1877American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.

1866Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.

1865American Civil War: The Confederate government is declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia.

1864American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County.

1862Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.

1835The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.

1821Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

1821The first edition of The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, is published.

1809Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.

Born on this day

2004Jenna Davis, American actress and YouTuber

2004Kirsty Muir, Scottish freestyle skier

2003Angelica Bove, Italian singer-songwriter

2003Carlos Alcaraz, Spanish tennis player

2001Olly, Italian singer-songwriter and rapper

1999Justin Kluivert, Dutch footballer

1999Nathan Chen, American figure skater

1998Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player

1997Logan Gilbert, American baseball player

1997Mitch Marner, Canadian hockey player

1996Christopher Eubanks, American tennis player

1996Mayar Sherif, Egyptian tennis player

1995James Conner, American football player

1994Celeste, British singer

1994Laura Stacey, Canadian ice hockey player

1993Rickard Rakell, Swedish ice hockey player

1991Raúl Jiménez, Mexican footballer

1990Darcy Kuemper, Canadian ice hockey player

1990Tatiana Schlossberg, American journalist and author (died 2025)

1989Agnes Knochenhauer, Swedish curler

1988Adele, English singer-songwriter

1988Mervyn Westfield, English cricketer

1987Graham Dorrans, Scottish footballer

1985Emanuele Giaccherini, Italian footballer

1985P. J. Tucker, American basketball player

1983Henry Cavill, English actor

1983James Anyon, English cricketer

1982Corey Parker, Australian rugby league footballer

1982Vanessa Bryant, American philanthropist and model

1981Craig David, English singer-songwriter, musician and producer

1981Danielle Fishel, American actress

1980Yossi Benayoun, Israeli footballer

1977Tiffany Roberts, American footballer

1976Dieter Brummer, Australian actor (died 2021)

1976Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentinian footballer and sportscaster

1975Meb Keflezighi, American runner

1972James Cracknell, English rower

1972Mikael Renberg, Swedish ice hockey player

1972Žigmund Pálffy, Slovak ice hockey player

1971Harold Miner, American basketball player

Died on this day

2026Chris Phelan, Irish-Australian rugby league player (born 1955)

2024Bernard Hill, English actor (born 1944)

2024César Luis Menotti, Argentine footballer and manager (born 1938)

2024Jeannie Epper, American stuntwoman and actress (born 1941)

2020Millie Small, Jamaican singer-songwriter (born 1947)

2017Binyamin Elon, Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician (born 1954)

2017Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, Mauritanian politician (born 1953)

2015Hans Jansen, Dutch linguist, academic, and politician (born 1942)

2015Jobst Brandt, American cyclist, engineer, and author (born 1935)

2014Michael Otedola, Nigerian journalist and politician, 9th Governor of Lagos State (born 1926)

2013Robert Ressler, American FBI agent and author (born 1937)

2013Sarah Kirsch, German poet and author (born 1935)

2012Aatos Erkko, Finnish journalist and publisher (born 1932)

2012Carl Johan Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (born 1916)

2012George Knobel, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager (born 1922)

2012Roy Padayachie, South African lawyer and politician, South African Minister of Communications (born 1950)

2012Surendranath, Indian cricketer (born 1937)

2011Claude Choules, English-Australian soldier (born 1901)

2011Dana Wynter, British actress (born 1931)

2011Yosef Merimovich, Israeli footballer and manager (born 1924)

2010Giulietta Simionato, Italian soprano (born 1910)

2010Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, Nigerian academic and politician, 13th President of Nigeria (born 1951)

2008Irv Robbins, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (born 1917)

2008Jerry Wallace, American singer and guitarist (born 1928)

2007Theodore Harold Maiman, American-Canadian physicist and engineer, created the laser (born 1927)

2006Atıf Yılmaz, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1925)

2006Naushad Ali, Indian composer and producer (born 1919)

2003Sam Bockarie, Sierra Leonean commander (born 1964)

2003Walter Sisulu, South African activist and politician (born 1912)

2002George Sidney, American director and producer (born 1916)

Quote of the day

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

attributed to Marcus Aurelius

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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