Died on Thursday, 1st May – Famous Deaths

01/05/2023

Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1938)

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, he had numerous gold and platinum albums, and his songs have been covered by many of the world's most renowned musical artists. Lightfoot's biographer Nicholas Jennings wrote, "His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness."

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01/05/2021

Olympia Dukakis, American actress (born 1931)

Olympia Dukakis was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, in some 60 films, and in approximately 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not long after her arrival in New York City, she won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her off-Broadway performance in Bertolt Brecht's Man Equals Man.

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01/05/2015

Geoff Duke, English-Manx motorcycle racer (born 1923)

Geoffrey Ernest Duke, born in St. Helens, Lancashire, was a British multiple motorcycle Grand Prix road racing world champion. He raced several brands of motorcycle: Norton, Gilera, BMW, NSU and Benelli. After retirement from competition, he was a businessman based in the Isle of Man.

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Vafa Guluzade, Azerbaijani political scientist, academic, and diplomat (born 1940)

Vafa Guluzade was an Azerbaijani diplomat, political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution. He worked as Foreign Policy State Advisor for the President of Azerbaijan between 1990-1999.

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María Elena Velasco, Mexican actress, singer, director, and screenwriter (born 1940)

María Elena Velasco Fragoso was a Mexican actress, comedian, singer-songwriter and dancer. She was known for creating and portraying La India María, a comical character based on indigenous Mexican women.

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Grace Lee Whitney, American actress (born 1930)

Grace Lee Whitney was an American actress and singer. Her entertainment career spanned over a half century in a variety of capacities in radio, on stage, in music as a singer and songwriter, in television and in movies. She played Janice Rand on the original Star Trek television series and subsequent Star Trek films.

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01/05/2014

Adamu Atta, Nigerian lawyer and politician, 5th Governor of Kwara State (born 1927)

Alhaji Adamu Atta was the first civilian governor of the Nigerian Kwara State during the Second Republic, representing the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

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Radhia Cousot, Tunisian-American computer scientist and academic (born 1947)

Radhia Cousot was a French computer scientist known for inventing abstract interpretation.

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Assi Dayan, Israeli actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1945)

Assaf "Assi" Dayan was an Israeli film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer.

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Juan de Dios Castillo, Mexican footballer and coach (born 1951)

Juan de Dios Castillo González was a Mexican footballer and coach, last with F.C. Motagua of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras, the top tier of the Honduran football. He has coached in the Professional Mexican League, as well in the Honduras Professional League, being a 2 time Champion with Real España and Olimpia.

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01/05/2013

Chris Kelly, American rapper (born 1978)

Kris Kross was an American hip hop duo composed of rappers Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith and formed by record producer Jermaine Dupri. They were the youngest hip-hop group to gain commercial success, charting releases by the age of 13. Smith and Kelly were discovered by Dupri in 1990, with whom they signed as the first act on his record label So So Def Recordings.

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Pierre Pleimelding, French footballer and manager (born 1952)

Pierre Pleimelding was a French football striker and manager who obtained a cap for France. He is the son of another professional football player, René Pleimelding and the brother of Gérard Pleimelding.

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01/05/2012

James Kinley, Canadian engineer and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (born 1925)

John James Kinley was a Canadian engineer, industrialist and the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia since confederation.

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Mordechai Virshubski, German-Israeli lawyer and politician (born 1930)

Mordechai Virshuvski was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for several parties between 1977 and 1992.

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01/05/2011

Henry Cooper, English boxer (born 1934)

Sir Henry Cooper was a British professional boxer. He was undefeated in British and Commonwealth heavyweight championship contests for twelve years and held the European heavyweight title for three years. In a 1963 fight against Cassius Clay, he knocked Clay down in round 4, before the fight was stopped by the referee, Tommy Little, in round 5 because of a cut to Cooper's left eye.

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Ted Lowe, English sportscaster (born 1920)

Edwin Charles Ernest Lowe was an English snooker commentator for the BBC and ITV. His husky, hushed tones earned him the nickname "Whispering Ted".

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01/05/2010

Helen Wagner, American actress (born 1918)

Helen Losee Wagner was an American actress.

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01/05/2008

Anthony Mamo, Maltese judge and politician, 1st President of Malta (born 1909)

Sir Anthony Joseph Mamo, was the first president of Malta and previously served as the last governor-general of the State of Malta before the country became a republic. He was also the first Maltese citizen to be appointed Governor-General, and before independence, briefly served as acting Governor.

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Philipp von Boeselager, German soldier and economist (born 1917)

Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager was the second-last surviving member of the 20 July Plot, a conspiracy of Wehrmacht officers to assassinate the German dictator Adolf Hitler in 1944.

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01/05/2005

Kenneth Clark, American psychologist and academic (born 1914)

Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark were American psychologists who as a married team conducted research among children and were active in the Civil Rights Movement. They founded the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem and the organization Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU). Kenneth Clark was also an educator and professor at City College of New York, and first Black president of the American Psychological Association.

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01/05/2003

Miss Elizabeth, American wrestler and manager (born 1960)

Elizabeth Ann Hulette, best known in professional wrestling as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager, occasional professional wrestler and professional wrestling TV announcer. She gained international fame from 1985 to 1992 in the World Wrestling Federation and from 1996 to 2000 in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), in her role as the manager to wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, as well as other wrestlers of that period.

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Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (born 1923)

Willem "Wim" van Est was a Dutch racing cyclist. He is best known for being the first Dutch cyclist to wear the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification in the Tour de France of 1951, and for falling into a ravine while wearing it.

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01/05/2002

Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh, Indian poet and author (born 1908)

Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh Ibrahim Al-Arrayedh was a celebrated Bahraini poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the most influential literary figures in Bahrain’s modern history. His work helped shape the country’s cultural identity and led the literary movement throughout the 20th century

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01/05/2000

Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder and actor (born 1926)

Stephen Lester Reeves was an American professional bodybuilder and actor. He was famous in the mid-1950s as a movie star in Italian-made sword-and-sandal films, playing muscular protagonists such as Hercules, Aeneas, and Sandokan. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe. Though best known for his portrayal of Hercules, he played the character only twice: in Hercules (1958), and in its 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained. By 1960, Reeves was ranked as the number-one box-office draw in 25 countries.

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01/05/1998

Eldridge Cleaver, American author and activist (born 1935)

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver was an African American writer and political activist, fashion designer, convicted rapist and an early leader of the Black Panther Party serving as Minister of Information, and while in exile, Head of the International Section of the Panthers. As editor of the official Panthers' newspaper, The Black Panther, Cleaver's influence on the direction of the party was rivaled only by founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

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01/05/1997

Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (born 1927)

Fernand Dumont was a Canadian sociologist, philosopher, theologian, and poet from Quebec. A longtime professor at Université Laval, he won the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction at the 1968 Governor General's Awards for Le lieu de l'homme.

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01/05/1995

Antonio Salemme, Italian-American painter (born 1892)

Antonio Salemme was an Italian-born American sculptor and painter. His work included sculpted portraits of John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Albert Einstein, Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters, and classical nudes. He was a true American Classicist. He was what you might call a modern classicist and in the same way you could call him a classic modernist. He was devoted to self expression and the spontaneous. His work is always a balanced expression of the motif, the medium, and the artistic personality. He was not a conceptual artist but rather valued direct experience. The music. In both painting and sculpture he advances post impressionism/modernism into the late 20th C. His statement on the nature of style illuminates the difference between originality and stylization.

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01/05/1994

Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (born 1960)

Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1984 to 1994. Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held the record for most pole positions (65), among others; he won 41 Grands Prix across 11 seasons.

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01/05/1993

Pierre Bérégovoy, French metallurgist and politician, Prime Minister of France (born 1925)

Pierre Eugène Bérégovoy was a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under President François Mitterrand from 2 April 1992 to 29 March 1993. He was a member of the Socialist Party and Member of Parliament for Nièvre's 1st constituency.

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Ranasinghe Premadasa, Sri Lankan politician, 3rd President of Sri Lanka (born 1924)

Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the third president of Sri Lanka from 1989 until his assassination in 1993. He previously served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1978 to 1989, with his tenure making him the longest-serving uninterrupted Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

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01/05/1991

Richard Thorpe, American director and screenwriter (born 1896)

Richard Thorpe was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

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01/05/1990

Sergio Franchi, Italian-American tenor and actor (born 1926)

Sergio Franchi was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962, RCA Victor signed him to a seven-year contract and in October of that year Franchi appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and performed at Carnegie Hall. Sol Hurok managed Franchi's initial American concert tour.

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01/05/1989

Sally Kirkland, American journalist (born 1912)

Sally Kathleen Kirkland was a manager at Lord & Taylor, a fashion editor at Vogue magazine, and served as the only fashion editor at Life magazine between 1947 and 1969.

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V. M. Panchalingam, Sri Lankan civil servant (born 1930)

Muthiah Panchalingam was a Sri Lankan civil servant. He was assassinated by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

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Patrice Tardif, Canadian farmer and politician (born 1904)

Patrice Tardif was a politician Quebec, Canada and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (MLA).

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01/05/1988

Ben Lexcen, Australian sailor and architect (born 1936)

Benjamin Lexcen AM was an Australian yachtsman and marine architect. He is famous for the winged keel design applied to Australia II which, in 1983, became the first non-American challenger to win the prestigious America's Cup in the competition's 132-year history.

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01/05/1986

Hylda Baker, English comedian, actress and music hall performer (born 1905)

Hylda Baker was an English comedian, actress and music hall performer. Born and brought up in Farnworth, Lancashire, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as Nellie Pledge in the Granada ITV sitcom Nearest and Dearest (1968–1973) and for her role in the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

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Hugo Peretti, American songwriter and producer (born 1916)

Hugo E. Peretti was an American songwriter, trumpeter, and record producer.

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01/05/1985

Denise Robins, English journalist and author (born 1897)

Denise Robins was a prolific English romantic novelist and the first President of the Romantic Novelists' Association (1960–1966). She wrote under her first married name and under the pen-names: Denise Chesterton, Eve Vaill, 'Anne Llewellyn', Hervey Hamilton, Francesca Wright, Ashley French, Harriet Gray and Julia Kane, producing short stories, plays, and about 170 Gothic romance novels. In 1965, Robins published her autobiography, Stranger Than Fiction. At the time of her death in 1985, Robins's books had been translated into fifteen languages and had sold more than one hundred million copies. In 1984, they were borrowed more than one and a half million times from British libraries.

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01/05/1984

Jüri Lossmann, Estonian-Swedish runner (born 1891)

Jüri Lossmann was an Estonian long-distance runner. He finished second in the marathon at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, at 2:32:48.6, trailing Hannes Kolehmainen by 13 seconds, but beating the third-placed Valerio Arri by almost 4 minutes. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, he was the flag bearer for Estonia and finished tenth in the marathon.

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01/05/1982

William Primrose, Scottish viola player and educator (born 1903)

William Primrose was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed in various countries around the world as a soloist throughout his career. He also taught at several universities and institutions. He authored several books on viola technique.

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01/05/1978

Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer and conductor (born 1903)

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Soviet composers.

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01/05/1976

T. R. M. Howard, American surgeon and activist (born 1908)

Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard was an American civil rights leader, fraternal organization leader, entrepreneur and surgeon. He was a mentor to activists such as Medgar Evers, Charles Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Amzie Moore, Aaron Henry, and Jesse Jackson, whose efforts gained local and national attention leading up to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

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Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek poet and politician (born 1939)

Alexandros Panagoulis was a Greek politician and poet. He took an active role in the fight against the Regime of the Colonels (1967–1974) in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, but also for the torture to which he was subjected during his detention. After the restoration of democracy, he was elected to the Greek parliament as a member of the Centre Union (E.K.).

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01/05/1973

Asger Jorn, Danish painter and sculptor (born 1914)

Asger Oluf Jorn was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International.

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01/05/1970

Yi Un, Korean prince (born 1897)

Yi Un was the 28th Head of the Korean Imperial House, an Imperial Japanese Army general and the last Imperial Crown Prince of the Korean Empire. Before becoming the heir apparent to Sunjong of Korea, who became the emperor in 1907, Yi Un was known as the title Prince Imperial Yeong (영친왕). In 1910, the Korean Empire was annexed by Japan and Emperor Sunjong was forced to abdicate, and Yi Un married Princess Masako of Nashimoto, the eldest daughter of Prince Nashimoto Morimasa, on 28 April 1920 at Tokyo.

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01/05/1968

Jack Adams, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (born 1895)

John James "Jolly Jack" Adams was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and general manager in the National Hockey League and Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He played for the Toronto Arenas, Vancouver Millionaires, Toronto St. Patricks and Ottawa Senators between 1917 and 1927. He won the Stanley Cup twice as a player, with Toronto in 1918 and Ottawa in 1927, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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Harold Nicolson, English author and politician (born 1886)

Sir Harold George Nicolson was a British politician, writer, broadcaster and gardener. His wife was Vita Sackville-West.

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01/05/1965

Spike Jones, American singer and bandleader (born 1911)

Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements and satire of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with various sound effects, including gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps, sneezes, animal sounds and outlandish and comedic vocals. Jones and his band recorded for RCA Victor under the title Spike Jones and His City Slickers from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, and they toured the United States and Canada as "The Musical Depreciation Revue".

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01/05/1963

Lope K. Santos, Filipino lawyer and politician (born 1879)

Lope K. Santos was a Filipino Tagalog-language writer and former senator of the Philippines. He is best known for his 1906 socialist novel, Banaag at Sikat and for his contributions to the development of Filipino grammar and Tagalog orthography.

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01/05/1960

Charles Holden, English architect, designed the Bristol Central Library (born 1875)

Charles Henry Holden was an English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway, for the University of London's Senate House and for Bristol Central Library. He created many war cemeteries in Belgium and northern France for the Imperial War Graves Commission.

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01/05/1956

LeRoy Samse, American pole vaulter (born 1883)

LeRoy Perry Samse was an American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. Samse represented the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis, United States in the pole vault where he won the silver medal.

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01/05/1955

William Thomson Sloper, American stockbroker and survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic (born 1883)

William Thomson Sloper was an American stockbroker and survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Sloper, who was 28 when the Titanic sank, traveled as a first-class passenger and was saved after boarding lifeboat #7, the first to be launched from the vessel.

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01/05/1953

Everett Shinn, American painter and illustrator (born 1876)

Everett Shinn was an American painter and member of the urban realist Ashcan School.

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01/05/1945

Joseph Goebbels, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1897)

Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and philologist who was the Gauleiter of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted followers and was known for his skills in public speaking and his extreme antisemitism which was evident in his publicly voiced views. He advocated for progressively harsher discrimination, including the extermination of Jews and other groups in the Holocaust.

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Magda Goebbels, German wife of Joseph Goebbels (born 1901)

Johanna Maria Magdalena Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Germany's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. A prominent member of the Nazi Party, she was a close ally, companion, and political supporter of Adolf Hitler. Some historians refer to her as the unofficial "first lady" of Nazi Germany, while others give that title to Emmy Göring.

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01/05/1944

Napoleon Soukatzidis, Greek communist and trade unionist (born 1909)

Napoleon Soukatzidis was a Greek communist, trade unionist and one of the 200 prisoners executed at the firing range of the Athens suburb of Kaisariani by the Nazi occupation forces on May 1, 1944.

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01/05/1943

Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian religious leader, founded the Brunstad Christian Church (born 1871)

Johan Oscar Smith was a Norwegian Christian leader who founded the evangelical non-denominational fellowship now known as Brunstad Christian Church.

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01/05/1935

Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (born 1889)

Henri Pélissier was a French racing cyclist from Paris and champion of the 1923 Tour de France. In addition to his 29 career victories, he was known for his long-standing feud with Tour founder Henri Desgrange and for protesting against the conditions endured by riders in the early years of the Tour. He was killed by his lover with the gun that his wife had used to commit suicide.

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01/05/1920

Princess Margaret of Connaught (born 1882)

Princess Margaret of Connaught was Crown Princess of Sweden as the first wife of the future King Gustaf VI Adolf. Known in Sweden as Margareta, she was the elder daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. Her marriage produced five children.

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01/05/1913

John Barclay Armstrong, American lieutenant (born 1850)

John Barclay Armstrong was a Texas Ranger lieutenant and a United States Marshal. He is usually remembered for his role in the pursuit and capture of the famous gunfighter John Wesley Hardin.

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01/05/1907

Grigorios Maraslis, Greek philanthropist (born 1831)

Grigorios Maraslis was an official of the Russian Empire and long-time mayor of Odesa (1878–1895) of Greek origin. A noted philanthropist, he sponsored many buildings and educational institutions both in Odesa and in various cities in Greece and for the Greek communities of the Ottoman Empire. He was awarded Order of the Cross of Takovo and Order of Prince Danilo I.

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01/05/1904

Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer and academic (born 1841)

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana. Dvořák's style has been described as "the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them", and Dvořák has been described as "arguably the most versatile... composer of his time".

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01/05/1899

Ludwig Büchner, German physiologist and physician (born 1824)

Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig Büchner was a German philosopher, physiologist and physician who became one of the exponents of 19th-century scientific materialism.

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01/05/1873

David Livingstone, Scottish-English missionary and explorer (born 1813)

David Livingstone was a Scottish doctor, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livingstone, from the prominent 18th-century Moffat missionary family. Livingstone came to have a mythic status as a Protestant missionary martyr, working-class "rags-to-riches" inspirational story, scientific investigator and explorer, imperial reformer, anti-slavery crusader, and advocate of British commercial and colonial expansion. As a result, he became one of the most popular British heroes of the late 19th-century Victorian era.

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01/05/1856

John Wilbur, American minister and theologian (born 1774)

John Wilbur was a prominent American Quaker minister and religious thinker who was at the forefront of a controversy that led to "the second split" in the Religious Society of Friends in the United States.

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01/05/1838

Antoine Louis Dugès, French obstetrician and naturalist (born 1797)

Antoine Louis Dugès was a French obstetrician and naturalist born in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes. He was the father of zoologist Alfredo Dugès (1826–1910), and a nephew to midwife Marie-Louise Lachapelle (1769–1821).

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01/05/1813

Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French general (born 1768)

Jean-Baptiste Bessières, duc d'Istrie was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire by Emperor Napoleon in 1804.

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01/05/1772

Gottfried Achenwall, Polish-German historian, economist, and jurist (born 1719)

Gottfried Achenwall was a German philosopher, historian, economist, jurist and statistician. He is counted among the inventors of statistics.

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01/05/1738

Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English politician, First Lord of the Treasury (born 1669)

Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, PC was a British nobleman, peer, and statesman.

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01/05/1731

Johann Ludwig Bach, German violinist and composer (born 1677)

Johann Ludwig Bach was a German composer and violinist.

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01/05/1730

François de Troy, French painter and engraver (born 1645)

François de Troy was a French painter and engraver who became principal painter to King James II in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Director of the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture.

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01/05/1668

Frans Luycx, Flemish painter (born 1604)

Frans Luycx or Frans Luyckx was a Flemish painter who became the leading portrait painter at the imperial court of Emperor Ferdinand III in Vienna. He is best known for his portraits of the Emperor's family and various members of the Habsburgs, including its Austrian and Spanish branches.

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01/05/1572

Pope Pius V (born 1504)

Pope Pius V, OP, born Antonio Ghislieri, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 January 1566 to his death, in May 1572.

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01/05/1555

Pope Marcellus II (born 1501)

Pope Marcellus II, born Marcello Cervini degli Spannocchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 10 April 1555 to his death, 22 days later.

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01/05/1539

Isabella of Portugal (born 1503)

Isabella of Portugal was the empress consort of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Burgundy. She was Queen of Spain and Germany, and Lady of the Netherlands from 10 March 1526 until her death in 1539, and became Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Italy in February 1530. She acted as regent of Spain during her husband's long absences.

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01/05/1312

Paul I Šubić of Bribir

Paul I Šubić of Bribir was Ban of Croatia between 1275 and 1312, and Lord of Bosnia from 1299 to 1312. As the oldest son of Stephen II of the Šubić noble family, he inherited the title of count of Bribir. He was appointed ban in 1273. He was relieved from duty in 1274, following his involvement in disputes between the Dalmatian coastal cities of Trogir and Split, and was returned to office in 1275.

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01/05/1308

Albert I of Germany (born 1255)

Albert I of Habsburg was a Duke of Austria and Styria from 1282 and King of Germany from 1298 until his assassination. He was the eldest son of King Rudolf I of Germany and his first wife Gertrude of Hohenberg. Sometimes referred to as 'Albert the One-eyed' because of a battle injury that left him with a hollow eye socket and a permanent snarl.

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01/05/1278

William II of Villehardouin

William of Villehardouin was the fourth prince of Achaea in Frankish Greece, from 1246 to 1278. The younger son of Prince Geoffrey I, he held the Barony of Kalamata in fief during the reign of his elder brother Geoffrey II. William ruled Achaea as regent for his brother during Geoffrey's military campaigns against the Greeks of Nicaea, who were the principal enemies of his overlord, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople Baldwin II. William succeeded his childless brother in the summer of 1246. Conflicts between Nicaea and Epirus enabled him to complete the conquest of the Morea in about three years. He captured Monemvasia and built three new fortresses, forcing two previously autonomous tribes, the Tzakones and Melingoi, into submission. He participated in the unsuccessful Egyptian crusade of Louis IX of France, who rewarded him with the right to issue currency in the style of French royal coins.

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01/05/1277

Stefan Uroš I of Serbia (born 1223)

Stefan Uroš I, known as Uroš the Great was the King of Serbia from 1243 to 1276, succeeding his brother Stefan Vladislav. He was one of the most important rulers in Serbian history. During his reign the foundations were laid for the expansion of the Serbian medieval state, which would become an empire in the middle of the 14th century.

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01/05/1255

Walter de Gray, English prelate and statesman

Walter de Gray was an English prelate and statesman who was Archbishop of York from 1215 to 1255 and Lord Chancellor from 1205 to 1214. His uncle was John de Gray, who was a bishop and royal servant to King John of England. After securing the office of chancellor, the younger Gray was a supporter of the king throughout his struggles and was present at the signing of Magna Carta in 1215. After two unsuccessful elections to a bishopric, he became Bishop of Worcester in 1214 but soon after moved to York. During the reign of John's son, King Henry III, Gray continued to serve the king while also being active in his archdiocese. He died in 1255 and was buried at York Minster, where his tomb still survives.

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01/05/1187

Roger de Moulins, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller

Roger de Moulins was the master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1177 until his death in 1187. He succeeded Jobert of Syria. His successors were two interim masters, William Borrel and then Armengol de Aspa, before Garnier of Nablus was selected in 1190.

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01/05/1171

Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster (born 1110)

Diarmait Mac Murchada, was King of Leinster in Ireland from 1127 to 1171. In 1167, he was deposed by the High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair. To recover his kingdom, Mac Murchada solicited help from King Henry II of England. His issue unresolved, he gained the military support of the Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, thus initiating the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.

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01/05/1118

Matilda of Scotland (born 1080)

Matilda of Scotland, also known as Good Queen Maud, was Queen consort of England and Duchess of Normandy as the first wife of King Henry I. She acted as regent of England on several occasions during Henry's absences: in 1104, 1107, 1108, and 1111.

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01/05/0908

Wang Zongji, Chinese prince and pretender

Wang Zongji (王宗佶), né Gan (甘), was an adoptive son of Wang Jian, the founding emperor of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Former Shu. He was the oldest among Wang Jian's 120 adoptive sons and considered himself a potential successor to Wang Jian. In 908, Wang Jian, angry over his arrogance, had him put to death.

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01/05/0558

Marcouf, missionary and saint

Marculf was the abbot at Nantus in the Cotentin. He is regarded as a saint and is associated with the healing of scrofula.

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01/05/0408

Arcadius, Byzantine emperor (born 377)

Arcadius was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408. He was the eldest son of the Augustus Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius. Arcadius ruled the eastern half of the empire from 395, when their father died, while Honorius ruled the west. In his time, he was seen as a weak ruler dominated by a series of powerful ministers and by his wife, Aelia Eudoxia.

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