Monday, 18th May 2026 in Paris

18th May in the Stars – Star Sign Taurus

Today, the zodiac sign Taurus celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality People born on May 18 blend Taurus stability with Mercury intellect into an unusual combination. These individuals think deeply, communicate thoughtfully, and maintain grounded practicality. Numerological 5 adds curiosity and adaptability to their otherwise steadfast nature.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their strengths lie in clever communication, dependability, and practical acumen. However, stubbornness and resistance to change can become obstacles. The inner tension between craving change and seeking security demands careful balance.

Love These natives seek deep, sensual connection infused with intellectual depth. They're loyal and attentive yet need mental stimulation and room for personal growth. Superficiality bores them; genuine closeness with substance is the ideal.

Caree & Finance Mercury influence makes them skilled negotiators and communicators in practical fields. They thrive in roles combining analysis with stability – crafts, sales, consulting. Financially savvy and prudent, they also enjoy material comforts and quality living.

Health Physical well-being matters greatly to these people; they prefer steady, sustainable routines. Stress may manifest as neck tension. Balancing mental activity with physical outlets—yoga, craftsmanship—promotes optimal health and contentment.

That night, the moon was in its full moon phase.

Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 18th May

Name Days in Your Language: Aric, Eric, Erica, Erich, Erick, Ericka, Erik, Erika, Perry

Someone born on this day would be just 13 days old today — roughly 333 hours, 19,986 minutes, or 1,199,196 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 138. day of the year. In 2026, 18th May falls on a Monday.

There are 227 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 21 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 18th May

On this day, 218 notable people were born on 18th May — spanning from 1048 to 2009. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

18/05/2009

Hala Finley, American actress

Hala Finley is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in Man with a Plan (2016–2020) as Emme Burns and in We Can Be Heroes (2020) as Ojo.

18/05/2003

Travis Hunter, American football player

Travis Hunter Jr. is an American professional football cornerback and wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Jackson State Tigers and Colorado Buffaloes, winning the Heisman Trophy with the latter in 2024. Known for his two-way playing ability, Hunter is the only player in college football history to win both the Chuck Bednarik and Fred Biletnikoff Awards. He was selected by the Jaguars second overall in the 2025 NFL draft.

18/05/2002

Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater

Alina Ilnazovna Zagitova is a Russian former competitive figure skater. She is the 2018 Olympic champion, the 2019 World champion, the 2018 European champion, 2017–18 Grand Prix Final champion, and the 2018 Russian national champion. She also won a silver medal in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Earlier in her career, she won gold at the 2017 World Junior Championships and at the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final.

18/05/2001

Emma Navarro, American tennis player

Emma Navarro is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of No. 8 by the WTA, achieved on September 9, 2024, and a doubles ranking of No. 93, achieved on August 12, 2024. Navarro has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, and reached a major semifinal at the 2024 US Open.

18/05/2000

Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer

Kouassi Ryan Sessegnon is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back, left midfielder, or left winger for Premier League club Fulham.

Steven Sessegnon, English footballer

Zeze Steven Sessegnon is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for EFL League One club Wigan Athletic.

18/05/1999

Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter

Laura Omloop is a Belgian pop singer who represented her country in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Kyiv, Ukraine, finishing in fourth place. Omloop sang the song "Zo verliefd", which contains yodeling. This was Belgium's best result in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

18/05/1998

Polina Edmunds, American figure skater

Polina Edmunds Bast is a retired American figure skater. She is the 2015 Four Continents champion, the 2014 CS U.S. Classic champion, and a two-time U.S. national silver medalist. She represented the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, finishing 9th.

18/05/1993

Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player

Stuart Percy is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing for HC Vítkovice Ridera in the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He was selected 25th overall in the 2011 NHL entry draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Jessica Watson, Australian sailor

Jessica Rose Watson is an Australian sailor who attempted a solo circumnavigation at the age of 16 from 18 October 2009 to 15 May 2010. Although she circled the planet, she did it in a narrow range of latitudes relatively far from the equator that resulted in her voyage falling short of the distance criterion of 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 km) for a circumnavigation – the equivalent of the circumference of the Earth at the equator – by nearly 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km); Watson was nevertheless named 2011 Young Australian of the Year and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012 for "...service to sailing and to youth through the achievement of sailing solo and unassisted around the world, and as a role model for young Australians". As of November 2022, she resides in Melbourne. Netflix produced a film, True Spirit (2023), about Watson's voyage.

18/05/1992

Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model

Adwoa Caitlin Maria Aboah is a British fashion model and actress. In December 2017 she appeared on the cover of British Vogue. She has also been on the cover of American Vogue, Vogue Italia, Vogue Poland, and i-D. In 2017, the fashion industry voted her as Model of the Year for models.com. She is the founder of Gurls Talk, a platform that provides resources and a safe space for young women and girls to discuss Mental Health.

18/05/1990

Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer

Dimitri Daeseleire is a retired Belgian football player who played as a right back. He is currently manager of Londerzeel in the Belgian Division 3.

Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer

Yuya Osako is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for J1 League club Vissel Kobe.

Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player

Josh Starling is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League and his position was prop.

18/05/1988

Taeyang, South Korean singer

Dong Young-bae, better known by his stage name Taeyang or SOL, is a South Korean singer and songwriter. He made his debut in 2006 as a member of the South Korean boy band BigBang. Following the release of several albums and extended plays with his group, Taeyang pursued a solo career in 2008, releasing his first extended play, Hot. The EP was acclaimed by critics and went to win the award for Best R&B & Soul Album at the 6th Korean Music Awards. Hot was followed by his first full-length studio album Solar (2010), which was released in July 2010 and peaked atop the Gaon Album Chart.

18/05/1986

Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player

Kevin Michael Anderson is a South African former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking of world No. 5 on 16 July 2018. He was the first South African to be ranked in the top 5 since Kevin Curren was No. 5 on 23 September 1985.

18/05/1985

Oliver Sin, Hungarian painter

Oliver Sin is a Hungarian artist.

Henrique Sereno, Portuguese footballer

Henrique Sereno Fonseca, known as Sereno, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central defender.

18/05/1984

Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter

Ivet Miroslavova Lalova-Collio, née Lalova, is a retired Bulgarian athlete who specialised in the 100 metres and 200 metres sprint events. She is the 13th-fastest woman in the history of the 100 metres. She finished fourth in the 100 metres and fifth in the 200 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Her career was interrupted for two years between June 2005 and May 2007 due to a leg injury sustained in a collision with another athlete. In June 2012 she won gold at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in the Women's 100 metres. In July 2016 she won two silver medals at the 2016 European Athletics Championships in both the Women's 100 and 200 metres. She has participated in five editions of the Olympic Games.

Simon Pagenaud, French race car driver

Simon Pierre Michel Pagenaud is a French former professional racing driver, who last drove the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the top class championship title in the 2010 American Le Mans Series, he moved to the Indycar Series where he became the 2016 IndyCar champion and the 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner, becoming the first driver born in France to win the Indianapolis 500 since Gaston Chevrolet in 1920 and the first polesitter to have won the race since Helio Castroneves in 2009.

Darius Šilinskis, Lithuanian basketball player

Darius Šilinskis is a former professional Lithuanian basketball center, who last played for NKL's JAZZ-Diremta. He is 2.16 m tall and weights 118 kg. In his early professional career he had couple stints with Žalgiris Kaunas.

Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player

Joakim Agustín Soria Ramos is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays from 2007 to 2021.

Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist

Niki Terpstra is a Dutch former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2022 for six different teams. He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Mike Terpstra. He is the third Dutch cyclist to have won both of the cobbled Monument spring classics, Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, after Jan Raas and Hennie Kuiper.

18/05/1983

Gary O'Neil, English footballer

Gary Paul O'Neil is an English football manager and former player who is the head coach of Ligue 1 club Strasbourg.

Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player

Luis Enrique Terrero Gomez is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, and Chicago White Sox, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Vince Young, American football player

Vincent Paul Young Jr. is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons, primarily with the Tennessee Titans. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, winning the Maxwell, Davey O'Brien, and Manning awards in 2005 en route to a victory in the 2006 Rose Bowl. Young was selected by the Titans third overall in the 2006 NFL draft.

18/05/1982

Jason Brown, English footballer

Jason Roy Brown is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career at Gillingham where he made over 100 appearances, before joining up with Premier League side Blackburn Rovers in 2006. Born in England, was capped three times for Wales after making his debut in 2006.

Marie-Ève Pelletier, Canadian tennis player

Marie-Ève Pelletier is a Canadian former professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of 106 in singles and 54 in doubles.

18/05/1981

Mahamadou Diarra, Malian international footballer

Mahamadou Diarra is a Malian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He served as captain for the Mali national team.

Ashley Harrison, Australian rugby league player

Ashley Harrison is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a lock in the 2000s and 2010s.

18/05/1980

Reggie Evans, American basketball player

Reginald Jamaal Evans is an American former professional basketball player who last played in the Big3 League. A Power forward, Evans played 13 seasons in the NBA with seven teams. Evans was known for his rebounding, tenacity and hustle on the defensive end.

Michaël Llodra, French tennis player

Michaël Llodra is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 3 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), winning 26 career doubles titles, including three majors and an Olympic silver medal. Llodra also had success in singles, winning five career titles and with victories over Novak Djokovic, Juan Martín del Potro, Tomáš Berdych, Robin Söderling, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nikolay Davydenko, Janko Tipsarević and John Isner. Llodra has been called "the best volleyer on tour."

Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer

Diego Fernando Pérez Aguado, nicknamed "Ruso", is a Uruguayan football manager and former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He has played 89 matches for the Uruguay national football team, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2011 editions of the Copa América. He is currently the manager of Uruguay A' and Uruguay under-18 national teams.

18/05/1979

Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft

Jens Peder Bergensten, known professionally as Jeb, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is best known as the lead designer of Minecraft, and is the chief creative officer of Mojang Studios. In 2013, he, along with Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson, was named as one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world. As an employee of Mojang Studios, he had been co-developing Minecraft with Persson since 2010, became the lead designer in 2011, and assumed full control in 2014, when Persson left the company after its acquisition.

Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer

Mariusz Lewandowski is a Polish professional football manager and former player. He was most recently in charge of Polish I liga club Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza.

Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoeist

Michal Martikán is a Slovak slalom canoeist who has been competing at the international level since 1994. In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic gold medal for Slovakia since the country gained independence in 1993. In total he won 5 Olympic medals, which is the most among all slalom paddlers. He has also won the World Championship title in the C1 individual category four times.

Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer

Milivoje Novaković is a Slovenian retired footballer who played as a forward.

Julián Speroni, Argentinian footballer

Julián Maria Speroni is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

18/05/1978

Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer

Ricardo Alberto Silveira de Carvalho is a Portuguese football coach and former player who is assistant head coach of the Portugal national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs of his generation.

Marcus Giles, American baseball player

Marcus William Giles is an American former Major League Baseball player. He was a second baseman and batted right-handed. His older brother, Brian Giles, was an outfielder who also played in the Major Leagues. Marcus and Brian played together on the 2007 San Diego Padres.

Charles Kamathi, Kenyan runner

Charles Wawerū Kamathi is a Kenyan long-distance runner. He is best known for winning the 10,000 metres distance at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton.

18/05/1977

Lee Hendrie, English footballer

Lee Andrew Hendrie is an English former professional footballer and pundit for Sky Sports.

Danny Mills, English footballer and sportscaster

Daniel John Mills is an English former professional footballer, his main position was right-back, though he could also play as a centre-back.

Li Tie, Chinese footballer and manager

Li Tie is a Chinese former professional football coach and player.

18/05/1976

Ron Mercer, American basketball player

Ronald Eugene Mercer is an American former professional basketball player. After his career at the University of Kentucky, Mercer played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA); he ended his career with the New Jersey Nets in 2005.

Marko Tomasović, Croatian pianist and composer

Marko Tomasović is a Croatian composer and songwriter. He has composed and written more than 300 songs. His work has covered various genres. Marko is a member of Croatian Composers' Society, and he was listed as one of the 10 most performed authors in Croatia in 2004.

Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player

Oleg Fedorovych Tverdovsky is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played professionally from 1994 to 2013. He was selected 2nd overall by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 1994 NHL entry draft, playing 713 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes, and Los Angeles Kings. He won 2 Stanley Cups with the Devils in 2003, and the Hurricanes in 2006.

18/05/1975

Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer

Jemma Gwynne Griffiths, known by her stage name Jem, is a Welsh singer, songwriter, and record producer.

John Higgins, Scottish snooker player

John Higgins is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners. He has won four World Championships, three UK Championships and two Masters titles, for a total of nine Triple Crown titles, behind only four players. He first entered the top 16 in the 1995–96 world rankings and remained there continuously for over 29 years until September 2024, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted tenure as a top-16 player. He reached the world number one position four times.

Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Jack Hody Johnson is an American singer-songwriter. He plays a variety of styles including pop, rock, acoustic, folk, and surf rock.

Ingvild Kjerkol, Norwegian politician

Ingvild Kjerkol is a Norwegian politician. A member of Labour Party, she was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Nord-Trøndelag first time in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021. She has been a member of the Standing Committee on Transport and Communications, and of the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services. From 2021 to 2024, she served as minister of health and care services.

18/05/1974

Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and sportscaster

Nelson Figueroa is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, and Houston Astros. Figueroa also played for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. He featured a fastball topping out at 91 mph, slider, curveball, changeup, and a splitter. He has also worked as a post-game studio analyst for Mets broadcasts.

18/05/1973

Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach

Donyell Lamar Marshall is an American basketball coach and former professional player. Drafted with the fourth pick in the 1994 NBA draft, he played for eight different teams during his National Basketball Association (NBA) career which lasted until 2009. In 2005, he hit a then-record 12 three-pointers in a single game.

Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (died 2011)

Aleksandr Olerski was a football forward from Estonia. His last club was FC Puuma Tallinn.

18/05/1972

Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Turner Ladd Stevenson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, and Philadelphia Flyers. He won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2003.

18/05/1971

Brad Friedel, American international soccer player, manager and sportscaster

Bradley Howard Friedel is an American professional soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper.

Mark Menzies, Scottish politician

Mark Andrew Menzies is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Fylde in Lancashire from 2010 to 2024. As a member of the Conservative Party, he was the parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Charles Hendry, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, before both were removed in the 2012 British cabinet reshuffle.

Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese race car driver

Nobuteru 'NOB' Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting driver who currently competes in the Super GT racing series. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.

18/05/1970

Javier Cárdenas, Spanish singer, television and radio presenter

Francisco Javier Cárdenas Pérez is a Spanish singer, television presenter, and radio presenter.

Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter

Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. Known for her comedic roles in sketch comedy, television and film, Fey has received numerous accolades, including ten Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and a Tony Award. She appeared on the Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world in both 2007 and 2009 and was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2010.

Tim Horan, Australian rugby player and sportscaster

Tim Horan is an Australian rugby union commentator and former player. He played for the Queensland Reds in the Super 12, and represented Australia. He was one of the best centres in the world throughout the 1990s due to his attacking prowess, formidable defence and playmaking ability. He became one of only 43 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions.

Billy Howerdel, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer

William L. Howerdel is an American musician, best known as a founding member, guitarist, backing vocalist, songwriter, and producer for the band A Perfect Circle, as well as for his former solo project, Ashes Divide. Howerdel has recorded six studio albums across his career: four with A Perfect Circle, one under the moniker Ashes Divide, and one under his own name.

Vicky Sunohara, Canadian former ice hockey player

Vicky Sunohara is a Canadian ice hockey coach, former ice hockey player, and three-time Olympic medallist. She has been described as "the Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey" and is recognized as a trailblazer and pioneer for the sport. In 2020, Sunohara was named to "TSN Hockey’s All-Time Women’s Team Canada," in recognition of her status as one of Canada’s best female hockey players of all time. She was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2025.

18/05/1969

Troy Cassar-Daley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Troy Cassar-Daley is an Australian country music songwriter and entertainer of Aboriginal heritage. He released his first single, "Dream Out Loud", in 1994, followed by his debut album, Beyond the Dancing, in 1995, and has continued to release music since then, including the platinum-selling The Great Country Songbook (2013) with Adam Harvey. Throughout his career he has received many awards, including ARIA Music Awards, Golden Guitars, Deadly Awards, Country Music Association of Australia Entertainer of the Year awards, and National Indigenous Music Awards.

Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Marta Marrero, better known professionally as Martika, is an American singer and actress. She rose to prominence as an actress, playing the role of Gloria in the television program Kids Incorporated between 1984 and 1986. Following her appearance in the show, Martika signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, and in October 1988 released her self titled debut album to critical acclaim. It spawned the internationally successful single "Toy Soldiers", which peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. It received similar commercial success in other international territories, and received a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Other singles released from the album, like "More Than You Know", "I Feel the Earth Move" and "Water", also achieved commercial success. The album itself sold over three million copies worldwide.

Antônio Carlos Zago, Brazilian footballer and manager

Antônio Carlos Zago, sometimes known as just Antônio Carlos or simply Zago, is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a centre back.

18/05/1968

Philippe Benetton, French rugby player

Philippe Benetton is a former French rugby union footballer and currently head coach of Tournon d'Agenais. He played as a flanker.

Ralf Kelleners, German race car driver

Ralf Kelleners is a racing driver from Germany. Kelleners won the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans in class alongside Guy Martinoelle and Bruno Eichmann.

18/05/1967

Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author

Nina Björk is a Swedish writer and a feminist activist. She is most well known for Under det rosa täcket , a feminist book written in 1996.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German race car driver

Heinz-Harald Frentzen is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1994 to 2003. Frentzen was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1997 with Williams, and won three Grands Prix across 10 seasons.

Nancy Juvonen, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded Flower Films

Nancy Juvonen is an American film producer. She and Drew Barrymore own the production company Flower Films.

Mimi Macpherson, Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity

Mimi Macpherson is an Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity.

18/05/1966

Renata Nielsen, Polish-Danish long jumper and coach

Renata Pytelewska-Nielsen, née Renata Pytelewska, is a Polish-born former Danish long jumper.

Michael Tait, American singer-songwriter and producer

Michael DeWayne Tait is an American singer. He was active in contemporary Christian music from 1987 to early 2025 as the vocalist for DC Talk, Tait, and Newsboys.

18/05/1964

Ignasi Guardans, Spanish academic and politician

Ignasi Guardans i Cambó is a Spanish former politician, currently an independent figure still present in the Spanish media and public opinion. He is one of the 14 grandsons of Francesc Cambó.

18/05/1963

Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Martin James McSorley is a Canadian former professional hockey player, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1983 to 2000. A versatile player, he could play both the forward and defense positions. He was also head coach of the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League from 2002 to 2004. He was a valued teammate of Wayne Gretzky when they played together for the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, serving as an enforcer.

Sam Vincent, American basketball player and coach

James Samuel Vincent is an American former professional basketball player, and coach. He currently works as a defensive coach for MBB of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Vincent was Mr. Basketball of Michigan in 1981, before playing with Michigan State, and turned professional after four years of college basketball. He became an NBA champion in 1986 with the Boston Celtics. Vincent began a coaching career in Europe after his retirement.

18/05/1961

Russell Senior, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Russell Senior is a British musician, record producer, and playwright. He is best known as the former guitarist and violinist of Pulp and Venini as well as for his production work with The Long Blondes and Art Brut.

18/05/1960

Brent Ashton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Brent Kenneth Ashton is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent 14 seasons in the National Hockey League between 1979 and 1993. Despite being a fine goalscoring winger, he was known during his career for being the most-traded player in the history of the NHL, a record since tied by Mike Sillinger.

Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player, coach, and manager

Jari Pekka Kurri is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. Beginning in 1980, he played right wing for five National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, the New York Rangers, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and the Colorado Avalanche. Prior to his NHL career, Kurri excelled for Jokerit in the SM-liiga and he rose from playing in the Finnish junior ice hockey team to the the country's national hockey team in two years. He was drafted as the fourth round of the 1980 NHL draft by the Oilers and immediately played for the team that year.

Yannick Noah, French tennis player

Yannick Noah is a French former professional tennis player and singer, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. Noah won the French Open in 1983, and is a former captain of both France's Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams. During his nearly two-decade career, Noah captured 23 singles titles and 16 doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 3 in July 1986 and attaining the world No. 1 doubles ranking the following month. Since his retirement from the game, Noah has remained in the public eye as a popular music performer and as the co-founder, with his mother, of a charity organization for underprivileged children. He is commemorated each year at Roland-Garros with Yannick Noah's Day. Noah is also the father of former NBA player Joakim Noah.

18/05/1959

Graham Dilley, English cricketer and coach (died 2011)

Graham Roy Dilley was an English international cricketer, whose main role was as a fast bowler. He played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and Worcestershire County Cricket Clubs, and appeared in 41 Test matches and 36 One Day International (ODIs) for the England cricket team.

Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Gordon Jay Wells is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. He was nicknamed "The Hammer" for his tough, physical style of play.

18/05/1958

Rubén Omar Romano, Argentinian-Mexican footballer and coach

Rubén Omar Romano Cachía is an Argentine former footballer and current manager.

Toyah Willcox, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Toyah Ann Willcox is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released more than 20 albums, written two books, appeared in more than 40 stage plays and 10 feature films, and voiced and presented numerous television shows.

18/05/1957

Michael Cretu, Romanian-German keyboard player and producer

Michael Cretu is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990.

Henrietta Moore, English anthropologist and academic

Professor Dame Henrietta L. Moore, is a British social anthropologist and leading global thinker on prosperity. She is Founder and Director of the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity, part of the Bartlett, UCL's Faculty of the Built Environment, and holds Chair in Culture, Philosophy and Design at University College, London.

18/05/1956

Catherine Corsini, French director and screenwriter

Catherine Corsini is a French film director, screenwriter, and actress. Her film Replay was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Her 2012 film Three Worlds competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

John Godber, English playwright and screenwriter

John Harry Godber is an English playwright, known mainly for observational comedies. The Plays and Players Yearbook of 1993 rated him the third most performed playwright in the UK after William Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn. He has been creative director of the Theatre Royal Wakefield since 2011.

Jim Moginie, Australian guitarist and songwriter

James 'Jim' Moginie is an Australian musician. He is best known for his work with Midnight Oil, of which he was a founding member, guitarist, keyboardist, singer and leading songwriter.

18/05/1955

Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter

Chow Yun-fat SBS, previously known as Donald Chow, is a Hong Kong actor and filmmaker. In a film career spanning more than forty-five years, Chow has appeared in over 100 television drama series and films. Known for his versatility, encompassing action and melodrama, comedy and historical drama, his accolades include three Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actor and two Golden Horse Awards for Best Actor.

18/05/1954

Wreckless Eric, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Eric Goulden, known as Wreckless Eric, is an English rock and new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single "Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two decades after its release, the song was included in Mojo magazine's list of the best punk rock singles of all time. It was also acclaimed as one of the "top 40 singles of the alternative era 1975–2000".

Eric Gerets, Belgian footballer and manager

Eric Maria Gerets (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈeːrɪk ˈxeːrəts]; born 18 May 1954) is a Belgian former professional football manager and player. Nicknamed "The Lion (of Flanders)", he was regarded as one of the top right-backs in Europe at his peak and is considered one of the greatest players in Belgian football history.

18/05/1953

Alan Kupperberg, American author and illustrator (died 2015)

Alan Kupperberg was an American comics artist known for working in both comic books and newspaper strips.

18/05/1952

Diane Duane, American author and screenwriter

Diane Duane is an American science fiction and fantasy author, long based in Ireland. Her works include the Young Wizards young adult fantasy series and the Rihannsu Star Trek novels.

David Leakey, English general and politician

Lieutenant General Arundell David Leakey, is a former British Army officer. He was Director General of the European Union Military Staff in the Council of the European Union, Brussels. In 2010 he was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, a role he held until February 2018.

George Strait, American singer, guitarist and producer

George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, music producer, and rancher. Strait has sold tens of millions of records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Jeana Yeager, American pilot

Jeana Lee Yeager is an American aviator. She co-piloted, along with Dick Rutan, the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager aircraft from December 14 to 23, 1986. The flight took 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds and covered 24,986 miles (40,211 km), almost doubling the old distance record set by a Boeing B-52 strategic bomber in 1962.

18/05/1951

Richard Clapton, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Richard Clapton is an Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer. His solo top 20 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart are "Girls on the Avenue" (1975) and "I Am an Island" (1982). He reached the top 20 on the related albums chart with Goodbye Tiger (1977), Hearts on the Nightline (1979), The Great Escape (1982) and The Very Best of Richard Clapton (1982). Clapton's highest-charting album, Music Is Love (1966–1970), peaked at number 3 on the ARIA Chart.

Jim Sundberg, American baseball player and sportscaster

James Howard Sundberg is an American former professional baseball player, television sports analyst, and executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1974 to 1989, most prominently as a member of the Texas Rangers where he established himself as one of the top defensive catchers of his era. A three-time All-Star player, Sundberg won six consecutive Gold Glove Awards during his tenure with the Rangers. Later in his career, he won a World Series championship as a member of the Kansas City Royals in 1985. He also played for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs. Sundberg was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame in 2003.

Angela Voigt, German long jumper (died 2013)

Angela Voigt, née Schmalfeld was an East German long jumper.

18/05/1950

Rod Milburn, American hurdler and coach (died 1997)

Rodney Milburn Jr. was an American hurdler who won gold at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich in the 110 m hurdles.

Mark Mothersbaugh, American singer-songwriter and painter

Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer and artist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead vocalist and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose "Whip It" was a top 20 single in the US in 1980, peaking at No. 14, and which has since maintained a cult following. Mothersbaugh was one of the primary composers of Devo's music.

18/05/1949

Walter Hawkins, American gospel music singer and pastor (died 2010)

Walter Lee Hawkins was an American gospel singer, songwriter, composer, and pastor. An influential figure in urban contemporary gospel music, his career spanned more than four decades. Hawkins won one Grammy from a sum of eight nominations.

Rick Wakeman, English progressive rock keyboardist and songwriter

Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboardist and composer best known for his multiple tenures in the progressive rock band Yes and for his prolific solo career, which has spanned six decades. His most successful and acclaimed albums are his first three progressive rock concept albums–The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973), the UK number-one Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974), and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975). AllMusic describes Wakeman as a "classically trained keyboardist extraordinaire who plied his trade with Yes and developed his own brand of live spectacular in a solo act."

18/05/1948

Joe Bonsall, American country/gospel singer (died 2024)

Joseph Sloan Bonsall Jr. was an American singer who was tenor vocalist of the Oak Ridge Boys from 1973 to 2023. Besides charting numerous hits as a member of the Oak Ridge Boys, Bonsall had a solo hit guesting with Sawyer Brown on their 1986 single "Out Goin' Cattin'".

Yi Mun-yol, South Korean author and academic

Yi Munyeol is a South Korean writer. Yi's given name at birth was Yeol; the character Mun was added after he took up a writing career. His works include novels, short stories and Korean adaptations of classic Chinese novels. An informal count has estimated that over 30 million copies of his books have been sold and, as of 2021, they have been translated into 21 languages. His works have garnered many literary awards and many have been adapted for film and television.

Richard Swedberg, Swedish sociologist and academic

Richard Swedberg is a Swedish sociologist. He is currently professor emeritus at the Department of Sociology at Cornell University. In the Fall of 1998, Swedberg was a Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden.

Tom Udall, American lawyer and politician, 28th New Mexico Attorney General, United States Senator from New Mexico

Thomas Stewart Udall is an American diplomat, attorney, and politician who served as a United States senator for New Mexico from 2009 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he also served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district from 1999 to 2009 and New Mexico attorney general from 1991 to 1999. In 2022, he was made the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, leaving his post in 2025. Born in Tucson, Arizona to the Udall family, he is the son of former U.S. Representative and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and the nephew of former U.S. Representative Mo Udall. His cousin is Mark Udall, a Senator for the neighboring state of Colorado from 2009 to 2015.

18/05/1947

John Bruton, Irish politician, 10th Taoiseach of Ireland (died 2024)

John Gerard Bruton was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1994 to 1997 and Leader of Fine Gael from 1990 to 2001. He held cabinet positions between 1981‍ and 1987, including twice as minister for finance. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1990 to 1994 and 1997 to 2001. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Meath from 1969 to 2004.

18/05/1946

Frank Hsieh, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 40th Premier of the Republic of China

Frank Hsieh Chang-ting is a Taiwanese politician, diplomat, and former defense attorney who has served as the chairman of the Taiwan–Japan Relations Association since 2026. He was the premier of the Republic of China in the administration of Chen Shui-bian from 2005 to 2006, the mayor of Kaohsiung from 1998 to 2005, and a member of the Legislative Yuan from 1990 to 1996.

Reggie Jackson, American baseball player and sportscaster

Reginald Martinez Jackson is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and California Angels. Jackson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 in his first year of eligibility.

Gerd Langguth, German political scientist and author (died 2013)

Gerd Langguth was a professor of political science at the University of Bonn and the author of biographies of Angela Merkel, Horst Köhler and of Rudi Dutschke

18/05/1945

Gail Strickland, American actress

Gail Strickland is a retired American actress who had prominent supporting roles in such films as The Drowning Pool (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Who'll Stop the Rain (1978), Norma Rae (1979), and Protocol (1984), and appeared regularly on various network television shows.

18/05/1944

Albert Hammond, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Albert Louis Hammond OBE is a Gibraltarian singer, songwriter and record producer. As a songwriter he has collaborated with songwriters Mike Hazlewood, John Bettis, Hal David, Diane Warren, Holly Knight, Carole Bayer Sager and Roy Orbison.

W. G. Sebald, German novelist, essayist, and poet (died 2001)

Winfried Georg Sebald, known as W. G. Sebald or Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was according to The New Yorker "widely recognized for his extraordinary contribution to world literature."

18/05/1943

Jimmy Snuka, Fijian wrestler (died 2017)

James Reiher Snuka was a Fijian and American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.

18/05/1942

Nobby Stiles, English footballer, coach, and manager (died 2020)

Norbert Peter Stiles was an English professional footballer. He played for England for five years, winning 28 caps and scoring one goal. He played every minute of England's victorious 1966 FIFA World Cup campaign. Stiles also played in the final, which England won 4–2 against West Germany. His post-match dance on the Wembley pitch, holding the World Cup trophy in one hand and his false teeth in the other, was widely broadcast.

18/05/1941

Gino Brito, Canadian wrestler and promoter

Louis Gino Acocella, better known by his ring name Gino Brito, is a retired Canadian professional wrestler and promoter. He was most popular in Montreal. As Louis Cerdan, he was a WWWF Tag Team Champion with fellow Italian-Canadian wrestler Tony Parisi. He trained another Italian-Canadian wrestler, Dino Bravo.

Malcolm Longair, Scottish astronomer, physicist, and academic

Malcolm Sim Longair is a British physicist. From 1991 to 2008 he was the Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Since 2016 he has been editor-in-chief of the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.

Miriam Margolyes, English-Australian actress and singer

Miriam Margolyes is a British-Australian comedian, writer and actress. Known for her work as a character actor across film, television, and stage, she received the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Mingott in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993), and achieved international prominence with her portrayal of Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011). Margolyes was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2002 New Year Honours for Services to Drama.

18/05/1940

Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (died 2012)

Erico Boyles Aumentado was a former governor, vice governor, and senior provincial board member of Bohol, and congressman and deputy speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives. He is the first governor of Bohol who served for three consecutive terms (2001-2010).

18/05/1939

Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, English historian, journalist, and politician (died 2024)

Patrick Thomas Cormack, Baron Cormack, was a British politician, historian, journalist and author. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010. Cormack was a member of the Conservative Party and was seen as a one-nation conservative.

Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (died 1992)

Giovanni Falcone was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian Mafia. After a long and distinguished career, culminating in the Maxi Trial in 1986–1987, on 23 May 1992, Falcone was assassinated by the Corleonesi Mafia in the Capaci bombing, on the A29 motorway near the town of Capaci.

Gordon O'Connor, Canadian general and politician, 38th Canadian Minister of Defence

Gordon James O'Connor, is a retired brigadier-general, businessman, and lobbyist, who served as Conservative Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2015.

18/05/1938

Janet Fish, American painter and academic

Janet Isobel Fish was an American contemporary realist artist. Through oil painting, lithography, and screenprinting, she explored the interaction of light with everyday objects in the still life genre. Many of her paintings include elements of transparency, reflected light, and multiple overlapping patterns depicted in bold, high color values. She has been credited with revitalizing the still life genre.

18/05/1937

Brooks Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster (died 2023)

Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. was an American professional baseball player who played his entire 23-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles from 1955 to 1977. Nicknamed "Mr. Hoover" and "the Human Vacuum Cleaner", he is generally considered to have been the greatest defensive third baseman in major league history.

Jacques Santer, Luxembourger jurist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Luxembourg

Jacques Louis Santer is a Luxembourgish politician who served as president of the European Commission from 1995 to 1999 before resigning amidst allegations of corruption. He served as the finance minister of Luxembourg from 1979 until 1989, and as prime minister of Luxembourg from 1984 to 1995, as a member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), which was the leading party in the Luxembourgish government between 1979 and 2013. As prime minister of Luxembourg, he also led the negotiations on the Single European Act, which effectively set aside the 20-year-old Luxembourg compromise.

18/05/1936

Leon Ashley, American singer-songwriter (died 2013)

Leon Walton, better known by his stage name Leon Ashley, was an American country music singer. He is known mainly for his single "Laura ", which topped the country singles charts in 1967. This single was distributed on his own label. Ashley recorded, released, distributed and published the single on his own. Besides this song, he released several other singles throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Türker İnanoğlu, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2024)

Türker İnanoğlu was a Turkish screenwriter, film director and producer.

Michael Sandle, English sculptor and academic

Michael Sandle is a British sculptor and artist. His works include several public sculptures, many relating to themes of war, death, or destruction.

18/05/1935

Pádraig Ó Snodaigh, Irish activist and writer (died 2025)

Pádraig Ó Snodaigh was an Irish language activist, poet, writer, and publisher. He worked for the Irish Electricity Supply Board, and later in the National Museum of Ireland. He was a president of Conradh na Gaeilge, the Gaelic League.

18/05/1934

Dwayne Hickman, American actor and director (died 2022)

Dwayne Bernard Hickman was an American actor and television executive, producer and director, who worked as an executive at CBS and had also briefly recorded as a vocalist. Hickman portrayed Chuck MacDonald, Bob Collins's girl-crazy teenaged nephew, in the 1950s The Bob Cummings Show and the title character in the 1960s sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. He was the younger brother of actor Darryl Hickman, with whom he appeared on screen. After retirement, he devoted his time to creating personalized paintings.

18/05/1933

Bernadette Chirac, French politician, First Lady of France

Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chirac is a French politician and the widow of the former president Jacques Chirac.

H. D. Deve Gowda, Indian farmer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of India

Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda is an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of India for nearly 11 months, from 1996 to 1997. He previously served as the chief minister of Karnataka from 1994 to 1996 and as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha. A member of the Janata Dal (Secular), he has been serving as the party's president since 1999 and has been an MP in the Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka since 2020.

Don Whillans, English rock climber and mountaineer (died 1985)

Donald Desbrow Whillans was an English rock climber and mountaineer. He climbed with Joe Brown and Chris Bonington.

18/05/1931

Don Martin, American cartoonist (died 2000)

Don Martin was an American cartoonist whose best-known work was published in Mad from 1956 to 1988. His popularity and prominence were such that the magazine promoted Martin as "Mad's Maddest Artist."

Robert Morse, American actor (died 2022)

Robert Alan Morse was an American actor. Known for his gap-toothed boyishness, he started his career as a star on Broadway acting in musicals and plays before expanding into film and television. He earned numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Kalju Pitksaar, Estonian chess player (died 1995)

Kalju Pitksaar was an Estonian chess player, who won the Estonian Chess Championship.

Clément Vincent, Canadian farmer and politician (died 2018)

Clément Vincent was a Canadian politician and a Member of the House of Commons of Canada.

18/05/1930

Warren Rudman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2012)

Warren Bruce Rudman was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from New Hampshire from 1980 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, he was known as a moderate centrist, to such an extent that President Clinton approached him in 1994 about replacing departing Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in Clinton's cabinet, an offer that Rudman declined.

Fred Saberhagen, American soldier and author (died 2007)

Fred Thomas Saberhagen was an American science fiction and fantasy author most famous for his Berserker series of science fiction short stories and novels.

18/05/1929

Jack Sanford, American baseball player and coach (died 2000)

John Stanley Sanford was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Sanford was notable for the meteoric start to his career when, he led the National League with 188 strikeouts as a 28-year-old rookie for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1957. He later became a 20-game-winner and made his only World Series appearance as a member of the San Francisco Giants. He also played for the California Angels and the Kansas City Athletics.

Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (died 2012)

Norman Antony Francis St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, was a British Conservative politician, author and barrister. He served as Leader of the House of Commons in the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1981. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford from 1964 to 1987 and was made a life peer in 1987. His surname was created by compounding those of his father (Stevas) and mother.

18/05/1928

Pernell Roberts, American actor (died 2010)

Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son Adam Cartwright on the Western television series Bonanza (1959–1965), and as chief surgeon John McIntyre, the title character on Trapper John, M.D. (1979–1986).

18/05/1927

Richard Body, English politician (died 2018)

Sir Richard Bernard Frank Stewart Body was an English politician. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Billericay from 1955 to 1959, for Holland with Boston from 1966 to 1997, and for Boston and Skegness from 1997 until he stood down at the 2001 general election. He was a long-standing member of the Conservative Monday Club, and came second in its 1972 election for chairman. A prominent eurosceptic, Body also served as president of the Anti-Common Market League.

Ray Nagel, American football player and coach (died 2015)

Raymond Robert Nagel was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was the head football coach at the University of Utah from 1958 to 1965 and the University of Iowa from 1966 to 1970, compiling a career college football coaching record of 58–71–3 (.455). After coaching, Nagel was the athletic director at Washington State University from 1971 to 1976 and the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1976 to 1983. From 1990 to 1995, he was the executive director of the Hula Bowl, a college football invitational all-star game in Hawaii.

18/05/1925

Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (died 1998)

Lillian Hoban was an American illustrator and children's writer best known for picture books created with her husband Russell Hoban. According to OCLC, she has published 326 works in 1,401 publications in 11 languages.

18/05/1924

Priscilla Pointer, American actress (died 2025)

Priscilla Marie Pointer was an American actress of theater, film and television.

Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster (died 2019)

John Francis Whitaker was an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC. Whitaker was a decorated army veteran of World War II. He fought in the Normandy Campaign and was wounded by an artillery strike.

18/05/1923

Jean-Louis Roux, Canadian actor and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (died 2013)

Jean-Louis Roux was a Canadian politician, entertainer and playwright who was briefly the 26th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.

Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (died 2004)

Hugh Lawson Shearer was a Jamaican trade unionist and politician, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1967 to 1972. He was also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade from 1980 to 1989, under Edward Seaga.

18/05/1922

Bill Macy, American actor (died 2019)

Wolf Martin Garber, known professionally as Bill Macy, was an American television, film, and stage actor. He was best known for his role of Walter Findlay on the CBS sitcom Maude (1972–1978).

Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (died 1983)

Kai Chresten Winding was a Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is known for his collaborations with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson. His version of "More", the theme from the movie Mondo Cane, reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963 and remained his only entry there.

18/05/1921

Joan Eardley, British artist (died 1963)

Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley was a British artist noted for her portraiture of street children in Glasgow and for her landscapes of the fishing village of Catterline and surroundings on the North-East coast of Scotland. One of Scotland's most enduringly popular artists, her career was cut short by breast cancer. Her artistic career had three distinct phases. The first was from 1940 when she enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art through to 1949 when she had a successful exhibition of paintings created while travelling in Italy. From 1950 to 1957, Eardley's work focused on the city of Glasgow and in particular the slum area of Townhead. In the late 1950s, while still living in Glasgow, she spent much time in Catterline before moving there permanently in 1961. During the last years of her life, seascapes and landscapes painted in and around Catterline dominated her output.

Michael A. Epstein, English pathologist and academic (died 2024)

Sir Michael Anthony Epstein was a British pathologist and academic. He was one of the discoverers of the Epstein–Barr virus, along with Yvonne Barr and Bert Achong.

18/05/1920

Pope John Paul II (died 2005)

Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX.

Anthony Storr, English psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author (died 2001)

Anthony Storr was an English psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author.

18/05/1919

Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (died 1991)

Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE, known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Sadler's Wells Ballet Company, now known as the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II.

18/05/1917

Bill Everett, American author and illustrator (died 1973)

William Blake Everett was an American comic book writer and artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner, as well as co-creating Daredevil and the zombie Simon Garth with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics.

18/05/1914

Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer, founded Balmain (died 1982)

Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain was a French fashion designer and founder of leading post-war fashion house Balmain. Known for sophistication and elegance, he described the art of dressmaking as "the architecture of movement".

Boris Christoff, Bulgarian-Italian opera singer (died 1993)

Boris Christoff was a Bulgarian opera singer, widely considered one of the greatest basses of the 20th century.

18/05/1913

Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English publisher and politician (died 2000)

Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, born Joan Pollock Graham, was a British-Canadian far-right political activist who took part in a number of movements, and was described as the "largest individual distributor of racist and antisemitic material" in Britain. She was the second wife of Christopher Birdwood, 2nd Baron Birdwood.

18/05/1912

Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1992)

Richard Brooks was an American film director, screenwriter, journalist and novelist. He directed 24 feature films between 1950 and 1985, and was known for his portrayals of hard-hitting subject matter, psychologically complex characters, and his independently minded auteurist approach to filmmaking.

Perry Como, American singer and television host (died 2001)

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987.

Walter Sisulu, South African politician (died 2003)

Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), he was Accused No.2 in the Rivonia Trial and was incarcerated on Robben Island where he served more than 25 years' imprisonment for his anti-Apartheid revolutionary activism. He had a close partnership with Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, with whom he played a key role in organising the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the establishment of the ANC Youth League and Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was also on the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.

18/05/1911

Big Joe Turner, American blues/R&B singer (died 1985)

Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. Turner's greatest fame was due to his rock and roll recordings in the 1950s, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", but his career as a performer endured from the 1920s into the 1980s.

18/05/1910

Ester Boserup, Danish economist and author (died 1999)

Ester Boserup was a Danish economist. She studied economic and agricultural development, worked at the United Nations as well as other international organizations, and wrote seminal books on agrarian change and the role of women in development.

18/05/1909

Fred Perry, English tennis player and academic (died 1995)

Frederick Towersey Perry was an English tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1. He won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles. Perry was the first player to win a "Career Grand Slam", lifting all four singles titles, which he completed at the age of 26 at the 1935 French Championships. He remains the only British player to achieve this feat.

18/05/1907

Irene Hunt, American author and educator (died 2001)

Irene Hunt was an American children's writer known best for historical novels. She was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal for her first book, Across Five Aprils, and won the medal for her second, Up a Road Slowly. For her contribution as a children's writer she was U.S. nominee in 1974 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition available to creators of children's books.

18/05/1905

Ruth Alexander, pioneering American pilot (died 1930)

Ruth Blaney Alexander was an early American female pilot who set several records in altitude and distance in 1929 and 1930.

Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (died 1943)

Hedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and 144 wickets in 40 Tests at an average of 24.37.

18/05/1904

Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York Attorney General (died 1986)

Jacob Koppel Javits was an American lawyer and politician from New York. During his time in politics, he served in both chambers of the United States Congress, a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1947 to 1954 and a member of the United States Senate from 1957 to 1981. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as Attorney General of New York from 1955 to 1957. Generally considered a liberal Republican, he was often at odds with his own party. A supporter of labor unions, the Great Society, and the civil rights movement, he played a key role in the passing of civil rights legislation. An opponent of the Vietnam War, he drafted the War Powers Resolution in 1973.

Shunryū Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator (died 1971)

Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, and is renowned for founding the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside Asia. Suzuki founded San Francisco Zen Center which, along with its affiliate temples, comprises one of the most influential Zen organizations in the United States. A book of his teachings, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, is one of the most popular books on Zen and Buddhism in the West.

18/05/1902

Meredith Willson, American playwright and composer (died 1984)

Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson was an American flautist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer.

18/05/1901

Henri Sauguet, French composer (died 1989)

Henri-Pierre Sauguet-Poupard was a French composer.

Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1978)

Vincent du Vigneaud was an American biochemist. He was recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on biochemically important sulphur compounds, especially for the first synthesis of a polypeptide hormone," a reference to his work on the peptide hormone oxytocin.

18/05/1898

Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Turkish poet, author, and playwright (died 1973)

Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel was a leading Turkish poet, author and later politician. He is one of the Five Syllabists. Together with Behçet Kemal Çağlar, he wrote the lyrics of the Tenth Anniversary March. He served as a member of parliament for Istanbul during the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th terms of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM).

18/05/1897

Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1991)

Frank Russell Capra was an Italian-born American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind several major award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Italy and raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, his rags-to-riches story has led film historians such as Ian Freer to consider him the "American Dream personified".

18/05/1896

Eric Backman, Swedish runner (died 1965)

Eric Natanael Backman was a Swedish long distance runner who had his best achievements at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

18/05/1895

Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (died 1934)

Augusto César Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary, founder of the militant group EDSN, and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the United States occupation of Nicaragua. Despite being referred to as a "bandit" by the United States government, his exploits made him a hero throughout much of Latin America, where he became a symbol of resistance to American imperialism. Sandino drew units of the United States Marine Corps into an undeclared guerrilla war. The United States troops withdrew from the country in 1933 after overseeing the election and inauguration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa, who had returned from exile.

18/05/1892

Ezio Pinza, Italian-American actor and singer (died 1957)

Ezio Fortunato Pinza was an Italian opera singer. Pinza possessed a rich, smooth and sonorous voice, with a flexibility unusual for a bass. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas. At the San Francisco Opera, Pinza sang 26 roles during 20 seasons from 1927 to 1948. Pinza also sang to great acclaim at La Scala, Milan, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

18/05/1891

Rudolf Carnap, German-American philosopher and academic (died 1970)

Paul Rudolf Carnap was a German philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism.

18/05/1889

Thomas Midgley Jr., American chemist and engineer (died 1944)

Thomas Midgley Jr. was an American mechanical and chemical engineer. He played a major role in developing leaded gasoline and some of the first chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), better known in the United States by the brand name Freon; both products were later banned from common use due to their harmful impact on human health and the environment. He was granted more than 100 patents over the course of his career.

18/05/1888

Hanna Barysiewicz, the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records. (died 2007)

Hanna Adamauna Barysiewicz, Belarusian: Ганна Адамаўна Барысевiч, Russian: Анна Адамовна Борисевич was the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records. Until her death, she was reputedly the oldest resident in the country and, according to the media, in the world. She lived to the claimed age of 118 years and 281 days.

18/05/1886

Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (died 1946)

Abbie Jean MacPherson was an American silent actress, writer and director. She is known for her collaborations with directors D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, and was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

18/05/1883

Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian marshal and politician, 16th President of Brazil (died 1974)

Eurico Gaspar Dutra was a Brazilian military leader and politician who served as the president of Brazil from 1946 to 1951. He was the first president of the Fourth Brazilian Republic, which followed the Vargas Regime.

Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (died 1969)

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of Bauhaus in Weimar and taught there for several years, becoming known as a leading proponent of the International Style. Gropius emigrated from Germany to England in 1934 and from England to the United States in 1937, where he spent much of the rest of his life teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In the United States he worked on several projects with Marcel Breuer and with the firm The Architects Collaborative, of which he was a founding partner. In 1959, he won the AIA Gold Medal, one of the most prestigious awards in architecture.

18/05/1882

Babe Adams, American baseball player, manager, and journalist (died 1968)

Charles Benjamin "Babe" Adams was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1906 to 1926 who spent nearly his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Noted for his outstanding control, his career average of 1.29 walks per 9 innings pitched was the second lowest of the 20th century; his 1920 mark of 1 walk per 14.6 innings was a modern record until 2005. He shares the Pirates' franchise record for career victories by a right-hander (194), and holds the team mark for career shutouts (47); from 1926 to 1962, he held the team record for career games pitched (481).

18/05/1878

Johannes Terwogt, Dutch rower (died 1977)

Johannes Hester Lambertus Terwogt was a Dutch rower who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.

18/05/1876

Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (died 1931)

Hermann Müller was a German Social Democratic politician who served as foreign minister (1919–1920) and was twice chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic.

18/05/1872

Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970)

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, was an English philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He influenced mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic philosophy.

18/05/1871

Denis Horgan, Irish shot putter and weight thrower (died 1922)

Denis Horgan was a champion Irish athlete and weight thrower, born in Banteer, County Cork, who competed mainly in the shot put.

18/05/1869

Lucy Beaumont, English-American actress (died 1937)

Lucy Emily Beaumont was an English actress of the stage and screen from Bristol.

18/05/1868

Nicholas II of Russia (died 1918)

Nicholas II was Emperor of Russia from 1 November 1894 until his abdication in 1917. He was the last Russian monarch before the Russian Revolution and oversaw the Russian Empire's participation in World War I. In 1918, the Romanovs were murdered, putting an end to the Romanov dynasty.

18/05/1867

Minakata Kumagusu, Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist (died 1941)

Minakata Kumagusu was a Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist.

18/05/1862

Josephus Daniels, American publisher and politician, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (died 1948)

Josephus Daniels was a newspaper editor, Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

18/05/1855

Francis Bellamy, American minister and author (died 1931)

Francis Julius Bellamy was an American Christian socialist Baptist minister and author. He is best known for writing the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892.

18/05/1854

Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and educator (died 1924)

Bernard Zweers was a Dutch composer and music teacher.

18/05/1852

Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (died 1934)

Gertrude Käsebier was an American photographer. She was known for her images of motherhood, her portraits of Native Americans, and her promotion of photography as a career for women.

18/05/1851

James Budd, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of California (died 1908)

James Herbert Budd was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for California's 2nd district from 1883 to 1885 and as the 19th governor of California from 1895 to 1899. He was the last Democrat to hold the latter office until the election of Culbert Olson 40 years later.

Simon Kahquados, Potawatomi political activist (died 1930)

Simon Kahquados, born Kakanisaiga, was a leader of the Potawatomi people in Wisconsin, United States, and played a pivotal role in creating the federally recognized Forest County Potawatomi Community.

18/05/1850

Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (died 1925)

Oliver Heaviside was a British mathematician and electrical engineer who invented a new technique for solving differential equations, independently developed vector calculus, and rewrote Maxwell's equations in the form commonly used today. He significantly shaped the way Maxwell's equations were understood and applied in the decades following Maxwell's death. Also, in 1893, he extended them to gravitoelectromagnetism, which was confirmed by Gravity Probe B in 2005. His formulation of the telegrapher's equations became commercially important during his own lifetime, after their significance went unremarked for a long while, as few others were versed at the time in his novel methodology. Although at odds with the scientific establishment for most of his life, Heaviside changed the face of telecommunications, mathematics, and science.

18/05/1835

Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher and 3rd chancellor of Syracuse University (died 1908)

Charles N. Sims was an American Methodist preacher and the third chancellor of Syracuse University, serving from 1881 to 1893. Sims Hall and Sims drive on the Syracuse campus is named for him.

18/05/1824

Wilhelm Hofmeister, German botanist (died 1877)

Wilhelm Friedrich Benedikt Hofmeister was a German biologist and botanist. He "stands as one of the true giants in the history of biology and belongs in the same pantheon as Darwin and Mendel." Largely self-taught he was the first to study and establish alternation of generations and the details of sexual reproduction in the bryophytes.

18/05/1822

Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (died 1896)

Mathew B. Brady was an American photographer. Known as one of the earliest and most famous photographers in American history, he is best known for his scenes of the American Civil War. He studied under inventor Samuel Morse, who pioneered the daguerreotype technique in America. Brady opened his own studio in New York City in 1844, and went on to photograph U.S. presidents John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Millard Fillmore, Martin Van Buren, and other public figures.

18/05/1797

Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (died 1854)

Frederick Augustus II was King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.

18/05/1785

John Wilson, Scottish author and critic (died 1854)

John Wilson FRSE was a Scottish advocate, literary critic and author, the writer most frequently identified with the pseudonym Christopher North of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.

18/05/1778

Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Irish soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Austria (died 1854)

Lieutenant-General Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry,, was an Anglo-Irish nobleman, soldier and politician. He served in the French Revolutionary Wars, in the suppression of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and in the Napoleonic Wars. He excelled as a cavalry commander in the Peninsular War (1807–1814) under Sir John Moore and the Duke of Wellington.

18/05/1777

John George Children, English chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist (died 1852)

John George Children FRS FRSE FLS PRES was a British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist. He was a friend of Sir Humphry Davy, who helped him secure a controversial appointment to a post in the British Museum. Along with Davy he built a large galvanic cell, assisted him in experiments and invented a method to extract silver from ore without the need for mercury. Children was also the founding president of the Royal Entomological Society. His daughter Anna Atkins became a pioneer of botanical photography.

18/05/1711

Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (died 1787)

Roger Joseph Boscovich was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the Republic of Ragusa. He studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works.

18/05/1692

(O.S.) Joseph Butler, English bishop, theologian, and apologist (died 1752)

Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and 1923. Before as well as after the legal change, writers used the dual dating convention to specify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating.

18/05/1662

George Smalridge, English bishop (died 1719)

George Smalridge was Bishop of Bristol (1714–1719).

18/05/1631

Stanislaus Papczyński, Polish priest and saint (died 1701)

Stanislaus Papczyński, MIC, born Jan Papczyński and in religion Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary, was a Polish Catholic priest who founded the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, the first Polish religious order for men. He is also widely remembered as a prolific religious writer, including works such as The Mystical Temple of God.

18/05/1537

Guido Luca Ferrero, Roman Catholic cardinal (died 1585)

Guido Luca Ferrero was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.

18/05/1450

Piero Soderini, Italian politician and diplomat (died 1513)

Piero di Tommaso Soderini, also known as Pier Soderini, was an Italian statesman of the Republic of Florence.

18/05/1186

Konstantin of Rostov (died 1218)

Konstantin Vsevolodovich was the eldest son of Vsevolod the Big Nest and Maria Shvarnovna.

18/05/1048

Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (died 1131)

Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) was a Persian poet and polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and Persian literature. He was born in Nishapur, Iran and lived during the Seljuk era, around the time of the First Crusade.

Lives Remembered on 18th May

On 18th May, 104 remarkable people passed away — from 526 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

18/05/2024

Bruce Nordstrom, American businessman (born 1933)

Bruce Allen Nordstrom was an American billionaire businessman, and the chairman of the retailer Nordstrom, a company founded by his grandfather John W. Nordstrom. He ran the company from 1968 until 1995 and resumed his position as chairman in 2000 until 2006. He was a philanthropist in the Seattle community and appeared on the Forbes list of wealthiest people in 2012.

Tony O'Reilly, Irish rugby player and businessman (born 1936)

Sir Anthony John Francis O'Reilly was an Irish businessman and international rugby union player. He was known for his try scoring in rugby, his involvement in the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009, and as CEO and chairman of the H.J. Heinz Company. He was the leading shareholder of Waterford Wedgwood and a founder and major supporter of The Ireland Funds. A citizen of both Ireland and the United Kingdom, he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor for his services to Northern Ireland.

Alice Stewart, American political commentator (born 1966)

Alice Elizabeth Stewart was an American communications director who worked on five Republican presidential campaigns before joining CNN as a commentator.

18/05/2023

Jim Brown, American football player, civil rights activist, and actor (born 1936)

James Nathaniel Brown was an American professional football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 to 1965. Widely considered one of the greatest running backs of all time, as well as one of the greatest players in NFL history, Brown was selected to a Pro Bowl and All-Pro team every season he was in the league, and was recognized as the AP NFL Most Valuable Player three times. Brown won an NFL championship with the Browns in 1964. He led the league in rushing yards in eight out of his nine seasons, and by the time he retired, he held most major rushing records. In 1999, he was named the greatest professional football player ever by The Sporting News and the Associated Press.

18/05/2021

Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host (born 1935)

Charles Sidney Grodin was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies. After a small part in Rosemary's Baby in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) where he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Grodin also starred in 11 Harrowhouse (1974), for which he also wrote the adaptation.

Yolanda Tortolero, Venezuelan politician

Yolanda Tortolero Martínez was a Venezuelan physician and politician, alternate deputy of the National Assembly for the Carabobo state and the A New Era party.

18/05/2020

Ken Osmond, American actor and police officer (born 1943)

Kenneth Charles Osmond was an American actor and police officer. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of four, Osmond played the role of Eddie Haskell on the late 1950s to early 1960s television situation comedy Leave It to Beaver and reprised it on the 1980s revival series The New Leave It to Beaver. Typecast by the role, he found it hard to get other acting work and became a Los Angeles police officer. After retiring from police work, he resumed his acting career.

18/05/2019

Austin Eubanks, American addiction recovery advocate, survivor of the Columbine shooting (born 1981)

Stephen Austin Eubanks was an American motivational speaker on addiction and recovery. He was one of the best known survivors of the Columbine High School massacre, both in its immediate aftermath and in post-event commentary.

18/05/2017

Roger Ailes, American businessman (born 1940)

Roger Eugene Ailes was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, and for Rudy Giuliani's 1989 New York City mayoral election. In July 2016, he left Fox News after allegations of sexually harassing female Fox employees, including on-air hosts Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Andrea Tantaros.

Chris Cornell, American singer (born 1964)

Christopher John Cornell was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a solo career and contributed to numerous movie soundtracks. Cornell was the founder and frontman of Temple of the Dog, a one-off tribute band dedicated to his late friend, musician Andrew Wood. Several music journalists, fan polls, and fellow musicians have regarded Cornell as one of the greatest rock singers of all time.

Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (born 1916)

Jacque Fresco was an American futurist and self-described social engineer. Self-taught, he worked in a variety of positions related to industrial design.

18/05/2015

Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1947)

Halldór Ásgrímsson was an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 September 2004 to 15 June 2006 and was the leader of the Progressive Party from 1994 to 2006.

Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (born 1926)

Raymond George Gosling was a British scientist. While a PhD student at King's College, London he worked under the supervision of Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin. The crystallographic experiments of Franklin and Gosling, together with others by Wilkins, produced data that helped James Watson and Francis Crick to infer the structure of DNA.

Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (born 1946)

Jean-François Théodore was a French businessman, President, chairman and CEO of Euronext N.V., deputy CEO and Head of Strategy of NYSE Euronext Inc. for Euronext N.V and chairman of its Managing Board.

18/05/2014

Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (born 1921)

Dobrica Ćosić was a Yugoslav and Serbian writer, politician and political theorist.

Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist and academic (born 1929)

Hans-Peter Dürr was a German physicist. He worked on nuclear and quantum physics, elementary particles and gravitation, epistemology, and philosophy, and he advocated responsible scientific and energy policies. In 1987, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "his profound critique of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and his work to convert high technology to peaceful uses".

Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (born 1948)

Kaiketsu Masateru was a Japanese sumo wrestler, who reached the second highest rank of ōzeki on two occasions. He also won two top division tournament championships. After his retirement in 1979 he became a coach under the name of Hanaregoma-oyakata and established Hanaregoma stable. He was also chairman of the Japan Sumo Association from 2010 to 2012.

Chukwuedu Nwokolo, Nigerian physician and academic (born 1921)

Chukwuedu Nathaniel II Nwokolo was a Nigerian physician specialist in tropical diseases. He was recognised for discovering and mapping out the area of paragonimiasis lung disease in Eastern Nigeria, with a study of the disease in Africa and clinical research for its control. He founded SICREP: Sickle Cell Research Programme to effectively fight the disease in Nigeria and globally.

Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (born 1946)

Wubbo Johannes Ockels was a Dutch physicist and astronaut with the European Space Agency who, in 1985, became the first Dutch citizen in space when he flew on STS-61-A as a payload specialist. He later became professor of aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology.

18/05/2013

Aleksei Balabanov, Russian director and screenwriter (born 1959)

Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov was a Russian filmmaker. A member of the European Film Academy, he began his career by creating mostly arthouse pictures and music videos but gained significant mainstream popularity in action crime drama movies Brother (1997) and Brother 2 (2000), both of which starred Sergei Bodrov, Jr. Later, Balabanov directed the films Cargo 200 (2007), Morphine (2008), and A Stoker (2010), which also received critical recognition.

Jo Benkow, Norwegian soldier and politician (born 1924)

Jo Benkow was a Norwegian politician and writer, notable for being an important person in the Conservative Party of Norway, and the President of the Parliament 1985–1993. He was also President of the Nordic Council in 1983.

Steve Forrest, American actor (born 1925)

Steve Forrest was an American actor who was well known for his role as Lt. Hondo Harrelson in the hit television series S.W.A.T., which was broadcast on ABC from 1975 to 1976. He was also known for his performance in Mommie Dearest (1981).

David McMillan, American football player (born 1981)

David McMillan was an American professional football defensive end. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks.

Lothar Schmid, German chess player (born 1928)

Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid was a German chess grandmaster. He was born in Radebeul in Saxony into a family who were the co-owners of the Karl May Press, which published the German Karl May adventure novels.

18/05/2012

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (born 1925)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, particularly "Winterreise" of which his recordings with accompanists Gerald Moore and Jörg Demus are still critically acclaimed half a century after their release.

Peter Jones, English-Australian drummer and songwriter (born 1967)

Peter Robert Jones was an English-born Australian musician. He replaced Paul Hester on drums for Crowded House in mid-1994. After the band split up in June 1996, he played in Deadstar with Caroline Kennedy and Nick Seymour, but did not return to Crowded House when they re-formed in 2006 about a year after Hester's death. Jones worked as a secondary teacher in Melbourne and on 18 May 2012, he died from brain cancer, aged 49.

Alan Oakley, English bicycle designer, designed the Raleigh Chopper (born 1927)

Alan Oakley was a British bicycle designer from Nottingham who worked for the Raleigh Bicycle Company.

18/05/2009

Dolla, American rapper (born 1987)

Roderick Anthony Burton II better known by his stage name Dolla, was an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. Burton embarked on his music career in 2003, with hip hop group Da Razkalz Cru, under the pseudonym Bucklyte. The group quickly disbanded, and Burton went on to work as a model for the Sean John clothing line. In mid 2006, Burton signed to Akon's Konvict Muzik label. Burton released three singles from 2007 to 2010. The first, his commercial debut single "Who the Fuck Is That?", featuring T-Pain and Tay Dizm, charted on the Billboard Hot 100, along with his second single "Make a Toast", featuring Lil Wayne charting on the charts Hot 100 as well.

Wayne Allwine, American voice actor, sound effects editor and Foley artist (born 1947)

Wayne Anthony Allwine was an American voice actor, sound effects editor, and foley artist. He was best remembered as the third official voice of Mickey Mouse and the first official casting following the establishment of Disney Character Voices International in 1988. To date, he holds the record for the longest-running voice actor to play Mickey Mouse, having performed the role for 32 years. He was notably married to Russi Taylor in 1991, who voiced Minnie Mouse until her death in 2019.

Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (born 1954)

Velupillai Prabhakaran was an Eelam Tamil revolutionary, guerrilla leader and a major figure of Tamil nationalism, being the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in reaction to the oppression of the country's Tamil population by the Sri Lankan government. Under his direction, the LTTE undertook a military campaign against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.

18/05/2008

Joseph Pevney, American actor and director (born 1911)

Joseph Pevney was an American film and television director.

Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (born 1942)

Roberto García-Calvo Montiel was a Spanish judge. Since 2001, he was a member of the Constitutional Court of Spain, sponsored by the conservative People's Party. In the last year of the Francoist State, García-Calvo served as a local official repressing workers strikes. During his serving in the highest court, he was considered as part of the persistence of the shadow of Francoism in the Spanish institutions. He died by natural causes on May 17, 2008 at aged 65 in Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid.

18/05/2007

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932)

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes was a French physicist and the Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 1991.

18/05/2006

Jaan Eilart, Estonian geographer, ecologist, and historian (born 1933)

Jaan Eilart was an Estonian phytogeographer, landscape ecologist, cultural historian and conservationist.

18/05/2004

Elvin Jones, American drummer and bandleader (born 1927)

Elvin Ray Jones was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such albums as My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, Ascension and Live at Birdland. After 1966, Jones led his own trio, and later larger groups under the name The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine. His brothers Hank and Thad were also celebrated jazz musicians with whom he occasionally recorded. Elvin was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1995. In his The History of Jazz, jazz historian and critic Ted Gioia calls Jones "one of the most influential drummers in the history of jazz". He was also ranked at Number 23 on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time".

18/05/2002

Davey Boy Smith, English professional wrestler (born 1962)

David Smith was an English professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey Boy Smith and The British Bulldog.

18/05/2001

Irene Hunt, American author and illustrator (born 1907)

Irene Hunt was an American children's writer known best for historical novels. She was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal for her first book, Across Five Aprils, and won the medal for her second, Up a Road Slowly. For her contribution as a children's writer she was U.S. nominee in 1974 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition available to creators of children's books.

18/05/2000

Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian-American composer and musicologist (born 1946)

Stephen M. "Steve" Wolownik was a pioneer in the Russian and Eastern European music community in the United States. He was a co-founder of the Balalaika and Domra Association of America.

18/05/1999

Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer, keyboard player, and producer (born 1954)

Horace Michael Swaby, also known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub composer, performer, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He was active from the 1970s until his death. He was known for playing the melodica.

Betty Robinson, American runner (born 1911)

Elizabeth R. Schwartz was an American athlete and winner of the first Olympic 100 metres for women.

18/05/1998

Obaidullah Aleem, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (born 1939)

Obaidullah Aleem was a Pakistani poet of Urdu language.

18/05/1995

Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (born 1903)

Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. was an American character actor famed for his work in film noir. He played cheerful, brainy collegiates until he was cast against type as the bug-eyed baby-faced killer Wilmer Cook in the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon. He went on to play deceptively mild-mannered villains. Cook's acting career spanned more than 60 years, with roles in productions including The Big Sleep, Shane, The Killing, House on Haunted Hill and Rosemary's Baby.

Alexander Godunov, Russian-American ballet dancer and actor (born 1949)

Alexander Borisovich Godunov was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor. A member of the Bolshoi Ballet, he became the troupe's Premier danseur. In 1979, he defected to the United States. While continuing to dance, he also began working as a supporting actor in Hollywood films. He had prominent roles in films such as Witness (1985) and Die Hard (1988).

Brinsley Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, Irish ufologist and historian (born 1911)

William Francis Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, 7th Marquess of Heusden, was a prominent ufologist. He was an Irish peer, as well as a nobleman in the Dutch nobility.

Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (born 1933)

Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery was an American actress whose career spanned five decades in film, stage and television. She portrayed the good witch Samantha Stephens on the popular television series Bewitched, which earned her five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations.

18/05/1990

Jill Ireland, English actress (born 1936)

Jill Dorothy Ireland was an English actress and singer.

18/05/1989

Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder and author (born 1921)

Dorothy Ruth Pirone was the adopted daughter of the American baseball player George H. (Babe) Ruth and his mistress Juanita Jennings, born Juanita Grenandtz. She was adopted by Babe and his first wife Helen Woodford Ruth of Boston, Massachusetts. She wrote a 1988 memoir of her father, titled My Dad, the Babe.

18/05/1987

Mahdi Amel, Lebanese journalist, poet, and academic (born 1936)

Hassan Abdullah Hamdan, more commonly known by his pseudonym Mahdi Amel, was a Lebanese Marxist philosopher, historian and militant in the second half of the 20th century.

18/05/1981

Arthur O'Connell, American actor (born 1908)

Arthur Joseph O'Connell was an American stage, film and television actor, who achieved prominence in character roles in the 1950s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both Picnic (1955) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959).

William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (born 1908)

William Saroyan was an American novelist, playwright, and short story writer of Armenian descent. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film The Human Comedy. When the studio rejected his original 240-page treatment, he turned it into a novel, The Human Comedy.

18/05/1980

Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:

Reid Turner Blackburn was an American photographer killed in the 1980 volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens. A photojournalist covering the eruption for a local newspaper—the Vancouver, Washington The Columbian—as well as National Geographic magazine and the United States Geological Survey, he was caught at Coldwater Camp in the blast.

Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:

David Alexander Johnston was an American United States Geological Survey (USGS) volcanologist who was killed by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in the U.S. state of Washington. A principal scientist on the USGS monitoring team, Johnston was killed in the eruption while manning an observation post six miles (10 km) away on the morning of May 18, 1980. He was the first to report the eruption, transmitting "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" before he was swept away by a lateral blast; despite a thorough search, Johnston's body was never found, but state highway workers discovered remnants of his USGS trailer in 1993.

Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter (born 1956)

Ian Kevin Curtis was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead vocalist, songwriter, and occasional guitarist of the band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980).

18/05/1975

Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (born 1908)

Leroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music."

18/05/1974

Harry Ricardo, English engine designer and researcher (born 1885)

Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo was an English engineer who was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine.

18/05/1973

Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (born 1880)

Jeannette Pickering Rankin was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916 for one term, then was elected again in 1940. Rankin remains the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana.

18/05/1971

Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (born 1908)

Aleksandr Gennadyevich Kurosh was a Soviet mathematician, known for his work in abstract algebra. He is credited with writing The Theory of Groups, the first modern and high-level text on group theory, published in 1944.

18/05/1968

Frank Walsh, Australian politician, 34th Premier of South Australia (born 1897)

Francis Henry Walsh was an Australian politician who was the 34th Premier of South Australia from 1965 to 1967, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party.

18/05/1963

Ernie Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (born 1939)

Ernest R. Davis was an American college football player who was a halfback for the Syracuse Orangemen and won the Heisman Trophy in 1961. He was the award's first black recipient. Davis was selected first overall by the Washington Redskins in the 1962 NFL draft but was almost immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns. He was diagnosed with leukemia that same year, and died shortly after at age 23 without ever playing in a professional game. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979 and was the subject of the 2008 film The Express: The Ernie Davis Story.

18/05/1958

Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and critic (born 1881)

Jacob Fichman, also transliterated as Yakov Fichman, was an acclaimed Hebrew poet, essayist and literary critic.

18/05/1956

Maurice Tate, English cricketer (born 1895)

Maurice William Tate was an English cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s and the leader of England's Test bowling attack for a long time during this period. He was also the first Sussex cricketer to take a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket.

18/05/1955

Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (born 1875)

Mary McLeod Bethune was an American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, and proceeded to establish the Aframerican Women's Journal, which was the flagship journal of the organization. She presided over other African-American women's organizations, including the National Association for Colored Women. Shortly after joining the National Youth Administration in 1935, Bethune became the first Black woman to lead a federal agency when she was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of a department within the NYA.

18/05/1947

Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (born 1883)

Harold Homer Chase, nicknamed "Prince Hal", was an American professional baseball first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his position. During his career, he played for the New York Highlanders (1905–1913), Chicago White Sox (1913–1914), Buffalo Blues (1914–1915), Cincinnati Reds (1916–1918), and New York Giants (1919).

18/05/1943

Ōnishiki Daigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 28th Yokozuna (born 1883)

Ōnishiki Daigorō was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 28th yokozuna.

18/05/1941

Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (born 1863)

Werner Sombart was a German economist, historian and sociologist. Head of the "Youngest Historical School," he was one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century. The term "late capitalism" is accredited to him. The concept of "creative destruction" associated with capitalism is also of his coinage.

18/05/1922

Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1845)

Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran was a French physician who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1907 for his discoveries of parasitic protozoans as causative agents of infectious diseases such as malaria and trypanosomiasis. Following his father, Louis Théodore Laveran, he took up military medicine as his profession. He obtained his medical degree from University of Strasbourg in 1867.

18/05/1916

Chen Qimei, Chinese revolutionary (born 1878)

Chen Qimei, courtesy name Yingshi (英士) was a Chinese revolutionary activist and key figure of the Green Gang, close political ally of Sun Yat-sen, and an early mentor of Chiang Kai-shek. He was one of the founders of the Republic of China, and the uncle of CC Clique leaders Chen Guofu and Chen Lifu.

18/05/1911

Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (born 1860)

Gustav Mahler was a Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.

18/05/1910

Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (born 1841)

Eliza Orzeszkowa was a Polish novelist and a leading writer of the Positivism movement during the foreign Partitions of Poland. In 1905, together with Henryk Sienkiewicz, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Pauline Viardot, French soprano and composer (born 1821)

Pauline Viardot was a French dramatic mezzo-soprano, composer and pedagogue of Spanish descent. Born Michelle Ferdinande Pauline García, she came from a musical family and took up music at a young age. She began performing as a teenager and had a long and illustrious career as a star performer.

18/05/1909

Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (born 1860)

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era who also had a significant influence on his contemporaries and younger composers. He is best known for his piano works that incorporate Spanish folk music idioms and elements. His compositions, particularly his suite Iberia (1905–1908), are considered masterpieces and have influenced both classical music and Spanish nationalism in music. Isaac Albéniz was close to the Generation of '98.

George Meredith, English novelist and poet (born 1828)

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first, his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but Meredith gradually established a reputation as a novelist. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters' psychology, and also portrayed social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning". Meredith was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. Meredith was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.

18/05/1908

Louis-Napoléon Casault, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (born 1823)

Sir Louis-Napoléon Casault was a Quebec lawyer, judge, professor and political figure. He represented Bellechasse in the 1st Canadian Parliament from 1867 to 1870 as a Conservative member.

18/05/1900

Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French archaeologist and philosopher (born 1813)

Jean Gaspard Félix Lacher Ravaisson-Mollien was a French philosopher, 'perhaps France's most influential philosopher in the second half of the nineteenth century'. He was originally and remains more commonly known as Félix Ravaisson.

18/05/1889

Isabella Glyn, Scottish-English actress (born 1823)

Isabella Glyn was a well-known Victorian-era Shakespearean actress.

18/05/1867

Clarkson Stanfield, English painter (born 1793)

Clarkson Frederick Stanfield was an English artist best known for his large-scale paintings of marine art and landscapes. A former sailor he became celebrated for his Romantic seascapes. Like his friend and colleague David Roberts he initially achieved recognition for his role as a scenic designer working at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane during the Regency era.

18/05/1853

Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (born 1806)

Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky was a Baltic German chess master and theoretician, known for his contributions to chess theory, as well for a game he lost against Adolf Anderssen, known as the "Immortal Game". Kieseritzky's name became associated with several openings and opening variations, such as the Kieseritzky Gambit, Kieseritzky Attack, and the Boden–Kieseritzky Gambit.

18/05/1844

Richard McCarty, American lawyer and politician (born 1780)

Richard McCarty was an American politician from New York.

18/05/1808

Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor, and educator, invented Bourbon whiskey (born 1738)

Elijah Craig was an American Baptist preacher, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He has sometimes, although rather dubiously, been credited with the invention of bourbon whiskey.

18/05/1807

John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (born 1721)

John Douglas was a Scottish scholar and Anglican bishop.

18/05/1800

Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (born 1729)

Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy was a Russian general and military theorist in the service of the Russian Empire.

18/05/1799

Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and publisher (born 1732)

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French playwright and diplomat of the Age of Enlightenment. Best known for his three Figaro plays, at various times in his life he was also a watchmaker, inventor, musician, spy, publisher, arms dealer, and revolutionary.

18/05/1795

Robert Rogers, English colonel (born 1731)

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Rogers was a British Army officer and frontiersman. Born in Methuen, Province of Massachusetts Bay, he fought in King George's War, the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. During the French and Indian War, Rogers raised and commanded Rogers' Rangers, a ranger unit trained for carrying out asymmetric warfare.

18/05/1792

Levy Solomons, Canadian merchant and fur trader (born 1730)

Lucius Levy Solomons was a Jewish Canadian merchant and fur trader.

18/05/1781

Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian indigenous rebel leader (born 1742)

Túpac Amaru II was an Indigenous cacique who led a large Andean rebellion against the Spanish in Peru as self-proclaimed Sapa Inca of the new Inca Empire. He was later elevated to a mythical status in the Peruvian struggle for independence and indigenous rights movement, as well as an inspiration to myriad causes in Spanish America and beyond.

18/05/1780

Charles Hardy, English-American admiral and politician, 29th Colonial Governor of New York (born 1714)

Admiral Sir Charles Hardy was a Royal Navy officer, politician and colonial administrator who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1764 and 1780. He served as governor of New York from 1755 to 1757.

18/05/1733

Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (born 1661)

Georg Böhm was a German Baroque organist and composer. He is notable for his development of the chorale partita and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach.

18/05/1721

Maria Barbara Carillo, victim of the Spanish Inquisition (born 1625)

Maria Barbara Carillo was burned at the stake for heresy during the Spanish Inquisition. She was executed at the age of 95 or 96 and is the oldest person known to have been executed at the instigation of the Spanish Inquisition.

18/05/1692

Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (born 1617)

Elias Ashmole was an English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer, freemason and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, serving in the artillery of Lord Astley's Regiment of Foot. He held the military rank of a captain. At the restoration of Charles II, Ashmole was rewarded with several lucrative offices. In his later years, he collected notes on his life in diary form to serve as source material for a biography. His diary was posthumously published in 1717.

18/05/1675

Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, historian, and theologian (born 1623)

Stanisław Lubieniecki was a Polish Socinian theologist, historian, astronomer, and writer. He is the eponym of the lunar crater Lubiniezky.

Jacques Marquette, French-American missionary and explorer (born 1637)

Jacques Marquette, sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Ignace. In 1673, Marquette, along with Louis Jolliet, an explorer born near Quebec City, explored and mapped the northern portion of the Mississippi River Valley.

18/05/1551

Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter (born 1486)

Domenico di Pace Beccafumi was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.

18/05/1550

Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (born 1498)

Jean de Lorraine was the third son of the ruling Duke of Lorraine, and a French cardinal, who was archbishop of Reims (1532–1538), Lyon (1537–1539), and Narbonne (1524–1550), bishop of Metz, and Administrator of the dioceses of Toul, Verdun, Thérouanne, Luçon, Albi, Valence, Nantes and Agen (1538–1550). He was a personal friend, companion, and advisor of King Francis I of France. Jean de Lorraine was the richest prelate in the reign of Francis I, as well as the most flagrant pluralist. He is one of several cardinals known as the Cardinal de Lorraine.

18/05/1410

Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (born 1352)

Rupert of the Palatinate, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, was Elector Palatine from 1398 and King of the Romans from 1400 until his death.

18/05/1401

Vladislaus II of Opole (born 1332)

Vladislaus II of Opole, nicknamed Naderspan, was Duke of Opole from 1356, Count palatine of Hungary (1367–1372), Duke of Wieluń (1370–1392), Governor of Ruthenia (1372–1378), Count palatine of Poland (1378) as well as Duke of Dobrzyń, Inowrocław (1378–1392), Krnov and Kuyavia (1385–1392).

18/05/1297

Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury

Nicholas Longespee was a medieval Bishop of Salisbury.

18/05/1160

Eric Jedvardsson (King Eric IX) of Sweden (since 1156); (born circa 1120)

Saint Erik, also called Eric IX or Erik Jedvardsson was King of Sweden from c. 1156 until his death in 1160. The Roman Martyrology of the Catholic Church names him as a saint memorialized on 18 May. He was the founder of the House of Erik, which ruled Sweden with interruptions from c. 1156 to 1250.

18/05/1096

Minna of Worms, Jewish martyr killed during the Worms massacre (1096)

Minna of Worms was a Jewish businesswoman and martyr, killed by antisemitic Christians. She was an influential Jewish person, being a significant moneylender with clients and friends among the Christian nobility. Minna was one of the most famous victims of the 1096 Worms massacre which occurred during the First Crusade. She was murdered after refusing to convert to Christianity.

18/05/1065

Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine (born c. 1003)

Frederick of Lower Lorraine was a younger son of Frederick, Lord of Gleiberg.

18/05/0978

Frederick I, duke of Upper Lorraine

Frederick I was the count of Bar and duke of Upper Lorraine. He was a son of Wigeric, count of Bidgau, also count palatine of Lorraine, and Cunigunda, and thus a sixth-generation descendant of Charlemagne.

18/05/0947

Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty

Emperor Taizong of Liao, personal name Yaogu, sinicised name Yelü Deguang, courtesy name Dejin, was the second emperor of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty of China.

18/05/0932

Ma Shaohong, general of Later Tang

Ma Shaohong, known during the reign of Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang as Li Shaohong (李紹宏), was a powerful eunuch official/general during the early Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, who served Emperor Zhuangzong during his reign as emperor and, previously to that, as the Prince of Jin.

18/05/0893

Stephen I of Constantinople (born 867)

Stephen I of Constantinople, called the Macedonian, was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 886 to 893.

18/05/0526

Pope John I

Pope John I was the bishop of Rome from 13 August 523 to his death on 18 May 526. He was a native of Siena, in Italy. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople by the Ostrogoth King Theoderic to negotiate better treatment for Arians. Although John was relatively successful, upon his return to Ravenna, Theoderic had him imprisoned for allegedly conspiring with Constantinople. The frail pope died of neglect and ill-treatment.

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 18th May

Christian feast day: Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury

Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury was the first wife of King Edmund I. She was Queen of the English from her marriage in around 939 until her death in 944. Ælfgifu and Edmund were the parents of two future English kings, Eadwig and Edgar. Like her mother Wynflaed, Ælfgifu had a close and special if unknown connection with the royal nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred, where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is 18 May.

Christian feast day: Blessed Blandine Merten

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Eric IX of Sweden

Saint Erik, also called Eric IX or Erik Jedvardsson was King of Sweden from c. 1156 until his death in 1160. The Roman Martyrology of the Catholic Church names him as a saint memorialized on 18 May. He was the founder of the House of Erik, which ruled Sweden with interruptions from c. 1156 to 1250.

Christian feast day: Felix of Cantalice

Felix of Cantalice, OFMCap was an Italian Capuchin friar of the 16th century. Canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712, he was the first Capuchin friar to be named a saint. He worked as a shepherd and farmhand until he was twenty-eight. His task as a Capuchin was to beg alms for the friars. So successful was he that Brother Felix was able to extend his collections to assist the poor.

Christian feast day: Pope John I

Pope John I was the bishop of Rome from 13 August 523 to his death on 18 May 526. He was a native of Siena, in Italy. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople by the Ostrogoth King Theoderic to negotiate better treatment for Arians. Although John was relatively successful, upon his return to Ravenna, Theoderic had him imprisoned for allegedly conspiring with Constantinople. The frail pope died of neglect and ill-treatment.

Christian feast day: Venantius of Camerino

Venantius of Camerino is the patron saint of Camerino, Italy and Raiano, Italy. Christian tradition holds that he was a 15-year-old who was tortured, and martyred by decapitation at Camerino during the persecutions of Decius. Martyred with him were 10 other Christians, including the priest Porphyrius, Venantius' tutor; and Leontius, bishop of Camerino.

Christian feast day: May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

May 17—Eastern Orthodox Church calendar—May 19

Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)

The following is the list of official public holidays recognized by the Government of Russia. On these days, government offices, embassies, schools, companies and some shops, are closed. If the date of observance falls on a weekend, the following Monday will be a day off in lieu of the holiday.

Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)

During the Sürgünlik, 'exile' at least 191,044 Crimean Tatars were subjected to ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide through deportation carried out by Soviet Union authorities from 18 to 20 May 1944. The deportation was supervised by Lavrentiy Beria, chief of Soviet state security and the secret police, and ordered by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Within those three days, the NKVD used cattle trains to deport the Crimean Tatars, even Soviet Communist Party members and Red Army soldiers, from Crimea to the Uzbek SSR, several thousand kilometres away. They were one of several ethnicities that were subjected to Stalin's policy of population transfer in the Soviet Union.

Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)

Restoration Day in Somaliland is an annual national celebration observed on 18 May in Somaliland. The holiday commemorates the 1991 restoration of Somaliland's self-governance and sovereignty following the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic.

International Museum Day

International Museum Day (IMD) is an international day held annually on or around 18 May, coordinated by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). The event highlights a specific theme which changes every year reflecting a relevant theme or issue facing museums internationally. IMD provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and alert them as to the challenges that museums face, and raise public awareness on the role museums play in the development of society. It also promotes dialogue between museum professionals.

National Speech Pathologist Day (United States)

Speech–language pathology, also known as speech and language pathology or logopedics, is a healthcare and academic discipline concerning the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders, including expressive and mixed receptive-expressive language disorders, voice disorders, speech sound disorders, speech disfluency, pragmatic language impairments, and social communication difficulties, as well as swallowing disorders across the lifespan.

Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)

Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day is a remembrance day observed by Sri Lankan Tamils to remember those who were killed during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. It is held each year on 18 May, the date on which the civil war ended in 2009, and is named after Mullivaikkal, a village on the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka which was the scene of the final battle of the civil war and the site of the Mullivaikkal massacre.

Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)

Public Holidays in Turkmenistan are laid out in the Constitution of Turkmenistan, which acts as a list of nationally recognized public holidays in the country.

Teacher's Day (Syria)

Teachers' Day is a special day for the appreciation of teachers. It may include celebrations to honor them for their special contributions in a particular field area, or the community tone in education. This is one of the most celebrated days and the primary reason why countries celebrate this day on different dates, unlike many other International Days. For example, Argentina has commemorated Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's death on 11 September as Teachers' Day since 1915. In India, the birthday of the second president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, 5 September, is celebrated as Teachers' Day since 1962.

What Happened on 18th May?

61 significant events took place on Thursday, 18th May — stretching from 332 to 2019. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

18/05/2019

United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala Harris defeated the incumbent Republican president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence. The election saw the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900. Biden received more than 81 million votes, the most votes ever cast for a presidential candidate in U.S. history.

18/05/2018

A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills ten people.

On May 18, 2018, a school shooting occurred at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, United States, in the Houston metropolitan area. Ten people – eight students and two teachers – were fatally shot, and thirteen others were wounded. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student at the school, was taken into custody. The shooting is the eighth-deadliest school shooting in the United States.

Cubana de Aviación Flight 972 crashes in Santiago de las Vegas after takeoff from José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, killing 112 of the 113 people on board.

Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972 was a scheduled domestic flight operated by Mexican charter airline Global Air on behalf of Cubana de Aviación, from José Martí International Airport, Havana, Cuba, to Frank País Airport in Holguín, Cuba. On 18 May 2018, the 39-year-old Boeing 737-201 Adv. operating the route crashed shortly after takeoff, near Santiago de las Vegas, 19 kilometres from Havana city centre. Of those on board, 112 died and one passenger survived with critical injuries. There were initially four survivors, but three of them later died at a local hospital. Most of the passengers on board were Cuban nationals, although the crew was entirely Mexican.

18/05/2015

At least 78 people died in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.

The 2015 Salgar landslide was a landslide that struck the municipality of Salgar in Colombia on May 18, 2015. The landside was triggered by heavy rains that fell on the watershed of the Libordiana stream, and resulted in around 100 deaths and the destruction of portions of the residential area of Salgar. While the government of Colombia and several international agencies provided aid to the area following the landslide, the long-term efforts to restore the area to its pre-landslide state have been the subject of sociological study to determine its effectiveness in reducing the vulnerability of the area to such a disaster.

18/05/2009

The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government.

18/05/2006

The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.

The 2006 Nepal revolution, also known as the Democracy Movement, was a political movement that was opposed to Nepal's monarchy system under King Gyanendra. The movement was the second protest against the monarchy, following the first revolution.

18/05/2005

A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versatile, renowned as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy. The Hubble Space Telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble and is one of NASA's Great Observatories. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) selects Hubble's targets and processes the resulting data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) controls the spacecraft.

18/05/1994

Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.

The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories that make up the State of Palestine in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Gaza is bordered by Egypt on the southwest, Israel on the east and north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Its capital and largest city is Gaza City.

18/05/1993

Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.

Nørrebro is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It is northwest of the city centre, beyond the location of the old Northern Gate (Nørreport), which, until dismantled in 1856, was near the current Nørreport station.

18/05/1991

Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland.

Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. Stretching across the Horn of Africa, it borders Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the east. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Somalia has an estimated population of more than 18 million, of which 2.7 million live in the capital and largest city, Mogadishu. As one of Africa's most ethnically homogenous countries, around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis. The official and national language of the country is Somali while Arabic is recognised as a second language. The overwhelming majority of the population are Sunni Muslims.

18/05/1990

In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).

The TGV is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to 320 km/h (200 mph) on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocket and Concorde supersonic airliner; sponsored by the Government of France, those funding programmes were known as champion national policies. In 2025, the TGV network in France carried 168 million passengers.

18/05/1980

Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 52 miles (83 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 98 miles (158 km) south of Seattle. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from that of the British diplomat Alleyne FitzHerbert, 1st Baron St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the late 18th century. The volcano is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.

The Gwangju Uprising, also known in South Korea as May 18 Democratization Movement, was a series of student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980, against the coup of Chun Doo-hwan. The uprising was violently suppressed by the South Korean military with the approval and logistical support of the United States under the Carter administration, which feared the uprising might spread to other cities and tempt North Korea to interfere.

Rioting spreads to Miami's mostly African-American neighborhoods of Overtown and Liberty City following the previous day's courthouse protests.

The 1980 Miami riots were race riots that occurred in Miami, Florida, United States, starting in earnest on May 18, 1980, following an all-White male jury acquitting five white Dade County Public Safety Department officers in the death of Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance salesman and United States Marine Corps lance corporal. McDuffie was beaten to death by four police officers after a traffic stop. After the officers were tried and acquitted on charges including manslaughter and evidence tampering, a riot broke out in the Black neighborhoods of Overtown and Liberty City on the night of May 17. Riots continued until May 20, resulting in at least 18 deaths and an estimated $100 million in property damage.

18/05/1977

Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.

Likud, officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing parties. Likud's landslide victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had lost power. In addition, it was the first time in Israel that a right-wing party received the most votes. After ruling the country for most of the 1980s, the party lost the Knesset election in 1992. Likud's candidate Benjamin Netanyahu won the vote for prime minister in 1996 and was given the task of forming a government after the 1996 elections following Yitzak Rabin's assassination. Netanyahu's government fell apart after a vote of no confidence, which led to elections being called in 1999 and Likud losing power to the One Israel coalition led by Ehud Barak.

18/05/1974

Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.

Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out since 1945. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Because of their destruction and fallout, testing has seen opposition by civilians as well as governments, with international bans having been agreed on. Thousands of tests have been performed, with most in the second half of the 20th century.

18/05/1973

Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker's bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.

Aeroflot Flight 109 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow to Chita with stopovers in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk. On the final leg of the route on 18 May 1973 a terrorist hijacked the aircraft, demanding to be flown to China; the terrorist's bomb detonated in flight after he was shot by the air marshal. The aircraft broke-up at altitude, killing all 81 on board.

18/05/1972

During approach to Kharkiv International Airport, Aeroflot Flight 1491 crashes near Ruska Lozova, killing all 112 aboard.

Kharkiv International Airport is an airport located in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

18/05/1969

Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in his address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.

18/05/1965

Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria.

Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen was an Egyptian-born Israeli spy. He is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965, where he developed close relationships with the Syrian political and military hierarchy.

18/05/1962

The French government and representatives of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic reach a settlement to end the Algerian war in the Évian Accords.

The Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic was the government-in-exile of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) during the latter part of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962).

18/05/1955

Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.

Operation Passage to Freedom was a term used by the United States Navy to describe the propaganda effort and the assistance in transporting 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to non-communist South Vietnam between the years 1954 and 1955. The French and other countries may have transported a further 500,000. In the wake of the French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords of 1954 decided the fate of French Indochina after eight years of war between the French Union forces and the Viet Minh, which fought for Vietnamese independence under communist rule. The accords resulted in the partition of Vietnam at the 17th parallel north, with Ho Chi Minh's communist Viet Minh in control of the north and the French-backed State of Vietnam in the south. The agreements allowed a 300-day period of grace, ending on May 18, 1955, in which people could move freely between the two Vietnams before the border was sealed. The partition was intended to be temporary, pending elections in 1956 to reunify the country under a national government. Between 600,000 and one million people moved south, including more than 200,000 French citizens and soldiers in the French army while between 14,000 and 45,000 civilians and approximately 100,000 Viet Minh fighters moved in the opposite direction.

18/05/1953

Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.

Jacqueline Cochran was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation and was the first woman to break the sound barrier on 18 May 1953. Cochran was the wartime head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (1943–1944), which employed about 1,000 civilian American women in a non-combat role to ferry planes from factories to port cities. Later on, Cochran was initially a sponsor of the Mercury 13 women astronaut program, before testifying against it in a congressional subcommittee.

18/05/1948

The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.

The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel voting system.

18/05/1944

World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino.

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.

Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union.

During the Sürgünlik, 'exile' at least 191,044 Crimean Tatars were subjected to ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide through deportation carried out by Soviet Union authorities from 18 to 20 May 1944. The deportation was supervised by Lavrentiy Beria, chief of Soviet state security and the secret police, and ordered by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Within those three days, the NKVD used cattle trains to deport the Crimean Tatars, even Soviet Communist Party members and Red Army soldiers, from Crimea to the Uzbek SSR, several thousand kilometres away. They were one of several ethnicities that were subjected to Stalin's policy of population transfer in the Soviet Union.

18/05/1933

New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The New Deal was a 1933–1938 series of economic, social, and political reforms in response to the Great Depression in the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He introduced the phrase when accepting the Democratic Party presidential nomination in the 1932 United States presidential election, winning in a landslide over incumbent Herbert Hoover, whose administration was widely viewed as ineffective. Roosevelt attributed the Depression to inherent market instability and inadequate aggregate demand, and argued that stabilizing and rationalizing the economy required massive government intervention.

18/05/1927

The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Bath Township, Michigan.

The Bath School disaster was a series of violent attacks perpetrated by Andrew Kehoe upon the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Township, Michigan, United States, on May 18, 1927. That morning, Kehoe, the school treasurer of Bath Township, detonated explosives he had previously planted underneath the school building, killing 38 people. As rescue efforts began, Kehoe drove to the school in a truck filled with explosives and shrapnel, where he detonated it, killing himself and four others. Earlier the same day, he had also destroyed his farmstead with explosives after having murdered his wife, Nellie Price Kehoe.

After being founded for 20 years, the Nationalist government approves Tongji University to be among the its first national universities.

The Nationalist government of the Republic of China was established by the Kuomintang (KMT) in Guangzhou after the reorganization of the Army and Navy Marshal stronghold. Following the Northern Expedition, the government was able to defeat and overthrow the Beiyang government and become the legitimate government of China with its capital settled in Nanjing since 1927. The Nationalist government lasted until 20 May 1948 when it dissolved itself and was replaced by a constitutional government following the promulgation of a formal constitution. During the period the KMT-led government ruled China as a one-party state.

18/05/1926

Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears in Venice, California.

Evangelism, evangelisation, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as personal conversations, preaching, media, and is especially associated with missionary work.

18/05/1922

Seamus Woods leads an Irish Republican Army attack on the headquarters of the Royal Irish Constabulary in Belfast.

Seamus Woods commanded a division of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during a period of intense conflict and was a senior leader of the newly formed Irish Free State army.

18/05/1917

World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

18/05/1912

The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.

The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on producing films in a specific language, such as Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Assamese, Odia and others.

18/05/1900

The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.

A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state or dependent territory that foregoes an independent foreign policy in favour of alliance with a protecting power, normally in order to ensure its defence against regional aggressors. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its internal affairs, while still recognizing the suzerainty of a more powerful sovereign state without being a possession. In exchange, the protectorate accepts treaty obligations which bind it to the protecting power in foreign policy. Protectorates are established formally by a treaty between the powers involved. Under certain conditions—as with Egypt under British rule (1882–1914)—a state can also be labelled as a de facto protectorate or a veiled protectorate.

18/05/1896

The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party". In 1803, the court asserted itself the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.

Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.

The Khodynka Tragedy was a crowd crush that occurred on 30 May [O.S. 18 May] 1896, on Khodynka Field in Moscow, Russia. The crush happened during the festivities after the coronation of the last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II. While 1,282 corpses were collected from the scene, injury estimates range widely from 1,200 to 20,000.

18/05/1863

American Civil War: Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant begin the Siege of Vicksburg during the Vicksburg campaign in order to take full control of the Mississippi River.

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.

18/05/1860

United States presidential election: Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.

A United States presidential election was held on November 6, 1860. The Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin emerged victorious.

18/05/1848

Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.

In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the representatives of the nation." The population base represented by this name is manifestly the nation as a whole, as opposed to a geographically select population, such as that represented by a provincial assembly. The powers of a national assembly vary according to the type of government. It may possess all the powers of government, generally governing by committee, or it may function solely within the legislative branch of the government.

18/05/1843

The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.

The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Scotland or the British Government had the power to control clerical positions and benefits. The Disruption came at the end of a bitter conflict within the Church of Scotland, and had major effects in the church and upon Scottish civic life.

18/05/1812

John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.

John Bellingham was an English merchant and perpetrator of the 1812 murder of Spencer Perceval, the only British prime minister to be assassinated.

18/05/1811

Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.

The Battle of Las Piedras was fought on May 18, 1811 as part of the Rio de la Plata war of independence. It was a resounding victory for the revolutionary forces, led by José Gervasio Artigas.

18/05/1804

Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.

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.

18/05/1803

Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.

The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a global series of conflicts fought by a fluctuating array of European coalitions against the French First Republic (1803–1804) under the First Consul followed by the First French Empire (1804–1815) under the Emperor of the French, Napoleon I. The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe. The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: the War of the Third Coalition, War of the Fourth Coalition, War of the Fifth Coalition, War of the Sixth Coalition, War of the Seventh Coalition, the Peninsular War, and the French invasion of Russia.

18/05/1794

Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.

The Battle of Tourcoing saw a Republican French army directed by General of Division Joseph Souham defend against an attack by a Coalition army led by Emperor Francis II and Austrian Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The French army was temporarily led by Souham in the absence of its normal commander Jean-Charles Pichegru. Threatened with encirclement, Souham and division commanders Jean Victor Marie Moreau and Jacques Philippe Bonnaud improvised a counterattack which defeated the Coalition's widely separated and poorly coordinated columns. The War of the First Coalition action was fought near the town of Tourcoing, north of Lille in northeastern France.

18/05/1783

First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.

United Empire Loyalist is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and governor general of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America during or after the American Revolution. At that time, the demonym Canadian or Canadien was used by the descendants of New France settlers inhabiting the Province of Quebec.

18/05/1756

The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.

The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a global war fought by numerous great powers, primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and the Indian subcontinent. The warring states were Great Britain and Prussia fighting against France and Austria, with other countries joining these coalitions: Portugal, Spain, Saxony, Sweden, and Russia. Related conflicts include the Third Silesian War, French and Indian War, Third Carnatic War, Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763), and Spanish–Portuguese War. Winston Churchill later famously referred to the conflict as the "First World War" due to its truly global scale, with major campaigns spanning four continents.

18/05/1695

The 1695 Linfen earthquake in Shannxi, Qing dynasty causes extreme damage and kills at least 52,000 people.

The 1695 Linfen earthquake struck Shanxi Province in North China, Qing dynasty on May 18. Occurring at a shallow depth within the continental crust, the surface-wave magnitude 7.8 earthquake had a maximum intensity of XI on the China seismic intensity scale and Mercalli intensity scale. This devastating earthquake affected over 120 counties across eight provinces of modern-day China. An estimated 52,600 people died in the earthquake, although the death toll may have been 176,365.

18/05/1652

Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced.

The history of Rhode Island is an overview of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the state of Rhode Island from pre-colonial times to the present.

18/05/1631

In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.

Dorchester is a neighborhood comprising more than 6 square miles (16 km2) in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This dissolved municipality, Boston's largest neighborhood by far, is often divided by city planners in order to create two planning areas roughly equivalent in size and population to other Boston neighborhoods.

18/05/1593

Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.

Thomas Kyd was an English playwright, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.

18/05/1565

The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.

The Great Siege of Malta occurred in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege lasted nearly four months, from 18 May to 8 September 1565.

18/05/1499

Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.

Alonso de Ojeda was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He is famous for having named Venezuela, which he explored during his first two expeditions, for having been the first European to visit Guyana, Curaçao, Colombia and Lake Maracaibo, and later for founding Santa Cruz. He also travelled to Trinidad, Tobago and Aruba, in some of his travels he journeyed with Amerigo Vespucci and Juan de la Cosa.

18/05/1388

During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Ming army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.

The Battle of Buir Lake was fought between the Ming and Northern Yuan dynasties at the Buir Lake in 1388. The Ming army was led by General Lan Yu, who undertook the military campaign against the Northern Yuan horde led by Tögüs Temür. The Ming army defeated the Northern Yuan horde at the Buir Lake and captured many of their people.

18/05/1302

Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.

The Matins of Bruges was the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges and their Leliaards supporters, a political faction in favour of French rule, on 18 May 1302 by the members of the local Flemish militia. It has been named "Matins" in analogy to the Sicilian Vespers of 1282. The revolt led to the Battle of the Golden Spurs, which saw the Flemish militia defeat French troops on 11 July 1302.

18/05/1291

Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.

The siege of Acre took place in 1291 and resulted in the Crusaders' losing control of Acre to the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. It is considered one of the most important battles of the period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end of further crusades to the Levant. When Acre fell, the Crusaders lost their last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

18/05/1268

The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.

The Principality of Antioch was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of Anatolia and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date.

18/05/1152

The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king two years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.

Henry II was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189. During his reign he controlled England, substantial parts of Wales and Ireland, and much of France, an area that was later called the Angevin Empire, and also held power over Scotland for a time and the Duchy of Brittany.

18/05/1096

First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany.

The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, which were initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Their aim was to return the Holy Land—which had been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century—to Christian rule. By the 11th century, although Jerusalem had then been ruled by Muslims for hundreds of years, the practices of the Seljuk rulers in the region began to threaten local Christian populations, pilgrimages from the West and the Byzantine Empire itself. The earliest impetus for the First Crusade came in 1095 when Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent ambassadors to the Council of Piacenza to request military support in the empire's conflict with the Seljuk-led Turks. This was followed later in the year by the Council of Clermont, at which Pope Urban II gave a speech supporting the Byzantine request and urging faithful Christians to undertake an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

18/05/0872

Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.

Louis II, sometimes called the Younger, was the king of Italy and emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone.

18/05/0332

Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.

Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, the Edict of Milan decriminalising Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution. This was a turning point in the Christianisation of the Roman Empire. He founded the city of Constantinople and made it the capital of the Empire, which it remained for over a millennium.

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18th May in the Stars – Star Sign Taurus

Personality Profile

Fun Facts About 18th May

Famous Birthdays on 18th May

Hala Finley, American actress

Travis Hunter, American football player

Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater

Emma Navarro, American tennis player

Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer

Steven Sessegnon, English footballer

Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter

Polina Edmunds, American figure skater

Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player

Jessica Watson, Australian sailor

Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model

Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer

Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer

Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player

Taeyang, South Korean singer

Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player

Oliver Sin, Hungarian painter

Henrique Sereno, Portuguese footballer

Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter

Simon Pagenaud, French race car driver

Darius Šilinskis, Lithuanian basketball player

Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player

Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist

Gary O'Neil, English footballer

Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player

Vince Young, American football player

Jason Brown, English footballer

Marie-Ève Pelletier, Canadian tennis player

Mahamadou Diarra, Malian international footballer

Ashley Harrison, Australian rugby league player

Reggie Evans, American basketball player

Michaël Llodra, French tennis player

Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer

Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft

Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer

Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoeist

Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer

Julián Speroni, Argentinian footballer

Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer

Marcus Giles, American baseball player

Charles Kamathi, Kenyan runner

Lee Hendrie, English footballer

Danny Mills, English footballer and sportscaster

Li Tie, Chinese footballer and manager

Ron Mercer, American basketball player

Marko Tomasović, Croatian pianist and composer

Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player

Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer

John Higgins, Scottish snooker player

Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Ingvild Kjerkol, Norwegian politician

Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and sportscaster

Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach

Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (died 2011)

Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Brad Friedel, American international soccer player, manager and sportscaster

Mark Menzies, Scottish politician

Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese race car driver

Javier Cárdenas, Spanish singer, television and radio presenter

Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter

Tim Horan, Australian rugby player and sportscaster

Billy Howerdel, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer

Vicky Sunohara, Canadian former ice hockey player

Troy Cassar-Daley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Antônio Carlos Zago, Brazilian footballer and manager

Philippe Benetton, French rugby player

Ralf Kelleners, German race car driver

Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German race car driver

Nancy Juvonen, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded Flower Films

Mimi Macpherson, Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity

Renata Nielsen, Polish-Danish long jumper and coach