Born on Monday, 5th May – Famous Birthdays

05/05/2004

Jenna Davis, American actress and YouTuber

Jenna Davis is an American actress, Internet personality, and singer-songwriter. She is best known for voicing the titular character of the horror film M3GAN (2022) and its sequel, M3GAN 2.0 (2025). As a child actress, she had recurring roles on the Brat network and the Disney Channel series Raven's Home (2018–2019). Her voice work includes Treehouse Detectives (2018) and Vampirina (2018–2020). She rose to prominence after her first single released with SMACK records "DiCaprio", which the music video on her YouTube channel has reached over 4 million views.

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Kirsty Muir, Scottish freestyle skier

Kirsty Muir is a Scottish freestyle skier representing Great Britain who competes in big air and slopestyle. She came second in the big air event at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, and won the slopestyle competition at the 2026 Winter X Games.

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05/05/2003

Carlos Alcaraz, Spanish tennis player

Carlos Alcaraz Garfia is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2022 and 2025. Alcaraz has won 26 ATP Tour–level singles titles, including seven majors and eight ATP 1000 titles. He is the youngest man to complete a Career Grand Slam in singles.

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05/05/1999

Nathan Chen, American figure skater

Nathan Wei Chen is an American figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion, a ten-time Grand Prix medalist, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the team event, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, and a six-time U.S. national champion (2017–22). At the junior level, Chen is the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, 2013–14 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 World Junior bronze medalist, and a six-time Junior Grand Prix medalist. He became the youngest skater to win a U.S. Championship at the novice level in 2010, at age ten, a title he successfully defended the following season.

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Justin Kluivert, Dutch footballer

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

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05/05/1998

Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player

Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is the current world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA and is a former No. 1 in doubles. Sabalenka has won 24 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including four majors – two each at the Australian Open and the US Open – as well as 11 WTA 1000 events. She has also won six doubles titles, including the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open, both with Elise Mertens.

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05/05/1997

Logan Gilbert, American baseball player

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

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Mitch Marner, Canadian hockey player

Mitchell Daniel Marner is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL entry draft.

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05/05/1996

Christopher Eubanks, American tennis player

Christopher Eubanks is an American former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 29, achieved on 31 July 2023 and a best doubles ranking of No. 142, reached on 12 August 2024. His most notable result was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2023 Wimbledon.

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Mayar Sherif, Egyptian tennis player

Mayar Sherif Ahmed Abdel-Aziz is an Egyptian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA ranking of No. 31 in singles, making her the highest ranked Egyptian singles player, male or female, in the Open Era. She also has a career-high of No. 65 in doubles. Sherif has won one singles title on the WTA Tour and two titles in doubles. She has also won a record eight WTA 125 singles titles and two doubles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour along with eleven singles and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She is the younger sister of Rana Sherif Ahmed.

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05/05/1995

James Conner, American football player

James Earl Conner is an American professional football running back for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. In 2014, he garnered AFCA first-team All-American honors and was awarded the ACC Player of the Year. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft.

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05/05/1994

Celeste, British singer

Celeste Epiphany Waite, known by the mononym Celeste, is an English singer and songwriter. She began her career in 2014 providing vocals for electronic producers such as Avicii, Tieks and Real Lies, while also self-publishing music onto SoundCloud on the side. She made her solo debut via Lily Allen's vanity label Bank Holiday Records with the EP The Milk & the Honey (2017), and then released her second EP Lately (2019) after signing with Polydor Records in 2018.

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05/05/1991

Raúl Jiménez, Mexican footballer

Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Fulham and the Mexico national team.

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05/05/1989

Chris Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor

Christopher Maurice Brown is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and actor. A hip-hop and pop-influenced R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "King of R&B" by some contemporaries. His lyrics often address emotional and hedonistic themes. His singing and dancing skills have often been compared favorably to those of Michael Jackson.

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Agnes Knochenhauer, Swedish curler

Agnes Ellinor Knochenhauer is a Swedish curler from Stockholm. She currently plays second on Team Anna Hasselborg. With Hasselborg, Knochenhauer has won three Olympic medals, gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina and bronze at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She also won a silver medal at the 2014 Games in Sochi as alternate for the Margaretha Sigfridsson rink.

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05/05/1988

Adele, English singer-songwriter

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

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05/05/1987

Graham Dorrans, Scottish footballer

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

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05/05/1985

Shoko Nakagawa, Japanese actress and singer

Shoko Nakagawa is a Japanese media personality, singer, actress, voice actress, illustrator, YouTuber, and cosplayer. Also known by her nickname Shokotan (しょこたん), she is best known as the presenter of Pokémon Sunday, and as the performer of the opening theme from the anime Gurren Lagann.

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Emanuele Giaccherini, Italian footballer

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

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P. J. Tucker, American basketball player

Anthony Leon "P.J." Tucker Jr. is an American professional basketball player who last played for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Regarded as a reliable perimeter defender all throughout his career, Tucker won an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. He played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns. Outside his NBA career, he was also the 2008 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, and Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP and also won championships overseas in the Israeli Super League in 2008 with the Hapoel Holon, the German League and the German Cup in 2012 with Brose Bamberg.

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05/05/1983

Henry Cavill, English actor

Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He gained wide recognition for portraying Superman in the DC Extended Universe (2013–2023), beginning with the film Man of Steel (2013) and reprising the role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), in addition to a cameo appearance in Black Adam (2022) and in The Flash (2023).

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05/05/1982

Vanessa Bryant, American philanthropist and model

Vanessa Marie Bryant is a Mexican-American businesswoman and philanthropist. She was married to American professional basketball player Kobe Bryant. Following the death of her husband and daughter Gianna in a January 26, 2020, helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, Bryant filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, which was settled in 2023.

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Corey Parker, Australian rugby league footballer

Corey Parker is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. A Queensland State of Origin and Australia international representative, Parker played in the lock, second-row and prop positions. Parker played his entire professional career at the Broncos club, with whom he won the 2006 NRL Premiership. He also fulfilled goal kicking duties for the Broncos.

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05/05/1981

Craig David, English singer-songwriter, musician and producer

Craig Ashley David is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. He rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, Born to Do It, was released in 2000, to great commercial success. He followed it up with eight more studio albums: Slicker Than Your Average (2002), The Story Goes... (2005), Trust Me (2007), Signed Sealed Delivered (2010), Following My Intuition (2016), The Time Is Now (2018), 22 (2022), and Commitment (2025). Over his career, David has collaborated with a diverse array of artists, including Sting, Tinchy Stryder, Big Narstie, Tiwa Savage and JoJo.

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Danielle Fishel, American actress

Danielle Christine Fishel Karp is an American actress and director. Her career started in community theater, and she made her screen debut with guest roles on shows such as Full House (1992–1993) and Harry and the Hendersons (1993). Fishel's breakthrough came with the role of Topanga Lawrence on the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World (1993–2000), which she later reprised in its successor, Girl Meets World (2014–2017), on Disney Channel. For the role, she received a YoungStar Award in 1998.

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05/05/1980

Yossi Benayoun, Israeli footballer

Yossi Shai Benayoun is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Israel and England and captained the Israel national team. Born in Dimona, he is sometimes nicknamed "The Diamond from Dimona" in Israel. As of 2023, he has been the sporting director of the Israel national team.

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Hank Green, American entrepreneur, educator, and vlogger

William Henry Green II is an American YouTuber, science communicator, novelist, stand-up comedian, and entrepreneur. He produces the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers with his older brother, author John Green, and hosts the educational YouTube channels Crash Course and SciShow. He has advocated for and organized social activism, created and hosted a number of other YouTube channels and podcasts, released music albums, and amassed a large following on TikTok.

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05/05/1979

Vincent Kartheiser, American actor

Vincent Paul Kartheiser is an American actor. He gained acclaim for his role as Pete Campbell on the AMC drama series Mad Men from 2007 to 2015. He had starring roles in films such as Alaska (1996), Masterminds (1997), and Another Day in Paradise (1998). Kartheiser also played Connor on The WB television series Angel and Dr. Jonathan Crane in the third season of the HBO series Titans. For his role as William Bradford in Saints & Strangers he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.

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05/05/1977

Tiffany Roberts, American footballer

Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak is an American soccer coach, former defender, and Olympic gold medalist. She was also a member of the 1999 U.S. national team that won the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. She became the 16th player in U.S. history to play over 100 matches for her country and was a founding member of the WUSA, the first women's professional soccer league in the United States. She is currently head coach of the women's soccer team at the University of Central Florida.

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05/05/1976

Dieter Brummer, Australian actor (died 2021)

Dieter Kirk Brummer was an Australian actor. He was best known for his roles in television soap operas, including playing Shane Parrish in Home and Away from 1992 to 1996 and Troy Miller in Neighbours from 2011 to 2012. He also starred in crime drama Underbelly: The Golden Mile, after having a smaller role in the previous series.

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Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentinian footballer and sportscaster

Juan Pablo Sorín is an Argentine former footballer and current sports broadcaster, who played as a left-back or left midfielder. He had a successful club career in his native Argentina with River Plate, in Brazil with Cruzeiro, and with various teams in Europe, including Barcelona, Lazio, Paris Saint-Germain and Villarreal.

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05/05/1975

Meb Keflezighi, American runner

Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi is a retired American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and finished in fourth place in the 2012 Summer Olympics. He won the 2009 New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009, and the 2014 Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014, becoming the first American man to win each race since 1982 and 1983, respectively. Keflezighi is a graduate of UCLA, where he won four NCAA championships competing for the UCLA Bruins track and field team. He came in fourth in the 2014 New York City Marathon on November 2, 2014, eighth in the 2015 Boston Marathon on April 20, 2015, and second in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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05/05/1972

James Cracknell, English rower

James Edward Cracknell, is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles. Cracknell was appointed OBE for "services to sport" in the 2005 New Year Honours List.

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Žigmund Pálffy, Slovak ice hockey player

Žigmund Pálffy, nicknamed "Ziggy" in English and "Žigo" in Slovak, is a Slovak former professional ice hockey player.

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Mikael Renberg, Swedish ice hockey player

Mikael Bo Renberg is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player, last playing for Skellefteå AIK in Elitserien. He spent ten seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and eight in the Swedish Elite League.

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05/05/1971

Harold Miner, American basketball player

Harold David Miner is an American former professional basketball player and two-time champion of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Slam Dunk Contest. He attended college at the University of Southern California (USC) and was a star player on that school's men's basketball team. He left school in 1992 to pursue his professional career, and played in the NBA for the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite comparisons to Michael Jordan, Miner's NBA career lasted only four years.

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05/05/1967

Adam Hughes, American author and illustrator

Adam Hughes is an American comics artist and illustrator best known to American comic book readers for his renderings of pinup-style female characters, and his cover work on titles such as Wonder Woman and Catwoman. He is known as one of comics' foremost cheesecake artists, and one of the best known and most distinctive comic book cover artists. Throughout his career Hughes has provided illustration work for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, Playboy magazine, Joss Whedon's Mutant Enemy Productions, and Sideshow Collectibles. He is also a fixture at comics conventions where his commissioned sketches command long lines.

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Charles Nagy, American baseball player

Charles Harrison Nagy is an American former Major League Baseball All-Star right-handed pitcher who played for 14 seasons in the major leagues from 1990 to 2003. He played for the Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres. He served as the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2011 to 2013 and the Los Angeles Angels from 2016 to 2018.

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Alexis Sinduhije, Burundian journalist and politician

Alexis Sinduhije is a Burundian journalist and politician. After founding Radio Publique Africaine during the Burundi Civil War, Sinduhije received a CPJ International Press Freedom Award and was named to the Time 100 list of most influential people. In 2007, he left journalism to run for president, but was arrested in 2008 on a charge of "insulting the president," Pierre Nkurunziza, drawing protests on his behalf from the U.S., U.K., and Amnesty International. He was found not guilty and released in 2009. The film Kamenge, Northern Quarters follows Sinduhije before, during, and after his incarceration.

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05/05/1966

Shawn Drover, Canadian drummer

Shawn Drover is a Canadian drummer, best known for his work with the American heavy metal band Megadeth. He uses Sabian cymbals and Yamaha drums, Pro-mark drum sticks, Toca Percussion, Evans Drumheads and Extreme Isolation headphones.

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Sergei Stanishev, Bulgarian politician, 46th Prime Minister of Bulgaria

Sergey Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who served Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Socialist Party, which he led from 2001 to 2014, he later served as Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2024. Stanishev was also the President of the European Socialists from 2011 to 2022 and a Member of the National Assembly from 1997 to 2005 and from 2009 to 2014.

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Josh Weinstein, American screenwriter and producer

Joshua Weinstein is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Weinstein and Bill Oakley became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans School; Weinstein then attended Stanford University and was editor-in-chief of the Stanford Chaparral. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period.

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05/05/1964

Jean-François Copé, French politician, French Minister of Budget

Jean-François Copé is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—including Minister of the Budget—at the same time. He also served as the member of the National Assembly for the 6th constituency of Seine-et-Marne and president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) group in the National Assembly. In November 2010 he became the party's secretary-general. In August 2012 he announced that he would run for the presidency of the UMP, facing the former Prime Minister François Fillon.

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Heike Henkel, German high jumper

Heike Henkel is a German former athlete competing in high jump. She was Olympic, World and European champion. She won the high jump gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

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Don Payne, American screenwriter and producer (died 2013)

William Donald Payne was an American writer and producer. He wrote several episodes of The Simpsons after 2000, many of these with John Frink, whom he met while studying at the University of California, Los Angeles. The duo began their careers writing for the short-lived sitcom Hope and Gloria. Payne later moved into writing feature films, including My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), and co-wrote Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Thor (2011) and its sequel Thor: The Dark World (2013). Payne died from heart failure caused by bone cancer in March 2013.

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Minami Takayama, Japanese voice actress and singer

Minami Takayama is a Japanese voice actress, narrator and singer who is currently affiliated with 81 Produce. She is also the main vocalist of Two-Mix and ES CONNEXION when it was active. Her uncle was former New Japan Pro-Wrestling managing director Hisashi Shinma.

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05/05/1963

James LaBrie, Canadian singer-songwriter

Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has been fronting since 1991.

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Simon Rimmer, English chef and author

Simon Peter Rimmer is an English celebrity chef, best known for his on-screen partnership with Tim Lovejoy.

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Scott Westerfeld, American author and composer

Scott David Westerfeld is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the Uglies and the Leviathan series.

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05/05/1961

Marg Downey, Australian actress

Marg Downey is an Australian comedian and actress, best known for her roles in The D Generation, Fast Forward and Full Frontal

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Hiroshi Hase, Japanese wrestler and politician

Hiroshi Hase is a Japanese politician and semi-retired professional wrestler who is currently the governor of Ishikawa Prefecture since 2022. As a professional wrestler, Hase primarily worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and also for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Stampede Wrestling. During his affiliation with AJPW, he also served as the chairman for the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF), which is the governing body for all championships in the promotion. Among his numerous title wins, Hase held the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship once, making him a one-time world champion.

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05/05/1960

Doug Hawkins, Australian footballer and sportscaster

Douglas James Hawkins is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Footscray and Fitzroy in the Australian Football League (AFL). He also enjoyed a brief career in media and ran for the Senate, as a member of Palmer United Party, in the 2013 Australian federal election.

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05/05/1959

Bobby Ellsworth, American singer and bass player

Robert Ellsworth, best known as Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, is an American singer who is the lead vocalist of New Jersey thrash metal band Overkill. He has been the vocalist of Overkill since its inception in 1980, and he and bassist D. D. Verni are the band's only constant members.

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Ian McCulloch, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Echo & the Bunnymen.

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Brian Williams, American journalist

Brian Douglas Williams is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a correspondent for NBC Nightly News starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in December 2004.

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05/05/1958

Robert DiPierdomenico, Australian footballer and sportscaster

Berto "Robert" DiPierdomenico is a retired Australian rules footballer who represented Hawthorn in the Australian Football League (AFL) from the 1970s to the 1990s. Popularly known by his nickname "Dipper", DiPierdomenico is one of the most successful Italian Australians to play Australian football, and his contribution to the game was recognised by selection in the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century.

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05/05/1957

Richard E. Grant, Swazi-English actor, director, and screenwriter

Richard E. Grant is a Swazi and English actor and presenter. He made his film debut as Withnail in the comedy Withnail and I (1987). Grant received critical acclaim for his role as Jack Hock in Marielle Heller's drama film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), winning various awards including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He also received Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

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05/05/1956

Steve Scott, American runner and coach

Steve Scott is an American former track athlete who competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Olympics. Track & Field News ranked Scott #1 in the U.S. on ten occasions, and eleven times during his career he was ranked in the top ten in the world by T&FN. Scott is also regarded as the founder of speed golf in 1979.

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05/05/1955

Jon Butcher, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and freelance multimedia producer

Jon Butcher is an American rock, blues songwriter, guitarist and freelance multimedia producer.

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05/05/1952

Ed Lee, American politician and attorney, 43rd Mayor of San Francisco (died 2017)

Edwin Mah Lee was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death in 2017.

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05/05/1950

Maggie MacNeal, Dutch singer

Maggie MacNeal is a Dutch singer. She was a member of Mouth & MacNeal, a pop duo from the Netherlands, who are best known for their million-selling recording of "How Do You Do" in 1972, which topped the Dutch chart and became a US top ten hit, and for representing the Netherlands at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing third with the song "I See a Star", which went on to become a UK top ten hit. In 1980, she represented the Netherlands at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing fifth with the song Amsterdam.

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05/05/1948

Bill Ward, English drummer and songwriter

William Thomas Ward is an English drummer. He is the original drummer of Black Sabbath, co-founding the pioneering heavy metal band in 1969 alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. He has released three solo albums, the most recent being Accountable Beasts in 2015.

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05/05/1946

Jim Kelly, American actor, athlete, and martial artist (died 2013)

James Milton Kelly was an American athlete, martial artist actor, and professional tennis player. After winning several karate championships, he rose to fame in the early 1970s appearing in action films within the martial arts and blaxploitation genres. Kelly played opposite Bruce Lee in 1973's Enter the Dragon, and had lead roles in 1974's Black Belt Jones as the title character and Three the Hard Way as Mister Keyes.

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05/05/1945

Kurt Loder, American journalist, author, and critic

Kurt Loder is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at Rolling Stone, during a tenure that Reason later called "legendary." He has contributed to articles in Reason, Esquire, Details, New York, and Time. He has also made cameos in several films and television series. He is best known for his role at MTV News beginning in the 1980s and for appearing in other MTV-related television specials. He has hosted the SiriusXM radio show True Stories since 2016.

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05/05/1944

Bo Larsson, Swedish footballer (died 2023)

Bo-Göran "Bosse" Larsson was a Swedish professional footballer who played as a midfielder and striker. Best remembered for his time with Malmö FF, he also represented VfB Stuttgart and Trelleborgs FF during his career. A full international between 1964 and 1978, he won 70 caps for the Sweden national team and scored 17 goals. He also represented Sweden at the 1970, 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups.

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John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor and screenwriter

John Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor known for portraying Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise. He has received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, with one win, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

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Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor and director (died 2015)

Roger Rees was a Welsh-American actor and director. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He also received Obie Awards for his role in The End of the Day and as co-director of Peter and the Starcatcher. Rees was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in November 2015.

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05/05/1943

Michael Palin, English actor and screenwriter

Sir Michael Edward Palin is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

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Ignacio Ramonet, Spanish journalist and author

Ignacio Ramonet Miguez is a Spanish academic, journalist, and writer who has been based in Paris for much of his career. After becoming first known for writing on film and media, he became editor-in-chief of Le Monde diplomatique, serving from 1991 until March 2008. Under his leadership, LMD established editorial independence in 1996 from Le Monde, with which it had been affiliated since 1954.

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05/05/1942

Jean Corston, Baroness Corston, English lawyer and politician

Jean Ann Corston, Baroness Corston,, is a British politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol East from 1992 to 2005, during which time she served as Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 2001 to 2005.

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Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1998)

Tammy Wynette was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a woman's perspective to the male-dominated country music field that helped other women find representation in the genre. Her characteristic vocal delivery has been acclaimed by critics, journalists and writers for conveying unique emotion. Twenty of her singles topped the US country chart during her career. Her signature song "Stand by Your Man" received both acclaim and criticism for its portrayal of women's loyalty to their husbands.

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05/05/1940

Lance Henriksen, American actor

Lance Henriksen is an American actor. He is known for his roles in various science fiction, action and horror genre productions, including Bishop in the Alien film franchise and Frank Black in the television series Millennium (1996–99) and The X-Files (1999).

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05/05/1939

Ray Gosling, English journalist, author, and activist (died 2013)

Raymond Arthur Gosling was an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and gay rights activist.

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05/05/1938

Michael Murphy, American actor

Michael George Murphy is an American film, television and stage actor. He often plays unethical or morally ambiguous characters in positions of authority. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with director Robert Altman, having appeared in twelve productions directed by Altman in a period spanning from 1963 to 2004, including his leading titular role in the HBO cable miniseries Tanner '88.

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05/05/1937

Beryl Burton, English racing cyclist (died 1996)

Beryl Burton OBE was an English racing cyclist who dominated the women's sport, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records. In 1967, she set a world record for the 12-hour time-trial which exceeded the men's record for two years.

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Delia Derbyshire, English musician, arranger and composer (died 2001)

Delia Ann Derbyshire was an English musician and composer of electronic music. She worked with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including an electronic arrangement of the theme music to the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. She has been referred to as "the unsung heroine of British electronic music", having influenced musicians including Aphex Twin, the Chemical Brothers and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.

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05/05/1936

Sandy Baron, American actor and comedian (died 2001)

Sandy Baron was an American actor and comedian who performed on stage, in films, and on television. He is best known for his recurring role of Jack Klompus on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld.

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05/05/1935

Eddie Linden, Scottish poet and magazine editor (died 2023)

Edward Sean Linden was a Scottish-Irish poet, literary magazine editor, and political activist. From 1969 to 2002, he published and edited the poetry magazine Aquarius, which The Irish Post said made him "one of the leading figures on the international poetry scene". The journal was significant in the growth of British, Irish, and international poets and has been described as Linden's "crowning gift to literature—the nurturing and developing of poetic talent".

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Bernard Pivot, French journalist, talk show host, and producer (died 2024)

Bernard Pivot was a French journalist, interviewer and host of cultural television programmes. He was chairman of the Académie Goncourt from 2014 to 2020.

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05/05/1934

Henri Konan Bédié, Ivorian politician, 2nd President of Côte d'Ivoire (died 2023)

Aimé Henri Konan Bédié was an Ivorian politician. He was President of Côte d'Ivoire from 1993 to 1999, and formerly President of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast – African Democratic Rally (PDCI–RDA). Prior to becoming president, he was a member and president of the National Assembly of Ivory Coast. He unsuccessfully sought another term as president in the 2020 presidential election.

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Victor Garland, Australian accountant and politician, 26th Australian Minister for Veterans' Affairs (died 2022)

Sir Ransley Victor Garland KBE, usually known as Vic Garland, was an Australian politician and diplomat. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1981, representing the Liberal Party, and served as a minister in the McMahon and Fraser governments. He later served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1983.

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05/05/1933

Collie Smith, Jamaican cricketer (died 1959)

O'Neil Gordon "Collie" Smith was a West Indian international cricketer.

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05/05/1932

Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (died 2014)

Stan Goldberg was an American comic book artist, best known for his work with Archie Comics and as a Marvel Comics colorist who in the 1960s helped design the original color schemes of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other major characters. He was inducted into the National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame in 2011.

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05/05/1929

Ilene Woods, American actress (died 2010)

Jacqueline Ruth Woods, better known as Ilene Woods, was an American actress and singer. Woods was best known as the original voice of the title character of Walt Disney animated film Cinderella, for which she was named a Disney Legend in 2003.

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05/05/1927

Pat Carroll, American actress (died 2022)

Patricia Ann Carroll was an American actress and comedian. She is best known for providing the voice of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. She made guest appearances in many popular television series including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laverne & Shirley, and ER; she also had a regular role on The Danny Thomas Show as Bunny Halper. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee.

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05/05/1925

Leo Ryan, American soldier, educator, and politician (died 1978)

Leo Joseph Ryan Jr. was an American politician and teacher. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented California's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 until his assassination in the Jonestown massacre in 1978. Before that, he served in the California State Assembly, representing the state's 27th district.

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05/05/1923

William C. Campbell, American golfer (died 2013)

William Cammack Campbell, often known as Bill Campbell or William C. Campbell, became one of the most distinguished amateur golfers in golf history. Campbell was two-time President of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and one time Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.

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Cathleen Synge Morawetz, Canadian mathematician (died 2017)

Cathleen Synge Morawetz was a Canadian mathematician who spent much of her career in the United States. Morawetz's research was mainly in the study of the partial differential equations governing fluid flow, particularly those of mixed type occurring in transonic flow. She was professor emerita at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the New York University, where she had also served as director from 1984 to 1988. She was president of the American Mathematical Society from 1995 to 1996. She was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1998.

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05/05/1922

Irene Gut Opdyke, Polish nurse and humanitarian (died 2003)

Irene Gut Opdyke was a Polish nurse who gained international recognition for aiding Polish Jews persecuted by Nazi Germany during World War II. She was honored as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for risking her life to save 12 Jews.

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05/05/1921

Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999)

Arthur Leonard Schawlow was an American physicist who, along with Charles Townes, developed the theoretical basis for laser science. His central insight was the use of two mirrors as the resonant cavity to take maser action from microwaves to visible wavelengths. He shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nicolaas Bloembergen and Kai Siegbahn for his work using lasers to determine atomic energy levels with great precision.

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05/05/1919

Georgios Papadopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, 169th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1999)

Georgios Papadopoulos was a Greek military officer and dictator who led a coup d'etat in Greece in 1967 and became the country's Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973. He also was the President of Greece under the junta in 1973, following a referendum. However, after causing a massacre by deploying military riflemen and a tank brigade to attack non-violent protestors to suppress the Athens Polytechnic uprising, he was, in turn, overthrown by hardliner Dimitrios Ioannidis, in a string of events that would culminate in the fall of the regime in 1974. His and the dictatorship's legacy, as well as its methods he constructed and effects on Greek economy and society as a whole, are still fiercely debated.

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05/05/1916

Zail Singh, Indian politician, 7th President of India (died 1994)

Giani Zail Singh was an Indian politician who served as President of India from 1982 to 1987 and chief minister of Punjab in the 1970s. He was the first Sikh to become president.

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05/05/1915

Alice Faye, American actress and singer (died 1998)

Alice Faye was an American actress and singer. A musical star of 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Faye starred in such films as On the Avenue (1937) and Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938). She is often associated with the Academy Award–winning standard "You'll Never Know", which she introduced in the 1943 musical film Hello, Frisco, Hello.

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05/05/1914

Tyrone Power, American actor (died 1958)

Tyrone Edmund Power III was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include Jesse James, The Mark of Zorro, Marie Antoinette, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, Witness for the Prosecution, The Black Rose, and Captain from Castile. Power's own favorite film among those in which he starred was Nightmare Alley.

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05/05/1913

Duane Carter, American race car driver (died 1993)

Duane Claude Carter was an American racecar driver. He raced midget cars, sprint cars, and IndyCars. Carter was born in Fresno, California, and he died in Indianapolis, Indiana. His son Pancho raced in Indy cars, along with Johnny Parsons.

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05/05/1911

Andor Lilienthal, Russian-Hungarian chess player (died 2010)

Andor Arnoldovich Lilienthal was a Hungarian and Soviet chess player. In his long career, he played against ten male and female world champions, beating Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Vera Menchik.

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Pritilata Waddedar, Indian educator and activist (died 1932)

Pritilata Waddedar was a Bengali revolutionary nationalist from Chittagong who was influential in the Indian independence movement. She is often praised as "Bengal's first woman martyr".

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05/05/1910

Leo Lionni, American author and illustrator (died 1999)

Leo Lionni was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Born in the Netherlands, he moved to Italy and lived there before moving to the United States in 1939, where he worked as an art director for several advertising agencies, and then for Fortune magazine. He returned to Italy in 1962 and started writing and illustrating children's books. In 1962, his book Inch by Inch was awarded the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.

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05/05/1907

Daryna Dmytrivna Polotniuk, Bukovinian (Ukrainian) journalist and author (died 1982)

Daryna Polotniuk, better known by her pen name Iryna Vilde, was a Ukrainian and Soviet writer and correspondent. Vilde's works are now considered classics of Ukrainian literature.

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05/05/1905

Floyd Gottfredson, American author and illustrator (died 1986)

Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip, which he worked on from 1930 until his retirement in 1975. His contribution to Mickey Mouse comics is comparable to Carl Barks's on the Donald Duck comics. 17 years after his death, his memory was honored with the Disney Legends award in 2003 and induction into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.

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05/05/1903

James Beard, American chef and author (died 1985)

James Andrews Beard was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, Oregon, and lectured widely. He emphasized American cooking, prepared with fresh and wholesome American ingredients, to a country just becoming aware of its own culinary heritage. Beard taught and mentored generations of professional chefs and food enthusiasts. He published more than twenty books, and his memory is honored by his foundation's annual James Beard Awards.

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05/05/1901

Janne Mustonen, Finnish politician (died 1964)

Johannes Aadolfinpoika Mustonen was a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Communist Party of Finland and the Finnish People's Democratic League, he represented Oulu Province between April 1945 and February 1962 and between December 1963 and May 1964. Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for eight years for political reasons.

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05/05/1900

Helen Redfield, American geneticist (died 1988)

Helen Redfield, was an American geneticist. Redfield graduated from Rice University in 1920, followed by earning her Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1921. While at Rice, she worked in the mathematics department. She joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1925 and that same year she became a National Research Fellow at Columbia University. In 1926 she married Jack Schultz, the couple had two children. Redfield retained her maiden name upon her marriage. In 1929 she worked as a teaching fellow at New York University. Ten years later she worked as a geneticist in the Kerckhoff Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. Starting in 1942, during World War II, she worked as a lab scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory during the summer. From 1951 until 1961 she served as a research associate at the Institute for Cancer Research.

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05/05/1899

Freeman Gosden, American actor and screenwriter (died 1982)

Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden was an American radio comedian, actor and pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form. He is best known for his work in the Amos 'n' Andy radio series.

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05/05/1898

Elsie Eaves, American engineer (died 1983)

Elsie Eaves was a pioneering American female engineer. She was the first female associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the first female member of the American Association of Cost Engineers.

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Blind Willie McTell, American Piedmont blues singer and guitar player (died 1959)

Blind Willie McTell was an American Piedmont blues and ragtime singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played in a fluid, syncopated finger picking guitar style common among many East Coast, Piedmont blues players. Like his Atlanta contemporaries, he came to use twelve-string guitars exclusively. McTell was also adept at slide guitar, unusual among ragtime bluesmen. He sang in a smooth and often laid-back tenor which differed greatly from the harsher voices of many Delta bluesmen such as Charley Patton. He performed in various musical styles including blues, ragtime, religious music, and hokum and recorded more than 120 titles during fourteen recording sessions.

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05/05/1892

Dorothy Garrod, British archaeologist (died 1968)

Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod, CBE, FBA was an English archaeologist who specialised in the Palaeolithic period. She held the position of Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1939 to 1952, and was the first woman to hold a chair at either Oxford or Cambridge.

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05/05/1890

Christopher Morley, American journalist and author (died 1957)

Christopher Darlington Morley was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.

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05/05/1889

Herbie Taylor, South African cricketer and soldier (died 1973)

Herbert Wilfred Taylor was a South African cricketer who played 42 Test matches for his country including 18 as captain of the side. Specifically a batsman, he was an expert on the matting pitches which were prevalent in South Africa at the time and scored six of his seven centuries at home. His batting was also noted for quick footwork and exceptional 'backplay'. He became the first South African to pass 2,500 Test runs and was selected one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1925. In domestic cricket, he played for Natal, Transvaal and Western Province.

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05/05/1887

Mervyn S. Bennion, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1941)

Mervyn Sharp Bennion was a United States Navy captain who served during World War I and was killed while he was in command of battleship USS West Virginia during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage, and complete disregard of his own life."

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05/05/1885

Kingsley Fairbridge, South African-Australian scholar and politician (died 1924)

Kingsley Ogilvie Fairbridge was the founder of a child emigration scheme from Britain to its colonies and the Fairbridge Schools. His life work was the founding of the "Society for the Furtherance of Child Emigration to the Colonies", which was afterwards incorporated as the "Child Emigration Society" and ultimately the "Fairbridge Society".

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05/05/1884

Chief Bender, American baseball player and coach (died 1954)

Charles Albert "Chief" Bender was a Native American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball during the 1900s and 1910s. In 1911, Bender tied a record by pitching three complete games in a single World Series. He finished his career with a 212–127 win–loss record for a .625 winning percentage and a career 2.46 earned run average (ERA).

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05/05/1883

Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English general and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (died 1950)

Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded in the Second Battle of Ypres. In the Second World War, he served initially as Commander-in-Chief Middle East, in which role he led British forces to victory over the Italian Army in Eritrea-Abyssinia, western Egypt and eastern Libya during Operation Compass in December 1940, only to be defeated by Erwin Rommel's Panzer Army Africa in the Western Desert in April 1941. He served as Commander-in-Chief, India, from July 1941 until June 1943 and then served as Viceroy of India until his retirement in February 1947.

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Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler, American mathematician (died 1966)

Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler was an American mathematician. She is best known for early work on linear algebra in infinite dimensions, which has later become a part of functional analysis.

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05/05/1882

Sylvia Pankhurst, English women's suffrage movement leader and socialist activist (died 1960)

Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English feminist and socialist activist and writer. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, she worked to organise working-class women in London's East End. This, together with her refusal in 1914 to enter into a wartime political truce with the government, caused her to break with the suffragette leadership of her mother and sister, Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. Pankhurst welcomed the Russian Revolution and conferred in Moscow with Lenin. But as an advocate of workers' control, she rejected the Leninist party line and criticised the Bolshevik regime.

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05/05/1874

Thomas Bavin, New Zealand-Australian politician, 24th Premier of New South Wales (died 1941)

Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin, was an Australian lawyer and politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1927 to 1930. He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Australia at the age of 15, where he studied law and became a barrister. He served as personal secretary to Australia's first two prime ministers, Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. Bavin was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1917. He served two terms as Attorney General of New South Wales before leading the Nationalist Party to victory at the 1927 state election, in a coalition with the Country Party. His predecessor Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) defeated his government after a single term at the 1930 state election.

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05/05/1873

Leon Czolgosz, American assassin of William McKinley (died 1901)

Leon Frank Czolgosz was an American wireworker and anarchist who assassinated United States president William McKinley in 1901. Czolgosz had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism—a radical, anti-authoritarian political philosophy. He regarded McKinley as a symbol of oppression and believed that it was his duty as an anarchist to assassinate him. Czolgosz shot McKinley in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, and was immediately arrested. McKinley died on September 14 after his wound became infected. A month later, Czolgosz was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to death. He was executed by the electric chair on October 29.

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05/05/1869

Fabián de la Rosa, Filipino painter and educator (died 1937)

Don Fabián de la Rosa y Cueto was a Filipino painter. He was the uncle and mentor to the Philippines' national artist in painting, Fernando Amorsolo, and to his brother Pablo. He is regarded as a "master of genre" in Philippine art.

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Hans Pfitzner, German composer and conductor (died 1949)

Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina (1917), very loosely based on the life of the sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and his Missa Papae Marcelli.

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05/05/1866

Thomas B. Thrige, Danish businessman (died 1938)

Thomas Barfoed Thrige was a Danish entrepreneur, industrialist and businessman. In 1894, he started the company Thomas B. Thrige, a manufacturer of electric motors, now known as T-T Electric. The power station of his factory in Odense is now the Thriges Kraftcentral museum run by Odense City Museums.

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05/05/1865

Helen Maud Merrill, American litterateur and poet (died 1943)

Helen Maud Merrill was an American litterateur and poet from Maine. Her first published poem was in the Waterville Sentinel, in 1882. During the decade of 1882–1892, Merrill contributed numerous poems to the St. Nicholas Magazine, Portland Transcript, the Gospel Banner and other journals. She also engaged in editorial work.

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05/05/1864

Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (died 1922)

Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and for an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. She ushered in the era of stunt girl reporting and helped advance a new kind of immersion journalism.

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05/05/1859

Charles B. Hanford, American Shakespearean actor (died 1926)

Charles Barnum Hanford was an American stage actor, known as one of the most popular American Shakespearean actors of his time. After an early career working with leading actors such as Edwin Booth, Thomas W. Keene, and Julia Marlowe, he established his own company and appeared often opposite his wife, the actress Marie Drofnah.

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05/05/1858

John L. Leal, American physician (died 1914)

John Laing Leal was an American physician and water treatment expert who, in 1908, was responsible for conceiving and implementing the first disinfection of a U.S. drinking water supply using chlorine. He was one of the principal expert witnesses at two trials which examined the quality of the water supply in Jersey City, New Jersey, and which evaluated the safety and utility of chlorine for production of "pure and wholesome" drinking water. The second trial verdict approved the use of chlorine to disinfect drinking water which led to an explosion of its use in water supplies across the U.S.

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05/05/1846

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916)

Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz, also known by the pseudonym Litwos, was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as the Trilogy series and especially for his internationally known best-seller Quo Vadis (1895–1896).

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05/05/1843

William George Beers, Canadian dentist and patriot (died 1900)

William George Beers was a Canadian dentist who founded Canada's first dental journal and served as the founding dean of the Dental College of the Province of Quebec. In addition, he is referred to as the "father of modern lacrosse" for his work establishing the first set of playing rules for the game.

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05/05/1834

Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter and architect (died 1873)

Viktor Aleksandrovich Hartmann or Gartman was a Russian architect and painter. He was associated with the Abramtsevo Colony, purchased and preserved beginning in 1870 by Savva Mamontov, and the Russian Revival.

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05/05/1833

Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer and academic (died 1905)

Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen, better known in English as Baron von Richthofen, was a German traveller, geographer, and scientist. He is noted for coining the terms "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" = "Silk Road(s)" or "Silk Route(s)" in 1877. He also standardized the practices of chorography and chorology.

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05/05/1832

Hubert Howe Bancroft, American ethnologist and historian (died 1918)

Hubert Howe Bancroft was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote, published, and collected works concerning the Western United States, Texas, California, Alaska, Mexico, Central America, and British Columbia.

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05/05/1830

John Batterson Stetson, American businessman, founded the John B. Stetson Company (died 1906)

John Batterson Stetson was an American hat maker who invented the cowboy hat in the 1860s. He founded the John B. Stetson Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1865, and it became one of the largest hat manufacturers in the world. The company's hats are now commonly referred to simply as Stetsons.

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05/05/1826

Eugénie de Montijo, French wife of Napoleon III (died 1920)

Eugénie de Montijo was Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until he was overthrown on 4 September 1870. From 28 July to 4 September 1870, she was the de facto head of state of France.

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05/05/1818

Karl Marx, German philosopher, sociologist, and journalist (died 1883)

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, social and political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, and his three-volume Das Kapital (1867–1894), a critique of classical political economy which employs his theory of historical materialism in an analysis of capitalism, in the culmination of his life's work. Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence.

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05/05/1813

Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and author (died 1855)

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Lutheran theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christianity, morality, ethics, psychology, love, and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony, and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", highlighting the importance of authenticity, personal choice and commitment, and the duty to love. Kierkegaard prioritized concrete human reality over abstract thinking.

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05/05/1800

Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (died 1864)

Louis Christophe François Hachette was a French publisher who established a Paris publishing house designed to produce books and other material to improve the system of school instruction. Publications were initially focused on the classics and subsequently expanded to include books and magazines of all types. The firm is currently part of a global publishing house.

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05/05/1764

Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (died 1812)

Major-General Robert Craufurd was a British Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. After a military career which took him from India to the Netherlands, in 1810 in the Peninsular War he was given command of the Light Division, composed of the elite foot soldiers in the army at the time, under the Duke of Wellington. Craufurd was a strict disciplinarian and somewhat prone to violent mood swings which earned him the nickname "Black Bob". He was mortally wounded storming the lesser breach in the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo on 19 January 1812 and died four days later.

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05/05/1749

Jean-Frédéric Edelmann, French pianist and composer (died 1794)

Jean-Frédéric Edelmann was a French classical composer. He was born in Strasbourg to a Protestant family of Alsatian descent. After studying law and music, he moved to Paris in 1774 where he played and taught the piano. It is possible that Edelmann worked for some time in London. During the French Revolution he was appointed administrator of the Bas-Rhin. In late May 1794 he was arrested after a false accusation of treason. Sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal on 17 July 1794, he was executed the same day by guillotine in Place de la Barrière du Trône together with his brother Louis, other two Strasbourg citizens, and the sixteen Carmelite nuns of Compiègne. His work was praised by Haydn and Mozart.

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05/05/1747

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1792)

Leopold II was the penultimate Holy Roman Emperor, as well as King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria from 1790 to 1792, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I, and the brother of Queen Marie Antoinette of France, Queen Maria Carolina, Duchess Maria Amalia of Parma, and Emperor Joseph II. Leopold was a moderate proponent of enlightened absolutism like his brother Joseph II. He granted the Academy of Georgofili his protection. Unusually for his time, he opposed the death penalty and torture and abolished it in Tuscany on 30 November 1786 during his rule there, making it the first nation in modern history to do so. This act has been commemorated since 2000 by a regional custom known as the Feast of Tuscany, held every 30 November. Despite his brief reign, he is highly regarded. The historian Paul W. Schroeder called him "one of the most shrewd and sensible monarchs ever to wear a crown".

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05/05/1684

Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné, French wife of Adrien Maurice de Noailles (died 1739)

Baroness Françoise Charlotte Amable d'Aubigné-Maintenon, Duchess of Noailles was a French aristocrat, the wife of Adrien Maurice de Noailles, 3rd Duke of Noailles. She was the niece of Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon, and her heiress.

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05/05/1582

John Frederick, Duke of Württemberg (died 1628)

John Frederick of Württemberg was the Duke of Württemberg from 4 February 1608 until his death on 18 July 1628 whilst en route to Heidenheim.

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05/05/1542

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (died 1623)

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter KG(5 May 1542 – 8 February 1623), known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an English politician, courtier and soldier.

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05/05/1530

Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, French nobleman (died 1574)

Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, Lord of Lorges and Ducey, was a French nobleman of Scottish extraction and captain of the Scots Guard of King Henry II of France. He is remembered for mortally injuring Henry II in a jousting accident and subsequently converting to Protestantism, the faith that the Scots Guard sought to suppress. He later became a leader of the Huguenots and was executed for his actions in the French Wars of Religion. In French-language contexts, his name is spelled Montgommery.

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05/05/1504

Stanislaus Hosius, Polish cardinal (died 1579)

Stanislaus Hosius was a Polish Roman Catholic cardinal. From 1551 he was the Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Warmia in Royal Prussia, and from 1558, he served as the papal legate to the Holy Roman Emperor's Imperial Court in Vienna, Austria. From 1566 he was also the papal legate to Poland.

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05/05/1479

Guru Amar Das, Indian 3rd Sikh Guru (died 1574)

Guru Amar Das, sometimes spelled as Guru Amardas, was the third guru of Sikhism and became Sikh Guru on 26 March 1552 at age 73.

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05/05/1352

Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (died 1410)

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.

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05/05/1310

Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (died 1376)

Przecław of Pogorzela was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Bishop of Wrocław and Duke of Nysa from 1342–1376.

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05/05/1282

Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena (died 1348)

Don Juan Manuel was a Spanish medieval writer, nephew of Alfonso X of Castile, son of Manuel of Castile and Beatrice of Savoy. He inherited from his father the great Lordship of Villena, receiving the titles of Lord, Duke and lastly Prince of Villena. He married three times, choosing his wives for political and economic convenience, and worked to match his children with partners associated with royalty. Juan Manuel became one of the richest and most powerful men of his time, coining his own currency as the kings did. During his life, he was criticised for choosing literature as his vocation, an activity thought inferior for a nobleman of such prestige.

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05/05/1210

Afonso III of Portugal (died 1279)

Afonso III, called the Boulonnais, was King of Portugal and the first to use the title King of Portugal and the Algarve, from 1249. He was the second son of King Afonso II of Portugal and Urraca of Castile; he succeeded his brother, King Sancho II of Portugal, who died on 4 January 1248.

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