41st year - Nr 142 Friday, 22 May 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 142 Friday, 22 May 2026

22 May / Today's 48 Events:

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(-) 359 years ago Sunday 22nd of May 1667 237th Pope Alexander VII, originally Fabio Chigi dies of unknown causes at the age of 68 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

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(+) 243 years ago Thursday 22nd of May 1783 Physicist and inventor William Sturgeon aka The Electrician known for making the first electromagnets is born in Whittington, Lancashire, United Kingdom.

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(+) 213 years ago Saturday 22nd of May 1813 Composer Richard Wilhelm Wagner is born in Gasthof Roter und Weißer Löwe, Brühl 3, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany.

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(+) 167 years ago Sunday 22nd of May 1859 Writer Arthur Conan Ignatius Doyle known for creating Sherlock Holmes is born in 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

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(-) 141 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1885 Romantic poet and writer Victor Marie Hugo dies of pneumonia at the age of 83 in La Princesse de Lusignan, Avenue d'Eylau, XVIe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 130 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1896 59-year-old Baby farm murderess Amelia Elizabeth Dyer, originally Hobley aka The Ogress of Reading pleads guilty to the murder of 4-months-old Doris Marmon in Old Bailey Criminal Court, London, Greater London, United Kingdom. It took the jury only four and a half minutes to find Dyer guilty. There is little doubt she was responsible for many more similar deaths - possibly 400 or more - over a period of perhaps 20 years.

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(+) 119 years ago Wednesday 22nd of May 1907 Actor and film director Laurence Kerr Olivier is born in Dorking, Surrey, United Kingdom.

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(+) 119 years ago Wednesday 22nd of May 1907 Cartoonist Georges Prosper Remi aka Hergé known for his creation of Tintin is born in 25 Rue Cranz, Etterbeek, Brussel, Brabant, Belgium.

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(+) 112 years ago He Was Teleported from Saturn Friday 22nd of May 1914 Musician Sun Ra, originally Herman Poole Blount, legally Le Sony'r Ra is born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

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(x) 111 years ago Saturday 22nd of May 1915 226 die in five train collision and fire in Quintinshill, Gretna Green, Scotland, United Kingdom. Those killed were mainly Territorial soldiers from the Royal Scots 1/7th (Leith) Battalion heading for Gallipoli.

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(-) 108 years ago Wednesday 22nd of May 1918 Joseph Maggio is throatcut and beaten to death by serial killer The Axeman of New Orleans in corner of Upperline and Magnolia Streets, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Maggio's 36-year-old wife Catherine was throatcut as well, her head almost severed. The Maggio's were the Axeman's first victims.

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(+) 102 years ago Thursday 22nd of May 1924 Singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour, originally Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian is born in Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, VIe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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(+) 101 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1925 Artist Jean Tinguely is born in Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.

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(-) 101 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1925 Murder plotter Arthur Covell is executed by hanging at the age of 46 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

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(-) 101 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1925 Double murderer Llewellyn Wilson Peare is executed by hanging at the age of 69 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States. Peare went on a moonshine spree and killed his wife and a neighbour. He became the oldest man ever executed in Oregon.

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(+) 96 years ago Thursday 22nd of May 1930 Public supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Bernard Milk is born in Woodmere, New York, United States.

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(+) 86 years ago Wednesday 22nd of May 1940 Actor Michael Jacques Michel André Sarrazin known from the film ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ is born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

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(+) 84 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1942 Mathematician and serial bomber Theodore John 'Ted' Kaczynski aka The Unabomber is born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, United States.

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(+) 75 years ago Tuesday 22nd of May 1951 Serial killer Kenneth Alessio Bianchi aka The Hillside Strangler is born in Rochester, New York, United States. Bianchi was born to a prostitute who gave him up for adoption two weeks after he was born. He was adopted at three months by Frances Scioliono and her husband Nicholas Bianchi.

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(-) 69 years ago Wednesday 22nd of May 1957 Murderer Leonard Coey is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 59 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

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(+) 69 years ago Wednesday 22nd of May 1957 Murderer John Dennis Daniels is born in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.

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(-) 67 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1959 Murderer Edward F Eckwerth is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 31 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

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(+) 66 years ago Sunday 22nd of May 1960 Victim of Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper Jacqueline Hill is born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

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(-) 64 years ago Tuesday 22nd of May 1962 Mass murderer Thomas Gene Doty detonates a bomb in the right rear lavatory of Continental Airlines Flight 11 Boeing 707 killing himself and the 36 other passengers and 8 crew in the explosion and resulting crash of the airplane at the age of 34 in Union Township, Unionville, Missouri, United States. Doty had purchased a life insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha for $150.000. His death would also bring in another $150.000 in additional insurance purchased at the airport and death benefits.

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(x) 59 years ago Monday 22nd of May 1967 251 die in L'Innovation department store fire in L'Innovation, Rue Neuve, Brussel, Brabant, Belgium. The fire inspired Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin to burn down warehouses in Germany as a protest against the war in Vietnam.

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(x) 58 years ago Wednesday 22nd of May 1968 99 die in USS Scorpion (SSN-589) nuclear submarine shipwreck in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Scorpion contained highly sophisticated spy gear and spy manuals, two nuclear-tipped torpedoes, and a nuclear propulsion system. The boat was officially declared 'lost' on 5 June 1968. End October 1968 the wreck was discovered in more than 3.000m of water.

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(+) 56 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1970 Fashion model, actress and businesswoman Naomi Elaine Campbell is born in Streatham, London, South London, United Kingdom.

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(x) 55 years ago Saturday 22nd of May 1971 Serial killer Dennis Lynn Rader aka The BTK Killer is born in Wichita, Kansas, United States.

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(+) 54 years ago Monday 22nd of May 1972 Triple murderer Riley Dobi Noel is born in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States.

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(-) 48 years ago He Could Utter Several Words Monday 22nd of May 1978 Mobster and crime boss Joseph Anthony 'Joe' Colombo dies of cardiac arrest in a vegetative state after being shot in the head on 28 June 1971 at the age of 55 in St. Luke's Hospital, 70 Dubois St, Newburgh, New York, United States. In 1975 a court-ordered examination showed that Colombo could move his thumb and forefinger on his right hand. In 1976 there were reports that he could recognize people and utter several words.

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(x) 46 years ago Thursday 22nd of May 1980 Leslie O'Dell is abducted, raped and tortured by serial killer Richard Cottingham aka The Torso Killer in Quality Inn Room 117, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, United States. Cottingham spent 3 hours raping and sexually torturing O'Dell but was interrupted by hotel security. Cottingham was apprehended while fleeing from the motel.

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(x) 45 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1981 35-year-old Serial killer Peter William Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper is convicted to life imprisonment for killing 13 women in Old Bailey Criminal Court, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(x) 45 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1981 26-year-old Irish republican hunger striker Kieran Doherty, originally Ciaran O Dochartaigh starts hungerstriking in Maze Prison, Lisburn, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

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(x) 45 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1981 23-year-old Serial killer Wayne Williams aka The Atlanta Child Murderer is questioned by the police near the Chattahoochee River where three days later the body of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater was found in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

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(-) 44 years ago Saturday 22nd of May 1982 Angela Marks is raped and stabbed to death by serial killer Thomas Rath aka Der Moormörder in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany. Marks' body was found seven months later.

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(x) 43 years ago Sunday 22nd of May 1983 45-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 76. Aktion for Pfingsfest in Schloss Prinzendorf, Schloss Straße 1, Prinzendorf an der Zaya, Niederösterreich, Austria. Nitsch' 76. Aktion for Pfingsfest lasted 12 hours.

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(x) 39 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1987 Noise music band Club Moral play their 72nd concert in El Matadero, Calle Miguel Servet 55, Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.

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(-) 39 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1987 Rapist and murderer Richard Tucker is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, Highway 36, Jackson, Georgia, United States.

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(-) 36 years ago Tuesday 22nd of May 1990 Boxer Rocky Graziano, originally Thomas Rocco Barbella dies of cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 71 in New York City, New York, United States.

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(x) 34 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1992 67-year-old Television host Johnny Carson known for ‘The Tonight Show’ presents his last show on NBC in Hollywood, California, United States. For the last time America heard "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!".

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(-) 34 years ago Friday 22nd of May 1992 Murder plotter Robert Black is executed by lethal injection at the age of 45 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Black hired John Wayne Hearn to kill his wife Sandra.

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(-) 29 years ago Thursday 22nd of May 1997 Double murderer Larry Wayne White is executed by lethal injection at the age of 47 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

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27 years ago The Eyes had it Saturday 22nd of May 1999 Two men discussing at the opening of Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK's exhibition at Barbara Thumm Gallery in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

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(-) 24 years ago He Was Fine He Was Happy Wednesday 22nd of May 2002 Murderer Johnny Joe Martinez is executed by lethal injection at the age of 30 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Martinez' last words were "I am fine, I am happy. I will see you on the other side."

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(-) 19 years ago The Raiders Went Tuesday 22nd of May 2007 Rapist and murderer Robert Charles Comer is executed by lethal injection at the age of 51 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States. Comer's last meal request was for fried okra, 4 Buns with lots of butter, lots of salt and two slices banana bread. His last words were "Go Raiders."

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(x) 16 years ago Saturday 22nd of May 2010 158 die in Air India Express Boeing 737-800 Flight 812 crash in Mangalore International Airport, Mangalore, Karnataka, India. There were 8 survivors.

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(-) 8 years ago Tuesday 22nd of May 2018 Writer Philip Milton Roth dies of congestive heart failure at the age of 85 in Manhattan, New York, New York, United States.

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(-) 4 years ago Sunday 22nd of May 2022 Anarchist author and poet Hakim Bey, originally Peter Lamborn Wilson dies of a heart attack at the age of 77 in Saugerties, New York, United States.

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