41st year - Nr 122 Saturday, 2 May 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 122 Saturday, 2 May 2026

2 May / Today's 28 Events:

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(-) 507 years ago Friday 2nd of May 1519 Artist, scientist, engineer, mathematician, inventor and polymath Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci dies of natural causes at the age of 67 in Clos Lucé, Amboise, Centre-Val de Loire, France.

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(x) 490 years ago Saturday 2nd of May 1536 35-year-old Second wife of King Henry VIII Anne Boleyn is arrested and charged with adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

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(+) 297 years ago Monday 2nd of May 1729 Russian monarch Catherine the Great, originally Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg is born in Szczecin, Województwo Zachodniopomorskie, Poland.

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(+) 254 years ago Saturday 2nd of May 1772 Romantic poet and writer Novalis, originally Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg is born in Oberwiederstedt, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.

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(-) 211 years ago Tuesday 2nd of May 1815 Gesche Margarethe Timm is poisoned with arsenic by serial poisoner Gesche Gottfried aka Der Engel von Bremen in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany. Timm was Gottfried's mother.

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(+) 166 years ago Wednesday 2nd of May 1860 Journalist, playwright, political activist and writer Theodor Herzl, originally Benjamin Ze'ev Herzl known for founding the World Zionist Organisation is born in Budapest, Közép-Magyarország, Hungary.

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(+) 134 years ago Monday 2nd of May 1892 Fighter pilot and flying ace Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen aka The Red Baron is born in Kleinburg, Województwo Dolnośląskie, Poland.

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(+) 123 years ago He Was into Baby and Child Care Saturday 2nd of May 1903 Pediatrician Benjamin McLane Spock is born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

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(-) 107 years ago Friday 2nd of May 1919 Anarchism theorist Gustav Landauer aka Commissioner of Enlightenment and Public Instruction of the Bavarian Soviet Republic is stoned to death by Freikorps troopers at the age of 49 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Stadelheim, Stadelheimer Straße 12, Giesing, München, Bayern, Germany.

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(x) 96 years ago Friday 2nd of May 1930 60-year-old Serial killer, child rapist and cannibal Albert Hamilton Howard Fish aka The Cannibal aka The Werewolf of Wysteria aka The Moon Maniac is arrested for vagrancy in Newark, New Jersey, United States.

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(-) 95 years ago Saturday 2nd of May 1931 Murderer Kurt Erich Tetzner aka Der Mann der Zweimal Starb is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 28 in Regensburg, Bayern, Germany.

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(+) 91 years ago Thursday 2nd of May 1935 Last King of Iraq Faisal II, originally Al-Malik Fayṣal Ath-thānī is born in Baġdād, Muḥāfaẓät Baġdād, Iraq.

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(+) 90 years ago Saturday 2nd of May 1936 Singer Engelbert Humperdinck, originally Arnold George Dorsey is born in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India.

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(-) 81 years ago Wednesday 2nd of May 1945 Nazi official and private secretary to Adolf Hitler Martin Bormann commits suicide by cyanide poisoning at the age of 45 in Lehrter Bahnhof, Berlin, Berlin, Germany. His skeleton was found on 28 december 1972 during construction works near the Lehrter Bahnhof.

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(x) 81 years ago Wednesday 2nd of May 1945 The German radio officially anounces the death of 56-year-old Führer and Reichskanzler of Germany Adolf Hitler in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

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(-) 81 years ago Wednesday 2nd of May 1945 KZ-Kommandant in Dachau Eduard Wilhelm Weiter commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 56 in Schloss Itter, Itter, Tirol, Austria. After drunkenly bragging about the recent executions he had ordered at Dachau, Weiter shot and killed himself.

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(+) 80 years ago It Was Her Mom's Party Thursday 2nd of May 1946 Singer Lesley Gore, originally Lesley Sue Goldstein is born in New York City, New York, United States.

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(x) 79 years ago Friday 2nd of May 1947 The 'Bullies of Ravensbrück' are executed by hanging by 42-year-old Chief executioner Albert Pierrepoint in Zuchthaus Hameln, Hameln, Sachsen, Germany. The first Ravensbrück trial was held from 5 December 5 1946 until 3 February 1947 against sixteen Ravensbrück concentration camp staff and officials. Executed on this day were 27-year-old Aufseherin Dorothea Binz, 61-year-old Oberschwester Elisabeth Marschall and 39-year-old Arbeitseinsatzführerin Greta Bösel. The men were hanged on 3 May 1947.

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(-) 70 years ago Wednesday 2nd of May 1956 Would-be assassin Violet Albina Gibson known for an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Benito Mussolini in 1926 dies of unknown causes at the age of 80 in St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. Gibson was deported to Britain after the attack after being released without charge at the request of Mussolini. She spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum.

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(-) 69 years ago Thursday 2nd of May 1957 Anti-Communist and anti-homosexual witch-hunter Joseph Raymond McCarthy dies of acute hepatitis and an inflammation of the liver due to alcoholism at the age of 49 in Naval Medical Center, 8901 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland, United States. It was hinted in the press that McCarthy died of alcoholism, an estimation that is now accepted by contemporary biographers.

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(-) 66 years ago His Red Light Went Off Monday 2nd of May 1960 Robber and rapist Caryl Whittier Chessman aka The Red Light Bandit is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 39 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

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(-) 54 years ago Tuesday 2nd of May 1972 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation John Edgar Hoover dies of a heart attack at the age of 77 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

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(x) 52 years ago Thursday 2nd of May 1974 23-year-old Serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen is sentenced to death in Assisenhof, Britselei 55-57, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(x) 41 years ago Thursday 2nd of May 1985 Noise music band Club Moral play their 43rd concert in Time Based Arts, Bloemgracht 121, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

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(-) 31 years ago Tuesday 2nd of May 1995 Murderer Keith Zettlemoyer is executed by lethal injection at the age of 40 in Rockview Penitentiary, Benner Township, Pennsylvania, United States. Zettlemoyer became the first person executed by the state of Pennsylvania in 33 years.

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(-) 29 years ago Friday 2nd of May 1997 Multiple murderer Walter Hill is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 62 in Holman Correctional Facility, Ross Road, Atmore, Alabama, United States.

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(-) 27 years ago He Considered Himself Sunday 2nd of May 1999 Actor Oliver Robert Reed dies of a heart attack at the age of 61 in Valletta, Reġjun Xlokk, Malta. Reed supposedly drank three bottles of Captain Morgan's Jamaican rum, eight bottles of German beer and numerous whiskies in a bar on the night he died.

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21 years ago The Eyes had it Monday 2nd of May 2005 An abandoned shack on the beach in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia.

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