Historical Events
- May 1 119th Kentucky Derby: Jerry Bailey wins aboard Sea Hero, the first of 2 Derby victories (1996 on Grindstone)
- May 1 Bomb attack on Sri Lankan president (26 die)
- May 1 Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated along with 17 others by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in Colombo
- May 2 "5 Guys Named Moe" closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC after 445 performances
- May 2 "Candida" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 45 performances
- May 2 "Tango Passion" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 5 performances
- May 2 Lanford Wilson's play "Redwood Curtain" closes at Brooks Atkinson Theatre NYC after 40 performances
- May 3 "Kiss of the Spider Woman" opens at Broadhurst NYC for 906 performances
- May 4 "Angels in America - Millennium Approaches" opens at Kerr for 367 performances
- May 6 STS-55 (Columbia) lands
- May 7 South Africa agrees to multi-racial elections
- May 8 16-year-old Keron Thomas disguises himself as a motorman & takes NYC subway train and 2,000 passengers on a 3 hour ride
- May 8 ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Phil Ware
Boxing Title Fight
May 8 Lennox Lewis beats Tony Tucker in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
- May 9 "Ain't Broadway Grand" closes at Lunt-Fontanne NYC after 25 performances
- May 9 "Song of Jacob Zulu" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 53 performances
- May 9 Landslide in Nambija Ecuador, kills 300
- May 9 Mustapha Matura's "Playboy of West Indies" premieres in NYC
- May 9 Paraguay holds its 1st pres & parliamentary elections in 50 years
Hall of Fame
May 10 Bill Walton is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
- May 10 Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers opens Terminal West at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
- May 10 Fire in clothing factory at Bangkok kills 145
- May 10 Last TV appearance of Dutch television presenter Mies Bouwman
Event of Interest
May 10 Paul Cézanne's painting "Still Life With Apples" sells for US$28,600,000 in NYC
Academy of Country Music Awards
May 11 28th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, and Mary Chapin Carpenter win
Film & TV History
May 13 Arsenio Hall's 1,000th show retrospective seen in Netherlands
- May 13 CBS' soap opera "Knots Landing" ends 14 year-run with 334th show in Netherlands and US
Sports History
May 13 KC Royal George Brett hits his 300th HR
- May 13 Methane gas explosion in Secunda coal mine South-Africa, kills 50
- May 15 118th Preakness: Mike Smith aboard Prairie Bayou wins in 1:56.6
- May 15 38th Eurovision Song Contest: Niamh Kavanagh for Ireland wins singing "In Your Eyes" in Millstreet
- May 15 Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas opens
- May 15 Montreal Expo retires their 1st number, #10 for Rusty Staub
- May 16 "3 Men on a Horse" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 40 performances
- May 16 "Wilder, Wilder, Wilder" closes at Circle in Square, NYC after 30 performances
- May 16 Farmer Sugeng finds 1.2 million year old Pithecanthropus IX skull
- May 16 Judd Nelson pleads no contest to kicking Kim Evans in the head
- May 16 Suleyman Demirel elected President of Turkey
Chattahoochee
May 17 "Chattahoochee" single released by Alan Jackson (CMA Award Single of the Year & Billboard Song of the Year, 1993)
Maastricht Treaty
May 18 Danish people vote in favor of ratifying the Maastricht Treaty
- May 18 Italian police arrest Mafia boss Benedetto "Nitto" Santapaola
- May 19 Boeing 727 crashes into mountain at Medellín, Colombia, kills 132
- May 19 Dow Jones closes above 3,500 for 1st time (3,500.03)
- May 20 10m meteor comes within 150,000 km of Earth (1993KA)
- May 20 274th & final "Cheers" episode airs on NBC
- May 21 Dayanara Torres, 18, of Puerto Rico, crowned 42nd Miss Universe
- May 21 Opposition leader Xanana Gusmao of East-Timor sentenced to life
- May 21 Robin Smith scores 167 in England Texaco Trophy loss v Australia
- May 21 Venezuela president Carlos Andres Perez fired
- May 22 "The New WKRP in Cincinnati", an ensemble TV sitcom sequel created by Hugh Wilson and set in a struggling radio station, concludes syndicated run
Boxing Title Fight
May 22 Riddick Bowe TKOs Jesse Ferguson in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
Film & TV History
May 24 46th Cannes Film Festival: "Ba wang bie ji" directed by Chen Kaige and "The Piano" directed by Jane Campion jointly awarded the Palme d'Or
- May 24 Eritrea achieved independence from Ethiopia after 30-year civil war
Film & TV History
May 24 Kim Basinger files for bankruptcy to avoid paying $7.4M settlement
- May 24 Kurd rebellion kills 33 soldiers and 5 citizens in Turkey
- May 24 NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: Montreal Canadians beat New York Islanders, 4 games to 1
TV Show Appearance
May 24 Star Trek episode "Second Chances" airs guest starring Mae Jemison, the 1st real life astronaut to appear on the show
- May 26 1st UEFA Champions League Final: Marseille beats Milan 1-0 at Munich
Daytime Emmy Awards
May 26 Emmy 20th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 14th time
Sports History
May 27 Baseball player Dale Murphy ends his career after 398 HRs
- May 27 Mafia bombs Uffizi Museum in Florence, killing 6
- May 28 200,000 demonstrate against mafia terror
- May 28 Polish government of Suchocka falls
- May 29 Neo-Nazis kill 5 Turkish women in Solingen, Germany
- May 29 NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Los Angeles Kings beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 games to 3
- May 29 Texas Ranger Jose Canseco pitches 8th inning in 15-1 loss to Red Sox, he gives up 3 runs on 2 hits & 3 walks, he damages his arm
Indy 500
May 30 Indianapolis 500: Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi passes reigning F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell with 16 laps to go for his second race win
- May 31 President Dobrica Ćosić of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia flees
Famous Birthdays
- May 1 Sepp Straka, Austrian golfer (British Open 2023 runner-up), born in Vienna, Austria
- May 2 Sarah Langs, American baseball journalist (MLB.com; ESPN), born in New York City
- May 6 Naomi Scott, English actress (Aladdin, Charlie's Angels), born in London, England
- May 8 Pat Cummins, Australian cricket fast bowler and captain (BB 6/23; NSW CA, Kolkata Knight Riders), born in Sydney, Australia
- May 10 Jake Zyrus [Charice Pempengco], Filipino pop and R&B singer, born in Cabuyao, Philippines
- May 10 Mirai Shida, Japanese actress (14-year-old Mother), born in Kanagawa, Japan
- May 13 Debby Ryan, American actress (The Suite Life on Deck), born in Huntsville, Alabama.
Morgan Wallen (30 years old)
May 13 American country music singer-songwriter (Dangerous), born in Sneedville, Tennessee
- May 13 Romelu Lukaku, Belgium footballer (Chelsea, Manchester United), born in Antwerp, Belgium
- May 14 Kristina Mladenovic, French tennis player (9 x Grand Slam doubles titles; Federation Cup 2019; Hopman Cup 2017; Tour Finals 2018, 19), born in Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, France
- May 14 Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer (iCarly), born in Los Angeles, California
- May 16 Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norwegian biathlete (5 x Olympic gold 2018, 22; 12 x World C'ship gold), born in Stryn, Norway
- May 18 Jiří Prskavec, Czech canoeist (Olympic gold K1 slalom 2020; 4 x World C'ship gold 2015, 17, 19), born in Mělník, Czech Republic
- May 20 Caroline Zhang, American figure skater
- May 25 Dilley sextuplets, American sextuplets (United States' first set of surviving sextuplets), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
- May 25 Norman Powell, American NBA player (Toronto Raptors), born in San Diego, California
- May 29 Richard Carapaz, Ecuadorian road cyclist (Olympic gold men's road race 2020; Giro d'Italia 2019), born in Tulcán Canton, Ecuador
Famous Weddings
- May 15 British-American actress Jane Seymour (42) weds American actor James Keach (45); divorce 2015
- May 22 American "All By Myself" singer-songwriter Eric Carmen (44) weds second wife, Susan Brown; divorce in 2009
Famous Deaths
- May 1 Hans [Henri EA] Tuynman, provo (Full-time Provo), dies at 50
- May 1 Ranasinghe Premadasa, President of Sri Lanka (1989-93), assassinated by the Tamil Tigers at 68
- May 2 Julio Gallo, American wine maker (Gallo), dies in a car accident at 83
- May 2 Will Weng, Sunday Times crossword puzzle editor (1968-78), dies at 86
- May 5 Balak Brahmachari [Marxist Godman], Indies guru, dies at 73
- May 5 Dermot Boyle, Marshal of the Royal Air Force, dies at 88
- May 5 Dick Metz, American golfer (US Open 1938 runner-up; 10 PGA Tour titles), dies at 84
- May 5 Irving Howe, American writer and critic (Dissent), dies at 72
- May 5 Lenore Kingston Jenson, dies of cancer at 79
- May 6 Ann Todd, English stage and screen actress (The Seventh Veil; The Paradine Case; The Passionate Friends), dies of a stroke at 84
- May 6 Minnie Gentry, actress (Def by Temptation), dies in NY at 77
- May 7 Mary Philbin, American silent film actress (Phantom of the Opera), dies at 89
- May 8 Avram Davidson, American sci-fi author (Hugo, Peregrine: Primus, Rork!), dies at 70
- May 8 Kees Deenik, Dutch singer, bandleader, and broadcaster, dies at 78-ish
- May 9 Freya Stark, English explorer and travel writer (The Southern Gates of Arabia), dies at 100
- May 9 Iván Patachich, Hungarian contemporary classical and electro-acoustic composer, dies at 70
- May 9 Mary Duncan Sanford, American actress, dies at 98
- May 9 Penelope Gilliatt, British author, dies at 61
- May 10 Lester del Rey, American sci-fi author (Moon Trilogy, Marooned on Mars), dies at 77
- May 12 Zeno Colò, Italian downhill skier (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 72
- May 13 Evert "Eef" Dolman, Dutch cyclist (Olympic gold 1964), dies at 47
- May 13 Joaquin Garcia [Vargas] "Borolas", Mexican comedian and actor (Santa Sangre), dies at 71
- May 14 Patrick Haemers, Belgian criminal, commits suicide at 40
- May 14 William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (Hearst Newspapers) and 1955 Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 85
- May 15 Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese writer, poet, and diplomat (b. 1933)
- May 16 Madan Kumar Bhandari, Nepalese politician (Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)), dies at 41
- May 16 Marv Johnson, American R&B pianist, songwriter, and singer ("You Got What It Takes"; "(You've Got To) Move Two Mountains"), dies of a stroke at 54
- May 18 Heinrich Albertz, German theologist & mayor of Berlin (1966-67), dies at 78
- May 18 Pamela Cunnington, English architect, historic preservationist, and author (Change of Use), dies at 67
- May 19 Nemesio Antunes, Chilean painter, dies at 75
- May 19 Ranga Sohoni, Indian cricket all-rounder (4 Tests, top score 29 no, 2 wickets), dies from a heart attack at 75
- May 19 Richard Murphy, director (3 Stripes in the Sun), dies of stroke at 81
- May 19 S W Sohoni, cricketer (4 Tests for India), dies
- May 20 Max Klein, inventor (paint by numbers), dies at 77
- May 21 John Frost, English soldier who led the defence of Arnhem Bridge during Operation Market Garden, dies at 80
- May 21 John Holland, American actor (My Fair Lady, Chinatown), dies at 65
- May 22 Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Polish-American pianist, dies at 100
- May 23 James Millhollin, actor (Anston Foster-Grindl), dies at 77
- May 24 Jesus Posadas Ocampo, Mexican cardinal/archbishop, shot dead at 66
- May 25 Dan Seymour [Daniel Seymour Katz], American actor (To Have and Have Not, We the People, Sing It Again), dies following a stroke at 78
- May 26 Carleton Morse, American radio dramatist (One Man's Family), dies at 91
- May 26 Cor de Groot, Dutch pianist, conductor, and composer (Vernissage), dies at 78
- May 26 Marvin Young, American producer and silent film child actor (Player), dies at 90
- May 27 Jan Wiley, actress (Underdog, Brute Man, She Wolf of London), dies
- May 27 Roger MacDougall, Scottish playwright and screenwriter (The Man in the White Suit), dies at 82
- May 28 Charles "Doctor" Ross, American blues singer and guitarist (Doctor Ross the Harmonica Boss), dies at 67
- May 28 Charles Barnett, English cricketer (20 Tests for England), dies at 82
- May 29 Tiny Hofman, Amsterdam activist (Nieuwmarkt), dies at 68
- May 30 Marge [Marjorie Henderson Buell], American cartoonist (created Little Lulu), dies of lymphoma at 88
- May 30 Sun Ra [Herman Blount], American jazz pianist (The Arkestra), dies at 79
- May 31 John Granger, American actor (Advise & Consent), dies at 69
- May 31 Spuds Mackenzie [real name Honey Tree Evil Eye "Evie"], American advertisement dog for Bud Light beer, dies at 9
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies