Historical Events
- May 1 -3] Tornado & hail storms hit Jiangxi China, 95 killed
- May 1 Charles Kuralt, American broadcast journalist (On the Road) retires from CBS
- May 1 Jim Cartwright's play "The Rise & Fall of Little Voice" opens at Neil Simon Theater, NYC; runs for 9 performances
Music History
May 1 Revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's musical "My Fair Lady" closes at Virginia Theater, NYC, after 165 performances
Sports History
May 1 Three-time World Formula 1 Drivers champion Ayrton Senna of Brazil is killed in a 309 kmh crash whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy
- May 2 Bus crashes into a tree at Gdańsk Poland, 32 killed
- May 2 Dr Kervokian found innocent on assisting suicides
- May 2 Michael Bolton found to have plagiarized Isley Bros "Love is Wonderful Thing"
Academy of Country Music Awards
May 3 29th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, and Wynonna win
- May 3 D66/Dutch Liberal Party win Dutch 2nd Parliamentary election
- May 4 Arsenal of England win 34th European Cup Winner's Cup against Parma of Italy 1-0 in Copenhagen
Music History
May 4 Singer Courtney Love cleared of drug charges
- May 5 "Sally Marrand Her Escorts" opens at Helen Hayes NYC for 50 performances
- May 5 Labour beats Conservatives in British local elections
- May 5 North-Yemen air force bombs Aden South Yemen
Latest Wonder of the World
May 6 Channel Tunnel linking England & France officially opens
- May 6 Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait sets fire to the couch on The Tonight Show
Boxing Title Fight
May 6 Lennox Lewis TKOs Phil Jackson in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
Election of Interest
May 6 Nelson Mandela and the ANC, finally confirmed winners in South Africa's first post apartheid election
- May 6 US House of Representatives passes the Federal Assault Weapons Ban
- May 7 120th Kentucky Derby: Chris McCarron on Go For Gin wins in 2:03.6
- May 7 Denver Nuggets become NBA's 1st #8 seed to beat a #1 seed (Seattle)
The Scream
May 7 Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" is recovered 3 months after it was stolen
- May 8 500th commentary by Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes
- May 8 Colorado Silver Bullets (all-female pro baseball team) 1st game
- May 8 Erling Kagge becomes the first person to complete the Three Poles Challenge
- May 8 Ernesto Perez Balladares elected president of Panama
- May 8 Jim Cartwright's play "The Rise & Fall of Little Voice" closes at Neil Simon Theater, NYC after 9 performances
- May 8 Jose Maria Figueres becomes president of Costa Rica
Event of Interest
May 8 President Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people
- May 9 Mass murderer Joel Rifkin found guilty in New York
Passion
May 9 Stephen Sondheims's musical "Passion" opens at the Plymouth Theater, NYC; runs for 280 performances, winning 6 Drama Desk and 4 Tony Awards
Music Concert
May 10 Barbra Streisand's begins 1st concert tour in 30 years, at the Capitol Centre in Landover, Maryland (after "warm-up" shows in Las Vegas and London)
- May 10 DGC Records releases "Weezer" (known as The Blue Album), the debut album of rock band Weezer
- May 10 Musical sequel "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, NYC; runs for 16 performances
- May 10 Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's 1st black president
Event of Interest
May 10 Silvio Berlusconi forms Italian government with 5 neo-fascists
- May 11 "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult" released in France
- May 11 6 white racists sentenced to death in South Africa
- May 11 Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's musical "Grease" opens at Eugene O' Neill Theater, NYC; runs for 1,503 performances
Pulp Fiction
May 12 "Pulp Fiction", directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson premieres at the Cannes Film Festival (Palme d'Or 1994)
- May 12 WIBC Bowling Queens won by Anne Marie Duggan
- May 13 MLB Cleveland Indians begin a 18 home game win streak at newly opened Jacobs Field
Sports History
May 14 Dave Winfield passes Frank Robinson for 12th on RBI list with 1,617
- May 14 FA Cup Final: Manchester United defeat Chelsea 4-0 at Wembley Stadium, London
LPGA Championship
May 15 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, DuPont CC: Laura Davies of England wins her second major title, 3 strokes ahead of runner-up Alice Ritzman
- May 16 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Orlando, Florida on WTKS 104.1 FM
- May 16 Jacqueline Onassis admitted to hospital for cancer treatment
- May 16 Joaquín Balaguer aged 86 elected President of Dominican Republic
- May 16 Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes is sentenced to 21 years in prison for the murder of musician Euronymous and for the arson of three churches
Sports History
May 16 Tennis star Jennifer Capriati arrested on possession of marijuana
- May 17 Bakili Muluzi's UDF wins Malawi presidents/parliamentary election
- May 18 2nd UEFA Champions League Final: Milan beats Barcelona 4-0 at Athens
- May 18 Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip
- May 18 Tropical Butterfly Garden at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo opens (Cleveland, Ohio)
- May 19 American tennis star Jennifer Capriati (18), checks into a drug rehab center
- May 19 Egyptian actor Omar Sharif suffers a mild heart attack
- May 19 Final episode of American TV drama "LA Law" after 8 year run
- May 20 Bobcat Goldthwait charged with misdemeanors for fire on The Tonight Show
- May 20 Sony Theaters & Cineplex (NYC) hike movie ticket prices to $8.00
- May 20 Sushmita Sen from India is crowned the 43rd Miss Universe at 18 years old
Preakness Stakes
May 21 119th Preakness: Pat Day aboard Tabasco Cat wins in 1:56.4
- May 21 MLB Cincinnati Reds bat out of order against Los Angeles Dodgers in 2nd inning
- May 21 South Yemen secedes from Yemen
- May 22 Musical sequel "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, NYC, after 16 performances
- May 22 Toronto NBA franchise unveils name "Raptors" & logo
- May 23 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" finale airs this week in syndication
- May 23 270 pilgrims die in the bustle round Mina, Saudi-Arabia
- May 23 47th Cannes Film Festival: "Pulp Fiction" directed by Quentin Tarantino wins the Palme d'Or
- May 23 Roman Herzog elected President of Germany
- May 24 NHL Western Conference Final: Vancouver Canucks beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 games to 1
- May 24 Poison singer Bret Michaels is involved in a car crash
Daytime Emmy Awards
May 25 Emmy 21st Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci not nominated
NHL History
May 25 Mark Messier scores a natural hat trick for the New York Rangers in game 6 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals
The Flintstones
May 27 "The Flintstones" live action movie based in the 1960s cartoon, starring John Goodman (as Fred), Rick Moranis (as Barney), and Rosie O'Donnell (as Betty) premieres
Television Finale
May 27 Final broadcast of TV talk show "The Arsenio Hall Show"
Radio History
May 27 Larry King ends his radio show
- May 27 NHL Eastern Conference Final: New York Rangers beat New Jersey Devils, 4 games to 3
Event of Interest
May 27 Writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia after 20 years in exile
- May 28 "Cafe American" last airs on NBC-TV
Baseball Record
May 28 Twin's Dave Winfield passes Rod Carew into 15th hit list (3,054)
- May 29 Great iceball comet seen above North Sea
- May 29 Hungary's Socialist Party wins parliamentary election
Indy 500
May 29 Indianapolis 500: Al Unser Jr wins from pole position for his second Indy 500 victory for Marlboro Team Penske
Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat
May 29 Revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's biblical rock opera "Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat" closes at Minskoff Theater, NYC, after 223 performances
- May 29 Revival of William Inge's stage drama "Picnic" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 45 performances
- May 31 Padres scores 13 in 2nd vs Pirates
Famous Birthdays
- May 4 Alexander Gould, American actor (Weeds), born in Los Angeles
- May 4 Pauline Ducruet, daughter of HSH Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, born in Princess Grace Hospital Centre, La Colle, Monaco
- May 5 Celeste [Epiphany Waite], British singer (Not Your Muse), born in Culver City, California
- May 14 Veronica Swift [O'Brien], American jazz vocalist (This Bitter Earth; Lonely Woman), born in Charlottesville, Virginia
- May 21 Tom Daley, English diver (2021 Olympic Gold), born in Plymouth, England
Emma McKeon (29 years old)
May 24 Australian swimmer (Olympic gold 50/100m freestyle, 4x100 medley relay 2020; 4x100m free relay 2016, 20), born in Wollongong, Australia
- May 25 Alexandra Rose "Aly" Raisman, American gymnast (two-time Olympic medalist, Fierce Five, Final Five), born in Needham, Massachusetts
- May 27 Shawn Barber, Canadian athlete (World C'ship gold pole vault 2019; World Indoor Tour 2016), born in Las Cruces, New Mexico (d. 2024)
- May 28 Seong-Jin Cho, South Korean concert pianist (International Chopin Piano Competition, 2015), born in Seoul, South Korea
Famous Weddings
Todd Beamer
May 14 Software salesman Todd Beamer (25) weds Lisa Brosious in Peekskill, New York
Roone Arledge
May 21 ABC Sports President Roone Arledge (62) weds third wife Gigi Shaw
- May 21 American actor and Burger King spokesman Dan Cortese (26) weds Dee Dee Hemby (26); divorce in 2012
Trisha Yearwood
May 21 American country singer Trisha Yearwood (29) weds American roots-rock bassist Robert Reynolds (32); divorce in 1999
Michael Jackson & Lisa Marie Presley
May 26 American King of Pop, Michael Jackson (35) weds King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley (26) in La Romana, Dominican Republic; divorce in 1996
Rush Limbaugh
May 27 Radio personality Rush Limbaugh (43) weds wife No. 3, aerobic instructor Marta Fitzgerald (35), at the home of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; divorced 2004
Famous Divorces
Drew Barrymore
May 10 Drew Barrymore (19) files for divorce from Jeremy Thomas (31)
Famous Deaths
Ayrton Senna (1960-1994)
May 1 Brazilian auto racer (World F1 champion 1988, 90, 91), dies in a crash at San Marino GP at 34
- May 1 Imre Gyöngyössy, Hungarian filmmaker (The Revolt of Job), dies of a heart attack at 64
- May 2 Louis Calaferte, writer (Requiem of the Innocents), dies at 65
- May 2 Wilson Charles Geoffrey Baldwin, hero, dies at 75
- May 3 Gustaaf Vincent Willem van Hemert tot Dingshof, Dutch Mayor of Maarn, dies at 78
- May 3 Haty Tegelaar-Boonacker, Dutch politician and 2nd chamber member (CDA), dies at 63
- May 3 Milford Dolliole, American pioneer jazz drummer, dies at 90
- May 4 Karl Francis Hettinger, American police officer (Onion Field survivor), dies at 59
- May 5 Hein Salomonson, architect, dies at about 83
- May 5 Joe Layton, American director (Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip), dies at 63
- May 6 Fred Sadoff, actor (Quiet American), dies of AIDS at 67
- May 6 Haskell Sadler, American blues singer and guitarist, dies at 59
- May 6 Helen Lessore, English artist, dies at 86
- May 6 Montague Modlyn, English radio and TV broadcaster, dies at 72
- May 6 Moses Rosen, Chief Rabbi of Romania (1948-94), dies at 81
- May 7 Clement Greenberg, American art critic (Art & Culture), dies at 85
- May 7 Margaret Skeete, oldest American, dies at 115
- May 8 Cobina W "Coby" Molenaar, peace activist, dies at 88
- May 8 George Peppard, American actor (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Banacek, A-Team, Blue Max), dies at 65
- May 8 Rupert Haselden, journalist and screenwriter, dies at 36
- May 8 Steven Keats, American actor (Death Wish), dies of apparent suicide at 48
- May 9 Anni Albers, German-American textile artist and printmaker (1st textile artist to exhibit solo at MOMA), dies at 94
- May 9 Elias Motsoaledi, South African freedom fighter & anti-apartheid activist, dies at 69
John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994)
May 10 American serial killer who killed 33 young men, executed in Illinois at 52
- May 10 Lucebert [Jacobus Swaanswijk], Dutch poet and cartoonist (PC Hooft prize 1967), dies at 69
- May 10 Phyllis Flowerdew, English school Reading text author (Wide Range Reader series that sold over 7 million copies), dies at 81
- May 11 Alfred James Broomhall, British Protestant Christian medical missionary to China, dies at 82
- May 11 Danny Overbea, American rock singer and guitarist ("Forty Cups of Coffee"), dies at 68
- May 11 Leonard Friedman, British-Lithuanian violinist (Scottish Baroque Ensemble), dies at 63
- May 11 Lewis B Puller, American writer (Pulitzer 1992), commits suicide at 48
- May 11 Timothy Carey, American actor (Paths of Glory, The Killing), dies of stroke at 65
- May 12 Alfred Beit, British politician and art philanthropist, dies at 91
- May 12 Erik Erikson, American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst (coined the phrase "identity crisis"), dies at 91
- May 12 Helen Lee Mai, Hong Kong actress, dies at 63
- May 12 John Smith, British Labour Party chairman (1992-94), dies at 55
- May 12 Roy J. Plunkett, American chemist and inventor of Teflon, dies at 83 [1]
- May 12 Xenophon Balaskas, South African cricket all-rounder (9 Tests, 22 wickets, BB 5/49, 1 x 100, HS 122no; North Cape, Western Province, Transvaal), dies at 83
- May 13 Arthur Basil Cottle, British academic and medievalist, dies at 77
- May 13 Duncan Hamilton, Irish racing driver, dies at 74
- May 13 Ruth Gillette, American actress (Wild Gold), dies of cancer at 88
- May 14 Dave Albritton, American high jumper (Olympic silver 1936), dies at 81
- May 14 Leonard Teale, Australian actor/reciter (Homicide), dies
- May 15 Frederik von Pallandt, Danish-Dutch pop singer and guitarist (Nina & Frederik), murdered in the Philippines at 60
- May 15 Gilbert Roland [Luis Alonso], Mexican actor (Juarez, Barbarosa), dies from cancer at 88
- May 15 Jan Bakker, Dutch WWII resistance fighter and journalist (Parool), dies at 79
- May 15 Ronnie Potsdammer, Dutch singer, songwriter and programmer, dies at 71
- May 15 Royal Dano, American actor (Red Badge of Courage, Cocaine Wars, House II), dies of a heart attack at 71
- May 16 Alain Cuny, French actor (La Dolce Vita, Detective, Weite Land, Emmanuelle), dies at 85
- May 16 Barbara Jean Jones, fictional character on General Hospital, dies at 7
- May 16 Phani Majumdar, Indian film director (Street Singer), dies at 82
- May 16 Vasek Simek, Czech/American actor (Green Card, Mistress), dies at 66
- May 17 Andrew Brown, film Producer, dies at 55
- May 17 Keith Falkner, British bass-baritone singer (Director of the Royal College of Music), dies at 94
- May 17 Willian Noel Moffet, Irish architect, dies at 82
- May 19 Henry Morgan, American comedian and TV panelist (I've Got a Secret; Arena), dies of lung cancer at 79
- May 19 Jacques Ellul, French writer and philosopher, dies at 82
- May 19 Luis Ocana, Spanish cyclist (Tour de France 1973), commits suicide at 48
- May 20 Dallas Pratt, American collector (The American Museum in Britain), dies at 79
- May 20 Vivien John, English painter and daughter of Augustus John, dies at 79
- May 21 Cliff Wilson, Welsh snooker player, dies at 60
- May 21 Forsyth Hardy, Scottish documentary film pioneer, dies at 84
- May 21 Giovanni Goria, Italian politician (Prime Minister of Italy, 1987-88), dies of lung cancer at 50
- May 21 Johan Hendrik Weidner, Dutch-American resistance fighter (set up largest WWII underground network to smuggle people out of Nazi territory), dies at 81
- May 22 F. H. McClintock, British criminologist, dies at 68
- May 22 Mitacq [Michel Tacq], Belgium comic strip artist (Beaver Patrol), dies
- May 22 Norman Read, New Zealand racewalker (Olympic gold 50k 1956), dies from a heart attack at 62
- May 23 Carl Althoff, German circus director, dies at 82
- May 23 Joe Pass [Passalaqua], American jazz guitarist ("The Trio" with Oscar Peterson; Ella Fitzgerald) and composer, dies from liver cancer at 65
- May 23 Ray Candy, American professional wrestler, dies from a heart attack at 42
- May 24 Jean-Pierre Plooij, Dutch writer and playwright (Duvelsmoer verhalen; Patience; Bird House), dies at 48
- May 24 John Barrington Wain, English author and poet (Hurry on Down), dies at 69
- May 24 Sándor Lakatos, Hungarian violinist, bandleader, and actor (mostly as a gypsy violinist), dies at 69
- May 24 Yehuda Mor-Mirkovsky, Israeli kibbutz-founder, dies at 96
- May 25 Eric Gale, American jazz, R&B, session and touring guitarist (Negril; Stuff; Paul Simon's One-Trick Pony; Bob James; Grover Washington, Jr.), dies of lung cancer at 55
- May 26 George Ball, American politician and diplomat (US Ambassador to the UN, Under Secretary of State), dies at 84
- May 26 Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock, American jazz guitarist (Last Exit), dies of a heart attack at 53
- May 27 Norman Cook, British museum curator, dies at 87
- May 27 Red Rodney [Robert Chudnick], American jazz trumpeter (Charlie Parker Quintet), dies from lung cancer at 66
- May 27 Theo Swagemakers, Dutch portrait painter, dies at 95
- May 28 Charles Spry, Australian soldier and security chief, dies at 83
- May 28 Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American writer, dies at 77
- May 28 Julius Boros, American golfer (PGA C'ship 1968, US Open 1952, 63), dies of a heart attack at 74
- May 28 Rita Gillespie, British pioneering TV Director, dies at 65
- May 29 Erich Honecker, German politician, Head of State of East Germany (1971-89), dies in Chile at 81
- May 29 Harry Levin, American literary scholar, dies at 81
- May 29 Jose Bohr, actor (El Traidor, Sueno de Amor), dies at 92
- May 29 Joseph Janni, producer, dies at 78
- May 29 Oliver "Bops Junior" Jackson, American jazz drummer, dies at 61
- May 30 Agostino Di Bartolomei, Italian footballer (b. 1955)
- May 30 Ezra Taft Benson, 13th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and US Secretary of Agriculture, dies at 94
- May 30 Jean Gattegno, French translator and scholar, dies at 58
- May 30 Juan Carlos Onetti, Uruguayan novelist (La vida breve), dies at 85
- May 30 Marcel Bich, Italian-French baron and pen manufacturer (Bic), dies at 79
- May 31 Doug Freeman, New Zealand cricket spin bowler (2 Tests, 1 wicket; Wellington), dies at 79
- May 31 Herva Nelli, Italian-born American soprano, dies at 85
- May 31 Sidney Gilliat, English screenwriter (Night Train to Munich) and director, dies at 86
- May 31 [Emmanuel] "Mannie" Klein, American swing jazz and session trumpeter (Frank Trumbauer; NBC Orchestra), dies at 86
