Historical Events
- May 1 Carol Ann Duffy is appointed British Poet Laureate - first Scot and woman Laureate
Business History
May 1 Chanda Kochhar takes over from K. V. Kamath as CEO and Managing Director of ICICI Bank
- May 1 Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden
- May 2 135th Kentucky Derby: Calvin Borel wins aboard 50-1 long shot Mine That Bird after running dead last until the final turn
Sports History
May 6 Marco van Basten resigns as manager of Ajax after the team fails to qualify for the Champions League
President Jacob Zuma
May 9 Jacob Zuma is sworn in as President of South Africa
- May 10 PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Henrik Stenson of Sweden shoots a bogey-free final round 66 to win by 4 strokes from Englishman Ian Poulter
- May 11 An American soldier in Iraq opened fire on a counseling center at Camp Liberty in Bagdhad, leaving 5 other US soldiers dead and 3 soldiers wounded
Sports History
May 11 Patrick Kane scores his first career hat-trick in the NHL playoffs against the Vancouver Canucks
Farrah's Story
May 15 "Farrah's Story" documentary following Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer airs on NBC in the US
- May 15 Eurostat report that Austria, Belgium, and Romania have all entered recession in the first quarter of 2009
- May 15 French Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies announce French narrowly avoided recession in 2008, gross domestic product shrank 1.2% in 1st quarter of 2009 after falling by 1.5% in final quarter of 2008
- May 16 134th Preakness: Calvin Borel aboard Rachel Alexandra wins in 1:55.08
- May 16 54th Eurovision Song Contest: Alexander Rybak for Norway wins singing "Fairytale" in Moscow
Indian General Election
May 16 India's General Election results announced: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) under Manmohan Singh returned with an increased mandate
- May 17 Video game Minecraft is first released to the public while in development
- May 18 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending the Sri Lankan Civil War and almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides
- May 19 Sri Lanka announces victory in its 25-year war against the terrorist organization, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Glee Premieres
May 19 TV musical show "Glee" starring Jane Lynch, Michael Morrison, Lea Michele and an ensemble cast premieres on Fox
- May 20 Mexico is the first Latin American country to officially enter recession
Inglourious Basterds
May 20 Quentin Tarantino film "Inglourious Basterds" premieres at the Cannes Film Festival with an ensemble cast including Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and Diane Kruger
Cannes Film Festival
May 22 Léa Seydoux receives the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard
- May 24 62nd Cannes Film Festival: "The White Ribbon" directed by Michael Haneke wins the Palme d'Or
- May 24 Indianapolis 500: 2001 and 2002 champion Hélio Castroneves of Brazil wins his record tying 3rd Indy title from the pole position; 60th victory in the race for Firestone
- May 24 IPL Cricket Final, New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, RSA: Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 runs; Herschelle Gibbs top scores, 53 (48)
- May 24 Manchester United wins 1-0 at Hull City Stadium to win English Premier League title for 3rd consecutive season, for a second time; equals Liverpool's record of 18 league titles
- May 24 Senior PGA Championship, Canterbury GC: Michael Allen wins his lone major title by 2 strokes from runner-up Larry Mize
- May 25 North Korea conducts its second nuclear test while also conducting several missile tests
- May 25 Thailand’s economy shrank more than expected in the first quarter of 2009, contracting the most in a decade and plunging the nation into recession
- May 26 NHL Eastern Conference Final: Pittsburgh Penguins beat Carolina Hurricanes, 4 games to 0
- May 27 NHL Western Conference Final: Detroit Red Wings beat Chicago Black Hawks, 4 games to 1
- May 27 South Africa enters the global recession; the first recession for South Africa in 17 years
- May 27 UEFA Champions League Final, Rome: Barcelona beats Manchester United, 2-0; first Spanish treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League
1Q84 Published
May 29 "1Q84" books 1 and 2 by Haruki Murakami is first published in Japan, sells out the first day (book 3 published 2010)
- May 30 English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (89,391): Chelsea beats Everton, 2-1; Frank Lampard scores 72' winner
- May 30 Super Rugby Final, Pretoria: Morné Steyn kicks 5 conversions & 2 penalties as the Bulls thump the Chiefs (Waikato, NZ), 61-17
Famous Weddings
- May 1 American Olympic swimming gold medalist Amanda Beard (27) weds photographer Sacha Brown (34) in Wakatobia, Indonesia
Maggie Gyllenhaal
May 2 Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal (32) weds film and stage actor Peter Sarsgaard (38) in a small chapel in Brindisi, Italy
- May 4 Two-time Tony winner singer-actress Bebe Neuwirth (50) weds Napa Valley's Destino vineyard founder Chris Calkins at the Players Club in New York
- May 8 Irish "Westlife" singer Kian Egan (29) weds British actress Jodi Albert (25) in Barbados
- May 9 "The O.C." actress Autumn Reeser (28) weds writer-director Jesse Warren (31) under a 200-year old oak tree at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa in Ojai, California
- May 15 Former Bachelorette star Jen Schefft (32) weds Chicago's public relations executive Joe Waterman (35) at the Private Dining Rooms of Spiaggia in Chicago, Illinois
- May 16 Actress Jennifer Freeman (23) weds NBA guard Earl Watson (29) in Beverly Hills, California
- May 21 Prince Hubertus Michael von Sachsen-Coburg (33) weds investment banker Kelly Jeanne Rondestvedt on a civil ceremony in Coburg, Germany
Famous Deaths
- May 1 Danny Gans, Canadian-born Las Vegas entertainer (b. 1956)
- May 2 Jack Kemp, Jack Kemp, American NFL player and politician (Rep-R-NY 1971-89, US Secretary of Housing 1989-93, VP candidate 96), dies of cancer at 73
- May 2 Marilyn French, American author (The Women's Room), dies at 79
- May 3 Ram Shewalkar, Indian Marathi writer, cardiac arrest.(b.1931)
- May 4 Dom Deluise, American comedian, actor (b. 1933)
- May 4 Jane Randolph, American actress (Cat People, Railroaded!), dies of complications after hip surgery at 93
- May 6 Valentin Varennikov, Soviet-Russian general and statesman, dies at 85
- May 7 David Mellor, English cutlery designer (b. 1930)
- May 7 Tony Marsh, English auto racer (record 6 x British Hill Climb Championship), dies from breathing complications at 77
- May 8 Bud Shrake, American writer (b. 1931)
- May 8 Dom DiMaggio, American baseball outfielder, 1940-53 (Boston Red Sox), co-founder of New England Patriots, dies at 92
- May 9 Chuck Daly, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (2-time NBA champion Detroit Pistons), dies of pancreatic cancer at 78
- May 9 Turner Stephen Bruton, American country songwriter and musician (Crazy Heart), dies of throat cancer at 59
- May 12 Antonio Vega, Spanish pop-rock singer-songwriter, dies of lung cancer at 51
- May 13 Frank Aletter, American character actor (Mac-It's About Time, Tom-Nancy), dies of lung cancer at 83
- May 13 Rabbi Meir Brandsdorfer, member of the Rabbinical Court of the Edah HaChareidis, Jerusalem
- May 14 Bob Rosburg, American golfer, broadcaster (PGA Championship 1959), dies of head injuries from a fall at 82
- May 15 Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Australian actor, pilot and radio announcer, dies at 86
- May 15 Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player and smooth jazz bassist, dies from the effects of cancer at 44
- May 17 Jung Seung-hye, South Korean film producer (b. 1965)
- May 17 Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet, dies from respiratory and intestinal problems at 88
- May 18 Dolla [Roderick Anthony Burton II], American rapper, dies at21
- May 18 Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, killed in action at 54
- May 18 Wayne Allwine, American voice actor (3rd Mickey Mouse, 1977-2009), dies at 62
- May 19 Herbert York, American physicist (b. 1921)
- May 19 Nicholas Maw, British composer, dies at 73
- May 19 Robert F. Furchgott, American pharmacologist (co-winner Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1998), and educator, dies at 92
- May 20 Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect (b.1924)
- May 20 Lucy Gordon, British model and actress (b. 1980)
- May 21 Allen Greenwood, British aeronautical engineer and aerospace executive, dies at 91
- May 21 Joan Alexander [Louise Abrass], American actress (The New Adventures of Superman, The Tales of Hoffmann), dies of an intestinal ailment at 94
- May 23 Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean politician (16th President of the Republic of Korea), commits suicide at 62
- May 24 Jay Bennett, American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter (Wilco, 1994-2001), dies of an accidental overdose of prescription painkiller Fentanyl at 46
- May 25 Haakon Lie, Norwegian politician (b. 1905)
- May 26 Peter Zezel, Canadian professional hockey player (b. 1965)
- May 27 Ammo Baba, Iraqi football player and coach, dies at 74
Clive Granger (1934-2009)
May 27 Welsh-born British economist (Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences 2003), dies at 74
- May 28 Mort Abrahams, American producer (Dr Doolittle, Planet Of Apes), dies at 93
- May 28 Terence Alexander, English actor (Bergerac), dies at 86
- May 29 Karine Ruby, French snowboarder and Olympic champion (b. 1978)
- May 30 Torsten Andersson, Swedish abstract-modernist painter, dies at 82
- May 31 Danny La Rue, Irish drag entertainer, dies at 81
- May 31 George Tiller, American pro-abortion physician, murdered while in church at 67
- May 31 Millvina Dean, British civil servant who was the last living survivor of the RMS Titanic and also the youngest aboard, dies of pneumonia at 97
