Historical Events
- May 1 "Romance/Romance" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 297 performances
- May 1 Two IRA attacks in and near Roermond, Netherlands, kills 3 British servicemen and wounds 3 more
Sports History
May 1 After scoring 50 points in Game 1, NBA Eastern Conference playoff series, Michael Jordan has 55 in Chicago Bulls 106-101 win vs Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2; first to score 50+ points in consecutive playoff games
- May 2 Baltimore Orioles sign a 15 year lease to remain in Baltimore and get a new park
Historic Event
May 2 David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" premieres in NYC
Historic Event
May 2 Jackson Pollock's "Search" sold for $4,800,000
- May 3 4,200 kg Colombian cocaine in seized at Tarpon Springs Florida
- May 3 Jasper Johns' "Diver" sold for $4,200,000
- May 4 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- May 4 PEPCON chemical plant in Henderson, Nevada explodes killing 2 and injuring 372 causing damage within 10-mile (16 km) radius
- May 5 Eugene A. Marino installed as 1st African American archbishop, in Atlanta, Georgia
- May 6 Graeme Hick scores 405 for Worcs v Somerset 35 fours 11 sixes
- May 6 Doughnutgate incident: NJ Devils' coach Jim Schoenfeld tells referee Don Koharski to 'eat another doughnut you fat pig!,' he is suspended
- May 7 114th Kentucky Derby: Gary Stevens on Winning Colors wins in 2:02.2
- May 7 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- May 8 Brazilian musical revue "Oba Oba" closes at Ambassador Theater, NYC, after 46 performances
Election of Interest
May 8 François Mitterrand elected President of France
Sports History
May 8 Mike Tyson crashes his $183,000 Bently on Varick St in New York City
- May 8 Amateur referees work NJ Devil-Boston Bruin playoff games, as NHL referees walk-off, due to a restraining order brought by Devils
Historic Event
May 9 Australia's new parliament house is opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Canberra
- May 9 Belgium: 8th government of Martens forms
Historic Event
May 10 Edgar Degas' "Danseresje of 14" sold for $10,120,000
- May 11 France performs nuclear test
- May 11 KV Mechelen of Belgium win 28th European Cup Winner's Cup against Ajax of Netherlands 1-0 in Strasbourg
- May 11 NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Edmonton Oilers beat Detroit Red Wings, 4 games to 1
- May 12 "Carrie" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 5 performances
- May 14 "Mail" closes at Music Box Theater NYC after 36 performances
- May 14 1st non-pitcher (Jose Oquendo) in 20 years to get a decision in a baseball game, he & St Louis Cards lose to Braves 7-5 in 19 inn
- May 14 Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27.
- May 14 NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: Boston Bruins beat New Jersey Devils, 4 games to 3
Musical Finale
May 15 Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford's musical "Carrie", based on Stephen King's novel, closes at Virginia Theater, NYC, after 5 performances
- May 15 "Gospel at Colonus" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 61 performances
Film & TV History
May 15 2nd American Comedy Award: Robin Williams & Tracey Ullman
- May 15 USSR begins withdrawing its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan
- May 16 US Surgeon General C Everett Koop reports nicotine as addictive as heroin
- May 16 US Supreme Court rules trash may be searched without a warrant
- May 18 In just Oakland's 39th of the season, pitcher Dave Stewart breaks record with his 12th balk en route to 16
- May 19 Red Sox retire Bobby Doerr's #1
- May 19 Carlos Lehder Rivas, of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel, is convicted in Florida for smuggling more than 3 tons of cocaine into US
- May 20 Howard Stern fans disrupt rival radio station WMMR's & DJ John DeBella's "Louie Louie" parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sports History
May 20 Philadelphia Phillies Mike Schmidt hits his 535th HR, moving into 8th place
- May 21 "Da'Butt" by EU hits #35
Music History
May 21 Weird Al Yankovic's "Fat" (a parody of Michael Jackson's "Bad") hits #99
LPGA Championship
May 22 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Jack Nicklaus GC: Sherri Turner birdies final 2 holes to win her only major title, 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Amy Alcott
- May 22 Károly Grósz succeeds party leader Janos Kádár in Hungary
- May 23 Maryland stops sale of cheap pistols on Jan 1, 1990
- May 23 41st Cannes Film Festival: "Pelle erobreren" directed by Bille August wins the Palme d'Or
- May 24 John Moschitta set record for fast talking: 586 words per minute
- May 24 Porntip Nakhirunkanok, 19, of Thailand, crowned 37th Miss Universe
- May 24 Power outage in Boston Garden in NHL's Stanley Cup finals
- May 24 Section 28 passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom prohibiting the promotion of homosexuality. Repealed 2001/2004
- May 25 32nd European Cup: PSV Eindhoven beats Benfica (0-0, 6-5 on penalties) at Stuttgart
- May 26 Stanley Cup Final, Northlands Coliseum, Edmonton, AL: Edmonton Oilers beat Boston Bruins, 6-3 for 4 game series sweep
- May 27 Senate ratified a treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles
Sports History
May 29 Indianapolis 500: Rick Mears claims his third-career Indy 500 victory; 50th victory in Championship racing for owner Roger Penske and Penske Racing
Famous Birthdays
- May 1 Teodor Peterson, Swedish cross-country skier (Olympic silver individual sprint, bronze team sprint 2014), born in Umeå, Sweden
- May 1 Nicholas Braun, American actor (Succession), born in Bethpage, New York
- May 2 Lara Liang, Russian-Taiwanese-American singer (Nan Quan Mama), born in California
- May 5 Jessica Dubroff, American aviator (attempting to become the youngest person to fly a light utility aircraft across the United States), born in Falmouth, Massachusetts (d. 1996)
- May 5 Brooke Hogan, American singer (Undiscovered), born in Tampa, Florida
- May 5 Skye Sweetnam, Canadian singer and songwriter (Sumo Cyco), born in Bolton, Ontario, Canada
Adele
May 5 Adele [Adele Laurie Blue Adkins], British pop-rock singer-songwriter ("Rolling In The Deep"; "Someone Like You"), born in Tottenham, London
- May 7 Natalie Mejia, member of the American R&B/Pop group Girlicious, born in West Covina, California
- May 9 Skye Regan, Canadian Actress and Writer
- May 9 John Ryan Fitzpatrick, Canadian race truck driver
- May 11 Ace Hood [Antoine McColister], American rapper, born in Port St. Lucie, Florida
- May 12 Marcelo [Vieira da Silva Júnior], Brazilian football player (Real Madrid, Brazil national team), born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- May 14 Jessica Watkins, American geologist and NASA astronaut, born in Gaithersburg, Maryland
- May 14 Nadine Sierra, American opera singer (Lucia di Lammermoor), born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- May 15 Jessica Falkholt, Australian actress (Hope Morrison-Home and Away, born in Sydney, Australia (d. 2018)
- May 17 Nikki Reed, American actress
- May 18 Ryan Cooley, Canadian television actor (Degrassi: The Next Generation), born in Orangeville, Ontario
- May 18 Ksenija Sidorova, Latvian classical accordionist, born in Riga, Latvia
- May 18 Taeyang [Dong Young-bae], Korean singer (Big Bang), born in Uijeongbu, South Korea
- May 20 Madeleine Humphries, Filipina-American actress and TV presenter, born in California
- May 21 Jonathan Howson, English footballer, born in Morley, England
- May 23 Morgan Pressel, American golfer (ANA Inspiration 2007), born in Tampa, Florida
- May 24 Billy Gilman, American singer (One Voice), born in Westerly, Rhode Island
- May 26 Joel Selwood, Australian footballer
- May 28 David Perron, Canadian NHL ice hockey forward, 2007-present (St. Louis Blues, and 4 other teams), born in Sherbrooke, Quebec
- May 29 Cheng Fei, Chinese gymnast (Olympic gold female team 2008), born in Huangshi, Hubei
- May 29 Steve Mason, Canadian NHL goaltender (Calder Memorial Trophy rookie of the year 2008-09), born in Oakville, Ontario
- May 31 Hope Partlow, American pop and country singer, born in Drummonds, Tennessee
Famous Weddings
Harry Reasoner
May 28 American journalist Harry Reasoner (65) weds American insurance executive Lois Harriett Weber(44) at the United Church of Christ in Humboldt, Iowa
Bernie Sanders
May 28 Vermont's US Senator Bernie Sanders (46) weds American social worker Jane O'Meara Driscoll (38) in Burlington, Vermont
Famous Deaths
- May 1 Ben Lexcen, Australian yacht designer (Australia II 1983 America's Cup), dies of heart disease at 52
- May 1 Carroll Righter, American columnist and astrologer to the stars, dies prostate cancer at 88
- May 1 Paolo Stoppa, actor (Garibaldi, Visit, Freedom Fighters), dies
- May 3 Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician, dies at 79
- May 3 Paul Vario, U.S. Italian Mafia of the Lucchese Family, dies of lung cancer at 73
- May 3 Walther Vanbeselaere, Flemish art historian, dies at 79
- May 3 Johannes Driessler, German organist and composer, dies at 67
- May 4 Paul Wilson, American doo-wop baritone singer (Flamingos, 1953-64 - "I Only Have Eyes For You"; "Lovers Never Say Goodbye"), dies at 53
- May 5 George Rose, British actor and singer (Beacon Hill, Holocaust), dies at 68
- May 5 Tamara Pos, Suriname/Dutch activist
- May 5 Michael Shaara, American author (Killer angels), dies of a heart attack at 59
Kim Philby
May 11 Kim Philby, British spy & Soviet mole who was a member of the "Cambridge Five", dies at 76
- May 12 Paul Osborn, American playwright (Mornings at 7), dies at 86
- May 13 (Chesney) "Chet" Baker, American jazz trumpeter and vocalist ("My Funny Valentine"), falls to his death from an Amsterdam hotel balcony at 59
- May 14 Willem Drees, Dutch statesman of the Labour Party (PvdA) and Prime Minister of the Netherlands, dies at 101
- May 15 Andrew Duggan, American character actor (Secret War of Harry Frigg, Winds of War), dies of cancer at 64
- May 15 Greta Nissen, actress (Ambassador Bill), dies
- May 16 Kay Baxter, American bodybuilder (NPC Gold's Classic 1981), dies in car crash at 42
- May 16 Louise Wood, director of Girl Scouts of USA (1961-72), dies at 78
- May 16 Charles Keeping, English illustrator (b. 1924)
- May 18 Daws Butler, American animation voice (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound), dies at 71
- May 18 David Moule-Evans, English composer & conductor, dies at 82
- May 19 Virginia Farmer, actress (Cyrano de Bergerac), dies at 90
- May 20 René Defossez, Belgian composer, composer, and pedagigue, dies at 82
- May 21 Dino Conte Grandi, Italian Fascist politician and delegate to league of nations (1925-32), dies at 92
- May 21 Bruno Frei [Benedikt Freistadt], Austrian Marxist journalist, dies at 91
- May 21 Sammy Davis Sr., American vaudeville dancer (Mr. Wonderful), dies at 87
- May 21 Harry Babasin, American jazz bassist and cellist (Dodo Marmarosa Trio), and archivist (Los Angeles Theaseum), dies of emphysema at 67
- May 22 Giorgio Almirante, Italian fascist (member of parliament (1948-87)), dies at 73
- May 23 David Schoenbrun, CBS broadcast bureau head (Wash, Paris), dies at 73
- May 24 James "Hamish" Hamilton, British publisher (Salinger/Mitford), dies at 87
- May 24 Tom Burtt, cricketer (NZ slow left-armer in 11 Tests 1947-53), dies
- May 25 Ernst Ruska, German physicist (1986 Nobel Prize for Physics for work on electron optics, and design of the first electron microscope), dies at 81
- May 26 José Muñoz Molleda, Spanish composer and politician, dies at 83
- May 27 Florida Friebus, American actress (Bob Newhart Show), dies of a stroke at 79
- May 27 Renato Salvatori, actor (Burn, Luna, 2 Women), dies
- May 28 (Melvin) "Sy" Oliver, American jazz arranger, songwriter (Jimmie Lunceford; Tommy Dorsey - "Yes, Indeed!") dies at 77 [1]
- May 30 Ella Raines, American actress (Uncle Harry, Runaround, Impact, Brute Force), dies of throat cancer at 67
