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On this day in history - May 1

What Happened On This Day – May 1

  • 1978 Naomi Uemura becomes of the first person to reach the North Pole alone

    The Japanese adventurer is also credited with the first solo ascent of Mount McKinley and the first solo rafting of the Amazon river. He disappeared in 1984 during a winter ascent of Mount McKinley.

  • 1961 Fidel Castro declares Cuba a socialist nation and bans elections

    A month after Cuban troops had fought off a U.S. backed military invasion at the Bay of Pigs, Castro announces that “The revolution has no time for elections.”

  • 1945 Adolf Hitler's death is announced on German radio

    As the Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, the German people are informed that “our leader, Adolf Hitler, has fallen for Germany, fighting to his last breath against Bolshevism.”

  • 1925 The world's largest trade union is founded

    The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has more than 300 million members.

  • 1840 The world's first adhesive postage stamp is issued in the United Kingdom

    The Penny Black shows a portrait of Queen Victoria. Despite its historical significance, the stamp can be bought for around £25 as over 68 million copied were distributed.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
May 1

  • 1987 Shahar Pe'er

    Israeli tennis player

  • 1967 Tim McGraw

    American singer-songwriter, actor

  • 1924 Terry Southern

    American author, screenwriter

  • 1923 Joseph Heller

    American author, playwright

  • 1769 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

    Irish/English field marshal, politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
May 1

  • 1994 Ayrton Senna

    Brazilian race car driver

  • 1990 Sergio Franchi

    Italian/American singer, actor

  • 1960 Charles Holden

    English architect, designed the Bristol Central Library

  • 1904 Antonín Dvořák

    Czech composer

  • 1873 David Livingstone

    Scottish missionary, explorer