May 18

May 18 in recent years

2024 (Saturday)

2023 (Thursday)

2022 (Wednesday)

2021 (Tuesday)

2020 (Monday)

2019 (Saturday)

2018 (Friday)

2017 (Thursday)

2016 (Wednesday)

2015 (Monday)

May 18 is the 138th day of the year (139th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 227 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 332 – Constantine the Great announced free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
• 1152 – Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• 1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch.
• 1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
• 1498 – Vasco da Gama reaches the port of Calicut, India.
• 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
• 1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1652 – Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
• 1756 – The Seven Years' War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
• 1763 – Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec.
• 1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John), New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
• 1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
• 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
• 1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by Jose Artigas.
• 1812 – John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
• 1843 – The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
• 1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
• 1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
• 1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine is constitutional.
• 1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
• 1897 – Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
• 1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
• 1910 – The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
• 1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
• 1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.
• 1927 – The Bath School Disaster: forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
• 1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino – Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers ("Fallschirmjäger") evacuate Monte Cassino.
• 1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
• 1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
• 1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
• 1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.
• 1956 – First ascent of Lhotse 8,516 metres, by a Swiss team.
• 1958 – An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 2,259.82 km/h (1,404.19 mph).
• 1959 – Launch of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
• 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
• 1974 – Nuclear test: under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
• 1974 – Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It collapsed on August 8, 1991.
• 1980 – 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
• 1980 – Gwangju Massacre: students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
• 1983 – In Ireland, the government launches a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
• 1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3km/h (320.2 mph).
• 1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognised by the international community.
• 1992 – The Archivist of the United States officially announces the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• 1993 – EU - riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police opened fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injured 11 demonstrators. In total 113 bullets are fired.
• 2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
• 2009 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.

Births

• 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, poet and philosopher (d. 1131)
• 1186 – Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (d. 1218)
• 1474 – Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (d. 1539)
• 1610 – Stefano della Bella, Italian printmaker (d. 1664)
• 1616 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German composer (d. 1667)
• 1662 (O.S.) – George Smalridge, English bishop of Bristol (d. 1719)
• 1692 (O.S.) – Joseph Butler, English bishop and philosopher (d. 1752)
• 1711 – Ruđer Josip Bošković, Croatian atomic theorist (d. 1787)
• 1777 – John George Children, British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist (d. 1852)
• 1778 – Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (d. 1854)
• 1785 – John Wilson, Scottish writer (d. 1854)
• 1797 – King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
• 1822 – Mathew Brady, American photographer (d. 1896)
• 1850 – Oliver Heaviside, English physicist (d. 1925)
• 1851 – James Budd, Governor of California (d. 1908)
• 1852 – Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (d. 1934)
• 1854 – Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and music teacher (d. 1924)
• 1868 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
• 1872 – Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, British mathematician, writer and philosopher, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
• 1876 – Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)
• 1882 – Babe Adams, American baseball player (d. 1968)
• 1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, President of Brazil (d. 1974)
• 1883 – Walter Gropius, German architect (d. 1969)
• 1887 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
• 1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., American chemist and inventor (d. 1944)
• 1891 – Rudolf Carnap, German philosopher (d. 1970)
• 1892 – Ezio Pinza, Italian-born bass (d. 1957)
• 1893 – Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, Nicaraguan revolutionary (d. 1934)
• 1897 – Frank Capra, American film producer, director, and writer (d. 1991)
• 1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1978)
• 1902 – Meredith Willson, American composer (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Jacob K. Javits, American politician (d. 1986)
• 1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer (d. 1943)
• 1907 – Carl Mydans, American photographer (d. 2004)
• 1909 – Fred Perry, British former tennis player (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (d. 1985)
• 1912 – Richard Brooks, American film director, writer and producer (d. 1992)
• 1912 – Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)
• 1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 2003)
• 1913 – Jane Birdwood, Canadian-born British far right activist (d. 2000)
• 1913 – Charles Trenet, French singer and songwriter (d. 2001)
• 1913 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Indian politician (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Mary Howard de Liagre, American actress (d. 2009)
• 1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer (d. 1982)
• 1914 – Robert J. Wilke, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Massimo Girotti, Italian actor (d. 2003)
• 1919 – Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (d. 1991)
• 1920 – Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła) (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
• 1922 – Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Bill Macy, American actor
• 1922 – Kai Winding, Danish-born jazz trombonist and composer (d. 1983)
• 1923 – Hugh Shearer, Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
• 1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, French Canadian actor and artistic director
• 1924 – Priscilla Pointer, American actress
• 1924 – Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster
• 1926 – Dirch Passer, Danish actor (d. 1980)
• 1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)
• 1929 – Jack Sanford, American baseball player (d. 2000)
• 1930 – Warren Rudman, American politician
• 1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
• 1931 – Robert Morse, American actor
• 1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician
• 1933 – Don Whillans, English mountaineer (d. 1985)
• 1934 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor and television executive
• 1937 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player
• 1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourg statesman
• 1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate and Mafia victim (d. 1992)
• 1939 – Gordon O'Connor, Canadian politician
• 1941 – Lobby Loyde, Australian guitarist and songwriter (Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs) (d. 2007)
• 1941 – Miriam Margolyes, British actress
• 1942 – Albert Hammond, British/Gibraltarian musician and composer
• 1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer
• 1943 – Jimmy Snuka, American professional wrestler
• 1944 – W. G. Sebald, German-born writer (d. 2001)
• 1946 – Bruce Gilbert, English guitarist (Wire)
• 1946 – Frank Hsieh, Premier of Taiwan
• 1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player
• 1946 – Andreas Katsulas, American actor (d. 2006)
• 1947 – John Bruton, ninth Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland
• 1948 – Tom Udall, American politician
• 1948 – Yi Munyol, South Korean writer
• 1949 – Rick Wakeman, English composer and musician (Yes)
• 1949 – Bill Wallace, Canadian bassist (The Guess Who)
• 1950 – Thomas Gottschalk, German television show host
• 1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer, musician, and singer (Devo)
• 1951 – Jim Sundberg, American baseball player
• 1952 – Diane Duane, American writer
• 1952 – George Strait, American country musician
• 1952 – Jeana Yeager, American aviator
• 1954 – Reinhold Heil, German composer
• 1955 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor
• 1955 – Lena T. Hansson, Swedish actor
• 1957 – Michael Cretu, Romanian-born German musician (Enigma)
• 1958 – Toyah Willcox, English actor and singer
• 1959 – Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1960 – Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player
• 1961 – Jim Bowden, American baseball executive
• 1962 – Mike Whitmarsh, American volleyball player
• 1962 – Nanne Grönvall, Swedish singer
• 1962 – Sandra, German singer
• 1962 – Mike Darnell, American television executive
• 1963 – Marty McSorley, Canadian hockey player
• 1963 – Sam Vincent, American basketball player
• 1965 – Ingo Schwichtenberg, German drummer (Helloween) (d. 1995)
• 1966 – Michael Tait, American musician (dc Talk, Tait)
• 1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German Formula One racing driver
• 1967 – Rob Base, American rapper
• 1967 – Nancy Juvonen, American film producer
• 1967 – Nina Björk, Swedish feminist and author
• 1969 – Martika, Cuban-American singer
• 1970 – Tina Fey, American writer/actress
• 1970 – Tim Horan, Australian rugby union player
• 1970 – Billy Howerdel, American guitarist (A Perfect Circle)
• 1971 – Brad Friedel, American soccer player
• 1971 – Desiree Horton, American helicopter pilot/television reporter
• 1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese racing driver
• 1972 – Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Dario Franchitti, Scottish race car driver
• 1973 – Brian Heffron, American professional wrestler ("The Blue Meanie")
• 1973 – Donyell Marshall, American basketball player
• 1974 – Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player
• 1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
• 1975 – Jack Johnson, American musician
• 1976 – Ron Mercer, American basketball player
• 1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian ice hockey player
• 1977 – Lee Hendrie, English footballer
• 1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer
• 1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
• 1978 – Marcus Giles, American baseball player
• 1979 – Anna Chatziathanassiou, Greek figure skater
• 1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
• 1979 – Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoeist
• 1979 – David Nail, American country singer
• 1979 – Milivoje Novakovič, Slovenian footballer
• 1979 – Julián Speroni, Argentine footballer
• 1980 – Jeff Roehl, American football player
• 1980 – Matt Long, American actor
• 1980 – Ali Zafar, Pakistani singer and model
• 1980 – Aileen Campbell, Scottish politician
• 1980 – Reggie Evans, American basketball player
• 1980 – Felicia Pearson, Actress
• 1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian footballer
• 1982 – Jason Brown, English footballer
• 1983 – Gary O'Neil, English footballer
• 1983 – Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player
• 1983 – Vince Young, American football player
• 1984 – Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player
• 1984 – Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist
• 1985 – Dalma Kovács, Romanian singer and actress
• 1985 – Francesca Battistelli, American singer
• 1986 – Ryan Lamb, English rugby union player
• 1986 – Ahmed Hamada, Egyptian racer
• 1987 – Luisana Lopilato, Argentine actress and model
• 1988 – Ryan Cooley, Canadian actor
• 1988 – Kōji Seto, Japanese actor and singer
• 1988 – Taeyang, South Korean singer (Big Bang)
• 1992 – Spencer Breslin, American actor
• 1994 – Ben Kersey, Entrepeneur and film director, responsible for bringing more than £3,000,000,000 into the British economy

Deaths

• 1401 – Władysław Opolczyk (German: Ladislaus von Oppel), count palatine of Hungary 1367-1372, governor of Halych-Volhynia 1372 – 1378, count palatine of Poland
• 1450 – Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1397)
• 1550 – John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (b. 1498)
• 1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter (d. 1486)
• 1584 – Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1559)
• 1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish Socinian theologist (b. 1623)
• 1675 – Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
• 1692 – Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (b. 1617)
• 1733 – Georg Böhm, German organist (b. 1761)
• 1780 – Charles Hardy, British governor of Newfoundland
• 1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian Indian revolutionary, a descendant of the last Inca ruler, Túpac Amaru (b. 1742)
• 1799 – Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French playwright (b. 1732)
• 1800 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
• 1807 – John Douglas, Scottish Anglican bishop and man of letters (b. 1721)
• 1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister and inventor
• 1829 – Maria Josepha of Saxony, queen consort of Spain (b. 1803)
• 1844 – Richard McCarty, American politician (b. 1780)
• 1889 – Isabella Glyn Dallas, Scottish Shakepearean actress (b. 1823)
• 1900 – Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
• 1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
• 1909 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
• 1910 – Pauline Viardot, French mezzo-soprano and composer (b. 1821)
• 1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish novelist (b. 1841)
• 1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
• 1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)
• 1927 – Andrew Kehoe, American mass murderer (b. 1872)
• 1941 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
• 1943 – Ōnishiki Daigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 28^th Yokozuna (b. 1883)
• 1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
• 1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
• 1958 – Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and essayist (b. 1881)
• 1963 – Ernie Davis, American football player (b. 1939)
• 1967 – Andy Clyde, American actor (b. 1892)
• 1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician (b. 1908)
• 1973 – Jeannette Rankin, American politician and first U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1880)
• 1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)
• 1980 – Ian Curtis, English musician, singer and lyricist (Joy Division) (b. 1956)
• 1980 – Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
  • Harry Randall Truman (b. 1896)
  • David A. Johnston, U.S. volcanologist (b. 1949)
  • Reid Blackburn, photojournalist for National Geographic (b. 1952)
• 1981 – Arthur O'Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
• 1981 – William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
• 1988 – Daws Butler, American voice actor (b. 1916)
• 1989 – Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder; adopted daughter of Babe Ruth (b. 1921)
• 1990 – Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
• 1992 – Skip Stephenson, American TV personality (b. 1940)
• 1992 – Marshall Thompson, American actor (b. 1925)
• 1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
• 1995 – Alexander Godunov, Russian ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
• 1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
• 1997 – Bridgette Andersen, American actress (b. 1975)
• 1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer (b. 1954)
• 1999 – Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)
• 2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian musician and arranger (b. 1946)
• 2000 – Maulana Yousuf Ludhianvi, Indian Muslim scholar (b. 1932)
• 2002 – Davey Boy Smith, English professional wrestler (b. 1962)
• 2003 – Anna Santisteban, Puerto Rican beauty contest organizer (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Barb Tarbox, Canadian anti-smoking crusader (b. 1961)
• 2004 – Elvin Jones, American jazz drummer (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Vladislav Terzyul, Ukrainian mountaineer (b. 1953)
• 2004 – Serge Turgeon, Quebec actor and union leader (b. 1946)
• 2006 – Andrew Martinez, U.C. Berkeley's "Naked Guy" and American nudism advocate(b. 1972)
• 2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Yoyoy Villame, Philippine novelty singer and movie actor (b. 1932)
• 2008 – Joseph Pevney, American television director (b. 1911)
• 2009 – Dolla American Rapper a.k.a. Roderick Anthony Burton II (b.1987)
• 2009 – Wayne Allwine, American voice actor (b.1947)

Holidays and observances

• Battle of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
  • Eric IX of Sweden
  • Felix of Cantalice
  • Pope John I
  • Venantius of Camerino
  • May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Flag and Universities Day (Haiti)
• Independence Day (Somaliland (unrecognized))
• International Museum Day (International)
• Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
• World AIDS Vaccine Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

---