May 3


May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap
years). There are 242 days remaining.

Events

   * 1494 - Christopher Columbus discovers Jamaica
   * 1791 - The Constitution of the third of May (first Polish constitution)
     is proclaimed by the Polish Sejm (Parliament)
   * 1810 - Lord Byron swims the Hellespont
   * 1867 - The Hudson's Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island
   * 1912 - The first victims of the RMS Titanic are buried in Halifax, Nova
     Scotia
   * 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins
   * 1947 - New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect
   * 1952 - Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher and Lieutenant Colonel
     William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole
   * 1956 - The judo World Championships are first held.
   * 1957 - Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to
     move the team from Brooklyn, New York to Los Angeles, California
   * 1963 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I have a dream" speech
   * 1979 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the
     United Kingdom
   * 1991 - The Declaration of Windhoek is signed

Births

   * 612 - Constantine III, Byzantine Emperor
   * 1469 - Nicol˜ Machiavelli, historian and political author (+ 1527)
   * 1662 - MatthŠus Daniel Pšppelmann, master builder (+ 1736)
   * 1761 - August von Kotzebue, dramatist (+ 1819)

   * 1861 - Emmett Dalton, outlaw (+ 1937)
   * 1898 - Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel
   * 1903 - Bing Crosby, singer (+ 1977)
   * 1906 - Mary Astor, actress (+ 1987)
   * 1913 - William Inge, playwright (+ 1973)
   * 1919 - Pete Seeger, singer
   * 1919 - Betty Comden, lyricist
   * 1921 - Sugar Ray Robinson, boxer (+ 1989)
   * 1921 - Joe Ames, singer
   * 1928 - James Brown, singer
   * 1937 - Frankie Valli, singer
   * 1959 - Ben Elton, British comedian and author
   * External list of US polititians who were born on May 3.

Deaths

   * 1925 - ClŽment Ader - french engineer and inventor
   * 1987 - Dalida, French singer
   * 1989 - Christine Jorgensen, transsexual
   * 1991 - Jerzy Kosinski, writer
   * External list of US politians who died on May 3.

Holidays and observances

   * World Press Freedom Day
   * Invention of the True Cross, in Roman Catholicism