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1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage).

1536 - Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery.

1568 - Queen Elizabeth I of England has Mary Queen of Scots arrested.

1604 - The town of Montreal is founded.

1643 - Thirty Years' War: French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.

1649 - An Act declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.

1749 - King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.

1780 - Never-explained complete darkness falls on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 2 pm.

1802 - The Légion d'Honneur is founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.

1828 - U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.

1848 - Mexican-American War: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – Mexico ratifies the treaty thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of five other modern-day U.S. states to the USA for USD $15 million.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.

1897 - Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.

1919 - In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk moves to Samsun from Istanbul with a few followers, to oppose the Ottoman government, which eventually leads to the Turkish War of Independence.

1921 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration

1922 - Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established.

1943 - World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the cross-English Channel landing (D-Day would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather).

1961 - Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back data).

1962 - A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's infamous rendition of Happy Birthday.

1971 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.

1992 - In a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, Vice President Dan Quayle criticizes television character Murphy Brown for ignoring the importance of fathers and bearing a child alone.

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1593 - Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (d. 1678)

1700 - José de Escandón, Spanish colonial governor (d. 1770)

1724 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (d. 1779)

1744 - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1818)

1762 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (d. 1814)

1773 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist and scientific writer (d. 1854)

1795 - Johns Hopkins, American philanthropist (d. 1873)

1827 - Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (d. 1896)

1861 - Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer (d. 1931)

1862 - Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (d. 1942)

1870 - Albert Fish, American serial killer and cannibal (d. 1936)

1874 - Gilbert Jessop; English cricketer (d. 1955)

1879 - Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician (d. 1964)

1880 - Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (d. 1964)

1881 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, First President of Turkey (d. 1938)

1882 - Mohammed Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran (d. 1967)

1890 - Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader (d. 1969)

1891 - Oswald Boelcke, German World War I pilot (d. 1916)

1897 - Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)

1898 - Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (d. 1974)

1906 - Bruce Bennett, American athlete and actor

1908 - Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)

1914 - Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2002)

1914 - Go Seigen, Japanese Go player

1921 - Yuri Kochiyama, American civil rights activist

1921 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)

1924 - Sandy Wilson, British composer

1925 - Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)

1925 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator and mass murderer (d. 1998)

1925 - Guy Provost, French Canadian actor (d. 2004)

1926 - Swami Kriyananda, spiritual teacher and author

1928 - Colin Chapman, British automobile founder of Lotus Cars (d. 1982)

1928 - Dolph Schayes, NBA Player and Coach

1929 - John H. Stroger, Jr. Chicago politician

1930 - Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright (d. 1965)

1931 - Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor

1932 - Alma Cogan, English singer (d. 1966)

1934 - Jim Lehrer, American television journalist

1939 - Livio Berruti, Italian athlete

1939 - Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong actress

1939 - Dick Scobee, astronaut (d. 1986)

1940 - Mickey Newbury, American musician

1940 - Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist

1941 - Nora Ephron, American screenwriter

1942 - Gary Kildall, American computer programmer (d. 1994)

1944 - Peter Mayhew, British-American actor

1945 - Pete Townshend, English guitarist and lyricist (The Who)

1946 - André the Giant, French professional wrestler (d. 1993)

1946 - Claude Lelièvre, Belgian Commissioner for Children's Rights

1947 - Paul Brady, Northern Ireland singer/songwriter

1947 - David Helfgott, Australian pianist

1948 - Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress

1949 - Archie Manning, American football player

1949 - Dusty Hill, American blues rock singer/bassist (ZZ Top)

1951 - Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (The Ramones) (d. 2001)

1952 - Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager

1953 - Victoria Wood, British comic actress

1953 - Dawud M. Mu'Min, American convicted murderer (d. 1997)

1953 - Shavarsh Karapetyan, Soviet Armenian finswimmer

1954 - Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (AC/DC)

1956 - James Gosling, Canadian computer programmer

1957 - Bill Laimbeer, NBA Player and Coach

1963 - Yazz, British singer

1966 - Polly Walker, British actress

1968 - Kyle Eastwood, jazz musician, actor and son of Clint Eastwood

1971 - Dionicio Castellanos, Mexican professional wrestler

1972 - Jenny Berggren, Swedish singer (Ace of Base)

1973 - Dario Franchitti, Scottish race car driver

1974 - Andrew Johns, Australian rugby league player

1975 - London Fletcher, American football player

1976 - Kevin Garnett and Ed Cota, American basketball players

1977 - Manuel Almunia, Spanish footballer

1977 - Brandon Inge, American baseball player

1978 - Marcus Bent, English footballer

1979 - Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer

1979 - Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer

1980 - Drew Fuller, American actor/model

1981 - Luciano Figueroa, Argentinian footballer

1981 - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer

1982 - Kevin Amankwaah, English footballer

1984 - Marcedes Lewis, American football player

1986 - Eric Lloyd, American actor

1988 - Lily Cole, English model/actress

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804 - Alcuin, English monk (b. c. 735)

988 - Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 909)

1102 - Stephen, Count of Blois

1125 - Vladimir Monomakh, Russian prince (b. 1053)

1296 - Pope Celestine V (b. 1215)

1319 - Louis d'Évreux, son of Philip III of France (b. 1276)

1389 - Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1350)

1526 - Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (b. 1464)

1531 - Jan Łaski, Polish statesman and diplomat (b. 1456)

1536 - Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England (executed)

1601 - Costanzo Porta, Italian composer

1610 - Thomas Sanchez, Spanish theologian (b. 1550)

1637 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b. 1588)

1645 - Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese swordsman

1665 - Tui Malila, a female tortoise given to the royal family of Tonga by Captain James Cook. Also it is one of the longest living tortoises.

1715 - Charles Montagu, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)

1786 - John Stanley, English composer (b. 1712)

1795 - Josiah Bartlett, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1729)

1795 - James Boswell, Scottish biographer (b. 1740)

1798 - William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (b. 1722)

1821 - Camille Jordan, French politician (b. 1771)

1825 - Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, French political philosopher (b. 1760)

1864 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (b. 1804)

1876 - Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch politician (b. 1801)

1885 - Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b. 1809)

1895 - José Martí, Cuban independence leader (b. 1853)

1898 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1809)

1904 - Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)

1907 - Benjamin Baker, English engineer (b. 1840)

1912 - Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (b. 1847)

1918 - Raoul Lufbery, French-American World War I fighter pilot and flying ace (b. 1885)

1935 - T. E. Lawrence, English soldier (b. 1888)

1943 - Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter (b. 1865)

1946 - Booth Tarkington, American novelist (b. 1869)

1954 - Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)

1958 - Ronald Colman, English actor (b. 1891)

1965 - Tui Malila, world's oldest tortoise (b. 1773 or 1777)

1969 - Coleman Hawkins, American musician (b. 1901)

1971 - Ogden Nash, American poet (b. 1902)

1983 - Jean Rey, President of the European Commission (b. 1902)

1984 - John Betjeman, English poet and Poet Laureate (b. 1906)

1987 - James Tiptree, Jr, American author (b. 1915)

1989 - CLR James, West Indian writer and journalist (b. 1901)

1994 - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, First Lady of the United States (b. 1929)

1994 - Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (b. 1945)

1998 - Uno Sosuke, Japanese prime minister (b. 1922)

2000 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)

2002 - John Gorton, nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)

2002 - Walter Lord, American writer (b. 1917)

2004 - Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress (b. 1907)

2005 - Henry Corden, American actor and voice artist (b. 1921)

2006 - Alexandrina van Donkelaar-Vink, oldest Dutch citizen (b. 1895)

2006 - Freddie Garrity, English lead singer from the band Freddie and the Dreamers (b. 1940)

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Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:

Dunstan

Peter Celestine

Ives

Emiliana

Pudentiana

Theophilus of Corte

Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day in Turkey (1919).

Commemoration of Pontian Greeks Genocide in Greece(1919).

NASCAR Day USA.(2006)