Friday 2nd of May 1519

Artist, scientist, engineer, mathematician, inventor and polymath Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci dies of natural causes at the age of 67 in Clos Lucé, Amboise, Centre-Val de Loire, France.

Saturday 2nd of May 1536

35-year-old Second wife of King Henry VIII Anne Boleyn is arrested and charged with adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 2nd of May 1729

Russian monarch Catherine the Great is born as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg in Szczecin, Województwo Zachodniopomorskie, Poland.

Saturday 2nd of May 1772

Romantic poet and writer Novalis is born as Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg in Oberwiederstedt, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.

Tuesday 2nd of May 1815

Gesche Margarethe Timm is poisoned with arsenic by serial poisoner Gesche Gottfried aka Der Engel von Bremen in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany.

Timm was Gottfried's mother.

Wednesday 2nd of May 1860

Journalist, playwright, political activist and writer Theodor Herzl known for founding the World Zionist Organisation is born as Benjamin Ze'ev Herzl in Budapest, Közép-Magyarország, Hungary.

Monday 2nd of May 1892

Fighter pilot and flying ace Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen aka The Red Baron is born in Kleinburg, Województwo Dolnośląskie, Poland.

Saturday 2nd of May 1903

Pediatrician Benjamin McLane Spock is born in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

Friday 2nd of May 1919

Anarchism theorist Gustav Landauer aka Commissioner of Enlightenment and Public Instruction of the Bavarian Soviet Republic is stoned to death by Freikorps troopers at the age of 49 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Stadelheim, Stadelheimer Straße 12, München, Giesing, Bayern, Germany.

Friday 2nd of May 1930

60-year-old Serial killer, child rapist and cannibal Albert Hamilton Howard Fish aka The Cannibal aka The Werewolf of Wysteria aka The Moon Maniac is arrested for vagrancy in Newark, New Jersey, United States.

Saturday 2nd of May 1931

Murderer Kurt Erich Tetzner aka Der Mann der Zweimal Starb is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 28 in Regensburg, Bayern, Germany.

Thursday 2nd of May 1935

Last King of Iraq Faisal II is born as Al-Malik Fayṣal Ath-thānī in Baġdād, Muḥāfaẓät Baġdād, Iraq.

Saturday 2nd of May 1936

Singer Engelbert Humperdinck is born as Arnold George Dorsey in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India.

Wednesday 2nd of May 1945

Nazi official and private secretary to Adolf Hitler Martin Bormann commits suicide by cyanide poisoning at the age of 45 in Lehrter Bahnhof, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

His skeleton was found on 28 december 1972 during construction works near the Lehrter Bahnhof.

Wednesday 2nd of May 1945

The German radio officially anounces the death of 56-year-old Führer and Reichskanzler of Germany Adolf Hitler in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Wednesday 2nd of May 1945

KZ-Kommandant in Dachau Eduard Wilhelm Weiter commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 56 in Schloss Itter, Itter, Tirol, Austria.

After drunkenly bragging about the recent executions he had ordered at Dachau, Weiter shot and killed himself.

Thursday 2nd of May 1946

Singer Lesley Gore is born as Lesley Sue Goldstein in New York City, New York, United States.

Friday 2nd of May 1947

The 'Bullies of Ravensbrück' are executed by hanging by 42-year-old Chief executioner Albert Pierrepoint in Zuchthaus Hameln, Hameln, Sachsen, Germany.

The first Ravensbrück trial was held from 5 December 5 1946 until 3 February 1947 against sixteen Ravensbrück concentration camp staff and officials. Executed on this day were 27-year-old Aufseherin Dorothea Binz, 61-year-old Oberschwester Elisabeth Marschall and 39-year-old Arbeitseinsatzführerin Greta Bösel. The men were hanged on 3 May 1947.

Wednesday 2nd of May 1956

Would-be assassin Violet Albina Gibson known for an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Benito Mussolini in 1926 dies of unknown causes at the age of 80 in St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom.

Gibson was deported to Britain after the attack after being released without charge at the request of Mussolini. She spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum.

Thursday 2nd of May 1957

Anti-Communist and anti-homosexual witch-hunter Joseph Raymond McCarthy dies of acute hepatitis and an inflammation of the liver due to alcoholism at the age of 49 in Naval Medical Center, 8901 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland, United States.

It was hinted in the press that McCarthy died of alcoholism, an estimation that is now accepted by contemporary biographers.

Monday 2nd of May 1960

Robber and rapist Caryl Whittier Chessman aka The Red Light Bandit is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 39 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

Tuesday 2nd of May 1972

1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation John Edgar Hoover dies of a heart attack at the age of 77 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States.

Thursday 2nd of May 1974

23-year-old Serial killer Gustaaf Van Eyken aka De Vampier van Muizen is sentenced to death in Assisenhof, Britselei 55-57, Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 2nd of May 1985

Noise music band Club Moral play their 43rd concert in Time Based Arts, Bloemgracht 121, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Tuesday 2nd of May 1995

Murderer Keith Zettlemoyer is executed by lethal injection at the age of 40 in Rockview Penitentiary, Benner Township, Pennsylvania, United States.

Zettlemoyer became the first person executed by the state of Pennsylvania in 33 years.

Friday 2nd of May 1997

Multiple murderer Walter Hill is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 62 in Holman Correctional Facility, Ross Road, Atmore, Alabama, United States.

Sunday 2nd of May 1999

Actor Oliver Robert Reed dies of a heart attack at the age of 61 in Valletta, Reġjun Xlokk, Malta.

Reed supposedly drank three bottles of Captain Morgan's Jamaican rum, eight bottles of German beer and numerous whiskies in a bar on the night he died.

Monday 2nd of May 2005

An abandoned shack on the beach in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia.