Today XXI

Birthdays:

• Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher, May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855)


• Karl Heinrich Marx, philosopher and political economist, May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883


• Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden, radio comedian, May 5, 1899 - December 10, 1982. From 1928 to 1960, Gosden voiced the characters "Amos", "The Kingfish", "Lightning", "Brother Crawford," and some dozen other characters on the Amos & Andy show


• Blind Willie McTell [probably born William Samuel McTear], blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist, May 5, 1901 – August 15, 1959


• Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr., actor, May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958


• Alice Jeane Leppert, aka Alice Faye, actress and singer, May 5, 1915 – May 9, 1998


• Ann Bradford Davis [Ann B. Davis], television actress, 1926


• Marc Alaimo, actor, 1942


• Tammy Wynette, country singer and songwriter, May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998


• Michael Edward Palin, CBE, comedian, actor and television presenter, best known for being one of the members of Monty Python, as well as for his travel documentaries, 1943


• John Rhys-Davies, actor, 1944


• Vincent Kartheiser, actor, 1979


• Danielle Christine Fishel, actress, 1981

RIP:

• Napoleone de Buonaparte, aka Napoleon Bonaparte, general and emperor, August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821


• Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, mathematician, credited with the modern "formal" definition of a function, February 13, 1805 - May 5, 1859. He married Rebecka Mendelssohn Bartholdy, sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn


• Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, International Grandmaster and long-time World Chess Champion, August 17, 1911 - May 5, 1995. He held the world title on three separate occasions, 1948-57, 1958-60, and 1961-63

Also:

• Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire, 1260. Kublai Khan or Khubilai Khan or "the last of the Great Khans," 1215–1294, was Khagan (1260–1294) of the Mongol Empire as well as the founder and the first Emperor (1279–1294) of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty


• The Music Hall in New York, now known as Carnegie Hall, has its grand opening and first public performance, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor, 1891


• Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball, 1904


• Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds hits his 3000th major league hit, 1978


• El Cinco de Mayo, "The Fifth of May," is a national celebration in Mexico and widely celebrated in many parts of the United States. It commemorates the victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza over the French expeditionary forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862