On this day in history

May 22

8 births · 7 deaths · 1 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Eurovision Song Contest 2012

14 years ago

Born this day

1813

Richard Wagner

Would be 213

Oldest record

1689th

Constantine the Great

death anniversary

Famous births8

1813 · 213 yrs

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( VAHG-nər; German:; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor, best known for his operas, although his mature works are often referred to as music dramas.

MusicWould be 213

Photo: Franz Hanfstaengl · Public domain

1844 · 182 yrs

Mary Cassatt

Mary Stevenson Cassatt (May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived most of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar Degas and exhibited with the Impressionists.

ArtWould be 182

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1859 · 167 yrs

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He is best known for his four novels and fifty-six short stories about the fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr.

LiteratureWould be 167

Photo: Walter Benington · Public domain

1907 · 119 yrs

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ə-LIV-ee-ay; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave and Ralph Richardson made up a quartet of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century.

FilmWould be 119

Photo: Allan warren · CC BY-SA 3.0

1942 · 84 yrs

Ted Kaczynski

Theodore John Kaczynski ( kə-ZIN-skee; May 22, 1942 – June 10, 2023), also known as the Unabomber ( YOU-na-bom-ər), was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist. A mathematics prodigy, he abandoned his academic career in 1969 to pursue a reclusive primitive lifestyle and lone wolf terrorism campaign.

ScienceWould be 84

Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation · Public domain

1943 · 83 yrs

Betty Williams

Elizabeth Williams (née Smyth; 22 May 1943 – 17 March 2020) was a peace activist from Northern Ireland.

ActivismWould be 83

Photo: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0

1946 · 80 yrs

George Best

George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a right winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A skillful dribbler, he is considered one of the greatest players of all time, along with being considered one of the most talented to play.

SportsWould be 80

Photo: Hans Peters for Anefo · CC0

1970 · 56 yrs

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British model and actress. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press.

FashionAge 56

Photo: Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 4.0

Famous deaths7

337 · 1689 yrs

Constantine the Great

Constantine I (27 February 272 – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.

RoyaltyWould be 1754

Photo: Wilfredor · CC0

1667 · 359 yrs

Alexander VII

Pope Alexander VII (Italian: Alessandro VII; 13 February 1599 – 22 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death, in May 1667. He began his career as a vice-papal legate, and he held various diplomatic positions in the Holy See.

ReligionWould be 427

Photo: Giovanni Battista Gaulli · Public domain

1826 · 200 yrs

Nikolay Karamzin

Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (12 December 1766 – 3 June 1826) was a Russian historian, writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for his fundamental History of the Russian State, a 12-volume national history.

LiteratureWould be 259

Photo: Vasily Andreevich Tropinin · Public domain

1873 · 153 yrs

Alessandro Manzoni

Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (UK:, US:, Italian:; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian philosopher, poet, playwright, and novelist. He is best known for the novel The Betrothed (Italian: I promessi sposi), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature.

LiteratureWould be 241

Photo: Francesco Hayez · Public domain

1935 · 91 yrs

Jane Addams

Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage.

ActivismWould be 166

Photo: Harris Ewing, publisher · Public domain

1967 · 59 yrs

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.

LiteratureWould be 125

Photo: Carl Van Vechten · Public domain

2018 · 8 yrs

Philip Roth

Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short-story writer.

LiteratureWould be 93

Photo: Nancy Crampton · Public domain

Events1

2012 · 14 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 2012

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 22 and 24 May and a final on 26 May 2012, held at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan, and presented by Leyla Aliyeva, Nargiz Birk-Petersen, and Eldar Gasimov.

Culture

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