Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in May 2023
(listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)
Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into films, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)
We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.
1 May 1873 – 150 years ago
Death of David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer. Best known for his search for the sources of the Nile, and for going missing (and being found) in Africa.
2 May 1933 – 90 years ago
The first modern sighting of Scotland’s Loch Ness monster was reported in the Inverness Courier.
3 May 1923 – 100 years ago
U.S. Army Air Service Lieutenants Oakley G. Kelly and John Arthur Macready made the first non-stop coast-to-coast flight across the USA. They flew from New York to San Diego in 26 hours and 50 minutes.
4 May 2003 – 20 years ago
The first member of the horse family to be cloned: a mule named Idaho Gem was born at the University of Idaho, USA.
5 May 1948 – 75 years ago
The Organization of American States was officially founded.
6 May 1953 – 70 years ago
The first successful open-heart surgery on a human, using a heart-lung machine, was performed by John Gibbon in Pennsylvania, USA.
7 May 1963 – 60 years ago
The USA launched the Telstar 2 communications satellite. It transmitted the first colour transatlantic television broadcasts. It was shielded against the radiation that had damaged its predecessor, Telstar 1.
8 May 1933 – 90 years ago
Polythene was discovered (by accident) by chemists Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett at ICI in Wallerscote, Cheshire, UK.
9 May 1873 – 150 years ago
Birth of Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (1931–33).
(Shot in 1933 during an assassination attempt on U.S. President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. He died three weeks later – but most likely from ulcerative colitis rather than the wound.)
10 May 1933 – 90 years ago
The Nazis staged massive public burnings of ‘un-German’ books outside Berlin University.
11 May 1998 – 25 years ago
India exploded three atomic bombs underground – its first nuclear tests for 24 years – violating a global ban on testing and shocking the world. It carried out a second round of tests on 13th May. In response, Pakistan exploded five underground nuclear bombs on 28th May.
12 to 25 May 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Trident Conference (also called the Third Washington Conference) took place in the USA. Delegations led by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made plans for the next phase of the war. Topics included planning for the Allied invasion of Sicily, setting the date of the Normandy Landings (Operation Overlord/D-Day – 1st May 1944 but later delayed to 6th June), and the progress of the Pacific Campaign.
13 May 1973 – 50 years ago
The first Battle of the Sexes tennis match: Bobby Riggs v. Margaret Court, in Ramona, California, USA. Riggs won the two-set exhibition match.
(On 20th September 1973 Riggs played Billie Jean King in the three-set Battle of the Sexes II. King won.
In 1992, Jimmy Connors played Martina Navratilova in the Battle of the Sexes III. Connors won.)
14 May 1973 – 50 years ago
NASA launched Skylab – the USA’s first manned space station. The first manned mission launched on 25th May, and included three space walks to repair damage that Skylab suffered during launch.
15 May 1948 – 75 years ago
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War began when the Arab states of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq invaded Israel in support of the Palestinians.
Saudi Arabia joined the invasion on 18th May.
16 to 17 May 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Dambusters Raid.
Britain’s RAF launched Operation Chastise, deploying bouncing bombs (invented by Barnes Wallace) to bypass anti-torpedo nets and breach dams, causing catastrophic flooding in Germany’s Ruhr Valley.
17 May 1973 – 50 years ago
The Watergate hearings began in the U.S. Senate, and were televised nationally.
18 May 1958 – 65 years ago
Italian racing driver Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first woman to compete in a Formula One Grand Prix.
19 May 1898 – 125 years ago
Death of William Ewart Gladstone, British Prime Minister (1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, 1892–94).
20 May 1873 – 150 years ago
American businessman Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis were granted a U.S. patent for blue jeans.
21 May 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Armand Hammer, American business magnate and art collector. Best known as the chairman of Occidental Petroleum (1957–90). He was also known for his close ties with the Soviet Union and for advocating citizen diplomacy.
22 May 1923 – 100 years ago
Stanley Baldwin became British Prime Minister after Bonar Law was diagnosed with terminal cancer and immediately retired.
23 May 1873 – 150 years ago
The North-West Mounted Police was founded in Canada. It became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920.
24 May 1948 – 75 years ago
Benjamin Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera was performed for the first time, in Cambridge, England.
25 May 1973 – 50 years ago
The album Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield was released. It was the first album released by Virgin Records.
26 to 27 May 1923 – 100 years ago
The first Le Mans 24 hours endurance motor race was held.
27 May 2003 – 20 years ago
WordPress, the blogging/content management system, was released.
28 May 1993 – 30 years ago
British nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of killing four children and attacking nine others between February and April 1991 in the children’s ward at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire. She was sentenced to 13 concurrent life sentences in a secure hospital and is unlikely to be released.
29 May 1953 – 70 years ago
New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
30 May 1848 – 175 years ago
The Mexican–American War officially ended when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo came into effect.
31 May 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman, writer, speaker, and advocate of positive thinking.
Best known for his book The Power of Positive Thinking.
More anniversaries:
You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.
How to use the anniversaries:
If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.
It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, 301 article-writing ideas and tips, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.