Sunday 22nd of May 1667

237th Pope Alexander VII dies of unknown causes at the age of 68 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Thursday 22nd of May 1783

Physicist and inventor William Sturgeon aka The Electrician known for making the first electromagnets is born in Whittington, Lancashire, United Kingdom.

Saturday 22nd of May 1813

Composer Richard Wilhelm Wagner is born in Gasthof Roter und Weißer Löwe, Brühl 3, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany.

Sunday 22nd of May 1859

Writer Arthur Conan Ignatius Doyle known for creating Sherlock Holmes is born in 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Friday 22nd of May 1885

Romantic poet and writer Victor Marie Hugo dies of pneumonia at the age of 83 in La Princesse de Lusignan, Avenue d'Eylau, Paris, XVIe, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 22nd of May 1896

59-year-old Baby farm murderess Amelia Elizabeth Dyer aka The Ogress of Reading pleads guilty to the murder of 4-months-old Doris Marmon in Old Bailey Criminal Court, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

It took the jury only four and a half minutes to find Dyer guilty. There is little doubt she was responsible for many more similar deaths - possibly 400 or more - over a period of perhaps 20 years.

Wednesday 22nd of May 1907

Actor and film director Laurence Kerr Olivier is born in Dorking, Surrey, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 22nd of May 1907

Cartoonist Georges Prosper Remi aka Hergé known for his creation of Tintin is born in 25 Rue Cranz, Brussel, Etterbeek, Brabant, Belgium.

Friday 22nd of May 1914

Musician Sun Ra is born as Herman Poole Blount, legally Le Sony'r Ra in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

Saturday 22nd of May 1915

226 die in five train collision and fire in Quintinshill, Gretna Green, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Those killed were mainly Territorial soldiers from the Royal Scots 1/7th (Leith) Battalion heading for Gallipoli.

Wednesday 22nd of May 1918

42-year-old Joseph Maggio is throatcut and beaten to death by serial killer The Axeman of New Orleans in corner of Upperline and Magnolia Streets, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.

Maggio's 36-year-old wife Catherine was throatcut as well, her head almost severed. The Maggio's were the Axeman's first victims.

Thursday 22nd of May 1924

Singer-songwriter Charles Aznavour is born as Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, Paris, VIe, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 22nd of May 1925

Double murderer Llewellyn Wilson Peare is executed by hanging at the age of 69 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Peare went on a moonshine spree and killed his wife and a neighbour. He became the oldest man ever executed in Oregon.

Friday 22nd of May 1925

Artist Jean Tinguely is born in Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.

Friday 22nd of May 1925

Murder plotter Arthur Covell is executed by hanging at the age of 46 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Thursday 22nd of May 1930

Public supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Bernard Milk is born in Woodmere, New York, United States.

Wednesday 22nd of May 1940

Actor Michael Jacques Michel André Sarrazin known from the film ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ is born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Friday 22nd of May 1942

Mathematician and serial bomber Theodore John 'Ted' Kaczynski aka The Unabomber is born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, United States.

Tuesday 22nd of May 1951

Serial killer Kenneth Alessio Bianchi aka The Hillside Strangler is born in Rochester, New York, United States.

Bianchi was born to a prostitute who gave him up for adoption two weeks after he was born. He was adopted at three months by Frances Scioliono and her husband Nicholas Bianchi.

Wednesday 22nd of May 1957

Murderer Leonard Coey is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 59 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

Wednesday 22nd of May 1957

Murderer John Dennis Daniels is born in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.

Friday 22nd of May 1959

Murderer Edward F Eckwerth is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 31 in Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York, United States.

Sunday 22nd of May 1960

Victim of Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper Jacqueline Hill is born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 22nd of May 1962

Mass murderer Thomas Gene Doty detonates a bomb in the right rear lavatory of Continental Airlines Flight 11 Boeing 707 killing himself and the 36 other passengers and 8 crew in the explosion and resulting crash of the airplane at the age of 34 in Union Township, Unionville, Missouri, United States.

Doty had purchased a life insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha for $150.000. His death would also bring in another $150.000 in additional insurance purchased at the airport and death benefits.

Monday 22nd of May 1967

251 die in L'Innovation department store fire in L'Innovation, Rue Neuve, Brussel, Brabant, Belgium.

The fire inspired Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin to burn down warehouses in Germany as a protest against the war in Vietnam.

Wednesday 22nd of May 1968

99 die in USS Scorpion (SSN-589) nuclear submarine shipwreck in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Scorpion contained highly sophisticated spy gear and spy manuals, two nuclear-tipped torpedoes, and a nuclear propulsion system. The boat was officially declared 'lost' on 5 June 1968. End October 1968 the wreck was discovered in more than 3.000m of water.

Friday 22nd of May 1970

Fashion model, actress and businesswoman Naomi Elaine Campbell is born in London, Streatham, South London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 22nd of May 1971

26-year-old Serial killer Dennis Lynn Rader aka The BTK Killer marries 23-year-old Paula Dietz in Wichita, Kansas, United States.

Monday 22nd of May 1972

Triple murderer Riley Dobi Noel is born in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States.

Monday 22nd of May 1978

Mobster and crime boss Joseph Anthony 'Joe' Colombo dies of cardiac arrest in a vegetative state after being shot in the head on 28 June 1971 at the age of 55 in St. Luke's Hospital, 70 Dubois St, Newburgh, New York, United States.

In 1975 a court-ordered examination showed that Colombo could move his thumb and forefinger on his right hand. In 1976 there were reports that he could recognize people and utter several words.

Thursday 22nd of May 1980

18-year-old Leslie O'Dell is abducted, raped and tortured by serial killer Richard Cottingham aka The Torso Killer in Quality Inn Room 117, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, United States.

Cottingham spent 3 hours raping and sexually torturing O'Dell but was interrupted by hotel security. Cottingham was apprehended while fleeing from the motel.

Friday 22nd of May 1981

26-year-old Irish republican hunger striker Kieran Doherty starts hungerstriking in Maze Prison, Lisburn, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Friday 22nd of May 1981

35-year-old Serial killer Peter William Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper is convicted to life imprisonment for killing 13 women in Old Bailey Criminal Court, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Friday 22nd of May 1981

23-year-old Serial killer Wayne Williams aka The Atlanta Child Murderer is questioned by the police near the Chattahoochee River where three days later the body of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater was found in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Saturday 22nd of May 1982

18-year-old Angela Marks is raped and stabbed to death by serial killer Thomas Rath aka Der Moormörder in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany.

Marks' body was found seven months later.

Sunday 22nd of May 1983

45-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 76. Aktion for Pfingsfest in Schloss Prinzendorf, Schloss Straße 1, Prinzendorf an der Zaya, Niederösterreich, Austria.

Nitsch' 76. Aktion for Pfingsfest lasted 12 hours.

Friday 22nd of May 1987

Noise music band Club Moral play their 72nd concert in El Matadero, Calle Miguel Servet 55, Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.

Friday 22nd of May 1987

Rapist and murderer Richard Tucker is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 44 in Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison, Highway 36, Jackson, Georgia, United States.

Tuesday 22nd of May 1990

Boxer Rocky Graziano dies of cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 71 in New York City, New York, United States.

Friday 22nd of May 1992

67-year-old Television host Johnny Carson known for ‘The Tonight Show’ presents his last show on NBC in Hollywood, California, United States.

For the last time America heard "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!".

Friday 22nd of May 1992

Murder plotter Robert Black is executed by lethal injection at the age of 45 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Black hired John Wayne Hearn to kill his wife Sandra.

Thursday 22nd of May 1997

Double murderer Larry Wayne White is executed by lethal injection at the age of 47 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Saturday 22nd of May 1999

Two men discussing at the opening of Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven aka AMVK's exhibition at Barbara Thumm Gallery in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Wednesday 22nd of May 2002

Murderer Johnny Joe Martinez is executed by lethal injection at the age of 30 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Martinez' last words were "I am fine, I am happy. I will see you on the other side."

Tuesday 22nd of May 2007

Rapist and murderer Robert Charles Comer is executed by lethal injection at the age of 51 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

Comer's last meal request was for fried okra, 4 Buns with lots of butter, lots of salt and two slices banana bread. His last words were "Go Raiders."

Saturday 22nd of May 2010

158 die in Air India Express Boeing 737-800 Flight 812 crash in Mangalore International Airport, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.

There were 8 survivors.

Tuesday 22nd of May 2018

Writer Philip Milton Roth dies of congestive heart failure at the age of 85 in New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Sunday 22nd of May 2022

Anarchist author and poet Hakim Bey dies of a heart attack at the age of 77 in Saugerties, New York, United States.