On This Day: 2 May

Portsmouth is granted its first charter by King Richard I		1194
Anne Boleyn is arrested on charges of incest and adultery, and led by barge to the Tower of London		1536
John Knox returns to Scotland from exile, to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation		1559
Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle		1568
Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible published		1611
William of Orange marries Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I		1641
Treaty of Aix–la–Chappelle signed		1668
King Charles II grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America		1670
The British navy mutinies at The Nore		1797
The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation, beginning the Peninsular War – later commemorated by Goya in The Second of May 1808		1808
Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson accidentally shot by his own troops, while returning to camp after reconnoitring during the Battle of Chancellorsville; he succumbs to pneumonia eight days later		1863
Leopold II, King of the Belgians, proclaimed King of the Congo state		1885
The Rev. Hannibal Williston Goodwin submits the first US patent for celluloid film		1887
The first science fiction film – the 14–minute Le Voyage dans la Lune – premiered		1902
Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens		1906
General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Company of Delaware		1919
Lieutenants Kelly and Macready make the first non–stop flight across the USA – Long Island to San Diego, in 27 hours		1923
US forces arrive in Nicaragua to restore order after a coup		1926
Trade unions banned in Germany		1933
Emperor Haile Selassie flees Abyssinia in the face of the Italian invasion		1936
Prokofiev conducts the premiere of Peter and the Wolf in Moscow		1936
The UK launches the Anglo–Iraqi War, to restore Crown Prince 'Abd al–llah to power after a coup d'état		1941
Battle for Berlin ends as German troops surrender to the Russians; hostilities in Italy cease		1945
The first scheduled jet passenger flight – BOAC Comet, London to Johannesburg		1952
Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers 4–3 in the FA Cup final, which would become known as 'the Matthews final' (despite Stanley Mortensen scoring the only FA Cup final hat trick of the 20^th century)		1953
Public VHF broadcasting first introduced in the UK		1955
Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof		1955
A Chinese expedition makes the first ascent of Shishapangma – the lowest of the world's fourteen eight–thousanders, but the last to be climbed		1964
Early Bird – the first comms satellite for regular TV relay – begins operating		1965
The Times undergoes a redesign and publishes news on its front page for the first time		1966
Queen Elizabeth II leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York		1969
91 workers lose their lives in a fire at the Sunshine Mine in Idaho		1972
South Africa's government bans Pink Floyd's Another brick in the wall		1980
General Belgrano sunk by a torpedo from HMS Conqueror		1982
The city of Chernobyl is evacuated, six days after the disaster		1986
Martial law declared in China		1989
President F. W. de Klerk concedes victory to Nelson Mandela in South Africa's first multiracial elections		1994
Glenn Hoddle appointed to succeed Terry Venables as England soccer coach (after Euro '96)		1996
Tony Blair succeeds John Major as Prime Minister, following Labour's landslide election victory (418 seats out of 659, Tories 165); Major announces that he will resign as Conservative Party leader		1997
The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels, to define and execute the EU's monetary policy		1998
Pope John Paul II beatifies the controversial Italian mystic friar and faith healer Padre Pio (died 1968)		1999
David Copeland, 22, an engineer from Farnborough, Hampshire, charged with the London nail bombings		1999
President Clinton announces that access to accurate GPS signals would no longer be restricted to the US military		2000
David Coulthard and his fiancée walk away from a plane crash in France in which the pilot and co–pilot of his Learjet are killed		2000
70 officers and crew die in an accident on board a Chinese diesel submarine on exercise off north–east China		2003
James Miller, award–winning British TV cameraman working for the American HBO network, shot dead by an Israeli tank crew while filming in the Gaza Strip		2003
Osama bin Laden is killed by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan		2011
A pastel version of Edvard Munch's The Scream sells for $120 million in New York – a new world record for a work of art at auction		2012
Up to 2,500 people are feared missing after two landslides at Badakhshan, Afghanistan		2014
Basque separatist terrorist group ETA announces its dissolution and the cessation of all activities		2018

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On This Day: 2 May