What are the important events that happened on May 22? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

May 22: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 22 is the 142^nd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 223 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 9, 2025 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 485,520 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectatetracontadigon’ day.

Gemini is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 271 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,535 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 22 Historical Events

• 1377 –
  Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
• 1807 –
  Most of the English town of Chudleigh is destroyed by fire
• 1816 –
  A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs; the rioting spreads to Ely the next day.
• 1840 –
  The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
• 1843 –
  Thousands of people and their cattle head west via wagon train from Independence, Missouri to what would later become the Oregon Territory. It is part of the Great Migration. They follow what is now known as the Oregon Trail.
• 1897 –
  The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened
• 1915 –
  Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than Mount St. Helens to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century.
• 1964 –
  U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an “end to poverty and racial injustice” in America.
• 1987 –
  Hashimpura massacre in Meerut city of India.
• 2008 –
  The Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence unleashes 235 tornadoes, including an EF4 and an EF5 tornado, between May 22 and May 31, 2008. The tornadoes struck 19 states and one Canadian province.

Who were born on May 22?

• 1808 –
  Gérard de Nerval, French writer (d. 1855)
• 1903 –
  Yves Rocard, French physicist (d. 1992)
• 1904 –
  Paul Viiding, Estonian poet (d. 1962)
• 1910 –
  Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (d. 1985)
• 1932 –
  Merry Anders, American actress
• 1946 –
  Howard Kendall, English footballer and football manager
• 1948 –
  Richard Baker, American politician
• 1970 –
  Naomi Campbell, British model and actress
• 1982 –
  Alex Smith, American football player
• 1993 –
  Ben Lewis, English photographer

Who died on May 22?

• 748 –
  Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 680)
• 1538 –
  John Forrest, English Franciscan friar (b. 1471)
• 1667 –
  Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
• 1760 –
  Israel ben Eliezer, Polish-born mystical rabbi (b. 1700)
• 1965 –
  Christopher Stone, first disc jockey in the United Kingdom (b. 1882)
• 1972 –
  Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet and writer (b. 1904)
• 1985 –
  Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American Disney animator, director and producer (b. 1909)
• 1997 –
  Renzo Montagnani, Italian actor (b. 1930)
• 1998 –
  John Derek, American actor, director and photographer (b. 1926)
• 2005 –
  Julia Randall, American poet (b. 1924)