On This Day - 5th May

1818 - Karl Marx born
1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte dies
1913 - Tyrone Power born
1915 - Alice Faye born
1926 - Ann B. Davis born
1927 - Pat Carroll born
1942 - Tammy Wynette born
1955 - Dr Jonas Salk, the world-famous American virologist currently on a trip to the UK, has witnessed a ceremonial polio vaccination in London.

1961 - Commander Alan Shepard has been recovered from his space capsule in the Atlantic after becoming the first American in space.
1967 - The first ever all-British satellite 'Ariel 3' is successfully launched into orbit from the United States.

1973 - Tina Yothers born
1980 - The siege of the Iranian embassy in London has ended after a dramatic raid by SAS commandos. Five Iranian gunmen were killed and one was arrested. Nineteen hostages were set free but one died and two were injured in the cross-fire.
1981 - Hunger striker Bobby Sands has died in prison 66 days after first refusing to eat. Also Danielle Fishel and Craig David born

2001 - Britain's tourist industry hopes the bank holiday weekend and good weather will attract visitors to areas previously closed due to foot-and-mouth disease.
2005 - Tony Blair wins a historic third term in government for Labour but with a drastically reduced majority.
2011 - The last known combat veteran of the First World War dies at the age of 110. British-born Claude Stanley Choules, who was known as "Chuckles" by his comrades, joined the Royal Navy aged just 14 and witnessed the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919.