May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 241 days remain until the end of the year.
We have some interesting facts & historic events all about May 4th, including areas in religion, crime, health and more.
Keep reading for more interesting facts about May 4th in history!
Table of Contents
Global Celebrations
- International Firefighters Day
- Petite And Proud Day
- National Candied Orange Peel Day
- Star Wars Day
- National Renewal Day
Historic Events
What Happened On This Day – May 4
1994: Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord to ensure Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho
Together with Shimon Peres, the two leaders received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. A year later, Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist.
1959: The Grammy is presented for the first time
It is one of the most prestigious awards in the music industry. Winners of the first edition included Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Mancini, and Frank Sinatra.
1953: Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize
The American author was awarded the prestigious accolade for his novel The Old Man and the Sea. The story about a fisherman and his battle with a large marlin also earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1904: The United States takes over the construction of the Panama Canal
French engineers had begun digging a waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in 1881, but they had to abandon the project after about 22,000 lives had been lost to accidents and disease.
1675: King Charles II of England commissions the Royal Observatory in Greenwich
The observatory was built on the prime meridian. The mean solar time at this location is the basis for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
1996: A Lebanese woman in West Beirut celebrates her wedding during the 1996 Lebanon War

1941: Men of the Australian 9th Infantry Division guard Italians and some of the first German prisoners to be taken during the war in North Africa, after Rommel’s first unsuccessful assault on Tobruk in 1941

1923: The astonishment of those who saw the camera for the first time while looking at a bridge in Istanbul, 1923. (Colored)

Famous Birthdays
Births On This Day, May 4
1989: Rory McIlroy, Irish golfer
1929: Audrey Hepburn, Belgian/English actress, singer
1928: Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian air marshal, politician, 4th President of Egypt
1916: Jane Jacobs, American/Canadian journalist, author, activist
1825: Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist
Heartbreaking Deaths
Deaths On This Day, May 4
2014: Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian/Scottish tennis player
1980: Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav marshal, politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia
1924: E. Nesbit, English author
1903: Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian activist
1799: Tipu Sultan, Indian army officer, king