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May 2
The Ballon d'Or, often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award presented by France Football between 1956 and 2009. Conceived by chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, the award honoured the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on a voting by Europe-based journalists. Originally, only European players were in contention for the Ballon d'Or, but from 1995 all players at European clubs were eligible. Three players won the award three times each: Johan Cruyff of Ajax and Barcelona, Michel Platini (pictured) of Juventus, and Marco van Basten of Milan. In 2007, the Ballon d'Or changed in scope from an honour bestowed on Europe-based players by Europe-based journalists to one open to all players and voted on by journalists from around the world. It was subsequently merged with a similar award, the FIFA World Player of the Year award, to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or, which has been awarded to the world's best male player since 2010. (Full list...)
May 6
Rudolph Valentino's film career started with his appearance as an uncredited extra in My Official Wife (1914), although this is now a lost film. The Italian-born Valentino appeared in several films in a minor role until 1921. He got his major break when he appeared in the role of Julio in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and he went on to play leading roles in fourteen films as a romantic figure. All the films in which he appeared were silent; those in which he played a romantic role within the action genre were the more successful at the box office including The Sheik (1921) and his final two works The Eagle (1925) and The Son of the Sheik (1926). Valentino died suddenly of peritonitis in August 1926, at the age of 31. The subsequent extensive media coverage turned his funeral into a national event. Two of Valentino's films, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Son of the Sheik have been inducted into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. (Full list...)
May 9
The Mayor of the City of San Diego is the official head and chief executive officer of the city of San Diego, California. The mayor has the duty to enforce and execute the laws enacted by the San Diego City Council, the legislative branch. The mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms. There have been 35 individuals who have served as mayor. Joshua Bean, elected in 1850, was the first mayor of the city. Edwin M. Capps, who served as mayor in the late 1800s and early 1900s, is the only person who served two non-consecutive terms. From 1852 to 1888, the city was run by a Board of Trustees and there was no elected mayor. However, the president of the board was called mayor as a courtesy. Kevin Faulconer (pictured) is the current mayor of San Diego; he assumed the office on March 3, 2014. (Full list...)
May 13
The highway system of Warren County, New York, comprises 1,248.6 miles (2,009.4 km) of roads maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation, the county, and its towns and villages. Fourteen state-maintained highways enter the county, which account for a combined 219.4 miles (353.1 km) of the state highway mileage in New York. The state roads are supplemented by 245.3 miles (394.8 km) of county-maintained highways. Most roads within the county are short connectors, while others are sections of 30-mile (48 km) long highways. Warren County is served by one Interstate Highway, I-87, also known as the Adirondack Northway; one United States Numbered Highway, US 9; eight state-numbered signed touring routes; three state-maintained reference routes, all of which are unsigned; and 81 county-maintained routes, most of which are short connectors between more major roads. The longest state route within the county is NY 9N (pictured), which runs for 48.58 miles (78.18 km) within Warren County. (Full list...)
May 16
The World Fantasy Award for Best Collection is one of the World Fantasy Awards presented each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The honor is given each year for collections of fantasy stories by a single author published in English. A collection can have any number of editors, and works in the collection may have been previously published; awards are also given out for anthologies of works by multiple authors in the anthology category. The World Fantasy Award for Best Collection has been awarded annually since 1975, though from 1977 through 1987 anthologies were admissible as nominees. Anthologies were split into a separate category beginning in 1988; during the 10 years they were admissible they won the award 7 times. During the 41 nomination years, 143 writers have had works nominated; 38 of them have won, including ties and co-authors. Only five writers or editors have won twice. Jeffrey Ford, Karen Joy Fowler, and Lucius Shepard won the regular collection award twice, out of three, two, and four nominations, respectively. Charles L. Grant and Kirby McCauley won multiple awards as editors of anthologies while those were eligible. (Full list...)
May 20
Aishwarya Rai's acting career has encompassed work in over 40 films in five languages. Rai made her acting debut in the Tamil drama Iruvar (1997) and had her first Bollywood release in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997). She established herself in Bollywood with leading roles in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romance Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and drama Devdas (2002), both of which earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Rai starred in the British film Bride and Prejudice in 2004, and collaborated with the director Rituparno Ghosh on the dramas Chokher Bali (2003) and Raincoat (2004). Her other high-profile credits include the action film Dhoom 2 (2006), the biopic Guru (2007), the historical drama Jodhaa Akbar (2008), the American comedy film The Pink Panther 2 (2009), and the science fiction film Enthiran (2010). Rai took a five-year sabbatical from film acting in 2010, and made her comeback with the thriller Jazbaa (2015). (Full list...)
May 23
French Open men's singles champions are crowned at an annual tennis tournament held over two weeks in May and June. Established in 1891 and played since 1928 on outdoor red clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, the French Open is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments played each year which include the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Organised by the Fédération Française de Tennis, the French Open is the second of the four Grand Slam tournaments to be played each year. The winner of the men's singles event receives the Coupe des Mousquetaires, named after The Four Musketeers of French tennis: Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste. Rafael Nadal (pictured) has won the most French Open titles, with nine, and also holds the record for the most consecutive wins in the Open era, with five from 2010 to 2014. French players have won the most French Open men's singles titles, with 38 victories, followed by Spanish (12) and Australian players (11). (Full list...)
May 27
Spain has 44 total sites on the list of World Heritage Sites, third only to Italy (49) and China (45). The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Spain accepted the convention on May 4, 1982, making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list. Of the 44 Spanish sites, 39 are cultural, 3 are natural, and 2 are mixed (meeting both cultural and natural criteria), as determined by UNESCO's selection criteria. Of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, Castile and León has the most sites, with six exclusive and two shared sites (Burgos Cathedral pictured). Additionally, Spain has established an agreement with UNESCO known as the Spanish Funds-in-Trust. The fund provides €600,000 annually to a chosen program. Programs include helping other member states, particularly in Latin America, with projects such as nominations processes and assessing tentative sites. (Full list...)
May 30
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American singer Katy Perry has released two video albums and has appeared in thirty-three music videos, eight films, twelve television shows, and thirteen television commercials. After appearing in several music videos between 2004 and 2007, a video for "Ur So Gay" was released to introduce her to the music industry. In 2008, she released videos for "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold", both taken from her second album One of the Boys. Perry's third album, Teenage Dream (2010), spawned the single "California Gurls", whose music video is set in the fictional land of "Candyfornia" and features rapper Snoop Dogg. The Yoann Lemoine-directed video "Teenage Dream" depicts her as a euphoric teenager. Her "Firework" video is based on self-empowerment, and won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. In 2013, Perry released her fourth studio album Prism, with "Roar" as its lead single, whose music video features her in a jungle after a plane crash. She became the first artist to have multiple videos, "Dark Horse" and "Roar", each gain one billion views. In addition to her music videos, Perry has voiced Smurfette in The Smurfs (2011) and its sequel The Smurfs 2 (2013). (Full list...)