Birthday Paper › What happened on …? › May 22

Events on May 22

• 1872 In Bayreuth, the foundation stone is laid for the Festival Hall. On this occasion, Richard Wagner conducts Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the Margravial Opera House.
• 1875 In Gotha, the unification party congress of the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the General German Workers' Association begins, from which the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, today's Social Democratic Party of Germany, will emerge.
• 1882 The Gotthard Tunnel is ceremonially opened and operations commence ten days later. The railway connection between Göschenen and Airolo, designed by engineer Louis Favre, significantly facilitates passenger and freight traffic between Switzerland and Italy.
• 1939 The German Reich and Italy sign the Pact of Steel, a military alliance signed in Berlin by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Italian counterpart Galeazzo Ciano in the presence of Adolf Hitler.
• 1980 The Japanese entertainment company Namco releases the video game Pac-Man, designed by game designer Tōru Iwatani, in Japan. The maze game becomes one of the most popular and successful video games in history.
• 1986 Bavarian Broadcasting withdraws from the joint ARD television program for the duration of the broadcast of 'Scheibenwischer', as the management considers the cabaret's content to go too far.
• 1990 The software manufacturer Microsoft releases the Windows 3.0 operating system.
• 2004 Borussia Mönchengladbach wins its last home game at Bökelbergstadion 3-1 against TSV 1860 Munich. It is the last Bundesliga match in the traditional stadium on Bökelstraße.
• 2005 After 39 years, the SPD loses its stronghold North Rhine-Westphalia in the state elections. Franz Müntefering and Gerhard Schröder announce early elections to the German Bundestag in autumn.
• 2010 The purchase of two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins is the first documented transaction of a good with this cryptocurrency.
• 2012 With the 634-meter-high Tokyo Skytree, the tallest television tower to date and simultaneously the second-tallest freestanding structure in the world is opened.
• 2017 In the Islamist terrorist attack during a pop concert by US singer Ariana Grande, 23 people are killed in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Born on May 22

• 1891 Johannes R. Becher, German writer and politician
• 1907 Hergé, Belgian comic book author and illustrator
• 1907 Laurence Olivier, British director, theater and film actor
• 1924 Charles Aznavour, French author, actor, composer and performer of chansons
• 1930 Harvey Milk, American politician and civil rights activist
• 1940 Klaus Schlappner, German football player and coach
• 1950 Bernie Taupin, British songwriter
• 1951 Wolf-Dieter Poschmann, German track and field athlete and presenter
• 1970 Naomi Campbell, British top model
• 1981 Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player

Is your birthday on May 22?

Then there is a newspaper that tells only the story of your day: what was going on in the world on May 22 of your birth year, which song was at the top, what the weather was like at your birthplace, plus birthday twins and a personal greeting.

• For every birth year from 1946
• 4 to 10 pages, always €14.90, as a PDF to print
• With a greeting page for voice and video messages

Create the paper for May 22 · €14.90

Day and month are already filled in, you only choose the birth year.

Source of events and birthdays: German Wikipedia article „22. Mai“, licence CC BY-SA 4.0, selected, shortened and translated by Birthday Paper.

More days in May