Portal:University of Oxford/On this day/May 1

Births

• 1672 – Joseph Addison (Queen's and Magdalen), poet, essayist and playwright
• 1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Chancellor of the University 1834–1852
• 1916 – John Eggar, schoolmaster and cricketer
• 1922 – Alastair Gillespie, Canadian politician
• 1923 – Joseph Heller (St Catherine's), American novelist (author of Catch-22)
• 1926 – Bernard Stonehouse (Merton), polar scientist
• 1929 – Ralf Dahrendorf, Warden of St Antony's 1987–1997

Deaths

• 1785 – Myles Cooper (Queen's), English priest who became President of King's College (predecessor of Columbia University, New York)
• 1968 – Harold Nicolson (Balliol), diplomat and politician

Other events

• May Morning — celebrations take place every year at 6am outside Magdalen College.