Today is Saturday, May 2, the 122nd day of 2009. There are 243 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On May 2, 1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin, and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

On this date

In 1519, artist Leonardo da Vinci died at Cloux, France, at 67.

In 1670, the Hudson Bay Company was chartered by England’s King Charles II.

In 1863, Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Va.; he died eight days later.

In 1890, the Oklahoma Territory was organized.

In 1908, the original version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” with music by Albert Von Tilzer and lyrics by Jack Norworth, was copyrighted by Von Tilzer’s York Music Co.

In 1936, “Peter and the Wolf,” a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world premiere in Moscow.

In 1957, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the controversial Republican from Wisconsin, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

In 1960, Caryl Chessman, who became a best-selling author while on death row for kidnapping, robbery and sexual offenses, was executed at San Quentin Prison in California.

In 1965, Intelsat 1, also known as the Early Bird satellite, was first used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.

In 1972, J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington at age 77 after serving 48 years as head of the FBI.

Ten years ago

Yugoslav authorities handed over to the Rev. Jesse Jackson three American prisoners of war who’d been held for a month. Actor Oliver Reed died in Malta at age 61 while making the movie “Gladiator.”

Five years ago

American truck driver Thomas Hamill escaped from his kidnappers in Iraq; that same day, nine U.S. servicemen were killed across the country. Martin Torrijos, the son of a former dictator, won Panama’s first presidential vote since the handover of the Panama Canal in December 1999.

One year ago

President George W. Bush sent lawmakers a $70 billion request to fund U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into the following spring. Al-Jazeera TV cameraman Sami al-Haj was released from U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and returned home to Sudan after six years in prison. Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, leading to an eventual official death toll of 84,537, with 53,836 listed as missing. Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws across the United States, died in Milford, Va., at age 68.

Today’s Birthdays

Actor Theodore Bikel is 85. Singer Engelbert Humperdinck is 73. Actress and political activist Bianca Jagger is 64. Country singer R.C. Bannon is 64. Singer Lesley Gore is 63. Actor David Suchet is 63. Singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin is 61. Rock singer Lou Gramm (Foreigner) is 59. Actress Christine Baranski is 57. Singer Angela Bofill is 55. Movie director Steven Daldry (“The Reader”) is 49. Actress Elizabeth Berridge is 47. Country singer Ty Herndon is 47. Rock musician Todd Sucherman (Styx) is 40. Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is 37. Soccer star David Beckham is 34. Actress Jenna Von Oy is 32. Actor Gaius Charles (“Friday Night Lights”) is 26. Pop singer Lily Allen is 24. Olympic gold medal skater Sarah Hughes is 24. Rock musician Jim Almgren (Carolina Liar) is 23. Actress Kay Panabaker is 19.

Thought for Today

“Even a liar tells a hundred truths to one lie; he has to, to make the lie good for anything.”

— Henry Ward Beecher

American clergyman (1813-1887)