May 18th, 1908

Born on May 18th, 1908

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 42,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 652 days, exactly on February 8th, 2026, people who were born on May 18th, 1908 will be 43,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on May 18th?

May 18th, 2005

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion publicly debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

May 18th, 2009

The Sri Lanka Army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to bring an end to the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War.

May 18th, 2006

The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King Gyanendra of many of his powers.

May 18th, 1996

Ireland won the Eurovision song contest for the seventh time, the highest number of wins for any country before Sweden tied it in 2023.

May 18th, 1974

India conducted its first nuclear test explosion at Pokhran, the first confirmed nuclear test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

May 18th, 1965

Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria.

May 18th, 1955

Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended.

May 18th, 1952

First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces overran a French and Laotian garrison at Muong Khoua, leaving only four survivors.

May 18th, 1944

The Soviet Union forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars to the Uzbek SSR and elsewhere in the country.

May 18th, 1936

In a crime that captivated Japan, Sada Abe (pictured) strangled her lover, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her for several days until her arrest.

May 18th, 1933

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority to stimulate the economic development of the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted by the Great Depression.

May 18th, 1927

Disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off explosives with timers and a rifle (aftermath pictured), causing the Bath School disaster in the Bath Consolidated School in Michigan, killing 44 people in the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.

May 18th, 1863

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of Vicksburg.

May 18th, 1695

An earthquake measuring .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Ms7.8 struck Shanxi Province in northern China, resulting in at least 52,600 deaths.

May 18th, 1302

Armed insurrectionists massacred the occupying French garrison in Bruges, Flanders, killing approximately 2,000 people.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on May 18th

Born on May 18th, 1908

104

Moisès Broggi

Catalan physician and writer

*May 18th, 1908, Barcelona †December 31st, 2012, Barcelona

78

Lya Lys

American actress (1908-1986)

*May 18th, 1908, Berlin †June 2nd, 1986, Newport Beach

Same Day
Who's birthday is on May 18th?

84

Massimo Girotti

Italian actor (1918-2003)

*May 18th, 1918, Mogliano †January 5th, 2003, Rome

84

John Paul II

264th pope of the Catholic Church

*May 18th, 1920, Wadowice †April 2nd, 2005, Apostolic Palace

71

Rigobert Günther

German historian of classical antiquity (1928-2000)

*May 18th, 1928, Magdeburg †April 2nd, 2000, Leipzig

56

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

German racing driver

*May 18th, 1967, Mönchengladbach

35

Megumi Taruno

Badminton player

*May 18th, 1988, Fukuoka Prefecture

97

Bertrand Russell

British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)

*May 18th, 1872, Trellech †February 2nd, 1970, Plas Penrhyn

74

Hermann Diels

German classical scholar (1848–1922)

*May 18th, 1848, Biebrich †June 4th, 1922, Dahlem

78

Peter Grünberg

German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (1939-2018)

*May 18th, 1939, Plzeň †April 7th, 2018, Jülich

72

Ben Feringa

Dutch Nobel laureate in chemistry

*May 18th, 1951, Barger-Compascuum

31

Luke Black

Serbian singer-songwriter (born 1992)

*May 18th, 1992, Čačak

68

Pierre Balmain

French fashion designer (1914–1982)

*May 18th, 1914, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne †June 29th, 1982, Neuilly-sur-Seine

38

Hedley Verity

English cricketer (1905-1943)

*May 18th, 1905, Headingley †July 31st, 1943, Caserta

88

Perry Como

American singer, actor, television personality (1912-2001)

*May 18th, 1912, Canonsburg †May 12th, 2001, Jupiter Inlet Colony

90

Robert Morse

American actor

*May 18th, 1931, Newton †April 20th, 2022, Los Angeles

94

Frank Capra

Italian-born American film director (1897–1991)

*May 18th, 1897, Bisacquino †September 3rd, 1991, La Quinta

82

Meredith Willson

American composer, conductor, musical arranger, flautist, bandleader and playwright (1902-1984)

*May 18th, 1902, Iowa †June 15th, 1984, Santa Monica

92

Toulo de Graffenried

Racecar driver (1914-2007)

*May 18th, 1914, Paris †January 22nd, 2007, Lonay

86

Walter Gropius

German-American architect (1883–1969)

*May 18th, 1883, Berlin †July 5th, 1969, Boston

85

Fred Perry

English tennis player

*May 18th, 1909, Stockport †February 2nd, 1995, Melbourne

61

Nathaniel Parker

British actor

*May 18th, 1962, London

Same year
Born in 1908

78

Simone de Beauvoir

French philosopher, social theorist and activist (1908–1986)

*January 9th, 1908, Paris †April 14th, 1986, 14th arrondissement of Paris

64

Lyndon B. Johnson

President of the United States from 1963 to 1969

*August 27th, 1908, Stonewall †January 22nd, 1973, Stonewall

78

Arnaldo Momigliano

Italian historian of classical antiquity (1908–1987)

*September 5th, 1908, Caraglio †September 1st, 1987, London

88

Wolfram von Soden

German Assyriologist

*June 19th, 1908, Berlin †October 6th, 1996, Münster

97

Myron Waldman

American animator (1908-2006)

*April 23rd, 1908, Brooklyn †February 4th, 2006, Bethpage

100

Claude Lévi-Strauss

French anthropologist and ethnologist (1908–2009)

*November 28th, 1908, City of Brussels †October 30th, 2009, 16th arrondissement of Paris

66

Louis Jordan

American jazz, blues and rhythm and blues musician, songwriter and bandleader (1908–1975)

*July 8th, 1908, Arkansas †February 4th, 1975, Los Angeles

65

Salvador Allende

28th president of Chile (1908–1973)

*June 26th, 1908, Valparaíso †September 11th, 1973, Santiago

96

Simon Wiesenthal

Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter

*December 31st, 1908, Buchach †September 20th, 2005, Vienna

52

Richard Wright

American writer (1908-1960)

*September 4th, 1908, Natchez †November 28th, 1960, Paris

83

Olivier Messiaen

French composer, organist and ornithologist (1908–1992)

*December 10th, 1908, Avignon †April 27th, 1992, Clichy

89

James Stewart

American actor (1908–1997)

*May 20th, 1908, Indiana †July 2nd, 1997, Beverly Hills

81

Bette Davis

American actress (1908–1989)

*April 5th, 1908, Lowell †October 6th, 1989, Neuilly-sur-Seine

76

Ethel Merman

American actress and singer (1908-1984)

*January 16th, 1908, Astoria †February 15th, 1984, Manhattan

97

John Mills

English actor (1908-2005)

*February 22nd, 1908, Felixstowe †April 23rd, 2005, Denham

91

Amintore Fanfani

Italian politician statesman (1908–1999)

*February 6th, 1908, Pieve Santo Stefano †November 20th, 1999, Rome

84

Robert Morley

British actor (1908–1992)

*May 26th, 1908, Semley †June 3rd, 1992, Reading

82

Robert Cummings

American actor (1910–1990)

*June 9th, 1908, Joplin †December 2nd, 1990, Woodland Hills

85

Raymond Scott

American composer, bandleader, pianist, record producer and inventor (1908-1994)

*September 10th, 1908, Brooklyn †February 8th, 1994, North Hills

82

Jill Esmond

British actress (1908–1990)

*January 26th, 1908, London †July 28th, 1990, Wimbledon

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on May 18th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day) which are celebrated on May 18th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Leap year

Yes: 1908 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
May 1908