May 9th, 1938

Born on May 9th, 1938

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 32,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 780 days, exactly on September 13th, 2028, people who were born on May 9th, 1938 will be 33,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on May 9th?

May 9th, 1949

Rainier III became Prince of Monaco, beginning a 56-year reign, which would make him one of the longest ruling monarchs of the 20th century.

May 9th, 1915

World War I: British forces launched the Battle of Aubers, an offensive on the Western Front, as part of the larger Second Battle of Artois.

May 9th, 1761

The inaugural exhibition of the Society of Artists of Great Britain opened at Spring Gardens in London.

May 9th, 2012

The pilots of a Sukhoi Superjet, ignoring alerts from the terrain warning system, crashed the aircraft into Mount Salak in Indonesia, resulting in the deaths of all 45 people on board.

May 9th, 2005

Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required after the nominee's death.

May 9th, 2001

Police at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, Ghana, fired tear gas to quell unrest at a football match, leading to a stampede that killed 126 people.

May 9th, 1992

An underground methane explosion occurred at the Westray Mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, killing all 26 Canadian coal miners who were working at the time.

May 9th, 1980

Part of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida collapsed after a pier was struck by MV Summit Venture, killing 35 people.

May 9th, 1979

Prominent Iranian Jew Habib Elghanian was executed after having been convicted by a revolutionary tribunal of various charges, triggering a mass exodus of Jews from Iran.

May 9th, 1977

The Hotel Polen in Amsterdam was destroyed by fire (pictured), leaving 33 people dead.

May 9th, 1964

Ngô Đình Cẩn, a younger brother and the confidant of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, was executed by Nguyễn Khánh's military junta.

May 9th, 1961

In a speech to U.S. broadcasters, Newton Minow, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, described commercial television programming as "a vast wasteland".

May 9th, 1960

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it would approve the use of Searle's Enovid, the first combined oral contraceptive pill.

May 9th, 1944

World War II: The Japanese Take Ichi convoy arrived at Halmahera in the Dutch East Indies after losing many ships and thousands of troops to Allied attacks while attempting to carry two divisions of troops from China to New Guinea.

May 9th, 1918

First World War: Germany repelled Britain's second attempt to blockade the Belgian port of Ostend.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on May 9th

Born on May 9th, 1938

84

Charles Simic

Serbian born American poet (1938-2023)

*May 9th, 1938, Belgrade †January 9th, 2023, Dover

88

Manfred Grieser

German athletics competitor

*May 9th, 1938, Doberschütz

88

Nel Wambach

Artistic gymnast

*May 9th, 1938, Rotterdam

83

Rein Ratas

Estonian politician

*May 9th, 1938, Häädemeeste †April 18th, 2022

Same year
Born in 1938

87

Otto Rehhagel

German footballer and manager

*August 9th, 1938, Essen

82

Diana Rigg

English actress (1938–2020)

*July 20th, 1938, Doncaster †September 10th, 2020, London

87

Lorraine Crapp

Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, former world record-holder

*October 1st, 1938, Sydney

80

Kofi Annan

7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1938-2018)

*April 8th, 1938, Kumasi †August 18th, 2018, Bern

78

Michael Bogdanov

British theatre director

*December 15th, 1938, Neath †April 16th, 2017, Greece

87

Jon Voight

American actor (born 1938)

*December 29th, 1938, Yonkers

87

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

Peruvian politician and economist; Prime Minister (2005–06), President (2016–18)

*October 3rd, 1938, Lima

83

Herbert Achternbusch

German writer, painter and filmmaker (1938–2022)

*November 23rd, 1938, Munich †January 10th, 2022, Munich

82

Fips Asmussen

German comedian (1938–2020)

*April 30th, 1938, Hamburg †August 9th, 2020, Carl-von-Basedow-Klinikum

84

Fritz Pleitgen

German journalist and author (1938-2022)

*March 21st, 1938, Duisburg †September 15th, 2022, Cologne

88

Tommy Chong

Canadian actor and comedian

*May 24th, 1938, Edmonton

43

Romy Schneider

German-French actress (1938–1982)

*September 23rd, 1938, Vienna †May 29th, 1982, 7th arrondissement of Paris

78

Inga Ålenius

Swedish actress (1938-2017)

*May 15th, 1938, Stockholm †April 24th, 2017, Helsingborg

78

Silvano Basagni

Italian sport shooter (1938-2017)

*August 6th, 1938, Florence †May 10th, 2017, Florence

73

Jean Giraud

French comics author (1938–2012)

*May 8th, 1938, Nogent-sur-Marne †March 10th, 2012, Montrouge

88

Juan Carlos I of Spain

King of Spain from 1975 to 2014

*January 5th, 1938, Rome

87

Elliott Gould

American actor

*August 29th, 1938, Brooklyn

42

Vladimir Vysotsky

Soviet singer-songwriter and actor (1938–1980)

*January 25th, 1938, Moscow †July 25th, 1980, Moscow

88

Giuliano Amato

Italian politician (born 1938)

*May 13th, 1938, Turin

87

Derek Jacobi

English actor (born 1938)

*October 22nd, 1938, Leytonstone

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on May 9th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day, Commemoration of the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands related observances, Victory Day observances, celebration of the Soviet Union victory over Nazi Germany) which are celebrated on May 9th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Born on May 9th, 1938
Future birthdays

Leap year

No: With 365 days 1938 is a normal year and no leap year.

Calendar
May 1938