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.