Portal:University of Oxford/On this day/May 2

Births
 * 1551 – William Camden (Magdalen, Broadgates Hall, and Christ Church), historian and topographer
 * 1703 – James West (Balliol), antiquary and politician
 * 1737 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne (Christ Church), British Prime Minister 1782–1783
 * 1865 – Percival Coles, rugby and cricket player
 * 1900 – A.W. Lawrence (New College), Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology at Cambridge 1944–1951
 * 1914 – George Piranian, American mathematician
 * 1920 – John Boswall, actor
 * 1932 – Ian Wilson (Magdalen), Australian politician
 * 1938 – Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (Corpus Christi), King of Lesotho 1966–1996
 * 1945 – Robert Cooter, American law professor
 * 1973 – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (New College), German film director

Deaths
 * 1852 – Ioan Tegid (Jesus), Welsh writer and priest
 * 1925 – William Keith Leask, Scottish classical scholar
 * 1938 – John Lyles Glenn, Jr., American federal judge
 * 2004 – John Hammersley, British mathematician
 * 2011 – Robert W. Clower, American economist

Other events
 * Following the 1997 general election, Tony Blair (St John's) becomes British Prime Minister.