1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland somewhere north of the Firth of Forth.
1189 – Friedrich Barbarossa arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja, during the Third Crusade.
1202 – Georgian–Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Basian the Kingdom of Georgia defeats the Sultanate of Rum.
1214 – Battle of Bouvines: Philip II of France decisively defeats Imperial, English and Flemish armies, effectively ending John of England’s Angevin Empire.
1299 – According to Edward Gibbon, Osman I invades the territory of Nicomedia for the first time, usually considered to be the founding day of the Ottoman state.
1302 – Battle of Bapheus: Decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithynia for Turkish conquest.
1549 – The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier’s ship reaches Japan.
1663 – The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports. After the Acts of Union 1707, Scotland would be included in the Act.
1689 – Glorious Revolution: The Battle of Killiecrankie is a victory for the Jacobites.
1694 – A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.
1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Medical Department: The Second Continental Congress passes legislation establishing “an hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men.”
1778 – American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant: British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
1789 – The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).
1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 “enemies of the Revolution”.
1816 – Battle of Negro Fort: The battle ends when a hot shot cannonball fired by US Navy Gunboat No. 154 explodes the Fort’s Powder Magazine, killing approximately 275. It is considered the deadliest single cannon shot in US history.
1857 – Siege of Arrah begins: Sixty-eight men hold out for eight days against a force of 2,500 to 3,000 mutinying sepoys and 8,000 irregular forces.
1865 – Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.
1880 – Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand: Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan.
1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.
1900 – Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, “Hun” would be a disparaging name for Germans.
1917 – World War I: The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.
1919 – The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.
1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto, led by biochemist Frederick Banting, prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.
1929 – The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.
1940 – The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
1942 – World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.
1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.
1953 – Cessation of hostilities is achieved in the Korean War when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
1955 – The Austrian State Treaty restores Austrian sovereignty.
1955 – El Al Flight 402 is shot down by two fighter jets after straying into Bulgarian air space. All 58 people onboard are killed.
1959 – The Continental League is announced as baseball’s “3rd major league” in the United States.
1964 – Vietnam War: Five thousand more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
1974 – Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.
1975 – Mayor of Jaffna and former MP Alfred Duraiappah is shot dead.
1976 – Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed bribery scandals.
1981 – While landing at Chihuahua International Airport, Aeromexico Flight 230 overshoots the runway. Thirty-two of the 66 passengers and crew on board the DC-9 are killed.[2]
1983 – Black July: Eighteen Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
1987 – RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
1989 – While attempting to land at Tripoli International Airport in Libya, Korean Air Flight 803 crashes just short of the runway. Seventy-five of the 199 passengers and crew and four people on the ground are killed, in the second accident involving a DC-10 in less than two weeks, the first being United Airlines Flight 232.
1990 – The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day is celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence is moved to June 3.
1990 – The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d’état in Trinidad and Tobago.
1995 – The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..
1996 – In Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
1997 – About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
2002 – Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 77 and injuring more than 500 others, making it the deadliest air show disaster in history.
2005 – After an incident during STS-114, NASA grounds the Space Shuttle, pending an investigation of the continuing problem with the shedding of foam insulation from the external fuel tank.
2015 – At least seven people are killed and many injured after gunmen attack an Indian police station in Punjab.
2016 – At a news conference in Florida, U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump publicly appealed to Russia to find and release private emails from Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton; a Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019) later alleged that Russian operatives began hacking into servers at the Democratic National Committee on that same day, leading to the July 13, 2018 indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers.[3]
Births on July 27
1452 – Ludovico Sforza, Italian son of Francesco I Sforza (d. 1508)
1452 – Lucrezia Crivelli, mistress of Ludovico Sforza (d. 1508)
1502 – Francesco Corteccia, Italian composer (d. 1571)
1578 – Frances Howard, Duchess of Richmond (d. 1639)
1612 – Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1640)
1625 – Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich (d. 1672)
1667 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and academic (d. 1748)
1733 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (d. 1779)
1740 – Jeanne Baré, French explorer (d. 1803)
1741 – François-Hippolyte Barthélémon, French-English violinist and composer (d. 1808)
1752 – Samuel Smith, American general and politician (d. 1839)
1768 – Charlotte Corday, French assassin of Jean-Paul Marat (d. 1793)
1768 – Joseph Anton Koch, Austrian painter (d. 1839)
1773 – Jacob Aall, Norwegian economist and politician (d. 1844)
1777 – Thomas Campbell, Scottish-French poet and academic (d. 1844)
1777 – Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, English general (d. 1853)
1781 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1828)
1784 – Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (d. 1839)
1812 – Thomas Lanier Clingman, American general and politician (d. 1897)
1818 – Agostino Roscelli, Italian priest and saint (d. 1902)
1824 – Alexandre Dumas, fils, French novelist and playwright (d. 1895)
1833 – Thomas George Bonney, English geologist, mountaineer, and academic (d. 1923)
1834 – Miguel Grau Seminario, Peruvian admiral (d. 1879)
1835 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
1848 – Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist and politician, Minister of Education of Hungary (d. 1919)
1848 – Friedrich Ernst Dorn, German physicist (d.1916)
1853 – Vladimir Korolenko, Ukrainian journalist, author, and activist (d. 1921)
1853 – Elizabeth Plankinton, American philanthropist (d. 1923)
1854 – Takahashi Korekiyo, Japanese accountant and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1936)
1857 – José Celso Barbosa, Puerto Rican physician, sociologist, and politician (d. 1921)
1857 – Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge, English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist (d.1934)
1858 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer and cricketer (d. 1938)
1866 – António José de Almeida, Portuguese physician and politician, 6th President of Portugal (d. 1929)
1867 – Enrique Granados, Spanish pianist and composer (d. 1916)
1870 – Hilaire Belloc, French-born British writer and historian (d. 1953)
1872 – Stanislav Binički, Serbian composer, conductor, and pedagogue. (d. 1942)
1879 – Francesco Gaeta, Italian poet (d. 1927)
1877 – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1960)
1881 – Hans Fischer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1945)
1882 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, founded the de Havilland Aircraft Company (d. 1965)
1886 – Ernst May, German architect and urban planner (d. 1970)
1889 – Vera Karalli, Russian ballerina, choreographer, and actress (d. 1972)
1890 – Benjamin Miessner, American radio engineer and inventor (d. 1976)
1890 – Armas Taipale, Finnish discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1976)
1891 – Jacob van der Hoeden, Dutch-Israeli veterinarian and academic (d. 1968)
1893 – Ugo Agostoni, Italian cyclist (d. 1941)
1894 – Mientje Kling, Dutch actress (d. 1966)
1896 – Robert George, Scottish air marshal and politician, 24th Governor of South Australia (d. 1967)
1896 – Henri Longchambon, French lawyer and politician (d. 1969)
1899 – Percy Hornibrook, Australian cricketer (d. 1976)
1902 – Yaroslav Halan, Ukrainian playwright and publicist (d. 1949)
1903 – Nikolay Cherkasov, Russian actor (d. 1966)
1903 – Michail Stasinopoulos, Greek jurist and politician, President of Greece (d. 2002)
1903 – Mārtiņš Zīverts, Latvian playwright (d. 1990)
1904 – Lyudmila Rudenko, Soviet chess player (d. 1986)
1905 – Leo Durocher, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
1906 – Jerzy Giedroyc, Polish author and activist (d. 2000)
1906 – Herbert Jasper, Canadian psychologist and neurologist (d. 1999)
1907 – Ross Alexander, American stage and film actor (d. 1937)
1907 – Carl McClellan Hill, African American educator and academic administrator (d. 1995)
1907 – Irene Fischer, Austrian-American geodesist and mathematician (d. 2009)
1908 – Joseph Mitchell, American journalist and author (d. 1996)
1910 – Julien Gracq, French author and critic (d. 2007)
1910 – Lupita Tovar, Mexican-American actress (d. 2016)
1911 – Rayner Heppenstall, English author and poet (d. 1981)
1912 – Vernon Elliott, English bassoon player, composer, and conductor (d. 1996)
1913 – George L. Street III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2000)
1914 – August Sang, Estonian poet and translator (d. 1969)
1915 – Mario Del Monaco, Italian tenor (d. 1982)
1915 – Josef Priller, German colonel and pilot (d. 1961)
1916 – Elizabeth Hardwick, American literary critic, novelist, and short story writer (d. 2007)
1916 – Skippy Williams, American saxophonist and arranger (d. 1994)
1916 – Keenan Wynn, American actor (d. 1986)
1918 – Leonard Rose, American cellist and educator (d. 1984)
1920 – Henry D. “Homer” Haynes, American comedian and musician (Homer and Jethro) (d. 1971)
1921 – Garry Davis, American pilot and activist, created the World Passport (d. 2013)
1921 – Émile Genest, Canadian-American actor (d. 2003)
1922 – Adolfo Celi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1986)
1922 – Norman Lear, American screenwriter and producer
1923 – Mas Oyama, South Korean-Japanese martial artist (d. 1994)
1924 – Vincent Canby, American historian and critic (d. 2000)
1924 – Otar Taktakishvili, Georgian composer and conductor (d. 1989)
1927 – Guy Carawan, American singer and musicologist (d. 2015)
1927 – Pierre Granier-Deferre, French director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1927 – Will Jordan, American comedian and actor (d. 2018)
1927 – C. Rajadurai, Sri Lankan journalist and politician, 1st Mayor of Batticaloa
1927 – John Seigenthaler, American journalist and academic (d. 2014)
1928 – Joseph Kittinger, American colonel and pilot
1929 – Jean Baudrillard, French sociologist and philosopher (d. 2007)
1929 – Harvey Fuqua, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010)
1929 – Jack Higgins, English author and academic
1929 – Marc Wilkinson, French-Australian composer and conductor
1930 – Joy Whitby, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1930 – Shirley Williams, English academic and politician, Secretary of State for Education
1931 – Khieu Samphan, Cambodian academic and politician, 28th Prime Minister of Cambodia
1931 – Jerry Van Dyke, American actor (d. 2018)
1932 – Forest Able, American basketball player
1932 – Diane Webber, American model, dancer and actress
1933 – Nick Reynolds, American singer and bongo player (d. 2008)
1933 – Ted Whitten, Australian footballer and journalist (d. 1995)
1935 – Hillar Kärner, Estonian chess player
1935 – Billy McCullough, Northern Irish footballer
1936 – J. Robert Hooper, American businessman and politician (d. 2008)
1937 – Anna Dawson, English actress and singer
1937 – Don Galloway, American actor (d. 2009)
1937 – Robert Holmes à Court, South African-Australian businessman and lawyer (d. 1990)
1938 – Gary Gygax, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (d. 2008)
1939 – William Eggleston, American photographer and academic
1939 – Michael Longley, Northern Irish poet and academic
1939 – Paulo Silvino, Brazilian comedian, composer and actor (d. 2017)
1940 – Pina Bausch, German dancer and choreographer (d. 2009)
1941 – Christian Boesch, Austrian opera singer
1941 – Johannes Fritsch, German viola player and composer (d. 2010)
1942 – Édith Butler, Canadian singer-songwriter
1942 – John Pleshette, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1942 – Dennis Ralston, American tennis player
1943 – Jeremy Greenstock, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United Nations
1944 – Bobbie Gentry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944 – Jean-Marie Leblanc, French cyclist and journalist
1944 – Barbara Thomson, English saxophonist and composer
1945 – Edmund M. Clarke, American computer scientist
1946 – Peter Reading, English poet and author (d. 2011)
1947 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (d. 2008)
1947 – Betty Thomas, American actress, director, and producer
1948 – Peggy Fleming, American figure skater and sportscaster
1948 – James Munby, English lawyer and judge
1948 – Henny Vrienten, Dutch singer-songwriter and bass player
1949 – Maury Chaykin, American-Canadian actor (d. 2010)
1949 – André Dupont, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1949 – Rory MacDonald, Scottish singer-songwriter and bass player
1949 – Maureen McGovern, American singer and actress
1949 – Robert Rankin, English author and illustrator
1950 – Simon Jones, English actor
1951 – Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish lawyer and politician, Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs
1951 – Bob Diamond, American-English banker and businessman
1951 – Rolf Thung, Dutch tennis player
1952 – Marvin Barnes, American basketball player (d. 2014)
1952 – Roxanne Hart, American actress
1953 – Chung Dong-young, South Korean journalist and politician, 31st South Korean Minister of Unification
1953 – Yahoo Serious, Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Philippe Alliot, French race car driver and sportscaster
1954 – G. S. Bali, Indian lawyer and politician
1954 – Ricardo Uceda, Peruvian journalist and author
1954 – Mark Stanway, English keyboard player Magnum
1955 – Cat Bauer, American journalist, author, and playwright
1955 – Allan Border, Australian cricketer and coach
1955 – John Howell, English journalist and politician
1955 – Bobby Rondinelli, American drummer
1956 – Carol Leifer, American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer
1957 – Bill Engvall, American comedian, actor, and producer
1958 – Christopher Dean, English figure skater and choreographer
1958 – Kimmo Hakola, Finnish composer
1959 – Joe DeSa, American baseball player (d. 1986)
1959 – Hugh Green, American football player
1959 – Yiannos Papantoniou, French-Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of National Defence
1960 – Jo Durie, English tennis player and sportscaster
1960 – Conway Savage, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2018)
1960 – Emily Thornberry, English lawyer and politician
1961 – Ed Orgeron, American football coach[4]
1962 – Neil Brooks, Australian swimmer
1962 – Karl Mueller, American bass player (d. 2005)
1963 – Donnie Yen, Chinese-Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
1964 – Rex Brown, American bass player and songwriter
1965 – José Luis Chilavert, Paraguayan footballer
1966 – Steve Tilson, English footballer and manager
1967 – Rahul Bose, Indian journalist, actor, director, and screenwriter
1967 – Juliana Hatfield, American singer-songwriter and musician
1967 – Hans Mathisen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
1967 – Neil Smith, English cricketer
1967 – Craig Wolanin, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 – Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Italian actress and producer
1968 – Tom Goodwin, American baseball player and coach
1968 – Sabina Jeschke, Swedish-German engineer and academic
1968 – Julian McMahon, Australian actor and producer
1968 – Ricardo Rosset, Brazilian race car driver
1969 – Triple H, American wrestler and actor
1969 – Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer and coach
1970 – Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Danish actor and producer
1970 – David Davies, English-Welsh politician
1971 – Matthew Johns, Australian rugby league player, sportscaster and television host
1972 – Clint Robinson, Australian kayaker[5]
1972 – Maya Rudolph, American actress
1972 – Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Malaysian surgeon and astronaut
1973 – Cassandra Clare, American journalist and author
1973 – Erik Nys, Belgian long jumper
1973 – Gorden Tallis, Australian rugby league player and coach
1974 – Eason Chan, Hong Kong singer, actor, and producer
1974 – Pete Yorn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1975 – Serkan Çeliköz, Turkish keyboard player and songwriter
1975 – Shea Hillenbrand, American baseball player
1975 – Fred Mascherino, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1975 – Alessandro Pistone, Italian footballer
1975 – Alex Rodriguez, American baseball player
1976 – Demis Hassabis, English computer scientist and academic
1976 – Scott Mason, Australian cricketer (d. 2005)
1977 – Foo Swee Chin, Singaporean illustrator
1977 – Björn Dreyer, German footballer
1977 – Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Irish actor
1978 – Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Irish hurler and manager
1979 – Marielle Franco, Brazilian politician, feminist, and human rights activist (d. 2018)
1979 – Jorge Arce, Mexican boxer
1979 – Sidney Govou, French footballer
1979 – Shannon Moore, American wrestler and singer
1980 – Allan Davis, Australian cyclist
1980 – Wesley Gonzales, Filipino basketball player
1981 – Susan King Borchardt, American basketball player
1981 – Collins Obuya, Kenyan cricketer
1981 – Dash Snow, American painter and photographer (d. 2009)
1981 – Christopher Weselek, German rugby player
1982 – Neil Harbisson, English-Catalan painter, composer, and activist
1983 – Lorik Cana, Albanian footballer
1983 – Martijn Maaskant, Dutch cyclist
1983 – Goran Pandev, Macedonian footballer
1983 – Soccor Velho, Indian footballer (d. 2013)
1984 – Antoine Bethea, American football player
1984 – Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Japanese baseball player
1984 – Max Scherzer, American baseball player
1984 – Taylor Schilling, American actress
1984 – Kenny Wormald, American actor, dancer, and choreographer
1985 – Husain Abdullah, American football player
1985 – Matteo Pratichetti, Italian rugby player
1985 – Ajmal Shahzad, English cricketer
1986 – DeMarre Carroll, American basketball player
1986 – Ryan Flaherty, American baseball player
1986 – Ryan Griffen, Australian footballer
1987 – Jacoby Ford, American football player
1987 – Marek Hamšík, Slovak footballer
1987 – Jordan Hill, American basketball player
1987 – Sarah Parsons, American ice hockey player
1988 – Adam Biddle, Australian footballer
1988 – Yoervis Medina, Venezuelan baseball player
1988 – Ryan Tannehill, American football player
1989 – Maya Ali, Pakistani actress
1990 – Nick Hogan, American race car driver and actor
1990 – Paolo Hurtado, Peruvian footballer
1990 – Cheyenne Kimball, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1990 – Stephen Li-Chung Kuo, Taiwanese-American figure skater
1990 – Kriti Sanon, Indian actress
1991 – Rena Matsui, Japanese actress and singer
1993 – Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Max Power, English footballer
1993 – Jordan Spieth, American golfer
2001 – Shin Ki-joon, South Korean actor
Deaths on July 27
903 – Abdallah II of Ifriqiya, Aghlabid emir
959 – Chai Rong, emperor of Later Zhou
1144 – Salomea of Berg, High Duchess consort of Poland[6]
1061 – Nicholas II, pope of the Catholic Church
1101 – Conrad II, king of Italy (b. 1074)
1101 – Hugh d’Avranches, Earl of Chester (b. c. 1047)
1158 – Geoffrey VI, Count of Anjou (b. 1134)
1276 – James I of Aragon (b. 1208)
1365 – Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria (b. 1339)
1382 – Joanna I of Naples (b. 1326)
1510 – Giovanni Sforza, Italian condottiere (b. 1466)
1469 – William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (b. 1423)
1656 – Salomo Glassius, German theologian and critic (b. 1593)
1675 – Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, French general (b. 1611)
1689 – John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, Scottish general (b. c. 1648)[7]
1759 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1698)
1770 – Robert Dinwiddie, Scottish merchant and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1693)
1841 – Mikhail Lermontov, Russian poet and painter (b. 1814)
1844 – John Dalton, English physicist, meteorologist, and chemist (b. 1776)
1863 – William Lowndes Yancey, American journalist and politician (b. 1813)
1865 – Jean-Joseph Dassy, French painter and lithographer (b. 1791)
1875 – Aleksander Kunileid, Estonian composer and educator (b. 1845)
1876 – Albertus van Raalte, Dutch-born American minister and author (b. 1811)
1883 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (b. 1813)
1916 – Charles Fryatt, English captain (b. 1872)
1916 – William Jonas, English footballer (d. 1890)
1917 – Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1841)
404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over Transcaucasia is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire.
799 – After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection.
1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
1607 – Eighty Years’ War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming dynasty China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1707 – A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
1792 – “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty of the Russian Empire.
1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal’s English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks’ Mills.
1882 – French and Vietnamese troops clashed in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class “A” League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
1940 – Merkið, the flag of the Faroe Islands is approved by the British occupation government.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two.
1945 – Liberation Day (Italy): The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini is captured after trying to escape. This day was set as a public holiday to celebrate the Liberation of Italy.
1945 – United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland’s soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
1951 – Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA.
1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
1960 – The United States Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
1983 – Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto’s orbit.
1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
1988 – In Israel, John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
2001 – Michele Alboreto is killed while testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.
2004 – The March for Women’s Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.
2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
2007 – Boris Yeltsin’s funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.
Births on April 25
1214 – Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
1228 – Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
1284 – Edward II of England (d. 1327)
1287 – Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1330)
1502 – Georg Major, German theologian and academic (d. 1574)
1529 – Francesco Patrizi, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1597)
1599 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician, Lord Protector of Great Britain (d. 1658)
1621 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, English soldier and politician (d. 1679)
1666 – Johann Heinrich Buttstett, German organist and composer (d. 1727)
1694 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland (d. 1753)
1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer and author (d. 1776)
1723 – Giovanni Marco Rutini, Italian composer (d. 1797)
1725 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (d. 1786)
1767 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (d. 1847)
1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist and academic (d. 1850)
1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
1843 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
1849 – Felix Klein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1925)
1850 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (d. 1927)
1851 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish author, critic, and academic (d. 1901)
1854 – Charles Sumner Tainter, American engineer and inventor (d. 1940)
1862 – Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, English ornithologist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1933)
1868 – John Moisant, American pilot and engineer (d. 1910)
1871 – Lorne Currie, French-English sailor (d. 1926)
1872 – C. B. Fry, English cricketer, footballer, educator, and politician (d. 1956)
1873 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (d. 1956)
1873 – Howard Garis, American author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily series of children’s stories (d. 1962)
1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian businessman and inventor, developed Marconi’s law, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
1874 – Ernest Webb, English-Canadian race walker (d. 1937)
1876 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian publisher, lawyer, and politician (d. 1958)
1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and triathlete (d. 1946)
1882 – Fred McLeod, Scottish golfer (d. 1976)
1887 – Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese lawyer and critic (d. 1936)
1892 – Maud Hart Lovelace, American author (d. 1980)
1896 – Fred Haney, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1977)
1897 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
1900 – Gladwyn Jebb, English politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1996)
1900 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1902 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (d. 1964)
1902 – Mary Miles Minter, American actress (d. 1984)
1903 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1987)
1905 – George Nepia, New Zealand rugby player and referee (d. 1986)
1906 – William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1997)
1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
1909 – William Pereira, American architect, designed the Transamerica Pyramid (d. 1985)
1910 – Arapeta Awatere, New Zealand interpreter, military leader, politician, and murderer (d. 1976)
1911 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
1912 – Earl Bostic, African-American saxophonist (d. 1965)
1913 – Nikolaos Roussen, Greek captain (d. 1944)
1914 – Ross Lockridge Jr., American author and academic (d. 1948)
1915 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1916 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (d. 1994)
1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
1917 – Jean Lucas, French racing driver (d. 2003)
1918 – Graham Payn, South African-born English actor and singer (d. 2005)
1918 – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, French-American astronomer and academic (d. 1995)
1918 – Astrid Varnay, Swedish-American soprano and actress (d. 2006)
1919 – Finn Helgesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2011)
1921 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter and sculptor (d. 2006)
1923 – Francis Graham-Smith, English astronomer and academic
1923 – Melissa Hayden, Canadian ballerina (d. 2006)
1923 – Albert King, African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
1924 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish race walker (d. 2009)
1924 – Franco Mannino, Italian pianist, composer, director, and playwright (d. 2005)
1924 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (d. 2013)
1925 – Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher, English trade union leader and businessman
1925 – Sammy Drechsel, German comedian and journalist (d. 1986)
1925 – Louis O’Neil, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2018)
1926 – Johnny Craig, American author and illustrator (d. 2001)
1926 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
1926 – Patricia Castell, Argentine actress (d. 2013)
1927 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (d. 2009)
1927 – Albert Uderzo, French author and illustrator (d. 2020)
1928 – Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 2011)
1929 – Yvette Williams, New Zealand long jumper, shot putter, and discus thrower (d. 2019)
1930 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1930 – Godfrey Milton-Thompson, English admiral and surgeon (d. 2012)
1930 – Peter Schulz, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Hamburg (d. 2013)
1931 – Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1980)
1931 – David Shepherd, English painter and author (d. 2017)
1932 – Nikolai Kardashev, Russian astrophysicist (d. 2019)
1932 – Meadowlark Lemon, African-American basketball player and minister (d. 2015)
1932 – Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower and politician (d. 1998)
1933 – Jerry Leiber, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1933 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (d. 1992)
1934 – Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1935 – Bob Gutowski, American pole vaulter (d. 1960)
1935 – Reinier Kreijermaat, Dutch footballer (d. 2018)
1936 – Henck Arron, Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (d. 2000)
1938 – Roger Boisjoly, American aerodynamicist and engineer (d. 2012)
1938 – Ton Schulten, Dutch painter and graphic designer
1939 – Tarcisio Burgnich, Italian footballer and manager
1939 – Michael Llewellyn-Smith, English academic and diplomat
1939 – Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, English historian and academic
1939 – Veronica Sutherland, English academic and British diplomat
1940 – Al Pacino, American actor and director
1941 – Bertrand Tavernier, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Jon Kyl, American lawyer and politician
1943 – Tony Christie, English singer-songwriter and actor
1944 – Len Goodman, English dancer
1944 – Mike Kogel, German singer-songwriter
1944 – Stephen Nickell, English economist and academic
1944 – Bruce Ponder, English geneticist and cancer researcher
1945 – Stu Cook, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1945 – Richard C. Hoagland, American theorist and author
1945 – Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1946 – Talia Shire, American actress
1946 – Peter Sutherland, Irish lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Ireland
1946 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian colonel, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1947 – Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
1948 – Mike Selvey, English cricketer and sportscaster
1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, Taiwanese politician, 39th Premier of the Republic of China
1949 – Vicente Pernía, Argentinian footballer and race car driver
1949 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician, French Minister of Finance
1949 – James Fenton, English poet, journalist and literary critic
1950 – Donnell Deeny, Northern Irish lawyer and judge
1950 – Steve Ferrone, English drummer
1950 – Peter Hintze, German politician (d. 2016)
1950 – Valentyna Kozyr, Ukrainian high jumper
1951 – Ian McCartney, Scottish politician, Minister of State for Trade
1952 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist and composer
1952 – Vladislav Tretiak, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1952 – Jacques Santini, French footballer and coach
1953 – Ron Clements, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Gary Cosier, Australian cricketer
1953 – Anthony Venables, English economist, author, and academic
1954 – Melvin Burgess, English author
1954 – Randy Cross, American football player and sportscaster
1954 – Róisín Shortall, Irish educator and politician
1955 – Américo Gallego, Argentinian footballer and coach
1955 – Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor and singer
1955 – Zev Siegl, American businessman, co-founded Starbucks
1956 – Dominique Blanc, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1956 – Abdalla Uba Adamu, Nigerian professor, media scholar
1957 – Theo de Rooij, Dutch cyclist and manager
1958 – Fish, Scottish singer-songwriter
1958 – Misha Glenny, British journalist
1959 – Paul Madden, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia
1959 – Daniel Kash, Canadian actor and director
1959 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player (d. 2016)
1960 – Paul Baloff, American singer (d. 2002)
1960 – Robert Peston, English journalist
1960 – Bruce Redman, Australian director, producer, and critic
1961 – Dinesh D’Souza, Indian-American journalist and author
1961 – Miran Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
1962 – Foeke Booy, Dutch footballer and manager
1963 – Joy Covey, American businesswoman (d. 2013)
1963 – Dave Martin, English footballer
1963 – David Moyes, Scottish footballer and manager
1963 – Bernd Müller, German footballer and manager
1963 – Paul Wassif, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Hank Azaria, American actor, voice artist, comedian and producer
1964 – Andy Bell, English singer-songwriter
1965 – Eric Avery, American bass player and songwriter
1965 – Mark Bryant, American basketball player and coach
1965 – John Henson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2014)
1966 – Diego Domínguez, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
1966 – Femke Halsema, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician
1966 – Darren Holmes, American baseball player and coach
1966 – Erik Pappas, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Angel Martino, American swimmer
1968 – Vitaliy Kyrylenko, Ukrainian long jumper
1968 – Thomas Strunz, German footballer
1969 – Joe Buck, American sportscaster
1969 – Martin Koolhoven, Dutch director and screenwriter
1969 – Jon Olsen, American swimmer
1969 – Darren Woodson, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Renée Zellweger, American actress and producer
1970 – Jason Lee, American skateboarder, actor, comedian and producer
1971 – Sara Baras, Spanish dancer
1971 – Brad Clontz, American baseball player
1973 – Carlota Castrejana, Spanish triple jumper
1973 – Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer
1973 – Barbara Rittner, German tennis player
1975 – Jacque Jones, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Gilberto da Silva Melo, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Tim Duncan, American basketball player
1976 – Breyton Paulse, South African rugby player
1976 – Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player and coach
1429 – English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.
1502 – Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
1541 – Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
1593 – Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.
1689 – The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
1733 – Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.
1771 – Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
1817 – An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.
1818 – Bernardo O’Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
1825 – The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
1832 – Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
1855 – Michigan State University is established.
1894 – Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, killing one person and wounding 20.
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
1909 – New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
1912 – The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
1915 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1921 – Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
1924 – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled “An Experiment in Modern Music”, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano.
1935 – USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
1946 – World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
1946 – African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil.
1947 – The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
1947 – Christian Dior unveils a “New Look”, helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.
1961 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
1963 – Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
1965 – Malcolm X visits Smethwick in Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.
1968 – Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre.
1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
1983 – One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq’s proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
1988 – Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown(CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.
1990 – Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
1992 – The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.
1993 – Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.
1994 – Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.
1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
2001 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
2002 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
2002 – An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
2004 – The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.
2016 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.
2019 – The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.
Births on February 12
AD 41 – Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (d. 55)
528 – Daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, nominal empress regnant of Northern Wei
661 – Princess Ōku of Japan (d. 702)
1074 – Conrad II of Italy (d. 1101)
1218 – Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shōgun (d. 1256)
1322 – John Henry, Margrave of Moravia (d. 1375)
1443 – Giovanni II Bentivoglio, Italian noble (d. 1508)
1480 – Frederick II of Legnica, Duke of Legnica (d. 1547)
1540 – Won Gyun, Korean general and admiral (d. 1597)
1567 – Thomas Campion, English composer, poet, and physician (d. 1620)
1584 – Caspar Barlaeus, Dutch historian, poet, and theologian (d. 1648)
1602 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (d. 1660)
1606 – John Winthrop the Younger, English-American lawyer and politician, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676)
1608 – Daniello Bartoli, Italian Jesuit priest (d. 1685)
1637 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist and zoologist (d. 1680)
1663 – Cotton Mather, English-American minister and author (d. 1728)
1665 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
1704 – Charles Pinot Duclos, French author (d. 1772)
1706 – Johann Joseph Christian, German Baroque sculptor and woodcarver (d. 1777)
1728 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (d. 1799)
1753 – François-Paul Brueys d’Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798)
1761 – Jan Ladislav Dussek, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1812)
1768 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
1775 – Louisa Adams, English-American wife of John Quincy Adams, 6th First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
1777 – Bernard Courtois, French chemist and academic (d. 1838)
1777 – Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, German author and poet (d. 1843)
1785 – Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist and chemist (d. 1838)
1787 – Norbert Provencher, Canadian bishop and missionary (d. 1853)
1788 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (d. 1869)
1791 – Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union (d. 1883)
1794 – Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player and composer (d. 1867)
1794 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843-1844) (d. 1850)
1804 – Heinrich Lenz, German-Italian physicist and academic (d. 1865)
1809 – Charles Darwin, English geologist and theorist (d. 1882)
1809 – Abraham Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 16th President of the United States (d. 1865)
1819 – William Wetmore Story, American sculptor, architect, poet and editor
1824 – Dayananda Saraswati, Indian monk and philosopher, founded Arya Samaj (d. 1883)
1828 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (d. 1909)
1837 – Thomas Moran, British-American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School (d. 1926)
1857 – Eugène Atget, French photographer (d. 1927)
1857 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer and coach (d. 1943)
1861 – Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1937)
1866 – Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
1869 – Kiến Phúc, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1884)
1870 – Marie Lloyd, English actress and singer (d. 1922)
1876 – 13th Dalai Lama (d. 1933)
1877 – Louis Renault, French engineer and businessman, co-founded Renault (d. 1944)
1880 – George Preca, Maltese priest and saint (d. 1962)
1880 – John L. Lewis, American miner and union leader (d. 1969)
1881 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina and actress (d. 1931)
1882 – Walter Nash, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1968)
1884 – Max Beckmann, German painter and sculptor (d. 1950)
1884 – Johan Laidoner, Estonian-Russian general (d. 1953)
1884 – Alice Roosevelt Longworth, American author (d. 1980)
1884 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (d. 1957)
1885 – Julius Streicher, German publisher, founded Der Stürmer (d. 1946)
1889 – Bhante Dharmawara, Cambodian monk, lawyer, and judge (d. 1999)
1893 – Omar Bradley, American general (d. 1981)
1895 – Kristian Djurhuus, Faroese lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1984)
1897 – Charles Groves Wright Anderson, South African-Australian colonel and politician (d. 1988)
1897 – Lincoln LaPaz, American astronomer and academic (d. 1985)
1898 – Wallace Ford, English-American actor and singer (d. 1966)
1900 – Roger J. Traynor, American lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of California (d. 1983)
1902 – William Collier, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1903 – Jorge Basadre, Peruvian historian (d. 1980)
1903 – Chick Hafey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1973)
1904 – Ted Mack, American radio and television host (d. 1976)
1907 – Joseph Kearns, American actor (d. 1962)
1908 – Jean Effel, French painter, caricaturist, illustrator and journalist (d. 1982)
1908 – Jacques Herbrand, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1931)
1909 – Zoran Mušič, Slovene painter and illustrator (d. 2005)
1909 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (d. 1945)
1911 – Charles Mathiesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1994)
1912 – R. F. Delderfield, English author and playwright (d. 1972)
1914 – Tex Beneke, American singer, saxophonist, and bandleader (d. 2000)
1914 – Johanna von Caemmerer, German mathematician (d. 1971)
1915 – Lorne Greene, Canadian-American actor (d. 1987)
1915 – Olivia Hooker, African-American sailor (d. 2018)
1916 – Joseph Alioto, American lawyer and politician, 36th Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1998)
1917 – Al Cervi, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
1917 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1918 – Norman Farberow, American psychologist and academic (d. 2015)
1918 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
1919 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (d. 1986)
1920 – Raymond Mhlaba, South African anti-apartheid and ANC activist (d. 2005)
1922 – Hussein Onn, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
1923 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director, producer, and politician (d. 2019)
1925 – Sir Anthony Berry, British Conservative politician (d. 1984)
1925 – Joan Mitchell, American-French painter (d. 1992)
1926 – Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (d. 2014)
1926 – Joe Garagiola, Sr., American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2016)
1926 – Charles Van Doren, American academic (d. 2019)
1928 – Vincent Montana, Jr., American drummer and composer (d. 2013)
1930 – John Doyle, Irish hurler and politician (d. 2010)
1930 – Arlen Specter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
1931 – Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch-American author and translator (d. 2008)
1932 – Axel Jensen, Norwegian author and poet (d. 2003)
1932 – Julian Simon, American economist, author, and academic (d. 1998)
1933 – Costa-Gavras, Greek-French director and producer
1933 – Brian Carlson, Australian rugby league player (d. 1987)
1934 – Annette Crosbie, Scottish actress
1934 – Anne Osborn Krueger, American economist and academic
1934 – Bill Russell, American basketball player and coach
1935 – Gene McDaniels, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1936 – Alan Ebringer, Australian immunologist, professor at King’s College in the University of London
1938 – Judy Blume, Jewish-American author and educator
1939 – Leon Kass, American physician, scientist, and educator
1939 – Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2013)
1941 – Hubert Marcoux, Canadian solo sailor and author (d. 2009)
1941 – Dominguinhos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 2013)
1941 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese mountaineer and explorer (d. 1984)
1942 – Ehud Barak, Israeli general and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Israel
1942 – Pat Dobson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2006)
1945 – Maud Adams, Swedish model and actress
1945 – David D. Friedman, American economist, physicist, and scholar
1946 – Jean Eyeghé Ndong, Gabonese politician, Prime Minister of Gabon
1946 – Ajda Pekkan, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress
1948 – Ray Kurzweil, American computer scientist and engineer
1948 – Nicholas Soames, English politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
1950 – Angelo Branduardi, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Steve Hackett, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1950 – Michael Ironside, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
1952 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2010)
1952 – Michael McDonald, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1953 – Joanna Kerns, American actress and director
1954 – Joseph Jordania, Georgian-Australian musicologist and academic
1954 – Tzimis Panousis, Greek comedian, singer, and author (d. 2018)
1954 – Phil Zimmermann, American cryptographer and programmer
1955 – Bill Laswell, American bass player and producer
1955 – Chet Lemon, American baseball player and coach
1956 – Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
1956 – Ad Melkert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment
1956 – Brian Robertson, Scottish rock guitarist and songwriter
1958 – Outback Jack, Australian-American wrestler
1961 – Jim Harris, Canadian environmentalist and politician
1961 – Michel Martelly, Haitian singer and politician, 56th President of Haiti
1961 – Di Farmer, Queensland Member of Parliament
1964 – Omar Hakim, American drummer, producer, arranger, and composer
1965 – Rubén Amaro, Jr., American baseball player and manager
1965 – Christine Elise, American actress and producer
1965 – David Westlake, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Paul Crook, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1968 – Josh Brolin, American actor
1968 – Chynna Phillips, American singer and actress
1969 – Darren Aronofsky, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Alemayehu Atomsa, Ethiopian educator and politician (d. 2014)
1969 – Steve Backley, English javelin thrower
1969 – Anneli Drecker, Norwegian singer and actress
1969 – Hong Myung-bo, South Korean footballer and manager
1970 – Jim Creeggan, Canadian singer-songwriter and bass player
1970 – Bryan Roy, Dutch footballer and manager
1970 – Judd Winick, American author and illustrator
1971 – Scott Menville, American voice actor, singer, actor and musician
1973 – Gianni Romme, Dutch speed skater
1973 – Tara Strong, Canadian voice actress and singer
1974 – Naseem Hamed, English boxer
1976 – Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Jimmy Conrad, American soccer player and manager
1978 – Paul Anderson, English actor
1978 – Brett Hodgson, Australian rugby league player and coach
1979 – Antonio Chatman, American football player
1979 – Jesse Spencer, Australian actor and violinist
1980 – Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
1980 – Sarah Lancaster, American actress
1980 – Christina Ricci, American actress and producer
1980 – Gucci Mane, American rapper
1981 – Wade McKinnon, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Jonas Hiller, Swiss ice hockey player
1982 – Louis Tsatoumas, Greek long jumper
1982 – Anthony Tuitavake, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Carlton Brewster, American football player and coach
1984 – Brad Keselowski, American race car driver
1984 – Andrei Sidorenkov, Estonian footballer
1984 – Peter Vanderkaay, American swimmer
1988 – DeMarco Murray, American football player
1988 – Nicolás Otamendi, Argentine footballer
1988 – Mike Posner, American singer-songwriter and producer
1990 – Robert Griffin III, American football player
1991 – Patrick Herrmann, German footballer
1994 – Arman Hall, American sprinter
1999 – Maggie Coles-Lyster, Canadian cyclist
2000 – Kim Ji-min, South Korean actress
Deaths on February 12
821 – Benedict of Aniane, French monk and saint (b. 747)
890 – Henjō, Japanese priest and poet (b. 816)
981 – Ælfstan, bishop of Ramsbury
901 – Antony II, patriarch of Constantinople
914 – Li, empress of Yan
941 – Wulfhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury
1247 – Ermesinde, Countess of Luxembourg, ruler (b. 1185)
1266 – Amadeus of the Amidei, Italian saint
1517 – Catherine of Navarre (b. 1468)
1538 – Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter, engraver, and architect (b. 1480)
1554 – Lord Guildford Dudley, English son of Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland (b. 1536; executed)
1554 – Lady Jane Grey, de facto monarch of England and Ireland for nine days (b. 1537; executed)
1571 – Nicholas Throckmorton, English politician and diplomat (b. 1515)
1590 – François Hotman, French lawyer and author (b. 1524)
1600 – Edward Denny, Knight Banneret of Bishop’s Stortford, English soldier, privateer and adventurer (b. 1547)
307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying
871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco
1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador
1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg.
1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
1806 – Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes a British colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in the north American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator.
1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
1912 – The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.
1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ ascends the throne to become the last monarch of Vietnam.
1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
1936 – Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran’s head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria.
1963 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States.
1972 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be “perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time”.
1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three.
2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead.
2016 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
2020 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.
Births on January 8
1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
1462 – Walraven II van Brederode, Dutch nobleman (d. 1531)
1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese daimyō (d. 1623)
1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
1587 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629
1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)
1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (d. 1878)
1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
1843 – Karl Eduard Heusner, German admiral (d. 1891)
1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
1854 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
1860 – Emma Booth, English author (d. 1903)
1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)
1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
1876 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Latvia (d. 1934)
1879 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (d. 1948)
1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
1881 – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
1885 – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1891 – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972) name=”Jöckle1995″>Clemens Jöckle (1995). Encyclopedia of Saints. Alpine Fine Arts Collection. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-88168-226-7.</ref>
1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
1900 – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)
1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician (d. 1988)
1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
1904 – Tampa Red, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1981)
1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer and poet (d. 1988)
1906 – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)
1907 – Keizō Hayashi, Japanese general and civil servant (d. 1991)
1908 – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1909 – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (d. 1995)
1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
1912 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian
1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
1924 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
1926 – Lazzaro Donati, Italian artist (d. 1977)
1926 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington
1928 – Gaston Miron, Canadian poet and author (d. 1996)
1928 – Luther Perkins, American country guitarist (d. 1968)
1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (d. 1991)
1931 – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
1933 – Nolan Miller, American fashion and jewelry designer (d. 2012)
1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist
1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter
1933 – Willie Tasby, American baseball player
1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
1934 – Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (d. 2004)
1935 – Lewis H. Lapham, American publisher, founded Lapham’s Quarterly
1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
1936 – Zdeněk Mácal, Czech-American conductor
1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian opera singer and educator
