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  • April 23 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
    • 599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik’nal and sacking the city.
    • 711 – Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
    • 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
    • 1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
    • 1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
    • 1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George’s Day.
    • 1516 – The Munich Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) takes effect in all of Bavaria.
    • 1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
    • 1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston.
    • 1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
    • 1660 – Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
    • 1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
    • 1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1879 – Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.
    • 1914 – First baseball game at Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park, in Chicago.
    • 1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
    • 1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
    • 1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
    • 1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
    • 1940 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
    • 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
    • 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler’s designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Hitler that the telegram is treasonous.
    • 1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
    • 1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
    • 1951 – Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
    • 1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
    • 1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
    • 1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
    • 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
    • 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
    • 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
    • 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
    • 1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
    • 1999 – NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
    • 2005 – The first ever YouTube video, titled “Me at the zoo”, was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.
    • 2013 – At least 28 people are killed and more than 70 are injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.
    • 2018 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 10 people and injures 16 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
    • 2019 – The 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers.

    Births on April 23

    • 1141 (probable) – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
    • 1185 – Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
    • 1408 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford (d. 1462)
    • 1420 – George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia (d. 1471)
    • 1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
    • 1464 – Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer (d. 1521)
    • 1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
    • 1500 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1565)
    • 1500 – Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer (d. 1576)
    • 1512 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (d. 1580)
    • 1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist (d. 1571)
    • 1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
    • 1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
    • 1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
    • 1661 – Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, merchant and diplomat (d. 1730)
    • 1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer and conductor (d. 1797)
    • 1720 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi and author (d. 1797)
    • 1744 – Princess Charlotte Amalie Wilhelmine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (d. 1770)
    • 1748 – Félix Vicq-d’Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
    • 1791 – James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
    • 1792 – Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
    • 1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar and author (d. 1856)
    • 1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher and academic (d. 1879)
    • 1812 – Frederick Whitaker, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
    • 1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American educator and politician, 7th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 1861)
    • 1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French historian and scholar (d. 1853)
    • 1818 – James Anthony Froude, English historian, novelist, biographer and editor (d. 1894)
    • 1819 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
    • 1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
    • 1856 – Granville Woods, American inventor and engineer (d. 1910)
    • 1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
    • 1858 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
    • 1860 – Justinian Oxenham, Australian public servant (d. 1932)
    • 1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (d. 1936)
    • 1861 – John Peltz, American baseball player and manager (d. 1906)
    • 1865 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (d. 1943)
    • 1867 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
    • 1876 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (d. 1925)
    • 1880 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1942)
    • 1882 – Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
    • 1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
    • 1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
    • 1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
    • 1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director (d. 1982)
    • 1897 – Folke Jansson, American general (d. 1965)
    • 1897 – Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
    • 1898 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
    • 1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
    • 1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult (d. 1982)
    • 1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1959)
    • 1900 – Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director (d. 1996)
    • 1901 – E. B. Ford, English biologist and geneticist (d. 1988)
    • 1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
    • 1903 – Guy Simonds, English-Canadian general (d. 1974)
    • 1904 – Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (d. 1980)
    • 1904 – Louis Muhlstock, Polish-Canadian painter (d. 2001)
    • 1904 – Duncan Renaldo, American actor (d. 1985)
    • 1907 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (d. 1977)
    • 1907 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor, designed the Wotruba Church (d. 1975)
    • 1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
    • 1910 – Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish mathematician (d. 1960)
    • 1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
    • 1911 – Ronald Neame, English-American director, cinematographer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1913 – Diosa Costello, Puerto Rican-American entertainer, producer and club owner (d. 2013)
    • 1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer, academic, and businessman (d. 2000)
    • 1916 – Yiannis Moralis, Greek painter and educator (d. 2009)
    • 1916 – Sinah Estelle Kelley, American chemist (d. 1982)
    • 1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
    • 1917 – Tony Lupien, American baseball player and coach (d. 2004)
    • 1918 – Maurice Druon, French author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963)
    • 1920 – Eric Grant Yarrow, 3rd Baronet, English businessman (d. 2018)
    • 1921 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States (d. 2012)
    • 1921 – Cleto Bellucci, Italian archbishop (d. 2013)
    • 1921 – Janet Blair, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
    • 1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American lieutenant and politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
    • 1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (d. 1993)
    • 1924 – Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout (d. 2019)
    • 1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – J.P. Donleavy, American-Irish novelist and playwright (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician (d. 1990)
    • 1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (d. 2020)
    • 1932 – Halston, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
    • 1932 – Jim Fixx, American runner and author (d. 1984)
    • 1933 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 2011)
    • 1934 – George Canseco, Filipino composer and producer (d. 2004)
    • 1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
    • 1937 – Victoria Glendinning, English author and critic
    • 1937 – David Mills, English cricketer (d. 2013)
    • 1937 – Barry Shepherd, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
    • 1939 – Jorge Fons, Mexican director and screenwriter
    • 1939 – Bill Hagerty, English journalist
    • 1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
    • 1939 – Ray Peterson, American pop singer (d. 2005)
    • 1940 – Michael Copps, American academic and politician
    • 1940 – Dale Houston, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
    • 1940 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
    • 1941 – Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
    • 1941 – Paavo Lipponen, Finnish journalist and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Finland
    • 1941 – Michael Lynne, American film producer, co-founded New Line Cinema
    • 1941 – Ed Stewart, English radio and television host (d. 2016)
    • 1941 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer and engineer (d. 2016)
    • 1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
    • 1943 – Gail Goodrich, American basketball player and coach
    • 1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager
    • 1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
    • 1943 – Hervé Villechaize, French actor (d. 1993)
    • 1944 – Jean-François Stévenin, French actor and director
    • 1946 – Blair Brown, American actress
    • 1946 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2014)
    • 1947 – Robert Burgess, English sociologist and academic
    • 1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (d. 2014)
    • 1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish civil rights leader and politician
    • 1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author and screenwriter
    • 1948 – Serge Thériault, Canadian actor
    • 1949 – Paul Collier, English economist and academic
    • 1949 – David Cross, English violinist
    • 1949 – John Miles, British rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist
    • 1950 – Rowley Leigh, English chef and journalist
    • 1950 – Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Sac and Fox Nation Native American politician
    • 1951 – Martin Bayerle, American treasure hunter
    • 1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
    • 1953 – James Russo, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1954 – Stephen Dalton, English air marshal
    • 1954 – Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist
    • 1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
    • 1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
    • 1955 – Urmas Ott, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2008)
    • 1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer, and art director
    • 1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress and comedian (d. 2014)
    • 1958 – Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer and producer
    • 1958 – Ryan Walter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1959 – Unity Dow, Botswanan judge, author, and rights activist
    • 1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
    • 1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist and songwriter (d. 1991)
    • 1960 – Barry Douglas, Irish pianist and conductor
    • 1960 – Léo Jaime, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
    • 1961 – Pierluigi Martini, Italian race car driver
    • 1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor and producer
    • 1962 – Shaun Spiers, English businessman and politician
    • 1963 – Paul Belmondo, French race car driver
    • 1963 – Robby Naish, American windsurfer
    • 1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian pianist and conductor
    • 1965 – Leni Robredo, Filipina human rights lawyer, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
    • 1966 – Jörg Deisinger, German bass player
    • 1966 – Matt Freeman, American bass player
    • 1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (d. 1999)
    • 1967 – Rheal Cormier, Canadian baseball player
    • 1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
    • 1968 – Bas Haring, Dutch philosopher, writer, television presenter and professor.
    • 1968 – Ken McRae, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, Oklahoma City bombing co-perpetrator (d. 2001)
    • 1969 – Martín López-Zubero, American-Spanish swimmer and coach
    • 1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
    • 1970 – Egemen Bağış, Turkish politician, 1st Minister of European Union Affairs
    • 1970 – Dennis Culp, American singer-songwriter and trombonist
    • 1970 – Andrew Gee, Australian rugby league player and manager
    • 1970 – Hans Välimäki, Finnish chef and author
    • 1970 – Tayfur Havutçu, Turkish international footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Uli Herzner, German-American fashion designer
    • 1972 – Pierre Labrie, Canadian poet and playwright
    • 1972 – Peter Dench, English photographer and journalist
    • 1972 – Amira Medunjanin, singer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
    • 1973 – Patrick Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1974 – Carlos Dengler, American bass player
    • 1974 – Michael Kerr, New Zealand-German rugby player
    • 1975 – Bobby Shaw, American football player
    • 1976 – Aaron Dessner, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1977 – John Cena, American professional wrestler and actor
    • 1977 – David Kidwell, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
    • 1977 – Willie Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1977 – John Oliver, English comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1977 – Kal Penn, Indian-American actor
    • 1977 – Bram Schmitz, Dutch cyclist
    • 1977 – Lee Young-pyo, South Korean international footballer
    • 1978 – Gezahegne Abera, Ethiopian runner
    • 1979 – Barry Hawkins, English snooker player
    • 1979 – Jaime King, American actress and model
    • 1979 – Joanna Krupa, Polish-American model and television personality
    • 1979 – Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier
    • 1982 – Tony Sunshine, American singer-songwriter
    • 1983 – Leon Andreasen, Danish international footballer
    • 1983 – Daniela Hantuchová, Slovak tennis player
    • 1983 – Ian Henderson, English rugby league player
    • 1984 – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
    • 1984 – Jesse Lee Soffer, American actor
    • 1985 – Angel Locsin, Filipino actress, producer, and fashion designer
    • 1986 – Sven Kramer, Dutch speed skater
    • 1986 – Alysia Montaño, American runner
    • 1986 – Rafael Fernandes, Brazilian baseball player
    • 1987 – Michael Arroyo, Ecuadorian footballer
    • 1987 – John Boye, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1987 – Emily Fox, American basketball player
    • 1988 – Victor Anichebe, Nigerian footballer
    • 1988 – Alistair Brownlee, English triathlete
    • 1988 – Signe Ronka, Canadian figure skater
    • 1988 – Lenka Wienerová, Slovak tennis player
    • 1989 – Nicole Vaidišová, Czech tennis player
    • 1990 – Rui Fonte, Portuguese footballer, winger
    • 1990 – Dev Patel, English actor
    • 1991 – Nathan Baker, English footballer
    • 1991 – Caleb Johnson, American singer-songwriter
    • 1991 – Paul Vaughan, Australian-Italian rugby league player
    • 1994 – Patrick Olsen, Danish footballer
    • 1994 – Song Kang, South Korean actor
    • 1995 – Gigi Hadid, American fashion model and television personality
    • 1997 – Zach Apple, American swimmer

    Deaths on April 23

    • 303 – Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr (b. 275)
    • 711 – Childebert III, Frankish king (b. 670)
    • 725 – Wihtred of Kent (b. 670)
    • 871 – Æthelred of Wessex (b. 837)
    • 915 – Yang Shihou, Chinese general
    • 944 – Wichmann the Elder, Saxon nobleman
    • 990 – Ekkehard II, Swiss monk and abbot
    • 997 – Adalbert of Prague, Czech bishop, missionary, and saint (b. 956)
    • 1014 – Brian Boru, Irish king (b. 941)
    • 1014 – Domnall mac Eimín, Mormaer of Mar
    • 1016 – Æthelred the Unready, English son of Edgar the Peaceful (b. 968)
    • 1124 – Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078)
    • 1151 – Adeliza of Louvain (b. 1103)
    • 1170 – Minamoto no Tametomo, Japanese samurai (b. 1139)
    • 1196 – Béla III of Hungary (b. c.1148)
    • 1200 – Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (b. 1130)
    • 1217 – Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
    • 1262 – Aegidius of Assisi, companion of Saint Francis of Assisi
    • 1307 – Joan of Acre (b. 1272)
    • 1400 – Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford, English politician and nobleman (b. c. 1338)
    • 1407 – Olivier de Clisson, French soldier (b. 1326)
    • 1501 – Domenico della Rovere, Catholic cardinal (b. 1442)
    • 1554 – Gaspara Stampa, Italian poet (b. 1523)
    • 1605 – Boris Godunov, Russian ruler (b. 1551)
    • 1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet (b. 1564)
    • 1625 – Maurice, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
    • 1695 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet and author (b. 1621)
    • 1702 – Margaret Fell, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (b. 1614)
    • 1781 – James Abercrombie, Scottish general and politician (b. 1706)
    • 1784 – Solomon I of Imereti (b. 1735)
    • 1792 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and author (b. 1741)
    • 1794 – Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French lawyer and politician (b. 1721)
    • 1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (b. 1780)
    • 1839 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French admiral and explorer (b. 1768)
    • 1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet and author (b. 1770)
    • 1889 – Jules Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly, French author and critic (b. 1808)
    • 1895 – Carl Ludwig, German physician and physiologist (b. 1815)
    • 1905 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1823)
    • 1907 – Alferd Packer, American prospector (b. 1842)
    • 1915 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
    • 1936 – Teresa de la Parra, French-Venezuelan author (b. 1889)
    • 1951 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (b. 1883)
    • 1951 – Charles G. Dawes, American banker and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1865)
    • 1959 – Bak Jungyang, Korean politician
    • 1965 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (b. 1891)
    • 1966 – George Ohsawa, Japanese founder of the Macrobiotic diet (b. 1893)
    • 1981 – Josep Pla, Catalan journalist and author (b. 1897)
    • 1983 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (b. 1908)
    • 1984 – Red Garland, American pianist (b. 1923)
    • 1985 – Sam Ervin, American lawyer and politician (b. 1896)
    • 1985 – Frank Farrell, Australian rugby league player and policeman (b. 1916)
    • 1986 – Harold Arlen, American composer (b. 1905)
    • 1986 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1922)
    • 1986 – Otto Preminger, Ukrainian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1906)
    • 1990 – Paulette Goddard, American actress (b. 1910)
    • 1991 – Johnny Thunders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
    • 1992 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
    • 1992 – Tanka Prasad Acharya, Nepalese politician, 27th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
    • 1993 – Cesar Chavez, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers (b. 1927)
    • 1995 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1895)
    • 1995 – Howard Cosell, American lawyer and journalist (b. 1918)
    • 1995 – Riho Lahi, Estonian journalist (b. 1904)
    • 1995 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (b. 1904)
    • 1996 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (b. 1913)
    • 1996 – P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (b. 1899)
    • 1997 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1918)
    • 1998 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek lawyer and politician, 172nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1907)
    • 1998 – James Earl Ray, American assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1928)
    • 1998 – Thanassis Skordalos, Greek singer-songwriter and lyra player (b. 1920)
    • 2003 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer (b. 1910)
    • 2004 – Herman Veenstra, Dutch water polo player (b. 1911)
    • 2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
    • 2005 – Robert Farnon, Canadian-English trumpet player, composer and conductor (b. 1917)
    • 2005 – Al Grassby, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2005 – John Mills, English actor (b. 1908)
    • 2005 – Romano Scarpa, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1927)
    • 2005 – Earl Wilson, American baseball player, coach and educator (b. 1934)
    • 2006 – Phil Walden, American record producer and manager, co-founder of Capricorn Records (b. 1940)
    • 2007 – Paul Erdman, Canadian-American economist and author (b. 1932)
    • 2007 – David Halberstam, American journalist, historian and author (b. 1934)
    • 2007 – Peter Randall, English sergeant (b. 1930)
    • 2007 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (b. 1931)
    • 2010 – Peter Porter, Australian-born British poet (b. 1929)
    • 2011 – James Casey, English comedian, radio scriptwriter and producer (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Tom King, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1943)
    • 2011 – Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, English businessman and politician (b. 1921)
    • 2011 – Max van der Stoel, Dutch politician and Minister of State (b. 1924)
    • 2011 – John Sullivan, English screenwriter and producer (b. 1946)
    • 2012 – Lillemor Arvidsson, Swedish trade union leader and politician, 34th Governor of Gotland (b. 1943)
    • 2012 – Billy Bryans, Canadian drummer, songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
    • 2012 – Chris Ethridge, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1947)
    • 2012 – Raymond Thorsteinsson, Canadian geologist and paleontologist (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – LeRoy T. Walker, American football player and coach (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Bob Brozman, American guitarist (b. 1954)
    • 2013 – Robert W. Edgar, American educator and politician (b. 1943)
    • 2013 – Tony Grealish, English footballer (b. 1956)
    • 2013 – Antonio Maccanico, Italian banker and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Frank W. J. Olver, English-American mathematician and academic (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Kathryn Wasserman Davis, American philanthropist and scholar (b. 1907)
    • 2014 – Benjamín Brea, Spanish-Venezuelan saxophonist, clarinet player, and conductor (b. 1946)
    • 2014 – Michael Glawogger, Austrian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (b. 1959)
    • 2014 – Jaap Havekotte, Dutch speed skater and producer of ice skates (b. 1912)
    • 2014 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (b. 1911)
    • 2014 – F. Michael Rogers, American general (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (b. 1951)
    • 2014 – Patric Standford, English composer and educator (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Richard Corliss, American journalist and critic (b. 1944)
    • 2015 – Ray Jackson, Australian activist (b. 1941)
    • 2015 – Pierre Claude Nolin, Canadian lawyer and politician, Speaker of the Canadian Senate (b. 1950)
    • 2015 – Jim Steffen, American football player (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Francis Tsai, American author and illustrator (b. 1967)
    • 2016 – Inge King, German-born Australian sculptor (b. 1915)
    • 2016 – Banharn Silpa-archa, Thai politician, Prime Minister from 1995–1996 (b. 1932)
    • 2019 – Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick, American soprano singer and presenter (b.1983)

    Holidays and observances on April 23

    • Castile and León Day (Castile and León)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Adalbert of Prague
      • Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus
      • George
      • Blessed Giles of Assisi
      • Gerard of Toul
      • Ibar of Beggerin (Meath)
      • Toyohiko Kagawa (Episcopal and Lutheran Church)
      • April 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which the first day of Children’s Day can fall, while April 29 is the latest; celebrated on the last Saturday of April. (Colombia)
    • Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
    • International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day
    • Khongjom Day (Manipur)
    • National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus)
    • Navy Day (China)
    • St George’s Day (England) and its related observances:
      • Canada Book Day (Canada)
      • La Diada de Sant Jordi (Catalonia, Spain)
      • World Book Day
    • UN English Language Day (United Nations)

  • April 9 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
    • 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite Christological position.
    • 537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.
    • 1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.
    • 1288 – Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.
    • 1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.
    • 1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.
    • 1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
    • 1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.
    • 1511 – St John’s College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.
    • 1585 – The expedition organised by Sir Walter Raleigh departs England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish the Roanoke Colony.
    • 1609 – Eighty Years’ War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.
    • 1609 – Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the “Expulsion of the Moriscos”.
    • 1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
    • 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of the Saintes begins.
    • 1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.
    • 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
    • 1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
    • 1914 – Mexican Revolution: One of the world’s first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico.
    • 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun: German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
    • 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
    • 1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.
    • 1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
    • 1939 – African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
    • 1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
    • 1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends. An Indian Ocean raid by Japan’s 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire.
    • 1945 – Execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, anti-Nazi dissident and spy, by the Nazi regime.
    • 1945 – World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
    • 1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
    • 1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
    • 1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court’s 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
    • 1947 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.
    • 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán’s assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.
    • 1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
    • 1952 – Hugo Ballivián’s government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines
    • 1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.
    • 1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.
    • 1960 – Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg.
    • 1961 – The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.
    • 1965 – Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.
    • 1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.
    • 1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.
    • 1975 – The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association, the second oldest professional basketball league in the world.
    • 1976 – The EMD F40PH diesel locomotive enters revenue service with Amtrak.
    • 1980 – The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
    • 1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
    • 1989 – Tbilisi massacre: an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
    • 1990 – An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.
    • 1990 – Thirteen thousand members of the Dene and Métis tribes sign a land claim agreement for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.
    • 1991 – Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
    • 1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
    • 1999 – Kosovo War: The Battle of Košare begins.
    • 2003 – Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.
    • 2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor’s Guildhall.
    • 2009 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.
    • 2013 – A 6.1–magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people.
    • 2013 – At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča.
    • 2014 – A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.
    • 2017 – The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.
    • 2017 – After refusing to give up his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight, Dr. David Dao Duy Anh is forcibly dragged off the flight by aviation security officers, leading to major criticism of United Airlines.

    Births on April 9

    • 1285 – Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, Emperor Renzong of Yuan (d. 1320)
    • 1458 – Camilla Battista da Varano, Italian saint (d. 1524)
    • 1498 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (d. 1550)
    • 1586 – Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1665)
    • 1597 – John Davenport, English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (d. 1670)
    • 1598 – Johann Crüger, Sorbian-German composer and theorist (d. 1662)
    • 1624 – Henrik Rysensteen, Dutch military engineer (d. 1679)
    • 1627 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (d. 1693)
    • 1634 – Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau (d. 1696)
    • 1648 – Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
    • 1649 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1685)
    • 1654 – Samuel Fritz, Czech Jesuit missionary to South America (d. 1725?)
    • 1680 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright (d. 1754)
    • 1686 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1721)
    • 1691 – Johann Matthias Gesner, German scholar and academic (d. 1761)
    • 1717 – Georg Matthias Monn, Austrian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1750)
    • 1770 – Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist and academic (d. 1831)
    • 1773 – Étienne Aignan, French author and academic (d. 1824)
    • 1794 – Theobald Boehm, German flute player and composer (d. 1881)
    • 1802 – Elias Lönnrot, Finnish physician and philologist (d. 1884)
    • 1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (d. 1859)
    • 1807 – James Bannerman, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1868)
    • 1821 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (d. 1867)
    • 1830 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer and cinematographer (d. 1904)
    • 1835 – Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
    • 1835 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (d. 1913)
    • 1846 – Paolo Tosti, Italian-English composer and educator (d. 1916)
    • 1848 – Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz, Spanish Augustinian Recollect priest and saint (d. 1906)
    • 1865 – Erich Ludendorff, German general and politician (d. 1937)
    • 1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Polish-American mathematician and engineer (d. 1923)
    • 1867 – Chris Watson, Chilean-Australian journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
    • 1867 – Charles Winckler, Danish tug of war competitor, discus thrower, and shot putter (d. 1932)
    • 1872 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1950)
    • 1875 – Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (d. 1912)
    • 1880 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect (d. 1925)
    • 1882 – Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1946)
    • 1882 – Otz Tollen, German actor (d. 1965)
    • 1883 – Frank King, American cartoonist (d. 1969)
    • 1887 – Konrad Tom, Polish actor, writer, singer, and director (d. 1957)
    • 1888 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American talent manager (d. 1974)
    • 1893 – Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (d.1967)
    • 1893 – Victor Gollancz, English publisher, founded Victor Gollancz Ltd (d. 1967)
    • 1893 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian linguist, author, and scholar (d. 1963)
    • 1895 – Mance Lipscomb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
    • 1895 – Michel Simon, Swiss-French actor (d. 1975)
    • 1897 – John B. Gambling, American radio host (d. 1974)
    • 1898 – Curly Lambeau, American football player and coach (d. 1965)
    • 1898 – Paul Robeson, American singer, actor, and activist (d. 1976)
    • 1900 – Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
    • 1901 – Jean Bruchési, Canadian historian and author (d. 1979)
    • 1901 – Paul Willis, American actor and director (d. 1960)
    • 1902 – Théodore Monod, French explorer and scholar (d. 2000)
    • 1903 – Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
    • 1904 – Sharkey Bonano, American singer, trumpet player, and bandleader (d. 1972)
    • 1905 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
    • 1906 – Rafaela Aparicio, Spanish actress (d. 1996)
    • 1906 – Antal Doráti, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1988)
    • 1906 – Hugh Gaitskell, British politician and leader of the Labour Party (d. 1963)
    • 1906 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French painter (d. 1997)
    • 1908 – Joseph Krumgold, American author and screenwriter (d. 1980)
    • 1909 – Robert Helpmann, Australian dancer, actor, and choreographer (d. 1986)
    • 1910 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 1998)
    • 1912 – Lev Kopelev, Ukrainian-German author and academic (d. 1997)
    • 1915 – Daniel Johnson Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
    • 1916 – Julian Dash, American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist (d. 1974)
    • 1916 – Heinz Meyer, German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) during World War II (d. 1987)
    • 1916 – Bill Leonard, American journalist (d. 1994)
    • 1917 – Johannes Bobrowski, German songwriter and poet (d. 1965)
    • 1917 – Ronnie Burgess, Welsh international footballer left-half and manager (d. 2005)
    • 1917 – Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Henry Hewes, American theater writer (d. 2006)
    • 1918 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect, designed the Sydney Opera House (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – J. Presper Eckert, American engineer, invented the ENIAC (d. 1995)
    • 1921 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (d. 2008)
    • 1921 – Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician (d. 2015)
    • 1921 – Frankie Thomas, American actor (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Carl Amery, German author and activist (d. 2005)
    • 1923 – Leonard Levy, American historian and author (d. 2006)
    • 1924 – Arthur Shaw, English professional footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Virginia Gibson, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Art Kane, American photographer (d. 1995)
    • 1926 – Gerry Fitt, Northern Irish soldier and politician; British life peer (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Harris Wofford, American politician, author and civil rights activist (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Tiny Hill, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (d. 2006)
    • 1928 – Tom Lehrer, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and mathematician
    • 1929 – Sharan Rani Backliwal, Indian sarod player and scholar (d. 2008)
    • 1929 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist (d. 1993)
    • 1929 – Paule Marshall, American author and academic (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Nathaniel Branden, Canadian-American psychotherapist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Jim Fowler, American zoologist and television host (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, founded McCain Foods (d. 2011)
    • 1931 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1991)
    • 1932 – Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (d. 2006)
    • 1932 – Peter Moores, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
    • 1932 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
    • 1933 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor and producer
    • 1933 – René Burri, Swiss photographer and journalist (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Fern Michaels, American author
    • 1933 – Richard Rose, American political scientist and academic
    • 1933 – Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor (d. 1994)
    • 1934 – Bill Birch, New Zealand surveyor and politician, 38th New Zealand Minister of Finance
    • 1934 – Tom Phillis, Australian motorcycle racer (d. 1962)
    • 1934 – Mariya Pisareva, Russian high jumper
    • 1935 – Aulis Sallinen, Finnish composer and academic
    • 1935 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
    • 1936 – Jerzy Maksymiuk, Polish pianist, composer, and conductor
    • 1936 – Valerie Solanas, American radical feminist author, attempted murderer (d. 1988)
    • 1937 – Simon Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge
    • 1937 – Marty Krofft, Canadian screenwriter and producer
    • 1937 – Valerie Singleton, English television and radio host
    • 1938 – Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian businessman and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Russia (d. 2010)
    • 1939 – Michael Learned, American actress
    • 1940 – Hans-Joachim Reske, German sprinter
    • 1940 – Jim Roberts, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1941 – Kay Adams, American singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Brandon deWilde, American actor (d. 1972)
    • 1942 – Margo Smith, American singer-songwriter
    • 1943 – Leila Khaled, Palestinian activist
    • 1943 – Terry Knight, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
    • 1944 – Joe Brinkman, American baseball player and umpire
    • 1944 – Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg, German shot putter
    • 1945 – Steve Gadd, American drummer and percussionist[9]
    • 1946 – Nate Colbert, American baseball player[10]
    • 1946 – Alan Knott, English cricketer[11]
    • 1946 – Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician[12]
    • 1946 – David Webb, English footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1947 – Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Italian economist and academic
    • 1948 – Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
    • 1948 – Michel Parizeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1948 – Patty Pravo, Italian singer
    • 1949 – Tony Cragg, English sculptor
    • 1952 – Robert Clark, American author
    • 1952 – Bruce Robertson, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1952 – Tania Tsanaklidou, Greek singer and actress
    • 1953 – John Howard, English singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1953 – Hal Ketchum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1953 – Stephen Paddock, American mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (d. 2017)
    • 1954 – Ken Kalfus, American journalist and author
    • 1954 – Dennis Quaid, American actor
    • 1954 – Iain Duncan Smith, British soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
    • 1955 – Yamina Benguigui, Algerian-French director and politician
    • 1955 – Joolz Denby, English poet and author
    • 1956 – Miguel Ángel Russo, Argentinian footballer and coach
    • 1956 – Nigel Shadbolt, English computer scientist and academic
    • 1956 – Vahur Sova, Estonian architect
    • 1956 – Marina Zoueva, Russian ice dancer and coach
    • 1957 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer and architect (d. 2011)
    • 1957 – Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer
    • 1957 – Jamie Redfern, English-born Australian television presenter, and pop singer
    • 1958 – Tony Sibson, English boxer
    • 1958 – Nigel Slater, English food writer and author
    • 1959 – Bernard Jenkin, English businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1960 – Jaak Aab, Estonian educator and politician, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia
    • 1961 – Mark Kelly, Irish keyboard player
    • 1961 – Kirk McCaskill, Canadian-American baseball and hockey player
    • 1962 – John Eaves, American production designer and illustrator
    • 1962 – Ihor Podolchak, Ukrainian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Imran Sherwani, English field hockey player
    • 1962 – Jeff Turner, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Marc Jacobs, American-French fashion designer
    • 1963 – Joe Scarborough, American journalist, lawyer, and politician
    • 1964 – Rob Awalt, German-American football player
    • 1964 – Juliet Cuthbert, Jamaican sprinter
    • 1964 – Peter Penashue, Canadian businessman and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
    • 1964 – Margaret Peterson Haddix, American author
    • 1964 – Rick Tocchet, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1965 – Helen Alfredsson, Swedish golfer
    • 1965 – Paulina Porizkova, Czech-born Swedish-American model and actress
    • 1965 – Jeff Zucker, American businessman
    • 1966 – John Hammond, English weather forecaster
    • 1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress
    • 1967 – Natascha Engel, German-English translator and politician
    • 1967 – Sam Harris, American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
    • 1968 – Jay Chandrasekhar, American actor, comedian, writer and director
    • 1969 – Barnaby Kay, English actor
    • 1969 – Linda Kisabaka, German runner
    • 1970 – Chorão, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1971 – Peter Canavan, Irish footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Leo Fortune-West, English footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Austin Peck, American actor
    • 1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
    • 1972 – Bernard Ackah, German-Japanese martial artist and kick-boxer
    • 1972 – Siiri Vallner, Estonian architect
    • 1974 – Megan Connolly, Australian actress (d. 2001)
    • 1974 – Jenna Jameson, American actress and pornographic performer
    • 1975 – Robbie Fowler, English footballer and manager
    • 1975 – David Gordon Green, American director and screenwriter
    • 1976 – Kyle Peterson, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Gerard Way, American singer-songwriter and comic book writer
    • 1978 – Kousei Amano, Japanese actor
    • 1978 – Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
    • 1978 – Rachel Stevens, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
    • 1979 – Jeff Reed, American football player
    • 1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
    • 1980 – Sarah Ayton, English sailor
    • 1980 – Luciano Galletti, Argentinian footballer
    • 1980 – Albert Hammond Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1981 – Milan Bartovič, Slovak ice hockey player
    • 1981 – A. J. Ellis, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
    • 1981 – Dennis Sarfate, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Eric Harris, American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
    • 1982 – Jay Baruchel, Canadian actor
    • 1982 – Carlos Hernández, Costa Rican footballer
    • 1982 – Kathleen Munroe, Canadian-American actress
    • 1983 – Ryan Clark, Australian actor
    • 1984 – Habiba Ghribi, Tunisian runner[13]
    • 1984 – Adam Loewen, Canadian baseball player
    • 1984 – Óscar Razo, Mexican footballer
    • 1985 – Antonio Nocerino, Italian footballer
    • 1985 – David Robertson, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Mike Hart, American football player
    • 1986 – Leighton Meester, American actress
    • 1987 – Kassim Abdallah, French-Comorian footballer
    • 1987 – Graham Gano, American football player
    • 1987 – Craig Mabbitt, American singer
    • 1987 – Jesse McCartney, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1987 – Jarrod Mullen, Australian rugby league player
    • 1987 – Jazmine Sullivan, American singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Michel Alves Baroni, Brazilian footballer
    • 1988 – Jeremy Metcalfe, English racing driver
    • 1989 – Danielle Kahle, American figure skater
    • 1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
    • 1990 – Ryan Williams, American football player
    • 1991 – Ryan Kelly, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Mary Killman, American synchronized swimmer
    • 1992 – Joshua Ledet, American singer
    • 1994 – Joey Pollari, American actor
    • 1995 – Domagoj Bošnjak, Croatian basketball player
    • 1995 – Robert Bauer, German-Kazakhstani footballer
    • 1996 – Jayden Brailey, Australian rugby league player[14]
    • 1996 – Giovani Lo Celso, Argentinian international footballer, midfielder[15]
    • 1998 – Elle Fanning, American actress[16]
    • 1999 – Montero Lamar Hill, American rapper[17]
    • 2000 – Jackie Evancho, American singer[18]

    Deaths on April 9

    • 585 BC – Jimmu, emperor of Japan (b. 711 BC)
    • AD 93 – Yuan An, Chinese scholar and politician
    • 436 – Tan Daoji, Chinese general and politician
    • 491 – Zeno, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 425)
    • 682 – Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari, Egyptian politician, Governor of Egypt (b. 616)
    • 715 – Constantine, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 664)
    • 1024 – Benedict VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 980)
    • 1137 – William X, duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
    • 1241 – Henry II, High Duke of Poland (b. 1196)
    • 1283 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (b. 1261)
    • 1327 – Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, Scottish nobleman (ca. 1296)
    • 1483 – Edward IV, king of England (b. 1442)
    • 1484 – Edward of Middleheim, prince of Wales (b. 1473)
    • 1550 – Alqas Mirza, Safavid prince (b. 1516)[19]
    • 1553 – François Rabelais, French monk and scholar (b. 1494)
    • 1557 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish priest and scholar (b. 1510)
    • 1626 – Francis Bacon, English jurist and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1561)
    • 1654 – Matei Basarab, Romanian prince (b. 1588)
    • 1693 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (b. 1618)
    • 1747 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1667)
    • 1754 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher and academic (b. 1679)
    • 1761 – William Law, English priest and theologian (b. 1686)
    • 1768 – Sarah Fielding, English author (b. 1710)
    • 1804 – Jacques Necker, Swiss-French politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (b. 1732)
    • 1806 – William V, stadtholder of the Dutch Republic (b. 1748)
    • 1872 – Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
    • 1876 – Charles Goodyear, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1804)
    • 1882 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (b. 1828)
    • 1889 – Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist and academic (b. 1786)
    • 1909 – Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (b. 1840)
    • 1915 – Raymond Whittindale, English rugby player (b. 1883)
    • 1917 – James Hope Moulton, English philologist and scholar (b. 1863)
    • 1922 – Hans Fruhstorfer, German entomologist and explorer (b. 1866)
    • 1926 – Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
    • 1936 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1855)
    • 1940 – Mrs Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
    • 1944 – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Ukrainian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1920)
    • 1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (b. 1906)
    • 1945 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (b. 1887)
    • 1945 – Johann Georg Elser, German carpenter (b. 1903)
    • 1945 – Hans Oster, German general (b. 1887)
    • 1945 – Karl Sack, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1896)
    • 1945 – Hans von Dohnányi, Austrian-German lawyer and jurist (b. 1902)
    • 1948 – George Carpenter, Australian 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
    • 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Colombian Minister of National Education (b. 1903)
    • 1951 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (b. 1862)
    • 1953 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (b. 1877)
    • 1953 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and television host (b. 1891)
    • 1953 – Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1891)
    • 1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (b. 1867)
    • 1961 – Zog I of Albania (b. 1895)
    • 1963 – Eddie Edwards, American trombonist (b. 1891)
    • 1963 – Xul Solar, Argentinian painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
    • 1970 – Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator and animator (b. 1896)
    • 1976 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1903)
    • 1976 – Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
    • 1976 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (b. 1891)
    • 1978 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed Portmeirion (b. 1883)
    • 1980 – Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and philosopher (b. 1935)
    • 1982 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1896)
    • 1988 – Brook Benton, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
    • 1988 – Hans Berndt, German footballer (b. 1913)
    • 1988 – Dave Prater, American singer (b. 1937)
    • 1991 – Forrest Towns, American hurdler and coach (b. 1914)
    • 1993 – Joseph B. Soloveitchik, American rabbi and philosopher (b. 1903)
    • 1996 – Richard Condon, American author and publicist (b. 1915)
    • 1997 – Mae Boren Axton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
    • 1997 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (b. 1916)
    • 1998 – Tom Cora, American cellist and composer (b. 1953)
    • 1999 – Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Nigerien general and politician, President of Niger (b. 1949)
    • 2001 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2002 – Pat Flaherty, American race car driver (b. 1926)
    • 2002 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian soldier, mathematician, and academic (b. 1891)
    • 2003 – Jerry Bittle, American cartoonist (b. 1949)
    • 2006 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player, coach, manager (b. 1916)
    • 2006 – Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2007 – Egon Bondy, Czech philosopher and poet (b. 1930)
    • 2007 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (b. 1907)
    • 2009 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (b. 1986)
    • 2010 – Zoltán Varga, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1945)
    • 2011 – Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri, Bahraini journalist (b. 1971)
    • 2011 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Malcolm Thomas, Welsh rugby player and cricketer (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – David Hayes, American sculptor and painter (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Greg McCrary, American football player (b. 1952)
    • 2013 – Mordechai Mishani, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – McCandlish Phillips, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-American architect, designed the Cosanti (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Gil Askey, American trumpet player, composer, and producer (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Chris Banks, American football player (b. 1973)
    • 2014 – Rory Ellinger, American lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Norman Girvan, Jamaican economist, academic, and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Aelay Narendra, Indian politician (b. 1946)
    • 2014 – A. N. R. Robinson, Trinbagonian politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Svetlana Velmar-Janković, Serbian author (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Paul Almond, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Margaret Rule, British marine archaeologist (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Nina Companeez, French director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
    • 2015 – Alexander Dalgarno, English physicist and academic (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Ivan Doig, American journalist and author (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Tsien Tsuen-hsuin, Chinese-American academic (b. 1909)
    • 2016 – Duane Clarridge, American spy (b. 1932)
    • 2016 – Will Smith, American football player (b. 1981)
    • 2017 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, writer, and satirist (b. 1948)

    Holidays and observances on April 9

    • Christian feast day:
      • Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Anglicanism, Lutheranism)
      • Gaucherius
      • Materiana
      • Waltrude
      • April 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Anniversary of the German Invasion of Denmark (Denmark)
    • Baghdad Liberation Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
    • Bataan Day or Araw ng Kagitingan (Philippines)
    • Constitution Day (Kosovo)
    • Day of National Unity (Georgia)
    • Day of the Finnish Language (Finland)
    • Feast of the Second Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
    • Martyr’s Day (Tunisia)
    • National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day (United States)
    • Remembrance for Haakon Sigurdsson (The Troth)
    • Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)

  • February 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
    • 1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
    • 1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.
    • 1661 – Maratha forces under Chattrapati Shivaji defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Umberkhind.
    • 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
    • 1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
    • 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
    • 1783 – Spain–United States relations are first established.
    • 1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
    • 1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.
    • 1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
    • 1813 – José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.
    • 1830 – The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.
    • 1834 – Wake Forest University is established (as Wake Forest Institute) in North Carolina, United States.
    • 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
    • 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
    • 1916 – The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of 7 lives.
    • 1917 – First World War: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
    • 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
    • 1930 – Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a “Unification Conference” held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.
    • 1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.
    • 1933 – Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.
    • 1943 – The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.
    • 1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
    • 1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
    • 1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
    • 1953 – The Batepá massacre occurred in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.
    • 1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
    • 1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
    • 1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of “a wind of change”, signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
    • 1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC’s command post.
    • 1966 – The Soviet Union’s Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
    • 1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
    • 1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
    • 1984 – John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
    • 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
    • 1989 – After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
    • 1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
    • 1994 – Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
    • 1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
    • 1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
    • 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
    • 2014 – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.

    Births on February 3

    • 1338 – Joanna of Bourbon (d. 1378)
    • 1392 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English nobleman and military commander (d. 1455)
    • 1428 – Helena Palaiologina, Queen of Cyprus (d. 1458)
    • 1478 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521)
    • 1504 – Scipione Rebiba, Italian cardinal (d. 1577)
    • 1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect, designed the Karlova Koruna Chateau (d. 1723)
    • 1689 – Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (d. 1741)
    • 1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (d. 1755)
    • 1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
    • 1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1809)
    • 1747 – Samuel Osgood, American soldier and politician, 1st United States Postmaster General (d. 1813)
    • 1757 – Joseph Forlenze, Italian ophthalmologist and surgeon (d. 1833)
    • 1763 – Caroline von Wolzogen, German author (d. 1847)
    • 1777 – John Cheyne, Scottish physician and author (d. 1836)
    • 1790 – Gideon Mantell, English scientist (d. 1852)
    • 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (d. 1830)
    • 1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, American general and politician (d. 1891)
    • 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1847)
    • 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist and politician (d. 1872)
    • 1816 – Ram Singh Kuka, Indian credited with starting the Non-cooperation movement
    • 1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (d. 1881)
    • 1817 – Émile Prudent, French pianist and composer (d. 1863)
    • 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician and educator (d. 1910)
    • 1824 – Ranald MacDonald, American explorer and educator (d. 1894)
    • 1826 – Walter Bagehot, English journalist and businessman (d. 1877)
    • 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
    • 1842 – Sidney Lanier, American composer and poet (d. 1881)
    • 1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-Canadian businessman (d. 1915)
    • 1857 – Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor, designed the Vulcan statue (d. 1935)
    • 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (d. 1935)
    • 1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge (d. 1946)
    • 1867 – Charles Henry Turner, American biologist, educator and zoologist (d. 1923)
    • 1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, (d. 1946)
    • 1878 – Gordon Coates, New Zealand soldier and politician, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1943)
    • 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian pharmacist and poet (d. 1914)
    • 1889 – Artur Adson, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1977)
    • 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (d. 1968)
    • 1892 – Juan Negrín, Spanish physician and politician, 67th Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1956)
    • 1893 – Gaston Julia, Algerian-French mathematician and academic (d. 1978)
    • 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (d. 1978)
    • 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect, designed the Finlandia Hall and Aalto Theatre (d. 1976)
    • 1899 – Café Filho, Brazilian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th President of Brazil (d. 1970)
    • 1900 – Mabel Mercer, English-American singer (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 1973)
    • 1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
    • 1905 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1990)
    • 1905 – Arne Beurling, Swedish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – George Adamson, Indian-English author and activist (d. 1989)
    • 1907 – James A. Michener, American author and philanthropist (d. 1997)
    • 1909 – André Cayatte, French lawyer and director (d. 1989)
    • 1909 – Simone Weil, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1943)
    • 1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)
    • 1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – Mary Carlisle, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler and hammer thrower (d. 1998)
    • 1917 – Shlomo Goren, Polish-Israeli rabbi and general (d. 1994)
    • 1918 – Joey Bishop, American actor and producer (d. 2007)
    • 1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner, baseball player, and manager (d. 1994)
    • 1920 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian race car driver and pilot (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician and author (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – E. P. Thompson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
    • 1924 – Martial Asselin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Shelley Berman, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – John Fiedler, American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German soldier and politician, 8th Mayor of Berlin
    • 1927 – Kenneth Anger, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino journalist and politician, 21st President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2003)
    • 1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American lawyer and politician
    • 1934 – Juan Carlos Calabró, Argentinian actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson, American blues, soul, and funk singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
    • 1936 – Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (d. 1984)
    • 1936 – Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1937 – Billy Meier, Swiss author and photographer
    • 1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
    • 1938 – Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American wrestler and trainer
    • 1941 – Howard Phillips, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
    • 1943 – Dennis Edwards, American soul/R&B singer (d. 2018)
    • 1943 – Eric Haydock, English bass player (d. 2019)
    • 1943 – Shawn Phillips, American-South African singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1945 – Johnny Cymbal, Scottish-American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1993)
    • 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1947 – Paul Auster, American novelist, essayist, and poet
    • 1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor and director
    • 1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author and playwright (d. 2015)
    • 1949 – Jim Thorpe, American golfer
    • 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
    • 1950 – Grant Goldman, Australian radio and television host (d. 2020)
    • 1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian footballer and manager
    • 1951 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1956 – John Jefferson, American football player and coach
    • 1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor and comedian
    • 1957 – Eric Lander, American mathematician, geneticist, and academic
    • 1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American commander, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1958 – Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American economist
    • 1958 – Greg Mankiw, American economist and academic
    • 1959 – Óscar Iván Zuluaga, Colombian economist and politician, 67th Colombian Minister of Finance
    • 1960 – Tim Chandler, American bass player (d. 2018)
    • 1960 – Marty Jannetty, American wrestler and trainer
    • 1960 – Joachim Löw, German footballer and manager
    • 1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1993)
    • 1961 – Linda Eder, American singer and actress
    • 1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist and academic
    • 1964 – Indrek Tarand, Estonian historian, journalist, and politician
    • 1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress and producer
    • 1966 – Frank Coraci, American director and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Danny Morrison, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1967 – Tim Flowers, English footballer and coach
    • 1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
    • 1968 – Vlade Divac, Serbian-American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1968 – Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer, songwriter, and composer
    • 1969 – Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (d. 2015)
    • 1969 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
    • 1970 – Óscar Córdoba, Colombian footballer
    • 1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor
    • 1972 – Jesper Kyd, Danish pianist and composer
    • 1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist and producer
    • 1976 – Isla Fisher, Omani-Australian actress
    • 1977 – Daddy Yankee, American-Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
    • 1977 – Marek Židlický, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
    • 1979 – Paul Franks, English cricketer and coach
    • 1982 – Becky Bayless, American wrestler
    • 1982 – Marie-Ève Drolet, Canadian speed skater
    • 1984 – Elizabeth Holmes, American fraudster, founder of Theranos
    • 1985 – Angela Fong, Canadian wrestler and actress
    • 1985 – Andrei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Lucas Duda, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Mathieu Giroux, Canadian speed skater
    • 1986 – Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress
    • 1988 – Cho Kyuhyun, South Korean singer
    • 1989 – Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer
    • 1990 – Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter
    • 1990 – Martin Taupau, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1991 – Corey Norman, Australian rugby league player
    • 1992 – Olli Aitola, Finnish ice hockey player

    Deaths on February 3

    • AD 6 – Ping, emperor of the Han Dynasty (b. 9 BC)
    • 456 – Sihyaj Chan K’awiil II, ruler of Tikal
    • 639 – K’inich Yo’nal Ahk I, ruler of Piedras Negras
    • 699 – Werburgh, English nun and saint
    • 865 – Ansgar, Frankish archbishop (b. 801)
    • 929 – Guy, margrave of Tuscany
    • 938 – Zhou Ben, Chinese general (b. 862)
    • 994 – William IV, duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
    • 1014 – Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and England (b. 960)
    • 1116 – Coloman, king of Hungary
    • 1161 – Inge I, king of Norway (b. 1135)
    • 1252 – Sviatoslav III, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1196)
    • 1399 – John of Gaunt, Belgian-English politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1340)
    • 1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shōgun (b. 1386)
    • 1451 – Murad II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1404)
    • 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)
    • 1537 – Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (b. 1513)
    • 1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian and author (b. 1513)
    • 1618 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania (b. 1573)
    • 1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1564)
    • 1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1648)
    • 1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Spanish statesman and economist (b. 1723)
    • 1813 – Juan Bautista Cabral, Argentinian sergeant (b. 1789)
    • 1820 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1762)
    • 1832 – George Crabbe, English surgeon and poet (b. 1754)
    • 1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (b. 1774)
    • 1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet, author, and historian (b. 1809)
    • 1873 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynecologist and surgeon (b. 1811)
    • 1922 – John Butler Yeats, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1839)
    • 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
    • 1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1878)
    • 1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (b. 1859)
    • 1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1865)
    • 1945 – Roland Freisler, German lawyer and judge (b. 1893)
    • 1947 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (b. 1887)
    • 1952 – Harold L. Ickes, American journalist and politician, 32nd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)
    • 1955 – Vasily Blokhin, Russian general (b. 1895)
    • 1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and academic (b. 1871)
    • 1956 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (b. 1916)
    • 1959 – The Day the Music Died
      • The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
      • Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
      • Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
    • 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
    • 1961 – William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Scottish-Australian captain and politician, 14th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
    • 1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
    • 1963 – Benjamin R. Jacobs (b. 1879)
    • 1967 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
    • 1969 – C. N. Annadurai, Indian journalist and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
    • 1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambican activist and academic (b. 1920)
    • 1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and engineer (b. 1873)
    • 1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1904)
    • 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
    • 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
    • 1989 – Lionel Newman, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1916)
    • 1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
    • 1993 – Françoys Bernier, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1927)
    • 1996 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (b. 1922)
    • 1999 – Gwen Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1950)
    • 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian biologist and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
    • 2005 – Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist and ornithologist (b. 1904)
    • 2006 – Al Lewis, American actor and activist (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Sheng-yen, Chinese monk and scholar, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain (b. 1930)
    • 2010 – Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Frances Reid, American actress (b. 1914)
    • 2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – Toh Chin Chye, Singaporean academic and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor and director (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Terence Hildner, American general (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Raj Kanwar, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1961)
    • 2012 – Zalman King, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – Andrzej Szczeklik, Polish physician and academic (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Cardiss Collins, American politician (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – James Muri, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (b. 1954)
    • 2015 – Martin Gilbert, English historian, author, and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Charlie Sifford, American golfer (b. 1922)
    • 2015 – Nasim Hasan Shah, Pakistani lawyer and judge, 12th Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1929)
    • 2016 – Balram Jakhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh (b. 1923)
    • 2016 – József Kasza, Serbian politician and economist (b. 1945)
    • 2016 – Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor (b. 1928)
    • 2017 – Dritëro Agolli, Albanian poet, writer and politician (b. 1931)
    • 2019 – Julie Adams, American actress (b. 1926)
    • 2019 – Kristoff St. John, American actor (b. 1966)
    • 2020 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (b. 1929)

    Holidays and observances on February 3

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
      • Ansgar
      • Berlinda of Meerbeke
      • Blaise
      • Celsa and Nona
      • Claudine Thévenet
      • Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
      • Hadelin
      • Margaret of England
      • Werburgh
      • February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
    • Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
    • Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
    • Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
    • Heroes’ Day (Mozambique)
    • Martyrs’ Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
    • Setsubun (Japan)
    • Veterans’ Day (Thailand)

  • January 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to make sacrifices to the Roman gods.
    • 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
    • 1653 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.
    • 1749 – Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
    • 1749 – The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark’s oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.
    • 1777 – American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
    • 1815 – Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.
    • 1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
    • 1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of Liberia.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
    • 1868 – Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.
    • 1870 – Construction work begins on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, United States.
    • 1871 – In the Battle of Bapaume, an engagement in the Franco-Prussian War, General Louis Faidherbe’s forces bring about a Prussian retreat.
    • 1885 – Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop
    • 1911 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.
    • 1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
    • 1913 – An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.
    • 1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
    • 1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
    • 1938 – The March of Dimes is established as a foundation to combat infant polio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
    • 1944 – World War II: Top Ace Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
    • 1945 – World War II: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima and Okinawa in Japan.
    • 1946 – Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf dies in a freak accident during a race; the annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.
    • 1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
    • 1949 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.
    • 1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
    • 1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
    • 1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
    • 1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
    • 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
    • 1961 – Cold War: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba over the latter’s nationalization of American assets.
    • 1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
    • 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
    • 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
    • 1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.
    • 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
    • 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
    • 1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
    • 1994 – More than seven million people from the former apartheid Homelands receive South African citizenship.
    • 1994 – Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.
    • 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.
    • 2000 – Final daily edition of the Peanuts comic strip.
    • 2002 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
    • 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.
    • 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, was established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
    • 2015 – Boko Haram militants raze the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.
    • 2016 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
    • 2019 – Chang’e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.
    • 2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.

    Births on January 3

    • 106 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (d. 43 BC)
    • 169 – Lü Bu, Chinese general and warlord (d. 199)
    • 1196 – Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1231)
    • 1509 – Gian Girolamo Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1591)
    • 1611 – James Harrington, English political theorist (d. 1677)
    • 1698 – Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter (d. 1782)
    • 1710 – Richard Gridley, American soldier and engineer (d. 1796)
    • 1722 – Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer (d. 1752)
    • 1731 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (d. 1792)
    • 1760 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
    • 1775 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont (d. 1863)
    • 1778 – Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish archbishop (d. 1861)
    • 1793 – Lucretia Mott, American activist (d. 1880)
    • 1802 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (d. 1898)
    • 1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (d. 1857)
    • 1806 – Henriette Sontag, German soprano and actress (d. 1854)
    • 1810 – Antoine Thomson d’Abbadie, French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (d. 1897)
    • 1816 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician (d. 1891)
    • 1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, Italian-Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 1900)
    • 1821 – Karel Dežman, Slovenian archaeologist, botanist, and politician, Mayor of Ljubljana (d. 1889)
    • 1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist (d. 1897)
    • 1836 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and rebel leader (d. 1867)
    • 1840 – Father Damien, Flemish priest and missionary (d. 1889)
    • 1847 – Ettore Marchiafava, Italian physician (d. 1935)
    • 1853 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer (d. 1921)
    • 1855 – Hubert Bland, English businessman (d. 1914)
    • 1861 – Ernest Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1899)
    • 1861 – William Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1904)
    • 1862 – Matthew Nathan, English soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Queensland (d. 1939)
    • 1865 – Henry Lytton, English actor (d. 1936)
    • 1870 – Henry Handel Richardson, Australian-English author (d. 1946)
    • 1873 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman and art collector, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (d. 1957)
    • 1875 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician, 145th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1950)
    • 1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (d. 1960)
    • 1877 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957)
    • 1880 – Francis Browne, Irish Jesuit priest and photographer (d. 1960)
    • 1883 – Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967)
    • 1883 – Duncan Gillis, Canadian discus thrower and hammer thrower (d. 1963)
    • 1884 – Raoul Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1948)
    • 1885 – Harry Elkins Widener, American businessman (d. 1912)
    • 1886 – John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author (d. 1950)
    • 1886 – Arthur Mailey, Australian cricketer (d. 1967)
    • 1887 – August Macke, German-French painter (d. 1914)
    • 1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (d. 1973)
    • 1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)
    • 1897 – Marion Davies, American actress and comedian (d. 1961)
    • 1898 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (d. 1990)
    • 1898 – Carlos Keller, Chilean historian, academic, and politician (d. 1974)
    • 1900 – Donald J. Russell, American businessman (d. 1985)
    • 1901 – Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1963)
    • 1905 – Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)
    • 1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 1986)
    • 1909 – Victor Borge, Danish-American pianist and conductor (d. 2000)
    • 1910 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (d. 2000)
    • 1911 – John Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – Federico Borrell García, Spanish soldier (d. 1936)
    • 1912 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2002)
    • 1912 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
    • 1915 – Jack Levine, American painter and soldier (d. 2010)
    • 1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and television journalist (d. 1994)
    • 1916 – Fred Haas, American golfer (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Vernon A. Walters, American general and diplomat, 17th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American journalist and publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer (d. 1963)
    • 1920 – Siegfried Buback, German lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Germany (d. 1977)
    • 1920 – Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2001)
    • 1921 – Chetan Anand, Indian director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
    • 1921 – Isabella Bashmakova, Russian historian of mathematics (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
    • 1923 – Hank Stram, American football coach and sportscaster (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Otto Beisheim, German businessman and philanthropist, founded Metro AG (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1997)
    • 1924 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and educator (d. 2005)
    • 1925 – Jill Balcon, English actress (d. 2009)
    • 1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury
    • 1926 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1929 – Ernst Mahle, German-Brazilian composer and conductor
    • 1929 – Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation
    • 1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor
    • 1932 – Eeles Landström, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
    • 1933 – Geoffrey Bindman, English lawyer
    • 1933 – Anne Stevenson, American-English poet and author
    • 1934 – Marpessa Dawn, American-French actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2008)
    • 1934 – Carla Anderson Hills, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
    • 1935 – Raymond Garneau, Canadian businessman and politician
    • 1937 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica (d. 2014)
    • 1938 – Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, English academic and politician
    • 1938 – K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (d. 2006)
    • 1939 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1940 – Leo de Berardinis, Italian actor and director (d. 2008)
    • 1940 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2007)
    • 1941 – Malcolm Dick, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer and activist (d. 2006)
    • 1942 – John Thaw, English actor and producer, played Inspector Morse (d. 2002)
    • 1943 – Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor
    • 1944 – Blanche d’Alpuget, Australian author
    • 1945 – Stephen Stills, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1946 – John Paul Jones, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1946 – Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2002)
    • 1947 – Fran Cotton, English rugby player
    • 1947 – Zulema, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1948 – Ian Nankervis, Australian footballer
    • 1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress and businesswoman
    • 1950 – Linda Steiner, American journalist and academic
    • 1950 – Vesna Vulović, Serbian plane crash survivor and Guinness World Record holder
    • 1951 – Linda Dobbs, English lawyer and judge
    • 1951 – Gary Nairn, Australian surveyor and politician, 14th Special Minister of State
    • 1952 – Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish civil servant and politician, 3rd President of the Community of Madrid
    • 1952 – Gianfranco Fini, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1952 – Jim Ross, American professional wrestling commentator
    • 1953 – Justin Fleming, Australian playwright and author
    • 1953 – Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Maldivian educator and politician, 5th President of the Maldives
    • 1953 – Peter Taylor, English football winger and manager
    • 1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1958 – Shim Hyung-rae, South Korean actor, director, and producer
    • 1960 – Russell Spence, English racing driver
    • 1962 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (d. 2017)
    • 1962 – Gavin Hastings, Scottish rugby player
    • 1963 – Stewart Hosie, Scottish businessman and politician
    • 1963 – Aamer Malik, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1963 – Alex Wheatle, English author and playwright
    • 1964 – Bruce LaBruce, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Cheryl Miller, American basketball player and coach
    • 1966 – Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
    • 1969 – Michael Caines, English chef
    • 1969 – Lorenzo Fertitta, American entrepreneur, casino executive and sports promoter
    • 1969 – Jarmo Lehtinen, Finnish racing driver
    • 1969 – Michael Schumacher, German racing driver
    • 1969 – Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian luger and bobsledder
    • 1971 – Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1971 – Lee Il-hwa, South Korean actress
    • 1973 – Dan Harmon, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1974 – Robert-Jan Derksen, Dutch golfer
    • 1974 – Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
    • 1975 – Jason Marsden, American actor
    • 1975 – Thomas Bangalter, French DJ, musician (Daft Punk), and producer
    • 1975 – Danica McKellar, American actress, writer, and mathematician
    • 1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
    • 1976 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor and producer
    • 1977 – Lee Bowyer, English footballer and coach
    • 1977 – A. J. Burnett, American baseball player
    • 1977 – Mayumi Iizuka, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1978 – Dimitra Kalentzou, Greek basketball player
    • 1978 – Dominic Wood, English comedian and former magician
    • 1980 – Bryan Clay, American decathlete
    • 1980 – Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player
    • 1980 – David Tyree, American football player
    • 1980 – Kurt Vile, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1980 – Mary Wineberg, American sprinter
    • 1981 – Eli Manning, American football playe
    • 1982 – Peter Clarke, English footballer
    • 1982 – Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
    • 1982 – Park Ji-yoon, South Korean singer and actress
    • 1984 – Billy Mehmet, English-Irish footballer
    • 1985 – Linas Kleiza, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1985 – Evan Moore, American football player
    • 1986 – Dana Hussain, Iraqi sprinter
    • 1986 – Greg Nwokolo, Indonesian footballer
    • 1986 – Dmitry Starodubtsev, Russian pole vaulter
    • 1987 – Reto Berra, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
    • 1987 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and singer
    • 1988 – Ikechi Anya, Scottish-Nigerian footballer
    • 1988 – Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – J. R. Hildebrand, American racing driver
    • 1989 – Ben Matulino, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1989 – Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese artistic gymnast
    • 1990 – Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer
    • 1991 – Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer
    • 1991 – Özgür Çek, Turkish footballer
    • 1991 – Sébastien Faure, French footballer
    • 1991 – Dane Gagai, Australian rugby league player
    • 1994 – Isaquias Queiroz, Brazilian sprint canoeist
    • 1997 – Kyron McMaster, British Virgin Islands hurdler
    • 2003 – Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist

    Deaths on January 3

    • 236 – Anterus, the pope of the Catholic Church
    • 323 – Yuan of Yin, Chinese emperor (b. 276)
    • 1027 – Fujiwara no Yukinari, Japanese calligrapher (b. 972)
    • 1028 – Fujiwara no Michinaga, Japanese nobleman (b. 966)
    • 1098 – Walkelin, Norman bishop of Winchester
    • 1322 – Philip V, king of France (b. 1292)
    • 1437 – Catherine of Valois, queen consort of Henry V (b. 1401)
    • 1501 – Ali-Shir Nava’i, Turkic poet, linguist, and mystic (b. 1441)
    • 1543 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer and navigator (b. 1499)
    • 1571 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1505)
    • 1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer and mathematician (b. 1618)
    • 1656 – Mathieu Molé, French politician (b. 1584)
    • 1670 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1608)
    • 1701 – Louis I, prince of Monaco (b. 1642)
    • 1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1634)
    • 1743 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian painter and architect (b. 1657)
    • 1777 – William Leslie, Scottish captain (b. 1751)
    • 1779 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and lawyer (b. 1712)
    • 1785 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
    • 1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (b. 1730)
    • 1826 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (b. 1770)
    • 1871 – Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Indian priest and saint (b. 1805)
    • 1875 – Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1817)
    • 1882 – William Harrison Ainsworth, English author (b. 1805)
    • 1895 – James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman, co-founded Currier and Ives (b. 1824)
    • 1903 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (b. 1837)
    • 1911 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author and poet (b. 1851)
    • 1915 – James Elroy Flecker, English poet, author, and playwright (b. 1884)
    • 1916 – Grenville M. Dodge, American general and politician (b. 1831)
    • 1922 – Wilhelm Voigt, German criminal (b. 1849)
    • 1923 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech journalist and author (b. 1883)
    • 1927 – Carl David Tolmé Runge, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1856)
    • 1931 – Joseph Joffre, French general (b. 1852)
    • 1933 – Wilhelm Cuno, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
    • 1933 – Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1896)
    • 1943 – Walter James, Australian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1863)
    • 1944 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (b. 1873)
    • 1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic and author (b. 1877)
    • 1945 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and explorer (b. 1879)
    • 1946 – William Joyce, American-British pro-Axis propaganda broadcaster (b. 1906)
    • 1956 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1864)
    • 1956 – Dimitrios Vergos, Greek wrestler, weightlifter, and shot putter (b. 1886)
    • 1956 – Joseph Wirth, German educator and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
    • 1958 – Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez, Turkish general (b. 1877)
    • 1959 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, author, and translator (b. 1887)
    • 1960 – Eric P. Kelly, American journalist, author, and academic (b. 1884)
    • 1962 – Hermann Lux, German footballer and manager (b. 1893)
    • 1965 – Milton Avery, American painter (b. 1885)
    • 1966 – Sammy Younge Jr., American civil rights activist (b. 1944)
    • 1967 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (b. 1874)
    • 1967 – Reginald Punnett, British scientist (b. 1875)
    • 1967 – Jack Ruby, American businessman and murderer (b. 1911)
    • 1969 – Jean Focas, Greek-French astronomer (b. 1909)
    • 1969 – Tzavalas Karousos, Greek-French actor (b. 1904)
    • 1970 – Gladys Aylward, English missionary and humanitarian (b. 1902)
    • 1972 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (b. 1925)
    • 1975 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1880)
    • 1975 – James McCormack, American general (b. 1910)
    • 1977 – William Gropper, American lithographer, cartoonist, and painter (b. 1897)
    • 1979 – Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (b. 1887)
    • 1980 – Joy Adamson, Austrian-Kenyan author (b. 1910)
    • 1980 – George Sutherland Fraser, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1915)
    • 1981 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (b. 1883)
    • 1988 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-German poet and author (b. 1901)
    • 1989 – Sergei Sobolev, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1909)
    • 1992 – Judith Anderson, British actress (b. 1897)
    • 2002 – Satish Dhawan, Indian engineer (b. 1920)
    • 2003 – Jimmy Stewart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1931)
    • 2005 – Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman and diplomat (b. 1917)
    • 2005 – Egidio Galea, Maltese Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and educator (b. 1918)
    • 2005 – Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Indian diplomat, 2nd Indian National Security Adviser (b. 1936)
    • 2006 – Steve Rogers, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1954)
    • 2006 – Bill Skate, Papua New Guinean politician, 5th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
    • 2007 – János Fürst, Hungarian violinist and conductor (b. 1935)
    • 2007 – William Verity, Jr., American businessman and politician, 27th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1917)
    • 2008 – Choi Yo-sam, South Korean boxer (b. 1972)
    • 2009 – Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer (b. 1921)
    • 2009 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician (b. 1969)
    • 2010 – Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean-German composer and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2010 – Mary Daly, American theologian and scholar (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Robert L. Carter, American lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Winifred Milius Lubell, American author and illustrator (b. 1914)
    • 2012 – Josef Škvorecký, Czech-Canadian author and publisher (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Bob Weston, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Alfie Fripp, English soldier and pilot (b. 1913)
    • 2013 – Ivan Mackerle, Czech cryptozoologist, explorer, and author (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – William Maxson, American general (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – George Goodman, American economist and author (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Saul Zaentz, American film producer (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Martin Anderson, American economist and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Edward Brooke, American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General (b. 1919)
    • 2016 – Paul Bley, Canadian-American pianist and composer (b. 1932)
    • 2016 – Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1928)
    • 2016 – Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1945)
    • 2016 – Igor Sergun, Russian general and diplomat (b. 1957)
    • 2017 – H. S. Mahadeva Prasad, Indian politician (b. 1958)
    • 2018 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer (b. 1933)
    • 2019 – Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (b. 1931)
    • 2020 – Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force (b. 1957)

    Holidays and observances on January 3

    • Anniversary of the 1966 Coup d’état (Burkina Faso)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Daniel of Padua
      • Genevieve
      • Holy Name of Jesus
      • Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)
      • Pope Anterus
      • William Passavant (Episcopal Church)
      • January 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Ministry of Religious Affairs Day (Indonesia)
    • Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan)
    • The first day of Nakhatsenendyan toner, celebrated until January 5 (Armenia).
    • The tenth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)