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June 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1411 – King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries.
1561 – The steeple of St Paul’s, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning and is never rebuilt.
1615 – Siege of Osaka: Forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan.
1745 – Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick the Great’s Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession.
1760 – Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada, taken from the Acadians.
1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).
1784 – Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated).
1792 – Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1802 – King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
1812 – Following Louisiana’s admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory.
1825 – General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, speaks at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his visit to the United States.
1855 – Major Henry C. Wayne departs New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps.
1859 – Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeat the Austrian army.
1862 – American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City.
1878 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
1912 – Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.
1913 – Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V’s horse at The Derby. She is trampled, never regains consciousness, and dies four days later.
1916 – World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia.
1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
1919 – Women’s rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
1920 – Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris.
1928 – The President of the Republic of China, Zhang Zuolin, is assassinated by Japanese agents.
1932 – Marmaduke Grove and other Chilean military officers lead a coup d’état establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Chile.
1939 – The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends: British forces complete evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers, only to the House of Commons, his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway begins. The Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1943 – A military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
1944 – World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505: The first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
1944 – World War II: The United States Fifth Army captures Rome, although much of the German Fourteenth Army is able to withdraw to the north.
1961 – Cold War: In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin.
1967 – Seventy-two people are killed when a Canadair C-4 Argonaut crashes at Stockport in England.
1970 – Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1975 – The Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights.
1979 – Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
1983 – Gordon Kahl, who killed two US Marshals in Medina, North Dakota on February 13, is killed in a shootout in Smithville, Arkansas, along with a local sheriff, after a four-month manhunt.
1986 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
1988 – Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500.
1989 – Ali Khamenei is elected as the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death and funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing by the People’s Liberation Army, with between 241 and 1,000 dead (an unofficial estimate).
1989 – Solidarity’s victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leads to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and begins the Autumn of Nations.
1989 – Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
1996 – The first flight of Ariane 5 explodes after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission.
1998 – Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2010 – Falcon 9 Flight 1 is the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40.

Births on June 4

1394 – Philippa of England, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (d. 1430)
1489 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1544)
1563 – George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith (d. 1624)
1604 – Claudia de’ Medici, Italian daughter of Christina of Lorraine (d. 1648)
1665 – Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian captain (d. 1733)
1694 – François Quesnay, French economist and physician (d. 1774)
1704 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and businessman (d. 1776)
1738 – George III of the United Kingdom (d. 1820)
1744 – Patrick Ferguson, Scottish soldier, designed the Ferguson rifle (d. 1780)
1754 – Miguel de Azcuénaga, Argentinian soldier (d. 1833)
1754 – Franz Xaver von Zach, Slovak astronomer and academic (d. 1832)
1787 – Constant Prévost, French geologist and academic (d. 1856)
1801 – James Pennethorne, English architect, designed Victoria Park (d. 1871)
1821 – Apollon Maykov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1897)
1829 – Jinmaku Kyūgorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 12th Yokozuna (d. 1903)
1854 – Solko van den Bergh, Dutch target shooter (d. 1916)
1860 – Alexis Lapointe, Canadian runner (d. 1924)
1861 – William Propsting, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1937)
1866 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish journalist and politician (d. 1952)
1867 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish general and politician, 6th President of Finland (d. 1951)
1873 – Nictzin Dyalhis, American author (d.1942)
1877 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1879 – Mabel Lucie Attwell, English author and illustrator (d. 1964)
1880 – Clara Blandick, American actress (d. 1962)
1885 – Arturo Rawson, Argentinian general and politician, 26th President of Argentina (d. 1952)
1887 – Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (d. 1949)
1889 – Beno Gutenberg, German-American seismologist (d. 1960)
1903 – Yevgeny Mravinsky, Russian conductor (d. 1988)
1904 – Bhagat Puran Singh, Indian publisher, environmentalist, and philanthropist (d. 1992)
1907 – Jacques Roumain, Haitian journalist and politician (d. 1944)
1907 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (d. 1976)
1907 – Patience Strong, English poet and journalist (d. 1990)
1910 – Christopher Cockerell, English engineer, invented the hovercraft (d. 1999)
1912 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (d. 1993)
1915 – Walter Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2006)
1915 – Modibo Keïta, Malian educator and politician, 1st President of Mali (d. 1977)
1915 – Nils Kihlberg, Swedish actor, singer, and director (d. 1965)
1916 – Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
1916 – Fernand Leduc, Canadian painter (d. 2014)
1917 – Robert Merrill, American actor and singer (d. 2004)
1921 – Milan Komar, Slovenian-Argentinian philosopher and academic (d. 2006)
1921 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016)
1923 – Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (d. 2007)
1923 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Japanese karateka (d. 1994)
1924 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, Samoan politician, 5th Prime Minister of Samoa (d. 1999)
1924 – Dennis Weaver, American actor and director (d. 2006)
1925 – Antonio Puchades, Spanish footballer (d. 2013)
1926 – Robert Earl Hughes, American who was the heaviest human being recorded in the history of the world during his lifetime (d. 1958)
1926 – Ain Kaalep, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2020)
1926 – Judith Malina, German-American actress and director, co-founded The Living Theatre (d. 2015)
1927 – Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1927 – Geoffrey Palmer, English actor
1928 – Ruth Westheimer, German-American therapist and author
1929 – Karolos Papoulias, Greek lawyer and politician, 5th President of Greece
1930 – George Chesworth, English air marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Moray (d. 2017)
1930 – Morgana King, American singer and actress (d. 2018)
1930 – Viktor Tikhonov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
1931 – Gustav Nossal, Austrian-Australian biologist and academic
1932 – John Drew Barrymore, American actor (d. 2004)
1932 – Oliver Nelson, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1975)
1932 – Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand author and playwright (d. 2004)
1934 – Monica Dacon, Vincentian educator and politician, 6th Governor-General of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
1934 – Daphne Sheldrick, Kenyan-British conservationist and author (d. 2018)
1935 – Colette Boky, Canadian soprano and actress
1935 – Berhanu Dinka, Ethiopian economist and diplomat (d. 2013)
1936 – Vince Camuto, American fashion designer and businessman, co-founded Nine West (d. 2015)
1936 – Bruce Dern, American actor
1937 – Freddy Fender, American singer and guitarist (d. 2006)
1937 – Mortimer Zuckerman, Canadian-American businessman and publisher, founded Boston Properties
1938 – John Harvard, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 2016)
1938 – Art Mahaffey, American baseball player
1939 – Jeremy Browne, 11th Marquess of Sligo, Anglo-Irish peer (d. 2014)
1939 – Denis de Belleval, Canadian civil servant and politician
1939 – Henri Pachard, American director and producer (d. 2008)
1939 – George Reid, Scottish journalist and politician, 2nd Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
1940 – Ludwig Schwarz, Slovak-Austrian bishop
1941 – Kenneth G. Ross, Australian playwright and screenwriter
1942 – Louis Reichardt, American mountaineer
1942 – Bill Rowe, Canadian lawyer and politician
1943 – John Burgess, Australian radio and television host
1943 – Sandra Haynie, American golfer
1943 – Tom Jaine, English author
1944 – Roger Ball, Scottish saxophonist and songwriter
1944 – Michelle Phillips, American singer-songwriter and actress
1945 – Anthony Braxton, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer
1945 – Daniel Topolski, English rower and coach (d. 2015)
1945 – Gordon Waller, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
1947 – Viktor Klima, Austrian businessman and politician, 25th Chancellor of Austria
1948 – Bob Champion, English jockey
1948 – Sandra Post, Canadian golfer and sportscaster
1948 – Jürgen Sparwasser, German footballer and manager
1949 – Gabriel Arcand, Canadian actor
1949 – Mark B. Cohen, American lawyer and politician
1950 – Raymond Dumais, Canadian bishop (d. 2012)
1951 – Leigh Kennedy, American author
1951 – Bronisław Malinowski, Polish runner (d. 1981)
1951 – Melanie Phillips, English journalist and author
1951 – Wendy Pini, American author and illustrator
1951 – David Yip, English actor and playwright
1952 – Bronisław Komorowski, Polish historian and politician, 5th President of Poland
1952 – Dambudzo Marechera, Zimbabwean author and poet (d. 1987)
1953 – Linda Lingle, American journalist and politician, 6th Governor of Hawaii
1953 – Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish musician and songwriter (d. 1979)
1953 – Susumu Ojima, Japanese businessman, founded Huser
1953 – Paul Samson, English guitarist and producer (d. 2002)
1954 – Raphael Ravenscroft, English saxophonist and composer (d. 2014)
1954 – Kazuhiro Yamaji, Japanese actor and voice actor
1955 – Val McDermid, Scottish author
1955 – Mary Testa, American singer and actress
1956 – Keith David, American actor
1956 – John Hockenberry, American journalist and author
1956 – Terry Kennedy, American baseball player and manager
1956 – Joyce Sidman, American author and poet
1957 – Neil McNab, Scottish footballer
1959 – Juan Camacho, Bolivian runner
1959 – Georgios Voulgarakis, Greek politician, 21st Greek Minister for Culture
1960 – Miloš Đelmaš, Serbian footballer and manager
1960 – Kristine Kathryn Rusch, American author
1960 – Paul Taylor, American guitarist and keyboard player
1960 – Bradley Walsh, English television presenter, comedian, singer and former footballer
1961 – El DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and producer
1961 – Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungarian businessman and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Hungary
1962 – Krzysztof Hołowczyc, Polish race car driver
1962 – Zenon Jaskuła, Polish cyclist
1962 – John P. Kee, American singer-songwriter and pastor
1962 – Junius Ho, Hong Kong solicitor and politician
1963 – Sean Fitzpatrick, New Zealand rugby union player
1963 – Jim Lachey, American football player and sportscaster
1963 – Xavier McDaniel, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Sean Pertwee, English actor
1964 – Kōji Yamamura, Japanese animator, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
1965 – Andrea Jaeger, American tennis player and preacher
1966 – Cecilia Bartoli, Italian soprano and actress
1966 – Vladimir Voevodsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2017)
1966 – Bill Wiggin, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
1967 – Robert S. Kimbrough, American colonel and astronaut
1968 – Roger Lim, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Niurka Montalvo, Cuban-Spanish long jumper
1968 – Al B. Sure!, American R&B singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1968 – Scott Wolf, American actor
1969 – Horatio Sanz, Chilean-American actor and comedian
1970 – Deborah Compagnoni, Italian skier
1970 – Richie Hawtin, English-Canadian DJ and producer
1970 – Dave Pybus, English bass player and songwriter
1970 – Izabella Scorupco, Polish-Swedish actress and model
1971 – Joseph Kabila, Congolese soldier and politician, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1971 – Mike Lee, American lawyer and politician
1971 – Shoji Meguro, Japanese director and composer
1971 – Karl Martin Sinijärv, Estonian journalist and poet
1971 – Noah Wyle, American actor and producer
1972 – Derian Hatcher, American ice hockey defenseman
1972 – Rob Huebel, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Mikey Whipwreck, American wrestler and trainer
1974 – Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni, Indian chef (d. 2012)
1974 – Darin Erstad, American baseball player and coach
1974 – Andrew Gwynne, English lawyer and politician
1974 – Janette Husárová, Slovak tennis player
1974 – Buddy Wakefield, American poet and author
1975 – Russell Brand, English comedian and actor
1975 – Henry Burris, American football player
1975 – Angelina Jolie, American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian, and activist
1975 – Dinanath Ramnarine, Trinidadian cricketer
1975 – Alex Wharf, English cricketer
1976 – Kasey Chambers, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and politician
1976 – Nenad Zimonjić, Serbian tennis player
1977 – Dionisis Chiotis, Greek footballer
1977 – Alex Manninger, Austrian footballer
1977 – Roman Miroshnichenko, Ukrainian guitarist and composer
1977 – Roland G. Fryer Jr., American economist and professor
1978 – Robin Lord Taylor, American actor
1979 – Naohiro Takahara, Japanese footballer
1979 – Daniel Vickerman, South African-Australian rugby player (d. 2017)
1980 – François Beauchemin, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Jennifer Carroll, Canadian swimmer
1981 – Giourkas Seitaridis, Greek footballer
1981 – Natalia Vodopyanova, Russian basketball player
1982 – Abel Kirui, Kenyan runner
1982 – Ronnie Prude, American-Canadian football player
1983 – Romaric, Ivorian footballer
1983 – Emmanuel Eboué, Ivorian footballer
1983 – Olha Saladuha, Ukrainian triple jumper
1984 – Enrico Rossi Chauvenet, Italian footballer
1984 – Rainie Yang, Taiwanese actress
1984 – Ian White, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Leon Botha, South African painter and DJ (d. 2011)
1985 – Anna-Lena Grönefeld, German tennis player
1985 – Evan Lysacek, American figure skater
1985 – Lukas Podolski, German footballer
1985 – Oddvar Reiakvam, Norwegian politician
1987 – Luisa Zissman, English businesswoman
1987 – Mollie King, English singer-songwriter and model
1988 – Matt Bartkowski, American ice hockey defenseman
1988 – Kimberley Busteed, Australian model
1989 – Federico Erba, Italian footballer
1989 – Paweł Fajdek, Polish hammer thrower
1990 – Zac Farro, American singer and drummer
1990 – Evan Spiegel, American Internet entrepreneur
1991 – Lorenzo Insigne, Italian footballer
1991 – Matt McIlwrick, New Zealand rugby league player
1991 – Ben Stokes, New Zealand-English cricketer
1993 – Jonathan Huberdeau, Canadian ice hockey player
1995 – Shiori Tamai, Japanese singer
1999 – Kim So-hyun, South Korean actress
2004 – Mackenzie Ziegler, American dancer, singer, actress and model

Deaths on June 4

756 – Shōmu, Japanese emperor (b. 701)
863 – Charles, archbishop of Mainz
895 – Li Xi, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
946 – Guaimar II (Gybbosus), Lombard prince
956 – Muhammad III of Shirvan, Muslim ruler
1039 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 990)
1102 – Władysław I Herman, Polish nobleman (b. c. 1044)
1134 – Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1106)
1135 – Emperor Huizong of Song (b. 1082)
1206 – Adela of Champagne (b. 1140)
1246 – Isabella of Angoulême (b. 1188)
1257 – Przemysł I of Greater Poland (b. 1221)
1394 – Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry IV of England (b.c. 1368)
1453 – Andronikos Palaiologos Kantakouzenos, Byzantine commander
1463 – Flavio Biondo, Italian historian and author (b. 1392)
1472 – Nezahualcoyotl, Aztec poet (b. 1402)
1585 – Muretus, French philosopher and author (b. 1526)
1608 – Francis Caracciolo, Italian Catholic priest (b. 1563)
1622 – Péter Révay, Hungarian soldier and historian (b. 1568)
1647 – Canonicus, Grand Chief Sachem of the Narragansett (b. 1565)
1663 – William Juxon, English archbishop and academic (b. 1582)
1798 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and author (b. 1725)
1801 – Frederick Muhlenberg, American minister and politician, 1st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1750)
1809 – Nicolai Abildgaard, Danish neoclassical and history painter, sculptor and architect (b. 1743)
1830 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (b. 1795)
1872 – Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, Dutch historian, jurist, and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1798)
1875 – Eduard Mörike, German pastor and poet (b. 1804)
1876 – Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire, 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1830)
1922 – W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist, and psychiatrist (b. 1864)
1925 – Margaret Murray Washington, American Academic (b. 1865)
1926 – Fred Spofforth, Australian-English cricketer and coach (b. 1853)
1928 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese warlord (b. 1873)
1929 – Harry Frazee, American director, producer, and agent (b. 1881)
1931 – Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, Sharif and Emir of Mecca, King of the Hejaz (b. 1853/54)
1933 – Ahmet Haşim, Turkish poet and author (b. 1884)
1939 – Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (b. 1900)
1941 – Wilhelm II, German Emperor (b. 1859)
1942 – Reinhard Heydrich, German SS officer and politician (b. 1904)
1951 – Serge Koussevitzky, Russian-American bassist, composer, and conductor (b. 1874)
1956 – Katherine MacDonald, American actress and producer (b. 1881)
1962 – Clem McCarthy, American sportscaster (b. 1882)
1967 – Linda Eenpalu, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1890)
1968 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (b. 1898)
1970 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (b. 1911)
1971 – György Lukács, Hungarian historian and philosopher (b. 1885)
1973 – Maurice René Fréchet, French mathematician and academic (b. 1878)
1973 – Murry Wilson, American songwriter, producer, and manager (b. 1917)
1981 – Leslie Averill, New Zealand doctor and soldier (b. 1897)
1989 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
1990 – Stiv Bators, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1949)
1992 – Carl Stotz, American businessman, founded Little League Baseball (b. 1910)
1993 – Bernard Evslin, American writer (b. 1922)
1994 – Derek Leckenby, English musician (b. 1943)
1997 – Ronnie Lane, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1946)
1998 – Josephine Hutchinson, American actress (b. 1903)
2002 – Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peruvian architect and politician, 42nd President of Peru (b. 1912)
2004 – Steve Lacy, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1934)
2004 – Nino Manfredi, Italian actor (b. 1921)
2007 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1937)
2007 – Bill France, Jr., American businessman (b. 1933)
2007 – Craig L. Thomas, American captain and politician (b. 1933)
2010 – John Wooden, American basketball player and coach (b. 1910)
2011 – Juan Francisco Luis, Virgin Islander sergeant and politician, 23rd Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (b. 1940)
2011 – Andreas P. Nielsen, Danish author and composer (b. 1953)
2012 – Peter Beaven, New Zealand architect, designed the Lyttelton Road Tunnel Administration Building (b. 1925)
2012 – Pedro Borbón, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1946)
2012 – Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, Guatemalan cardinal (b. 1932)
2012 – Herb Reed, American violinist (b. 1929)
2013 – Walt Arfons, American race car driver (b. 1916)
2013 – Joey Covington, American drummer (b. 1945)
2013 – Hermann Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer, handball player, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
2013 – Will Wynn, American football player (b. 1949)
2014 – George Ho, American-Hong Kong businessman (b. 1919)
2014 – Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwean journalist and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1928)
2014 – Sydney Templeman, Baron Templeman, English lawyer and judge (b. 1920)
2014 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
2015 – Marguerite Patten, English economist and author (b. 1915)
2015 – Leonid Plyushch, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (b. 1938)
2015 – Jabe Thomas, American race car driver (b. 1930)
2015 – Anne Warburton, British academic and diplomat, British Ambassador to Denmark (b. 1927)
2016 – Carmen Pereira, Bissau-Guinean politician (b. 1937)
2017 – Juan Goytisolo, Spanish essayist, poet and novelist (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances on June 4

Birthday of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim & Flag Day celebration of the Finnish Defence Forces (Finland)
Christian feast day:
- Filippo Smaldone
- Francis Caracciolo
- Optatus
- Petroc of Cornwall
- Quirinus of Sescia
- Saturnina
- June 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Emancipation Day or Independence Day, commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Tonga by King George Tupou in 1862, and the independence of Tonga from the British protectorate in 1970. (Tonga)
Flag Day (Estonia)
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (International)
National Unity Day (Hungary)
Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 Memorial Day (International)

June 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico assumes the throne.
1294 – John II becomes Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg.
1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptized by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
1616 – Treaty of Loudun ends French civil war.
1715 – A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe, and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.
1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” is given a mayor-council form of government.
1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
1815 – Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
1830 – The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
1848 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.
1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49.
1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
1860 – Charles XV of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1867 – The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.
1921 – The Government of Ireland Act 1920 is passed, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
1928 – The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days.
1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
1951 – London’s Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.
1951 – The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.
1957 – Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
1960 – The Off-Broadway musical comedy The Fantasticks opens in New York City’s Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
1960 – The Anne Frank House museum opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the “Birmingham campaign” protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.
1971 – Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989
1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world’s tallest building.
1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.
1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h).
1999 – Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side resulted into the kargil war.
2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.
2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
2002 – An Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashes into a bank in Jalandhar, killing eight and injuring 17.
2007 – The 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.
2015 – Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
2016 – Eighty-eight thousand people were evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire ripped through the community, destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.

Births on May 3

490 – K’an Joy Chitam I, ruler of Palenque (d. 565)
612 – Constantine III, Byzantine emperor (d. 641)
1238 – Emilia Bicchieri, Italian saint (d. 1314)
1276 – Louis, Count of Évreux, son of King Philip III of France (d. 1319)
1415 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1495)
1428 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (d. 1495)
1446 – Margaret of York (d. 1503)
1461 – Raffaele Riario, Italian cardinal (d. 1521)
1469 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and philosopher (d. 1527)
1479 – Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1552)
1481 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (d. 1534)
1536 – Stephan Praetorius, German theologian (d. 1603)
1632 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nurse and saint, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec (d. 1668)
1662 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect, designed the Pillnitz Castle (d. 1736)
1678 – Amaro Pargo, Spanish corsair (d. 1747)
1695 – Henri Pitot, French physicist and engineer, invented the Pitot tube (d. 1771)
1729 – Florian Leopold Gassmann, Czech composer (d. 1774)
1761 – August von Kotzebue, German playwright and author (d. 1819)
1764 – Princess Élisabeth of France (d. 1794)
1768 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and businessman (d. 1838)
1783 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (d. 1858)
1814 – Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 4th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (d. 1892)
1826 – Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
1844 – Richard D’Oyly Carte, English talent agent and composer (d. 1901)
1849 – Jacob Riis, Danish-American journalist and photographer (d. 1914)
1849 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
1854 – George Gore, American baseball player and manager (d. 1933)
1859 – August Herrmann, American executive in Major League Baseball (d.1931)
1860 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1940)
1867 – Andy Bowen, American boxer (d. 1894)
1867 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer (d. 1944)
1870 – Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
1871 – Emmett Dalton, American criminal (d. 1937)
1873 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1945)
1874 – François Coty, French businessman and publisher, founded Coty, Inc. (d. 1934)
1874 – Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer and academic (d. 1954)
1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1925)
1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co-founded Qantas (d. 1950)
1886 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
1887 – Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (d. 1954)
1889 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
1889 – Gottfried Fuchs, German-Canadian Olympic soccer player (d. 1972)
1891 – Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet and critic (d. 1969)
1891 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball pitcher (d. 1963)
1892 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
1892 – Jacob Viner, Canadian-American economist and academic (d. 1970)
1893 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian author (d. 1975)
1895 – Cornelius Van Til, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and apologist (d. 1987)
1896 – Karl Allmenröder, German soldier and pilot (d. 1917)
1896 – V. K. Krishna Menon, Indian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 1974)
1896 – Dodie Smith, English author and playwright (d. 1990)
1897 – William Joseph Browne, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Solicitor General of Canada (d. 1989)
1898 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and activist (d. 1987)
1898 – Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
1902 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
1905 – Edmund Black, American hammer thrower (d. 1996)
1905 – Werner Fenchel, German-Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1988)
1905 – Red Ruffing, American baseball pitcher and coach (d. 1986)
1906 – Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
1906 – René Huyghe, French historian and author (d. 1997)
1906 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist and author (d. 1975)
1906 – Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2005)
1910 – Norman Corwin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist and composer (d. 1980)
1912 – May Sarton, American poet, novelist and memoirist (d. 1995)
1913 – William Inge, American playwright and novelist (d. 1973)
1914 – Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, French journalist, author, and poet (d. 2018)
1915 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestler and trainer, founded Stampede Wrestling (d. 2003)
1915 – Richard Lippold, American sculptor and academic (d. 2002)
1916 – Léopold Simoneau, Canadian tenor and actor (d. 2006)
1917 – Betty Comden, American screenwriter and librettist (d. 2006)
1917 – George Gaynes, Finnish-American actor (d. 2016)
1918 – Ted Bates, English footballer and manager (d. 2003)
1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American soldier and illustrator (d. 2004)
1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2014)
1920 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer (d. 2001)
1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
1922 – Len Shackleton, English footballer and journalist (d. 2000)
1923 – George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, and educator (d. 2015)
1923 – Ralph Hall, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2019)
1924 – Yehuda Amichai, German-Israeli author and poet (d. 2000)
1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver, founded Tyrrell Racing (d. 2001)
1925 – Jean Séguy, French sociologist and author (d. 2007)
1926 – Matt Baldwin, Canadian curler and engineer
1928 – Dave Dudley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
1928 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)
1929 – Denise Lor, American singer and actress (d. 2015)
1930 – Juan Gelman, Argentinian poet and author (d. 2014)
1930 – David Harrison, English chemist and academic
1931 – Vasily Rudenkov, Belarusian hammer thrower (d. 1982)
1931 – Sait Maden, Turkish translator, poet, painter and graphic designer (d. 2013)
1932 – Robert Osborne, American actor and historian (d. 2017)
1933 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer and sportscaster (d. 2011)
1934 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer and actor
1935 – Ron Popeil, American businessman, founded the Ronco Company
1937 – Nélida Piñon, Brazilian author and academic
1938 – Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian terrorist
1938 – Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
1938 – Napoleon XIV, American singer, songwriter and record producer
1939 – Jonathan Harvey, English composer and educator (d. 2012)
1940 – David Koch, American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist (d. 2019)
1940 – Clemens Westerhof, Dutch footballer and manager
1941 – Alexander Harley, English general
1941 – Edward Malloy, American priest and academic
1942 – Věra Čáslavská, Czech gymnast and coach (d. 2016)
1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist and sportscaster
1942 – Butch Otter, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Idaho
1943 – Yukio Hashi, Japanese singer and actor
1943 – Jim Risch, American lawyer and politician, 31st Governor of Idaho
1943 – Vicente Saldivar, Mexican boxer (d. 1985)
1944 – Peter Doyle, English bishop
1944 – Pete Staples, English bass player
1945 – Jörg Drehmel, German triple jumper and coach
1945 – Davey Lopes, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1946 – Norm Chow, American football player and coach
1946 – Silvino Francisco, South African snooker player
1946 – Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster
1947 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
1948 – Denis Cosgrove, British-American academic and geographer (d. 2008)
1948 – Chris Mulkey, American actor
1949 – Liam Donaldson, English physician and academic
1949 – Ruth Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett, English academic and politician
1949 – Ron Wyden, American academic and politician
1950 – Mary Hopkin, Welsh singer-songwriter
1950 – Dag Arnesen, Norwegian pianist and composer
1951 – Alan Clayson, English singer-songwriter and journalist
1951 – Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter and producer
1951 – Ashok Gehlot, Indian politician, 21st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian author and publicist
1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American pastor and politician
1952 – Caitlin Clarke, American actress (d. 2004)
1952 – Joseph W. Tobin, American cardinal
1953 – Bruce Hall, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1953 – Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2014)
1954 – Angela Bofill, American singer-songwriter
1954 – Jean-Marc Roberts, French author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1955 – Stephen D. M. Brown, British geneticist
1955 – Colin Deans, Scottish rugby player
1955 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2004)
1955 – Seishirō Nishida, Japanese actor
1956 – Marc Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician
1957 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
1957 – Rod Langway, Taiwanese-American ice hockey player and coach
1958 – Bill Sienkiewicz, American author and illustrator
1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-English comedian, writer, and broadcaster
1959 – David Ball, English keyboard player and producer
1959 – Uma Bharti, Indian activist and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
1959 – Ben Elton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1960 – Kathy Smallwood-Cook, English sprinter and educator
1961 – Steve McClaren, English footballer and manager
1961 – David Vitter, American lawyer and politician
1961 – Leyla Zana, Kurdish activist and politician
1962 – Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
1963 – Jeff Hornacek, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Mona Siddiqui, Pakistani-Scottish journalist and academic
1964 – Sterling Campbell, American drummer and songwriter
1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
1965 – Ignatius Aphrem II, Syrian patriarch
1965 – Mark Cousins, Northern Irish director, writer, cinematographer
1965 – John Jensen, Danish footballer and coach
1965 – Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian businessman
1966 – Giorgos Agorogiannis, Greek footballer
1966 – Frank Dietrich, German politician (d. 2011)
1967 – Daniel Anderson, Australian rugby league coach and manager
1967 – Kenneth Joel Hotz, Canadian producer, writer, director, actor, and comedian
1968 – Viliami Ofahengaue, Tongan-Australian rugby player
1971 – Douglas Carswell, British politician, the first elected MP for the UK Independence Party
1972 – Stephen Barclay, English lawyer and politician
1973 – Jamie Baulch, Welsh sprinter and television host
1975 – Willie Geist, American television journalist and host
1976 – Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
1976 – Brad Scott, Australian footballer and coach
1976 – Chris Scott, Australian footballer and coach
1977 – Eric Church, American country music singer-songwriter
1977 – Ryan Dempster, Canadian baseball player and sportscaster
1977 – Tyronn Lue, American basketball player and coach
1977 – Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
1977 – Ben Olsen, American soccer player and coach
1978 – Christian Annan, Ghanaian-Hong Kong footballer
1978 – Paul Banks, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – Dai Tamesue, Japanese hurdler
1978 – Lawrence Tynes, American football player
1979 – Steve Mack, American wrestler
1979 – Anastasiya Shvedova, Belarusian pole vaulter
1980 – Zuzana Ondrášková, Czech tennis player
1982 – Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-American football player
1982 – Nick Stavinoha, American baseball player
1983 – Joseph Addai, American football player
1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
1983 – Jérôme Clavier, French pole vaulter
1983 – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (d. 2015)
1985 – Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Kadri Lehtla, Estonian biathlete
1985 – Miko Mälberg, Estonian swimmer
1986 – Moon Byung-woo, South Korean footballer
1987 – Lina Grinčikaitė, Lithuanian sprinter
1988 – Ben Revere, American baseball player
1988 – Paddy Holohan, Irish mixed martial artist
1989 – Jesse Bromwich, New Zealand rugby league player
1989 – Katinka Hosszú, Hungarian swimmer
1990 – Brooks Koepka, American golfer
1991 – Samuel Seo, South Korean musician
1992 – Aaron Whitchurch, Australian rugby league player
1995 – Ivan Bukavshin, Russian chess player (d. 2016)
1996 – Mary Cain, American runner
1996 – Alex Iwobi, Nigerian football player
1996 – Domantas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
1997 – Desiigner, American rapper
1997 – Dwayne Haskins, American football player
1997 – Ivana Jorović, Serbian tennis player

Deaths on May 3

678 – Tōchi, Japanese princess
738 – Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil, Mayan ruler (ajaw)
1152 – Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
1270 – Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
1294 – John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
1330 – Alexios II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1282)
1410 – Antipope Alexander V
1481 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (b. 1432)
1501 – John Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, English Baron (b. 1463)
1524 – Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent, English peer (b. 1481)
1534 – Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (b. 1481)
1589 – Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1528)
1606 – Henry Garnet, English priest and author (b. 1555)
1621 – Elizabeth Bacon, English Tudor gentlewoman (b. 1541)
1679 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (b. 1613)
1693 – Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Czech-Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1644)
1724 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (b. 1662)
1750 – John Willison, Scottish minister and author (b. 1680)
1752 – Samuel Ogle, English-American captain and politician, 5th Governor of Restored Proprietary Government (b. 1692)
1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
1763 – George Psalmanazar, French-English author (b. 1679)
1764 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1712)
1779 – John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1714)
1793 – Martin Gerbert, German historian and theologian (b. 1720)
1839 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
1856 – Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (b. 1803)
1856 – Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, Arab-French servant to Napoleon I (b. 1788)
1882 – Leonidas Smolents, Austrian–Greek general and army minister (b. 1806)
1910 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist (b. 1871)
1916 – Tom Clarke, Irish rebel (b. 1858)
1916 – Thomas MacDonagh, Irish poet and rebel (b. 1878)
1916 – Patrick Pearse, Irish teacher and rebel leader (b. 1879)
1918 – Charlie Soong, Chinese businessman and missionary (b. 1863)
1919 – Elizabeth Almira Allen, American educator (b. 1854)
1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian race car driver (b. 1883)
1925 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (b. 1841)
1932 – Charles Fort, American journalist and author (b. 1874)
1935 – Jessie Willcox Smith, American illustrator (b. 1863)
1939 – Madeleine Desroseaux, French author and poet (b. 1873)
1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
1943 – Harry Miller, American engineer (b. 1875)
1948 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish assassin of Heikki Ritavuori (b. 1876)
1949 – Fanny Walden, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1888)
1958 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
1969 – Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
1970 – Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer, coach, and pilot (b. 1918)
1972 – Kenneth Bailey, Australian lawyer and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Canada (b. 1898)
1972 – Emil Breitkreutz, American runner and coach (b. 1883)
1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
1978 – Bill Downs, American journalist (b. 1914)
1981 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
1986 – Robert Alda, American actor (b. 1914)
1987 – Dalida, Italian singer, actress, dancer, and model (b. 1933)
1988 – Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1908)
1989 – Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (b. 1926)
1991 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1933)
1992 – George Murphy, American actor, dancer, and politician (b. 1902)
1996 – Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist, composer, and educator (b. 1921)
1996 – Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
1997 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (b. 1976)
1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1927)
1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
1999 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
1999 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1967)
1999 – Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (b. 1920)
2000 – Júlia Báthory, Hungarian glass designer (b. 1901)
2000 – John Joseph O’Connor, American cardinal (b. 1920)
2002 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, English politician, First Secretary of State (b. 1910)
2002 – Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
2003 – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (b. 1932)
2004 – Ken Downing, English race car driver (b. 1917)
2004 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1928)
2006 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (b. 1921)
2006 – Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)
2006 – Earl Woods, American colonel, baseball player, and author (b. 1932)
2007 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (b. 1913)
2007 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923)
2007 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese politician (b. 1932)
2008 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
2009 – Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (b. 1928)
2009 – Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, Indian author and critic (b. 1931)
2010 – Roy Carrier, American accordion player (b. 1947)
2010 – Peter O’Donnell, English soldier and author (b. 1920)
2010 – Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (b. 1923)
2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (b. 1922)
2011 – Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (b. 1936)
2011 – Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor and director (b. 1927)
2012 – Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician, 30th President of Panama (b. 1918)
2012 – Felix Werder, German-Australian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1922)
2013 – Joe Astroth, American baseball player (b. 1922)
2013 – Herbert Blau, American engineer and academic (b. 1926)
2013 – Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1943)
2013 – Keith Carter, American swimmer and soldier (b. 1924)
2013 – Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1958)
2013 – David Morris Kern, American pharmacist, co-invented Orajel (b. 1909)
2013 – Curtis Rouse, American football player (b. 1960)
2013 – Branko Vukelić, Croatian politician, 11th Minister of Defence for Croatia (b. 1958)
2014 – Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
2014 – Francisco Icaza, Mexican painter (b. 1930)
2014 – Jim Oberstar, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
2015 – Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2015 – Danny Jones, Welsh rugby player (b. 1986)
2015 – Warren Smith, American golfer and coach (b. 1915)
2016 – Ian Deans, Canadian politician (b. 1937)
2016 – Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
2017 – Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and model (b. 1942)

Holidays and observances on May 3

Christian feast day:
- Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Antonia and Alexander
- Juvenal of Narni
- Moura (Coptic Church)
- Philip and James the Lesser
- Pope Alexander I
- Sarah the Martyr (Coptic Church)
- The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland
- Theodosius of Kiev (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- May 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Memorial Day (Japan)
Constitution Day (Poland)
Finding of the Holy Cross-related observances:
- Fiesta de las Cruces (Spain and Hispanic America)
- Roodmas, or Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross (Gallican Rite of the Catholic Church)
Sun Day (International)
World Press Freedom Day

May 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

April 20 in History

1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.
1453 – Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople.
1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage to what is today the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1535 – The sun dog phenomenon is observed over Stockholm, as later depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan.
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1689 – Deposed monarch James II of England lays siege to Derry.
1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
1770 – The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1789 – George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.
1792 – France declares war against the “King of Hungary and Bohemia”, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
1800 – The Septinsular Republic is established.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1810 – The governor of Caracas, Venezuela declares independence from Spain.
1818 – The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld.
1828 – René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter (and the first to return from) Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
1865 – Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX’s yacht, the L’Immaculata Concezion.
1876 – The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus.
1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1908 – Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.
1912 – Opening day for baseball’s Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and Fenway Park in Boston.
1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miners’ strike.
1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.
1922 – The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.
1939 – Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday’s celebrations in Germany
1945 – World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.
1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech.
1972 – Apollo program: Apollo 16 lunar module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the moon.
1998 – Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips with a handgun barricade himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
2012 – One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.
2013 – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya’an, in China’s Sichuan province, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands.
2015 – Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.

Births on April 20

1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)
1544 – Renata of Lorraine, Duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602)
1586 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (d. 1617)
1633 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1654)
1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and author (d. 1704)
1650 – William Bedloe, English spy (d. 1680)
1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (d. 1781)
1727 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (d. 1794)
1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician and psychiatrist (d. 1826)
1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, German composer and theologian (d. 1831)
1772 – William Lawless, Irish revolutionary and French general (d. 1824)
1808 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (d. 1873)
1816 – Bogoslav Šulek, Croatian philologist, historian, and lexicographer (d. 1895)
1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and engineer (d. 1893)
1826 – Dinah Craik, English author and poet (d. 1887)
1836 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American scientist and academic (d. 1895)
1839 – Carol I of Romania, King of Romania (d. 1914)
1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1916)
1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (d. 1931)
1851 – Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (d. 1918)
1851 – Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (d. 1923)
1860 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (d. 1933)
1871 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (d. 1951)
1873 – James Harcourt, English character actor (d. 1951)
1875 – Vladimir Vidrić, Croatian poet and lawyer (d. 1909)
1879 – Paul Poiret, French fashion designer (d. 1944)
1882 – Holland Smith, American general (d. 1967)
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
1884 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (d. 1960)
1884 – Daniel Varoujan, Armenian poet and educator (d. 1915)
1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer, and activist (d. 1996)
1889 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (d. 1918)
1889 – Marie-Antoinette de Geuser, French mystic (d. 1918)
1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (d. 1945)
1889 – Tonny Kessler, Dutch footballer (d. 1960)
1890 – Maurice Duplessis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Quebec (d. 1959)
1890 – Adolf Schärf, Austrian soldier and politician, 6th President of Austria (d. 1965)
1891 – Dave Bancroft, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1971)
1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1983)
1895 – Emile Christian, American trombonist and composer (d. 1973)
1895 – Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist, and dramatist (d. 1972)
1896 – Wop May, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1952)
1899 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Miran Bux, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1991)
1907 – Augoustinos Kantiotes, Greek bishop (d. 2010)
1908 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor (d. 2002)
1910 – Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Turkish diplomat and politician (d. 1961)
1913 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor and poet (d. 1986)
1913 – Willi Hennig, German biologist and entomologist (d. 1976)
1913 – Roger Rochard, French runner (d. 1993)
1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African psychotherapist and physician (d. 1997)
1916 – Nasiba Zeynalova, Azerbaijani actress (d. 2004)
1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943)
1920 – Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002)
1920 – Clement Isong, Nigerian banker and politician, Governor of Cross River State (d. 2000)
1920 – Ronald Speirs, American colonel (d. 2007)
1920 – John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2019)
1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster, founded Eternal Word Television Network (d. 2016)
1923 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-American painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
1923 – Tito Puente, American drummer and producer (d. 2000)
1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (d. 2008)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor and producer
1924 – Guy Rocher, Canadian sociologist and academic
1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (d. 2006)
1925 – Elena Verdugo, American actress (d. 2017)
1927 – Bud Cullen, Canadian judge and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration (d. 2005)
1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
1927 – K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (d. 2013)
1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish international footballer (d. 2007)
1929 – Harry Agganis, American baseball and football player (d. 1955)
1929 – Bobby Hollander, American film director, actor, and magazine publisher (d. 2002)
1930 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1930 – Antony Jay, English director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1931 – Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, English businessman and politician
1932 – Myriam Bru, French actress
1933 – Kristaq Dhamo, Albanian actor and film director
1936 – Lisa Davis, English and American former child and adult actress
1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese technician, surveyor, and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2012)
1936 – Pat Roberts, American captain, journalist, and politician
1936 – Christopher Robinson, English organist and conductor
1937 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2011)
1937 – Antonios Kounadis, Greek discus thrower
1937 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter and educator (d. 2002)
1937 – George Takei, American actor
1938 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter
1938 – Manfred Kinder, German runner
1938 – Peter Snow, British historian and journalist
1938 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)
1939 – Elspeth Ballantyne, Australian actress
1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author and screenwriter
1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter
1940 – James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010)
1941 – Ryan O’Neal, American actor
1942 – Giles Henderson, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Arto Paasilinna, Finnish journalist and author
1943 – Alan Beith, English academic and politician
1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor and director
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American model and actress (d. 1971)
1944 – Toivo Aare, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1999)
1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor and director
1945 – Olga Karlatos, Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer
1945 – Thein Sein, Burmese general and politician, 8th President of Burma
1945 – Naftali Temu, Kenyan runner (d. 2003)
1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and head coach, 1966 Heisman Trophy winner
1946 – Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor
1946 – Julien Poulin, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (d. 1982)
1947 – Rita Dionne-Marsolais, Canadian economist and politician
1947 – David Leland, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – Viktor Suvorov, Russian intelligence officer, historian, and author
1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
1948 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (d. 2015)
1949 – Veronica Cartwright, English-American actress
1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian-Mexican figure skater and painter (d. 2015)
1949 – Massimo D’Alema, Italian journalist and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Italy
1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress
1950 – Steve Erickson, American author and critic
1950 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
1950 – N. Chandrababu Naidu, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
1951 – Louise Jameson, English actress
1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2005)
1952 – Louka Katseli, Greek economist and politician
1952 – Božidar Maljković, Serbian basketball player and coach
1952 – Eric Pickles, English politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
1953 – Sebastian Faulks, English journalist and author
1955 – Donald Pettit, American engineer and astronaut
1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister for Justice
1956 – Peter Chelsom, English film director, writer, and actor
1956 – Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian economist and politician
1956 – Georgie Glen, Scottish actress
1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Perry Haddock, Australian rugby league player
1960 – Debbie Flintoff-King, Australian hurdler and coach
1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
1961 – Nicholas Lyndhurst, English actor
1961 – Paul Usher, English actor
1963 – Maurício Gugelmin, Brazilian race car driver
1963 – Rachel Whiteread, English sculptor
1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor
1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor and director
1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
1965 – Kostis Chatzidakis, Greek politician, Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism
1965 – Léa Fazer, Swiss film director, screenwriter and actress
1965 – Adrián Fernández, Mexican race car driver
1965 – Rebecca Lacey, English actress
1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher and academic
1966 – David Filo, American businessman, co-founded Yahoo!
1966 – Vincent Riendeau, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer and songwriter
1967 – Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
1968 – Julia Morris, Australian entertainer
1968 – Yelena Välbe, Russian skier and manager
1968 – Roman Virastyuk, Ukrainian shot putter
1969 – Felix Baumgartner, Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper
1969 – Will Hodgman, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Tasmania
1970 – Sarantuya, Mongolian soprano
1970 – Avishai Cohen, Israeli singer-songwriter and bassist
1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor
1971 – Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer, physiologist, and academic
1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player and manager
1971 – Nikos Kyzeridis, Greek footballer
1972 – Lê Huỳnh Đức, Vietnamese footballer, coach, and manager
1972 – Carmen Electra, American model and actress
1972 – Željko Joksimović, Serbian singer-songwriter and producer
1972 – Stephen Marley, American singer, guitarist, and producer
1972 – Julia Peng, Taiwanese singer
1973 – Isabel dos Santos, Angolan businesswoman and first African woman billionaire
1973 – Lamond Murray, American basketball player
1974 – Adrian Ilie, Romanian footballer
1974 – Julie Fernandez, English actress and model
1974 – Urmas Paet, Estonian journalist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1975 – Killer Mike, American rapper and activist
1976 – Aldo Bobadilla, Paraguayan footballer
1976 – Shay Given, Irish footballer and manager
1976 – Chris Mason, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Ismail Rasheed, Maldivian actor
1976 – Georgina Rylance, English actress
1979 – Stian Barsnes-Simonsen, Norwegian actor and television host
1979 – Ludovic Magnin, Swiss footballer and coach
1979 – Nate Marquardt, American mixed martial artist
1980 – Gunta Baško, Latvian basketball player
1980 – Sunaina Sunaina, Indian weightlifter
1980 – Jasmin Wagner, German singer and actress
1982 – Jacqueline Govaert, Dutch singer-songwriter and pianist
1982 – Dario Knežević, Croatian footballer
1983 – Danny Granger, American basketball player
1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian model
1983 – Joanne King, Irish actress
1984 – Nelson Évora, Ivorian-Portuguese triple jumper
1984 – Bárbara Lennie, Spanish actress
1984 – Edixon Perea, Colombian footballer
1984 – Jenna Shoemaker, American triathlete
1985 – Curt Hawkins, American wrestler
1985 – Brent Seabrook, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Chun Woo-hee, South Korean actress
1988 – Brandon Belt, American baseball player
1989 – Cally-Jo, English fine artist and tattoo artist
1989 – Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014
1989 – Carlos Valdes, Colombian-American actor and singer
1990 – Luhan, Chinese singer and actor
1990 – Abby Mavers, English actress
1992 – Kristian Álvarez, Mexican footballer
1992 – Marko Meerits, Estonian footballer
1995 – Damian McKenzie, New Zealand rugby union player
1995 – Jean Marie Dongou, Cameroonian footballer
1997 – Alexander “Sascha” Zverev, German tennis player
1998 – Zachary Claman DeMelo, Canadian racing driver

Deaths on April 20

689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)
767 – Taichō, Japanese monk (b. 682)
888 – Xi Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 862)
1099 – Peter Bartholomew (b. 1061)
1164 – Antipope Victor IV
1176 – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English-Irish politician, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (b. 1130)
1248 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (b. 1206)
1284 – Hōjō Tokimune, regent of Japan (b. 1251)
1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
1322 – Simon Rinalducci, Italian Augustinian friar
1521 – Zhengde, Chinese emperor (b. 1491)
1534 – Elizabeth Barton, English nun and martyr (b. 1506)
1558 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German priest and theologian (b. 1485)
1643 – Christoph Demantius, German composer and poet (b. 1567)
1703 – Lancelot Addison, English clergyman and educator (b. 1632)
1769 – Chief Pontiac, American tribal leader (b. 1720)
1831 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (b. 1764)
1873 – William Tite, English architect, designed the Royal Exchange (b. 1798)
1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1817)
1881 – William Burges, English architect and designer (b. 1827)
1886 – Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville, French general and diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (b. 1814)
1887 – Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Greek-Egyptian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1826)
1899 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (b. 1820)
1902 – Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, Brazilian poet and educator (b. 1833)
1912 – Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (b. 1847)
1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
1927 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1866)
1929 – Prince Henry of Prussia (b. 1862)
1931 – Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, Scottish-English fencer and businessman (b. 1862)
1932 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1858)
1935 – John Cameron, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1872)
1935 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (b. 1863)
1942 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, 6th State Elder of Estonia (b. 1870)
1944 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and pilot (b. 1917)
1945 – Erwin Bumke, Polish-German jurist and politician (b. 1874)
1946 – Mae Busch, Australian actress (b. 1891)
1947 – Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
1961 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (b. 1892)
1967 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1896)
1968 – Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (b. 1877)
1969 – Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (b. 1914)
1980 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1924)
1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (b. 1892)
1986 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (b. 1916)
1991 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
1991 – Don Siegel, American director and producer (b. 1912)
1992 – Marjorie Gestring, American springboard diver (b. 1922)
1992 – Benny Hill, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1911)
1995 – Milovan Đilas, Yugoslav communist, politician, theorist and author (b. 1911)
1996 – Trần Văn Trà, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1918)
1999 – Casualties of the Columbine High School massacre:
- Cassie Bernall, American student (b. 1981)
- Eric Harris, American student and murderer (b. 1981)
- Dylan Klebold, American student and murderer (b. 1981)
- Rachel Scott, American student, inspired the Rachel’s Challenge (b. 1981)
1999 – Rick Rude, American wrestler (b. 1958)
2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
2002 – Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
2003 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
2003 – Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
2004 – Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (b. 1956)
2005 – Fumio Niwa, Japanese journalist and author (b. 1904)
2007 – Andrew Hill, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1931)
2007 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931)
2008 – Monica Lovinescu, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1923)
2010 – Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (b. 1912)
2011 – Tim Hetherington, English photographer and journalist (b. 1970)
2012 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1920)
2014 – Mithat Bayrak, Turkish wrestler and trainer (b. 1929)
2014 – Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (b. 1937)
2014 – Neville Wran, Australian lawyer and politician, 35th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1926)
2016 – Victoria Wood, British comedian, actress and writer (b. 1953)
2017 – Cuba Gooding Sr., American singer and actor (b. 1944)
2018 – Avicii, Swedish DJ, and musician (b. 1989)
2019 – Jacqueline Saburido, Venezuelan activist (b. 1978)

Holidays and observances on April 20

420 (cannabis culture) (International)
Christian feast day:
- Agnes of Montepulciano
- Beuno
- Hugh of Anzy le Duc
- Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran)
- Marcellinus of Gaul (Embrun)
- Blessed Oda of Brabant
- Pope Anicetus
- Theotimos
- April 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
UN Chinese Language Day (United Nations)

April 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
529 – First draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.
1141 – Empress Matilda became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title ‘Lady of the English’.
1348 – Charles University is founded in Prague.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
1724 – Premiere performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion, BWV 245, at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
1767 – End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67).
1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
1788 – American pioneers to the Northwest Territory establish Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
1789 – Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
1829 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
1831 – Emperor Pedro I of Brazil resigns. He goes to his native Portugal to become King Pedro IV.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by a Fenian activist.
1890 – Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
1922 – The United States Secretary of the Interior leases federal petroleum reserves to private oil companies on excessively generous terms.
1927 – The first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
1933 – Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the XXI amendment. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)
1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
1943 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.
1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
1945 – World War II: The battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by American aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
1945 – World War II: Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th, and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisan forces.
1948 – The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
1949 – The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opened on Broadway; it would run for 1,925 performances and win ten Tony Awards.
1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his “domino theory” speech during a news conference.
1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
1964 – IBM announces the System/360.
1964 – A bulldozer kills Rev. Bruce W. Klunder, a civil rights activist, during a school segregation protest in Cleveland, Ohio, sparking a riot.
1965 – Representatives of the National Congress of American Indians testify before members of the US Senate against the termination of the Colville tribe in Washington DC.
1968 – Motor racing world champion Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula Two race at Hockenheim.
1969 – The Internet’s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
1971 – President Richard Nixon announces his decision to quicken the pace of Vietnamization.
1976 – Member of Parliament and suspected spy John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party (UK) after being arrested for faking his own death.
1977 – German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran.
1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.
1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
1990 – Iran–Contra affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction is later reversed on appeal).
1990 – A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry Scandinavian Star, killing 159 people.
1994 – Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
1994 – Auburn Calloway attempts to destroy Federal Express Flight 705 in order to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy.
1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
1999 – The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
2001 – Mars Odyssey is launched.
2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls two days later.
2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
2009 – Mass protests begin across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election are fraudulent.
2017 – A man deliberately drives a hijacked truck into a crowd of people, killing five people and injuring fifteen others.

Births on April 7

1206 – Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1253)
1330 – John, 3rd Earl of Kent, English nobleman (d. 1352)
1470 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (d. 1498)
1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 1584)
1613 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, French general (d. 1730)
1648 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English poet and politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1721)
1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1713 – Nicola Sala, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1801)
1718 – Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (d. 1800)
1727 – Michel Adanson, French botanist, entomologist, and mycologist (d. 1806)
1763 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (d. 1846)
1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher and author (d. 1837)
1780 – William Ellery Channing, American preacher and theologian (d. 1842)
1803 – James Curtiss, American journalist and politician, 11th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
1803 – Flora Tristan, French author and activist (d. 1844)
1811 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1881)
1817 – Francesco Selmi, Italian chemist and patriot (d. 1881)
1848 – Randall Davidson, Scottish archbishop (d. 1930)
1859 – Walter Camp, American football player and coach (d. 1925)
1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (d. 1951)
1867 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist and academic (d. 1953)
1870 – Gustav Landauer, Jewish-German theorist and activist (d. 1919)
1871 – Epifanio de los Santos, Filipino jurist, historian, and scholar (d. 1927)
1873 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
1874 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (d. 1939)
1876 – Fay Moulton, American sprinter, football player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1945)
1882 – Bert Ironmonger, Australian cricketer (d. 1971)
1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
1883 – Gino Severini, Italian-French painter and author (d. 1966)
1884 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (d. 1963)
1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1971)
1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1890 – Paul Berth, Danish footballer (d. 1969)
1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (d. 1998)
1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded the Lego Group (d. 1958)
1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1969)
1895 – John Flannagan, American soldier and sculptor (d. 1942)
1895 – Margarete Schön, German actress (d. 1985)
1896 – Frits Peutz, Dutch architect, designed the Glaspaleis (d. 1974)
1897 – Erich Löwenhardt, Polish-German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1918)
1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (d. 1972)
1899 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist and composer (d. 1972)
1900 – Adolf Dymsza, Polish actor (d. 1975)
1900 – Tebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (d. 1984)
1902 – Eduard Eelma, Estonian footballer (d. 1941)
1903 – M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1965)
1903 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral (d. 1984)
1904 – Roland Wilson, Australian economist and statistician (d. 1996)
1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader (d. 1976)
1908 – Pete Zaremba, American hammer thrower (d. 1994)
1909 – Robert Charroux, French author and critic (d. 1978)
1913 – Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
1913 – Charles Vanik, American soldier, judge, and politician (d. 2007)
1914 – Ralph Flanagan, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1959)
1915 – Henry Kuttner, American author (d. 1958)
1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
1917 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor and playwright (d. 2012)
1918 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
1919 – Roger Lemelin, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (d. 2012)
1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (d. 2012)
1921 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (d. 1992)
1922 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2003)
1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian-English author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1925 – Chaturanan Mishra, Indian trade union leader and politician (d. 2011)
1925 – Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (d. 2011)
1927 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian-American drummer, educator, and activist (d. 2003)
1927 – Leonid Shcherbakov, Russian triple jumper
1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
1928 – Alan J. Pakula, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1928 – James White, Northern Irish author and educator (d. 1999)
1929 – Bob Denard, French soldier (d. 2007)
1929 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (d. 1972)
1930 – Jane Priestman, English interior designer
1930 – Yves Rocher, French businessman, founded the Yves Rocher Company (d. 2009)
1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1930 – Roger Vergé, French chef and restaurateur (d. 2015)
1931 – Donald Barthelme, American short story writer and novelist (d. 1989)
1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author
1932 – Cal Smith, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor, investor, and producer (d. 2015)
1933 – Sakıp Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (d. 2004)
1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish-English actor (d. 2007)
1935 – Bobby Bare, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1935 – Hodding Carter III, American journalist and politician, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
1937 – Charlie Thomas, American singer
1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California
1938 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (d. 2005)
1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American trumpet player and composer (d. 2008)
1938 – Iris Johansen, American author
1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1939 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (d. 2013)
1939 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (d. 1977)
1939 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (d. 1992)
1940 – Marju Lauristin, Estonian academic and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
1941 – James Di Pasquale, American composer
1941 – Peter Fluck, English puppet maker and illustrator
1941 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (d. 2018)
1941 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (d. 2017)
1942 – Jeetendra, Indian actor, TV and film producer
1943 – Mick Abrahams, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Dennis Amiss, English cricketer and manager
1944 – Shel Bachrach, American insurance broker, investor, businessman and philanthropist
1944 – Warner Fusselle, American sportscaster (d. 2012)
1944 – Oshik Levi, Israeli singer and actor
1944 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (d. 2002)
1944 – Gerhard Schröder, German lawyer and politician, 7th Chancellor of Germany
1944 – Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer-songwriter
1945 – Gerry Cottle, English businessman
1945 – Marilyn Friedman, American philosopher and academic
1945 – Martyn Lewis, Welsh journalist and author
1945 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and author (d. 2018)
1945 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1945 – Hans van Hemert, Dutch songwriter and producer
1946 – Zaid Abdul-Aziz, American basketball player
1946 – Colette Besson, French runner and educator (d. 2005)
1946 – Herménégilde Chiasson, Canadian poet, playwright, and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
1946 – Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenian politician and diplomate
1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects designer and makeup artist (d. 2008)
1947 – Patricia Bennett, American singer
1947 – Florian Schneider, German singer and drummer (d. 2020)
1947 – Michèle Torr, French singer and author
1948 – John Oates, American singer-songwriter guitarist, and producer
1949 – Mitch Daniels, American academic and politician, 49th Governor of Indiana
1950 – Brian J. Doyle, American press secretary
1951 – Bruce Gary, American drummer (d. 2006)
1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – David Baulcombe, English geneticist and academic
1952 – Jane Frederick, American hurdler and heptathlete
1952 – Gilles Valiquette, Canadian actor, singer, and producer
1952 – Dennis Hayden, American actor
1953 – Santa Barraza, American mixed media artist
1953 – Douglas Kell, English biochemist and academic
1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Tony Dorsett, American football player
1955 – Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
1955 – Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer and journalist
1956 – Annika Billström, Swedish businesswoman and politician, 16th Mayor of Stockholm
1956 – Christopher Darden, American lawyer and author
1956 – Georg Werthner, Austrian decathlete
1957 – Kim Kap-soo, South Korean actor
1957 – Thelma Walker, British politician
1958 – Brian Haner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Hindrek Kesler, Estonian architect
1960 – Buster Douglas, American boxer and actor
1960 – Sandy Powell, English costume designer
1961 – Thurl Bailey, American basketball player and actor
1961 – Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
1961 – Brigitte van der Burg, Tanzanian-Dutch geographer and politician
1962 – Jon Cruddas, English lawyer and politician
1962 – Andrew Hampsten, American cyclist
1963 – Jaime de Marichalar, Spanish businessman
1963 – Nick Herbert, English businessman and politician, Minister for Policing
1963 – Dave Johnson, American decathlete and educator
1964 – Jace Alexander, American actor and director
1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor
1964 – Steve Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Bill Bellamy, American comedian, actor, and producer
1965 – Rozalie Hirs, Dutch composer and poet
1965 – Alison Lapper, English painter and photographer
1965 – Nenad Vučinić, Serbian-New Zealand basketball player and coach
1966 – Richard Gomez, Filipino actor and politician
1966 – Zvika Hadar, Israeli entertainer
1966 – Béla Mavrák, Hungarian tenor singer
1966 – Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
1967 – Artemis Gounaki, Greek-German singer-songwriter
1967 – Bodo Illgner, German footballer
1967 – Simone Schilder, Dutch tennis player
1968 – Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer and sportscaster
1968 – Jennifer Lynch, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Jože Možina, Slovenian historian, sociologist and journalist
1968 – Vasiliy Sokov, Russian triple jumper
1969 – Ricky Watters, American football player
1970 – Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist and educator
1971 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (d. 2008)
1971 – Victor Kraatz, German-Canadian figure skater
1972 – Tim Peake, British astronaut
1973 – Marco Delvecchio, Italian footballer
1973 – Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Defence
1973 – Carole Montillet, French skier
1973 – Christian O’Connell, British radio DJ and presenter
1973 – Brett Tomko, American baseball player
1975 – Karin Dreijer Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – Ronde Barber, American football player and sportscaster
1975 – Tiki Barber, American football player and journalist
1975 – Ronnie Belliard, American baseball player
1975 – John Cooper, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1975 – Simon Woolford, Australian rugby league player
1976 – Kevin Alejandro, American actor and producer
1976 – Martin Buß, German high jumper
1976 – Jessica Lee, English lawyer and politician
1976 – Aaron Lohr, American actor
1976 – Barbara Jane Reams, American actress
1976 – Gang Qiang, Chinese anchor
1978 – Jo Appleby, English soprano
1978 – Duncan James, English singer-songwriter and actor
1978 – Lilia Osterloh, American tennis player
1979 – Adrián Beltré, Dominican-American baseball player
1979 – Patrick Crayton, American football player
1979 – Pascal Dupuis, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Danny Sandoval, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1980 – Dragan Bogavac, Montenegrin footballer
1980 – Tetsuji Tamayama, Japanese actor
1981 – Hitoe Arakaki, Japanese singer
1981 – Kazuki Watanabe, Japanese songwriter and guitarist (d. 2000)
1981 – Vanessa Olivarez, American singer-songwriter, and actress
1981 – Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
1982 – Silvana Arias, Peruvian actress
1982 – Sonjay Dutt, American wrestler
1982 – Kelli Young, English singer
1983 – Hamish Davidson, Australian musician
1983 – Franck Ribéry, French footballer
1983 – Jon Stead, English footballer
1983 – Jakub Smrž, Czech motorcycle rider
1983 – Janar Talts, Estonian basketball player
1984 – Hiroko Shimabukuro, Japanese singer
1985 – KC Concepcion, Filipino actress and singer
1985 – Humza Yousaf, Scottish politician
1986 – Brooke Brodack, American comedian
1986 – Jack Duarte, Mexican actor, singer, and guitarist
1986 – Andi Fraggs, English singer-songwriter and producer
1986 – Christian Fuchs, Austrian footballer
1987 – Martín Cáceres, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete
1987 – Jamar Smith, American football player
1988 – Antonio Piccolo, Italian footballer
1988 – Ed Speleers, English actor and producer
1989 – Alexa Demara, American actress, model and writer
1989 – Franco Di Santo, Argentinian footballer
1989 – Mitchell Pearce, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Teddy Riner, French judoka
1990 – Nickel Ashmeade, Jamaican sprinter
1990 – Anna Bogomazova, Russian-American kick-boxer, martial artist, and wrestler
1990 – Sorana Cîrstea, Romanian tennis player
1990 – Trent Cotchin, Australian footballer
1991 – Luka Milivojević, Serbian footballer
1991 – Anne-Marie, English singer-songwriter
1992 – Andreea Acatrinei, Romanian gymnast
1992 – Guilherme Negueba, Brazilian footballer
1993 – Ichinojō Takashi, Mongolian sumo wrestler
1994 – Johanna Allik, Estonian figure skater
1994 – Aaron Gray, Australian rugby league player
1996 – Emerson Hyndman, American international soccer player^[5]
1997 – Rafaela Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player

Deaths on April 7

AD 30 – Jesus Christ, (possible date of the crucifixion) (b. circa 4 BC)
821 – George the Standard-Bearer, archbishop of Mytilene (b. c. 776)
924 – Berengar I of Italy (b. 845)
1206 – Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine
1340 – Bolesław Jerzy II of Mazovia (b. 1308)
1498 – Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
1499 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (b. 1442)
1501 – Minkhaung II, king of Ava (b. 1446)
1606 – Edward Oldcorne, English martyr (b. 1561)
1614 – El Greco, Greek-Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1541)
1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyō (b. 1576)
1651 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and engineer (b. 1603)
1658 – Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic and philosopher (b. 1595)
1661 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (b. 1604)
1663 – Francis Cooke, English-American settler (b. 1583)
1668 – William Davenant, English poet and playwright (b. 1606)
1719 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint, founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (b. 1651)
1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705)
1747 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. 1676)
1761 – Thomas Bayes, English minister and mathematician (b. 1701)
1766 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
1767 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and director (b. 1715)
1782 – Taksin, Thai king (b. 1734)
1789 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1725)
1789 – Petrus Camper, Dutch physician, anatomist, and physiologist (b. 1722)
1801 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer and author (b. 1724)
1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (b. 1743)
1811 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (b. 1757)
1823 – Jacques Charles, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1746)
1833 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Lithuanian composer and politician (b. 1775)
1836 – William Godwin, English journalist and author (b. 1756)
1849 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentinian priest and politician (b. 1777)
1850 – William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
1858 – Anton Diabelli, Austrian composer and publisher (b. 1781)
1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist, activist, and politician (b. 1825)
1879 – Begum Hazrat Mahal, Begum of Awadh, was the second wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (b. 1820)
1885 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (b. 1804)
1889 – Youssef Bey Karam, Lebanese soldier and politician (b. 1823)
1889 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician and president, 1872-1876 (b. 1823)
1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman and politician, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810)
1917 – Spyridon Samaras, Greek composer and playwright (b. 1861)
1918 – David Kolehmainen, Finnish wrestler (b. 1885)
1918 – George E. Ohr, American potter (b. 1857)
1920 – Karl Binding, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1841)
1922 – James McGowen, Australian politician, 18th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1855)
1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1873)
1932 – Grigore Constantinescu, Romanian priest and journalist (b. 1875)
1938 – Suzanne Valadon, French painter (b. 1865)
1939 – Joseph Lyons, Australian educator and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
1943 – Jovan Dučić, Serbian-American poet and diplomat (b. 1871)
1943 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (b. 1859)
1947 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863)
1949 – John Gourlay, Canadian soccer player (b. 1872)
1950 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor and singer (b. 1883)
1955 – Theda Bara, American actress (b. 1885)
1956 – Fred Appleby, English runner (b. 1879)
1960 – Henri Guisan, Swiss general (b. 1874)
1965 – Roger Leger, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
1966 – Walt Hansgen, American race car driver (b. 1919)
1968 – Edwin Baker, Canadian co-founder of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) (b. 1893)
1968 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
1972 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (b. 1929)
1972 – Abeid Karume, Tanzanian politician, 1st President of Zanzibar (b. 1905)
1981 – Kit Lambert, English record producer and manager (b. 1935)
1981 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (b. 1899)
1982 – Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (b. 1948)
1984 – Frank Church, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1924)
1985 – Carl Schmitt, German philosopher and jurist (b. 1888)
1986 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist (b. 1912)
1990 – Ronald Evans, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933)
1991 – Memduh Ünlütürk, Turkish general (b. 1913)
1992 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1903)
1992 – Antonis Tritsis, Greek high jumper and politician, 71st Mayor of Athens (b. 1937)
1994 – Lee Brilleaux, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
1994 – Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic footballer, manager, and politician (b. 1923)
1994 – Golo Mann, German historian and author (b. 1909)
1994 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Rwandan chemist, academic, and politician, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
1995 – Philip Jebb, English architect and politician (b. 1927)
1997 – Luis Aloma, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1923)
1997 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1935)
1998 – Alex Schomburg, Puerto Rican-American painter and illustrator (b. 1905)
1999 – Heinz Lehmann, German-Canadian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1911)
2001 – David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
2001 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
2002 – John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
2003 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French pianist and author (b. 1903)
2003 – David Greene, English-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2004 – Victor Argo, American actor (b. 1934)
2004 – Konstantinos Kallias, Greek politician (b. 1901)
2005 – Cliff Allison, English race car driver (b. 1932)
2005 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
2005 – Bob Kennedy, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
2005 – Melih Kibar, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1951)
2007 – Johnny Hart, American author and illustrator (b. 1931)
2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
2008 – Ludu Daw Amar, Burmese journalist and author (b. 1915)
2009 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1947)
2011 – Pierre Gauvreau, Canadian painter (b. 1922)
2012 – Steven Kanumba, Tanzanian actor and director (b. 1984)
2012 – Satsue Mito, Japanese zoologist and academic (b. 1914)
2012 – Ignatius Moses I Daoud, Syrian cardinal (b. 1930)
2012 – David E. Pergrin, American colonel and engineer (b. 1917)
2012 – Bashir Ahmed Qureshi, Pakistani politician (b. 1959)
2012 – Mike Wallace, American television news journalist (b. 1918)
2013 – Marty Blake, American businessman (b. 1927)
2013 – Les Blank, American director and producer (b. 1935)
2013 – Andy Johns, English-American record producer (b. 1950)
2013 – Lilly Pulitzer, American fashion designer (b. 1931)
2013 – Irma Ravinale, Italian composer and educator (b. 1937)
2013 – Mickey Rose, American screenwriter (b. 1935)
2013 – Carl Williams, American boxer (b. 1959)
2014 – George Dureau, American painter and photographer (b. 1930)
2014 – James Alexander Green, American-English mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
2014 – V. K. Murthy, Indian cinematographer (b. 1923)
2014 – Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan-American computer programmer (b. 1952)
2014 – John Shirley-Quirk, English opera singer (b. 1931)
2014 – George Shuffler, American guitarist (b. 1925)
2014 – Josep Maria Subirachs, Spanish sculptor and painter (b. 1927)
2014 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1942)
2015 – Tim Babcock, American soldier and politician, 16th Governor of Montana (b. 1919)
2015 – José Capellán, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1981)
2015 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (b. 1926)
2015 – Richard Henyekane, South African footballer (b. 1983)
2015 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (b. 1935)
2016 – Blackjack Mulligan, American professional wrestler (b. 1942)
2019 – Seymour Cassel, American actor (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances on April 7

Christian feast days:
- Aibert of Crespin
- Blessed Alexander Rawlins
- Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley
- Blessed Notker the Stammerer
- Brynach
- Hegesippus
- Henry Walpole
- Hermann Joseph
- Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
- Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow (Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church (USA))
- April 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag Day (Slovenia)
Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda), and its related observance:
- International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (United Nations)
Motherhood and Beauty Day (Armenia)
National Beer Day (United States)
Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
Women’s Day (Mozambique)
World Health Day (International observance)

April 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 6 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, an illegitimate son of Peter I of Portugal, is made king John I of Portugal.
1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.
1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America’s first millionaire.
1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.
1841 – U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison’s death.
1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.
1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan’s debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor’s Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign.
1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
1869 – Celluloid is patented.
1888 – Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
1893 – Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London, after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary’s claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.
1911 – During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).
1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson’s address to Congress).
1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
1929 – Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”
1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Slater’s Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.
1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
1968 – In Richmond, Indiana’s downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
1968 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Leadership Election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon after.
1970 – Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Waterloo”, launching their international career.
1979 – Student protests break out in Nepal.
1984 – Members of Cameroon’s Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
1992 – The Bosnian War begins.
1994 – The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
1997 – In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occurs when a group of young people abduct and kidnap a religious family before shooting them dead on a rural suburban road.
1998 – Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
2008 – The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.
2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L’Aquila, Italy, killing 307.
2010 – Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.
2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.
2012 – Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.
2017 – U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an “aggression”, adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.
2018 – A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.

Births on April 6

1135 – Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer (March 30 also proposed, d. 1204)
1342 – Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa
1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
1573 – Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, German noble (d. 1643)
1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria (d. 1649)
1651 – André Dacier, French scholar and academic (d. 1722)
1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician, Governor of Västerbotten County (d. 1742)
1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (d. 1741)
1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (d. 1749)
1706 – Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and composer (d. 1759)
1708 – Johann Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1772)
1725 – Pasquale Paoli, French soldier and politician (d. 1807)
1726 – Gerard Majella, Italian saint (d. 1755)
1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (d. 1794)
1766 – Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter and educator (d. 1853)
1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (d. 1836)
1787 – Celestina Cordero, Puerto Rican educator (d. 1862)
1810 – Philip Henry Gosse, English biologist and academic (d. 1888)
1812 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (d. 1870)
1815 – Robert Volkmann, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1883)
1818 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian journalist and poet (d. 1870)
1820 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (d. 1910)
1823 – Joseph Medill, Canadian-American publisher and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
1824 – George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906)
1826 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (d. 1898)
1844 – William Lyne, Australian politician, 13th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1913)
1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (d. 1932)
1852 – Will Crooks, English trade unionist and politician (d. 1921)
1855 – Charles Huot, Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1930)
1857 – Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (d. 1922)
1860 – René Lalique, French sculptor and jewellery designer (d. 1945)
1861 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet and author (d. 1897)
1864 – William Bate Hardy, English biologist and academic (d. 1934)
1866 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (d. 1931)
1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1951)
1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1934)
1881 – Karl Staaf, Swedish pole vaulter and hammer thrower (d. 1953)
1884 – J. G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh race car driver and engineer (d. 1927)
1886 – Athenagoras I of Constantinople (d. 1972)
1886 – Walter Dandy, American physician and neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Indian ruler (d. 1967)
1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, and director (d. 1976)
1888 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (d. 1967)
1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (d. 1939)
1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (d. 1981)
1892 – Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (d. 1981)
1895 – Dudley Nichols, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1960)
1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter and author (d. 1920)
1900 – Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (d. 1984)
1901 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist (d. 1925)
1902 – Julien Torma, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
1903 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (d. 1962)
1903 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (d. 1990)
1904 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany (d. 1988)
1904 – Erwin Komenda, Austrian car designer and engineer (d. 1966)
1908 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Canadian preacher, missionary, and author (d. 1994)
1909 – William M. Branham, American minister and theologian (d. 1965)
1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
1910 – Barys Kit, Belarusian-American rocket scientist (d. 2018)
1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1913 – Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, American geographer and academic (d. 1993)
1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (d. 1990)
1916 – Phil Leeds, American actor (d. 1998)
1916 – Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist and author (d. 1987)
1917 – Leonora Carrington, English-Mexican painter and author (d. 2011)
1918 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
1919 – Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician, 11th Greek Minister of Culture (d. 1998)
1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009)
1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1921 – Wilbur Thompson, American shot putter (d. 2013)
1922 – Gordon Chater, English-Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
1923 – Herb Thomas, American race car driver (d. 2000)
1926 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (d. 1990)
1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
1926 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish evangelical minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2014)
1926 – Randy Weston, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 2018)
1927 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1996)
1928 – James Watson, American biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1929 – Willis Hall, English playwright and author (d. 2005)
1929 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress and nightclub singer (d. 1972)
1929 – André Previn, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
1931 – Ram Dass, American author and educator (d. 2019)
1931 – Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
1932 – Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor and director (d. 2004)
1933 – Roy Goode, English lawyer and academic
1933 – Tom C. Korologos, American journalist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Belgium
1933 – Eduardo Malapit, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of Kauai (d. 2007)
1934 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (d. 1996)
1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist and wrestler (d. 2010)
1934 – Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, illustrator, and photographer (d. 2008)
1935 – Douglas Hill, Canadian author and critic (d. 2007)
1936 – Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli painter and illustrator
1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist, biologist, and academic
1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1937 – Tom Veivers, Australian cricketer and politician
1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer
1938 – Paul Daniels, English magician and television host (d. 2016)
1938 – Roy Thinnes, American television and film actor
1939 – André Ouellet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1939 – John Sculley, American businessman, co-founded Zeta Interactive
1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican journalist, author, and poet
1940 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (d. 2011)
1941 – Christopher Allsopp, English economist and academic
1941 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1941 – Hans W. Geißendörfer, German director and producer
1941 – Don Prudhomme, American race car driver and manager
1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer
1942 – Barry Levinson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress, and fashion designer (d. 2017)
1943 – Max Clifford, English journalist and publicist (d. 2017)
1943 – Roger Cook, New Zealand-English journalist and academic
1943 – Ian MacRae, New Zealand rugby player
1943 – Mitchell Melton, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1944 – Felicity Palmer, English operatic soprano
1945 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade union leader (d. 2017)
1945 – Peter Hill, English journalist
1946 – Paul Beresford, New Zealand-English dentist and politician
1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor and director
1947 – André Weinfeld, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter
1947 – Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist
1949 – Alyson Bailes, English academic and diplomat (d. 2016)
1949 – Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter
1949 – Ng Ser Miang, Singaporean athlete, entrepreneur and diplomat
1949 – Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Claire Morissette, Canadian cycling activist (d. 2007)
1950 – Cleo Odzer, American anthropologist and author (d. 2001)
1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-American baseball player and sportscaster
1951 – Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer, and pilot (d. 1990)
1951 – Pascal Rogé, French pianist
1951 – Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian
1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter
1952 – Marilu Henner, Greek-Polish American actress and author
1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1992)
1953 – Patrick Doyle, Scottish actor and composer
1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter
1955 – Rob Epstein, American director and producer
1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor, director, and producer
1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian actress, comedian, and writer
1956 – Michele Bachmann, American lawyer and politician
1956 – Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (d. 2013)
1956 – Mudassar Nazar, Pakistani cricketer
1956 – Lee Scott, English politician
1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinian-American painter and journalist
1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and coach
1957 – Giorgio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
1957 – Maurizio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
1957 – Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano and educator
1957 – Paolo Nespoli, Italian soldier, engineer, and astronaut
1958 – Graeme Base, Australian author and illustrator
1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician
1960 – Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Richard Loe, New Zealand rugby player
1960 – John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish actor and screenwriter
1961 – Peter Jackson, English footballer and manager
1962 – Iris Häussler, German sculptor and academic
1962 – Marco Schällibaum, Swiss footballer, coach, and manager
1963 – Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian economist and politician, 54th President of Ecuador
1965 – Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Sterling Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
1966 – Vince Flynn, American author (d. 2013)
1966 – Young Man Kang, South Korean-American director and producer
1967 – Julian Anderson, English composer and educator
1967 – Kathleen Barr, Canadian voice actress and singer
1967 – Tanya Byron, English psychologist and academic
1967 – Jonathan Firth, English actor
1968 – Archon Fung, American political scientist, author, and academic
1968 – Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian race car driver
1969 – Bret Boone, American baseball player and manager
1969 – Bison Dele, American basketball player (d. 2002)
1969 – Philipp Peter, Austrian race car driver
1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor
1969 – Spencer Wells, American geneticist and anthropologist
1970 – Olaf Kölzig, South African-German ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1970 – Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
1972 – Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter
1972 – Dickey Simpkins, American basketball player and sportscaster
1973 – Donnie Edwards, American football player
1973 – Randall Godfrey, American football player
1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese model and actress
1973 – Sun Wen, Chinese footballer
1975 – Zach Braff, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1975 – Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress and talk show panelist
1976 – James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1976 – Chris Hoke, American football player
1976 – Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player
1976 – Hirotada Ototake, Japanese author and educator
1977 – Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player
1977 – Andy Phillips, American baseball player and coach
1978 – Imani Coppola, American singer-songwriter and violinist
1978 – Robert Glasper, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1978 – Tim Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
1978 – Myleene Klass, Austrian/Filipino-English singer, pianist, and model
1978 – Martín Méndez, Uruguayan bass player and songwriter
1978 – Blaine Neal, American baseball player
1978 – Igor Semshov, Russian footballer
1979 – Lord Frederick Windsor, English journalist and financier
1979 – Clay Travis, American sports journalist, blogger, and broadcaster
1980 – Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper
1980 – Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish skier
1980 – Antonio Thomas, American wrestler
1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer
1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player
1981 – Alex Suarez, American bass player
1982 – Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Spanish actor
1983 – Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer
1983 – Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
1983 – Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress
1983 – James Wade, English darts player
1983 – Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter
1984 – Michaël Ciani, French footballer
1984 – Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
1984 – Diana Matheson, Canadian soccer player
1985 – Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Frank Ongfiang, Cameroonian footballer
1985 – Sinqua Walls, American basketball player and actor
1986 – Nikolas Asprogenis, Cypriot footballer
1986 – Aaron Curry, American football player
1986 – Goeido Gotaro, Japanese sumo wrestler
1986 – Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer
1987 – Benjamin Corgnet, French footballer
1987 – Heidi Mount, American model
1987 – Juan Adriel Ochoa, Mexican footballer
1987 – Levi Porter, English footballer
1987 – Hilary Rhoda, American model
1988 – Jucilei, Brazilian footballer
1988 – Leigh Adams, Australian footballer
1988 – Daniele Gasparetto, Italian footballer
1988 – Carlton Mitchell, American football player
1988 – Fabrice Muamba, Congolese-English footballer
1988 – Ivonne Orsini, Puerto Rican-American model and television host, Miss World Puerto Rico 2008
1990 – Lachlan Coote, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Charlie McDermott, American actor
1990 – Andrei Veis, Estonian footballer
1992 – Ken, South Korean singer
1992 – Julie Ertz, American soccer player
1994 – Adrián Alonso, Mexican actor
1995 – Darya Lebesheva, Belarusian tennis player
1998 – Peyton List, American actress and model

Deaths on April 6

861 – Prudentius, bishop of Troyes
885 – Saint Methodius, Byzantine missionary and saint (b. 815)
887 – Pei Che, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
943 – Liu Churang, Chinese general and chief of staff (b. 881)
943 – Nasr II, ruler (amir) of the Samanid Empire (b. 906)
1147 – Frederick II, duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
1199 – Richard I, king of England (b. 1157)
1231 – William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
1250 – Guillaume de Sonnac, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
1252 – Peter of Verona, Italian priest and saint (b. 1206)
1340 – Basil, emperor of Trebizond (Turkey)
1362 – James I, count of La Marche (b. 1319)
1376 – Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (b. 1310)
1490 – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490 (b. 1443)
1520 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
1523 – Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1479)
1528 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (b. 1471)
1551 – Joachim Vadian, Swiss scholar and politician (b. 1484)
1571 – John Hamilton, Scottish archbishop and academic (b. 1512)
1590 – Francis Walsingham, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1532)
1593 – Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and separatist (b. 1550)
1605 – John Stow, English historian and author (b. 1525)
1621 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (b. 1539)
1641 – Domenico Zampieri (Domenichino), Italian painter (b. 1581)
1655 – David Blondel, French minister, historian, and scholar (b. 1591)
1676 – John Winthrop the Younger, English politician, 1st Governor of Connecticut (b. 1606)
1686 – Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Irish-English politician (b. 1614)
1707 – Willem van de Velde the Younger, Dutch-English painter (b. 1633)
1755 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (b. 1690)
1790 – Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter and educator (b. 1757)
1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (b. 1802)
1833 – Adamantios Korais, Greek philosopher and scholar (b. 1748)
1838 – José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian poet, academic, and politician (b. 1763)
1860 – James Kirke Paulding, American author and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1778)
1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (b. 1803)
1883 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
1886 – William Edward Forster, English businessman, philanthropist, and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1818)
1899 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (b. 1809)
1906 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician, 6th County Governor of Møre og Romsdal (b. 1849)
1913 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (b. 1835)
1923 – Kabalega, King of Bunyoro (b.1853)
1927 – Florence Earle Coates, American poet (b. 1850)
1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet and playwright (b. 1869)
1944 – Rose O’Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (b. 1874)
1947 – Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (b. 1896)
1950 – Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (b. 1882)
1953 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet and author (b. 1905)
1959 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (b. 1895)
1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
1963 – Otto Struve, Ukrainian-American astronomer and academic (b. 1897)
1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1882)
1974 – Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (b. 1895)
1977 – Kōichi Kido, Japanese politician, 13th Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (b. 1889)
1979 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (b. 1893)
1983 – Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian General who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. (b. 1908)
1992 – Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer (b. 1920)
1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan banker and politician, 3rd President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (b. 1955)
1995 – Ioannis Alevras, Greek banker and politician, President of Greece (b. 1912)
1996 – Greer Garson, English-American actress (b. 1904)
1998 – Norbert Schmitz, German footballer (b. 1958)
1998 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
1999 – Red Norvo, American vibraphone player and composer (b. 1908)
2000 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian politician, 1st President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
2001 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer-songwriter (b. 1963)
2003 – David Bloom, American journalist (b. 1963)
2003 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and educator; founded Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (b. 1949)
2003 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
2003 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, educator, and activist (b. 1927)
2004 – Lou Berberet, American baseball player (b. 1929)
2004 – Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (b. 1929)
2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
2006 – Maggie Dixon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1977)
2006 – Francis L. Kellogg, American soldier and diplomat (b. 1917)
2006 – Stefanos Stratigos, Greek actor and director (b. 1926)
2007 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and producer (b. 1916)
2009 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1919)
2009 – Shawn Mackay, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1982)
2010 – Wilma Mankiller, American tribal leader (b. 1945)
2010 – Corin Redgrave, English actor (b. 1939)
2011 – Gerald Finnerman, American director and cinematographer (b. 1931)
2012 – Roland Guilbault, American admiral (b. 1934)
2012 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter and illustrator (b. 1958)
2012 – Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist and academic (b. 1936)
2012 – Sheila Scotter, Australian fashion designer and journalist (b. 1920)
2012 – Reed Whittemore, American poet and critic (b. 1919)
2013 – Hilda Bynoe, Grenadian physician and politician, 2nd Governor of Grenada (b. 1921)
2013 – Bill Guttridge, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
2013 – Bigas Luna, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1946)
2013 – Ottmar Schreiner, German lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
2014 – Mary Anderson, American actress (b. 1918)
2014 – Jacques Castérède, French pianist and composer (b. 1926)
2014 – Liv Dommersnes, Norwegian actress (b. 1922)
2014 – Mickey Rooney, American soldier, actor, and dancer (b. 1920)
2014 – Chuck Stone, American soldier, journalist, and academic (b. 1924)
2014 – Massimo Tamburini, Italian motorcycle designer, co-founded Bimota (b. 1943)
2015 – Giovanni Berlinguer, Italian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
2015 – James Best, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2015 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1918)
2015 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
2016 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
2017 – Don Rickles, American actor and comedian (b. 1926)
2019 – Michael O’Donnell, British physician, journalist, author and broadcaster (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on April 6

Chakri Day, commemorating the establishment of the Chakri dynasty. (Thailand)
Christian feast day:
- Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach (Lutheran Church).
- Brychan
- Eutychius of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Marcellinus of Carthage
- Pope Celestine I (Catholic Church)
- Pope Sixtus I
- April 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
National Fisherman Day (Indonesia)
New Beer’s Eve (United States)
Tartan Day (United States & Canada)

April 6 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 20- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

Typically the March equinox falls on March 20, marking the vernal point in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumnal point in the Southern Hemisphere.

235 – Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed emperor.
673 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka.
1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
1600 – The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly beheaded in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598–1599).
1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established.
1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.
1760 – The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings.
1815 – After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
1848 – German revolutions of 1848–49: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published.
1854 – The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin, US.
1861 – An earthquake destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
1883 – The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is signed.
1888 – The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.
1890 – Prime Minister of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck is dismissed by Emperor Wilhelm II.
1896 – With the approval of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing dynasty post office is opened, marking the beginning of a postal service in China.
1913 – Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
1915 – Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.
1921 – The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland.
1922 – The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
1923 – The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso’s first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States.
1933 – Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appointed Theodor Eicke as the camp commandant.
1942 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: “I came out of Bataan and I shall return”.
1948 – With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.
1951 – Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.
1952 – The US Senate ratifies the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan.
1956 – Tunisia gains independence from France.
1964 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
1972 – The Troubles: The first Provisional IRA car bombing in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland.
1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
1985 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.
1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
1990 – Ferdinand Marcos’s widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
1993 – The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland.
1995 – The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 and wounding over 6,200 people.
1999 – Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US.
2000 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after murdering Georgia sheriff’s deputy Ricky Kinchen and critically wounding Deputy Aldranon English.
2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries (the UK, Australia and Poland) begin military operations in Iraq.
2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.
2012 – At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq.
2014 – Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.
2015 – A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day.

Births on March 20

43 BC – Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)
1253 – Magadu, renamed Wareru, founder of Ramanya Kingdom, renamed Hanthawady Kingdom of Pegu (b. a commoner; d. on a Saturday in January 1307)
1319 – Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (d. 1348)
1469 – Cecily of York (d. 1507)
1477 – Jerome Emser, German theologian and scholar (d. 1527)
1479 – Ippolito d’Este, Italian cardinal (d. 1520)
1502 – Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (d. 1575)
1532 – Juan de Ribera, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1611)
1612 – Anne Bradstreet, Puritan American poet (d. 1672)
1615 – Dara Shikoh, Indian prince (d. 1659)
1639 – Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1709)
1725 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (d. 1789)
1737 – Rama I, Thai king (d. 1809)
1771 – Heinrich Clauren, German author (d. 1854)
1796 – Edward Gibbon Wakefield, English politician (d. 1862)
1799 – Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet and author (d. 1839)
1800 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, President of Costa Rica (d. 1845)
1805 – Thomas Cooper, British poet (d. 1892)
1811 – Napoleon II, French emperor (d. 1832)
1811 – George Caleb Bingham, American painter and politician, State Treasurer of Missouri (d. 1879)
1821 – Ned Buntline, American journalist, author, and publisher (d. 1886)
1824 – Theodor von Heuglin, German explorer and ornithologist (d. 1876)
1828 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet, playwright, and director (d. 1906)
1831 – Patrick Jennings, Northern Irish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1897)
1831 – Solomon L. Spink, American lawyer and politician (d. 1881)
1834 – Charles William Eliot, American mathematician and academic (d. 1926)
1836 – Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1886)
1836 – Edward Poynter, English painter, illustrator, and curator (d. 1919)
1840 – Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (d. 1894)
1851 – Ismail Gasprinski, Ukrainian educator, publisher, and politician (d. 1914)
1856 – John Lavery, Irish painter (d. 1941)
1856 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American tennis player and engineer (d. 1915)
1870 – Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (d. 1964)
1874 – Börries von Münchhausen, German poet and activist (d. 1945)
1876 – Payne Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1927)
1879 – Maud Menten, Canadian physician and biochemist (d. 1960)
1882 – René Coty, French lawyer and politician, 17th President of France (d. 1962)
1882 – Harold Weber, American golfer (d. 1933)
1884 – Philipp Frank, Austrian-American physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1966)
1884 – John Jensen, Australian public servant (d. 1970)
1885 – Vernon Ransford, Australian cricketer (d. 1958)
1888 – Amanda Clement, American baseball player, umpire, and educator (d. 1971)
1890 – Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor and actor (d. 1973)
1894 – Amalie Sara Colquhoun, Australian landscape and portrait painter (d. 1974)
1895 – Fredric Wertham, German-American psychologist and author (d. 1981)
1898 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (d. 1954)
1900 – Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia’s first female physician (d. 1942)
1903 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (d. 1979)
1904 – B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and author (d. 1990)
1905 – Jean Galia, French rugby player and boxer (d. 1949)
1906 – Abraham Beame, American accountant and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (d. 2001)
1906 – Ozzie Nelson, American actor and bandleader (d. 1975)
1907 – Hugh MacLennan, Canadian author and educator (d. 1990)
1908 – Michael Redgrave, English actor and director (d. 1985)
1910 – Erwin Blask, German hammer thrower (d. 1999)
1911 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican lawyer and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1912 – Ralph Hauenstein, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
1913 – Nikolai Stepulov, Russian-Estonian boxer (d. 1968)
1914 – Wendell Corey, American actor and politician (d. 1968)
1915 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (d. 2000)
1915 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist and composer (d. 1997)
1915 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1973)
1916 – Pierre Messmer, French lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
1917 – Vera Lynn, English singer, songwriter and actress (d. 2020)
1917 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1984)
1918 – Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (d. 1984)
1918 – Donald Featherstone, English soldier and author (d. 2013)
1918 – Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (d. 2013)
1918 – Bernd Alois Zimmermann, German composer (d. 1970)
1919 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter ace (d. 1983)
1920 – Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (d. 1997)
1920 – Rosemary Timperley, English author and screenwriter (d. 1988)
1921 – Usmar Ismail, Indonesian filmmaker (d. 1971)
1921 – Dušan Pirjevec, Slovenian historian and philosopher (d. 1977)
1921 – Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and theorist (d. 1970)
1922 – Larry Elgart, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2017)
1922 – Ray Goulding, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1922 – Carl Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
1923 – Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1923 – Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
1925 – John Ehrlichman, American lawyer, 12th White House Counsel (d. 1999)
1927 – John Joubert, South African-English composer and academic (d. 2019)
1928 – Jerome Biffle, American long jumper and coach (d. 2002)
1928 – James P. Gordon, American physicist and engineer (d. 2013)
1928 – Fred Rogers, American television host and producer (d. 2003)
1929 – William Andrew MacKay, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
1929 – Germán Robles, Spanish-Mexican actor and director (d. 2015)
1930 – S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (d. 1998)
1931 – Hal Linden, American actor, singer, and director
1931 – Rein Raamat, Estonian director and screenwriter
1933 – Lateef Adegbite, Nigerian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
1933 – George Altman, American baseball player
1933 – Ian Walsh, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2013)
1934 – Willie Brown, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Mayor of San Francisco
1934 – David Malouf, Australian author and playwright
1935 – Ted Bessell, American actor and director (d. 1996)
1935 – Bettye Washington Greene, American chemist (d. 1995)
1936 – Lee “Scratch” Perry, Jamaican singer, songwriter, music producer, and inventor
1936 – Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge
1937 – Lois Lowry, American author
1937 – Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2008)
1938 – Sergei Novikov, Russian mathematician and academic
1939 – Gerald Curran, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1939 – Don Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1939 – Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss biologist and academic (d. 2014)
1939 – Brian Mulroney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Canada
1940 – Stathis Chaitas, Greek footballer and manager
1940 – Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer and journalist (d. 2015)
1940 – Giampiero Moretti, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded the Momo company (d. 2012)
1941 – Pat Corrales, American baseball player and manager
1941 – Kenji Kimihara, Japanese runner
1943 – Gerard Malanga, American poet and photographer
1943 – Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings (d. 2015)
1943 – Paul Junger Witt, American director and producer (d. 2018)
1944 – John Cameron, English composer and conductor
1944 – Camille Cosby, American author, producer, and philanthropist
1944 – Alan Harper, English-Irish archbishop
1945 – Henry Bartholomay, American soldier and pilot (d. 2015)
1945 – Jay Ingram, Canadian television host and author
1945 – Pat Riley, American basketball player and coach
1945 – Tim Yeo, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Health
1946 – Douglas B. Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1946 – Malcolm Simmons, English motorcycle racer (d. 2014)
1947 – John Boswell, American historian, philologist, and academic (d. 1994)
1948 – John de Lancie, American actor
1948 – Bobby Orr, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1948 – Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1949 – Marcia Ball, American blues singer-songwriter and pianist
1949 – Richard Dowden, English journalist and educator
1950 – William Hurt, American actor
1950 – Carl Palmer, English drummer, percussionist, and songwriter
1951 – Jimmie Vaughan, American blues-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Geoff Brabham, Australian race car driver
1952 – David Greenaway, English economist and academic
1953 – Phil Judd, New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter
1954 – Mike Francesa, American radio talk show host and television commentator
1954 – Liana Kanelli, Greek journalist and politician
1954 – Paul Mirabella, American baseball player
1955 – Nina Kiriki Hoffman, American author
1955 – Ian Moss, Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter
1955 – Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
1956 – Catherine Ashton, English politician, Vice-President of the European Commission
1956 – Anne Donahue, American lawyer and politician
1956 – Naoto Takenaka, Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director
1957 – Vanessa Bell Calloway, American actress
1957 – David Foster, Australian woodchopper
1957 – Spike Lee, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Theresa Russell, American actress
1957 – Chris Wedge, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor
1958 – Holly Hunter, American actress and producer
1958 – Rickey Jackson, American football player
1958 – Joe Reaiche, Australian rugby player
1959 – Dave Beasant, English footballer and coach
1959 – Mary Roach, American author
1959 – Sting, American wrestler
1959 – Peter Truscott, Baron Truscott, British Labour Party politician and peer
1960 – Norm Magnusson, American painter and sculptor
1960 – Norbert Pohlmann, German computer scientist and academic
1960 – Yuri Shargin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut
1961 – Ingrid Arndt-Brauer, German politician
1961 – Jesper Olsen, Danish footballer and manager
1961 – Sara Wheeler, English author and journalist
1962 – Stephen Sommers, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1963 – Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach
1963 – Kathy Ireland, American model, actress, and furniture designer
1963 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (d. 2007)
1963 – David Thewlis, English-French actor, director, and screenwriter
1964 – Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer-songwriter
1965 – William Dalrymple, Scottish historian and author
1967 – Xavier Beauvois, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1967 – Mookie Blaylock, American basketball player
1968 – Carlos Almeida, Cape Verdean runner
1968 – A. J. Jacobs, American journalist and author
1968 – Paul Merson, English footballer and manager
1968 – Ultra Naté, American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter
1969 – Yvette Cooper, English economist and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
1969 – Fabien Galthie, French rugby player
1970 – Edoardo Ballerini, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Josephine Medina, Filipino Paralympic table tennis player
1970 – sj Miller, American academic, public speaker, and social justice activist
1970 – Michael Rapaport, American actor, podcast host, and director
1971 – Manny Alexander, Dominican baseball player
1971 – Touré, American journalist and author
1972 – Chilly Gonzales, Canadian-German singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1972 – Alex Kapranos, English-Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1972 – Greg Searle, English rower
1972 – Marco Sejna, German footballer
1972 – Cristel Vahtra, Estonian skier
1973 – Nicky Boje, South African cricketer
1973 – Natalya Khrushcheleva, Russian runner
1973 – Talal Khalifa Aljeri, Kuwaiti businessman
1974 – Carsten Ramelow, German footballer
1975 – Ramin Bahrani, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1975 – Isolde Kostner, Italian skier
1976 – Chester Bennington, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2017)
1978 – Kevin Betsy, English born Seychelles international footballer, midfielder and manager
1978 – Brent Sherwin, Australian rugby league player
1979 – Shinnosuke Abe, Japanese baseball player
1979 – Freema Agyeman, English actress
1979 – Keven Mealamu, New Zealand rugby player
1980 – Jamal Crawford, American basketball player
1980 – Robertas Javtokas, Lithuanian basketball player
1981 – Ian Murray, Scottish footballer
1981 – Carl Webb, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Terrence Duffin, Zimbabwean cricketer
1982 – Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish footballer
1982 – José Moreira, Portuguese footballer
1983 – Carolina Padrón, Venezuelan journalist
1983 – Jenni Vartiainen, Finnish singer
1984 – Vikram Banerjee, English cricketer
1984 – Christy Carlson Romano, American actress and singer
1984 – Fernando Torres, Spanish footballer
1985 – Morgan Amalfitano, French footballer
1985 – Ronnie Brewer, American basketball player
1985 – Nicolas Lombaerts, Belgian footballer
1986 – Dean Geyer, South African-Australian singer-songwriter and actor
1986 – Julián Magallanes, Argentinian footballer
1986 – Ruby Rose, Australian actress and model
1986 – Román Torres, Panamanian footballer
1987 – Daniel Maa Boumsong, Cameroonian footballer
1987 – Jô, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Pedro Ken, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
1989 – Xavier Dolan, Canadian actor and director
1989 – Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi Cricketer
1990 – Blake Ferguson, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Marcos Rojo, Argentine footballer
1991 – Mattia Destro, Italian footballer
1991 – Michał Kucharczyk, Polish footballer
1991 – Ethan Lowe, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Sloane Stephens, American tennis player
1995 – Jack Bird, Australian rugby league player

Deaths on March 20

687 – Cuthbert, Northumbrian (English) monk, bishop, and saint (b. 634)
703 – Wulfram, archbishop of Sens
842 – Alfonso II, king of Asturias (Spain) (b. 759)
851 – Ebbo, archbishop of Reims
1181 – Taira no Kiyomori, Japanese general (b. 1118)
1191 – Pope Clement III (b. 1130)
1239 – Hermann von Salza, German knight and diplomat (b. 1179)
1302 – Ralph Walpole, Bishop of Norwich
1336 – Maurice Csák, Hungarian Dominican friar (b. 1270)
1351 – Muhammad bin Tughluq, Sultan of Delhi
1390 – Alexios III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1338)
1413 – Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
1440 – Sigismund I of Lithuania
1475 – Georges Chastellain, Burgundian chronicler and poet
1549 – Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, English general and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1508)
1568 – Albert, Duke of Prussia (b. 1490)
1619 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1557)
1673 – Augustyn Kordecki, Polish monk (b. 1603)
1688 – Maria of Orange-Nassau, Dutch princess (b. 1642)
1730 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
1746 – Nicolas de Largillière, French painter and academic (b. 1656)
1780 – Benjamin Truman, English brewer and businessman (b. 1699)
1793 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1705)
1835 – Louis Léopold Robert, French painter (b. 1794)
1849 – James Justinian Morier, Turkish-English author and diplomat (b. 1780)
1855 – Joseph Aspdin, English businessman (b. 1788)
1865 – Yamanami Keisuke, Japanese samurai (b. 1833)
1874 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (b. 1810)
1878 – Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (b. 1814)
1894 – Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian lawyer, journalist and politician (b. 1802)
1897 – Apollon Maykov, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1821)
1899 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and author (b. 1822)
1909 – Friedrich Amelung, Estonian historian and businessman (b. 1842)
1918 – Lewis A. Grant, American general and lawyer (b. 1828)
1925 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (b. 1859)
1929 – Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal (b. 1851)
1930 – Arthur F. Andrews, American cyclist (b. 1876)
1931 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
1933 – Giuseppe Zangara, Italian-American assassin of Anton Cermak (b. 1900; executed)
1940 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
1945 – Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (b. 1883)
1946 – Amadeus William Grabau, American-Chinese geologist, paleontologist, and academic (b. 1870)
1947 – Sigurd Wallén, Swedish actor and director (b. 1884)
1952 – Hjalmar Väre, Finnish cyclist (b. 1892)
1958 – Adegoke Adelabu, Nigerian merchant, journalist, and politician (b. 1915)
1964 – Brendan Behan, Irish republican and playwright (b. 1923)
1965 – Daniel Frank, American long jumper (b. 1882)
1966 – Johnny Morrison, American baseball player (b. 1895)
1968 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (b. 1889)
1969 – Henri Longchambon, French politician (b. 1896)
1971 – Falih Rıfkı Atay, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1894)
1972 – Marilyn Maxwell, American actress (b. 1921)
1974 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (b. 1911)
1977 – Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, English politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1909)
1977 – Terukuni Manzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (b. 1919)
1978 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (b. 1895)
1981 – Gerry Bertier, American football player (b. 1953)
1983 – Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1891)
1990 – Maurice Cloche, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1907)
1990 – Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (b. 1929)
1992 – Georges Delerue, French composer (b. 1925)
1993 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
1994 – Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist (b. 1946)
1997 – V. S. Pritchett, English short story writer, essayist, and critic (b. 1900)
1999 – Patrick Heron, British painter (b. 1920)
2000 – Gene Eugene, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1961)
2001 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (b. 1949)
2004 – Juliana of the Netherlands (b. 1909)
2004 – Pierre Sévigny, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1917)
2005 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
2007 – Raynald Fréchette, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1933)
2007 – Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraqi politician, Vice President of Iraq (b. 1938)
2007 – Hawa Yakubu, Ghanaian politician (b. 1948)
2010 – Ai, American poet and academic (b. 1947)
2010 – Girija Prasad Koirala, Indian-Nepalese politician, 30th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1924)
2010 – Stewart Udall, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1920)
2011 – Johnny Pearson, English pianist, conductor, and composer (b. 1925)
2012 – Lincoln Hall, Australian mountaineer and author (b. 1955)
2012 – Noboru Ishiguro, Japanese animator and director (b. 1938)
2012 – Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, Polish-Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1910)
2012 – Jim Stynes, Irish-Australian footballer (b. 1966)
2013 – James Herbert, English author (b. 1943)
2013 – George Lowe, New Zealand-English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1924)
2013 – Zillur Rahman, Bangladeshi lawyer and politician, 19th President of Bangladesh (b. 1929)
2014 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (b. 1934)
2014 – Hilderaldo Bellini, Brazilian footballer (b. 1930)
2014 – Tonie Nathan, American politician (b. 1923)
2014 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (b. 1915)
2015 – Eva Burrows, Australian 13th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1929)
2015 – Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1930)
2016 – Anker Jørgensen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1922)
2017 – David Rockefeller, American billionaire and philanthropist (b. 1915)
2018 – C. K. Mann, a Ghanaian Highlife musician and producer (b. 1936)
2019 – Mary Warnock, English philosopher & writer (b. 1924)
2020 – Kenny Rogers, American singer (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on March 20

Christian feast day:
- Alexandra
- Blessed John of Parma
- Clement of Ireland
- Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
- Herbert of Derwentwater
- John of Nepomuk
- Józef Bilczewski
- María Josefa Sancho de Guerra
- Martin of Braga
- Michele Carcano
- Wulfram
- March 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest date for the vernal equinox in the Northern hemisphere:
- Bahá’í Naw-Rúz, started at sunset on March 20. The end of the 19-day sunrise-to-sunset fast. (Bahá’í Faith)
- Chunfen (China)
- Earth Equinox Day
- International Astrology Day
- New Year (Thelema)
- Nowruz (Persian, Gilaki, Kurdish, Zoroastrians, and other Iranian people and countries with an Iranian influence)
- Ostara in the northern hemisphere, Mabon in the southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year)
- Shunbun no Hi (Japan)
- Sun-Earth Day (United States)
- Vernal Equinox Day/Kōreisai (Japan)
- World Storytelling Day
Earliest day on which Good Friday can fall, while April 23 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Easter. (Christianity)
Great American Meatout (United States)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tunisia from France in 1956.
International Day of Happiness (United Nations)
International Francophonie Day (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie), and its related observances:
- UN French Language Day (United Nations)
National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
World Sparrow Day

March 20- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 19- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China.
1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.
1563 – The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots.
1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it “useless and dangerous to the people of England”.
1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
1812 – The Cortes of Cádiz promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
1853 – The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing its capital until 1864.
1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines, and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
1885 – Louis Riel declares a provisional government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.
1895 – Auguste and Louis Lumière record their first footage using their newly patented cinematograph.
1918 – The US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).
1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
1931 – Gambling is legalized in Nevada.
1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
1944 – World War II: The German army occupies Hungary.
1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the US under her own power.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his “Nero Decree” ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities, and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.
1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
1954 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in colour.
1954 – Willie Mosconi sets a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio, setting a record that remains unbroken.
1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
1962 – Highly influential artist Bob Dylan releases his first album, Bob Dylan, for Columbia Records.
1962 – The Algerian War of Independence ends.
1964 – Over 500,000 Brazilians attend the March of the Family with God for Liberty, in protest against the government of João Goulart and against communism.
1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.
1966 – 1965–66 Texas Western Miners men’s basketball team wins the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.
1969 – The 385-metre-tall (1,263 ft) TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.
1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.
1987 – Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.
1989 – The Egyptian flag is raised at Taba, marking the end of Israeli occupation since the Six Days War in 1967 and the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in 1979.
1990 – The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș begin four days after the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire.
1998 – An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Kabul International Airport, killing all 45 on board.
2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.
2004 – Catalina affair: A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work.
2004 – March 19 Shooting Incident: The Republic of China(Taiwan) president Chen Shui-bian was shot just before the country’s presidential election on March 20.
2008 – GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
2011 – Libyan Civil War: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces to take Benghazi, the French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.
2013 – A series of bombings and shootings kills at least 98 people and injures 240 others across Iraq.
2016 – Flydubai Flight 981 crashes while attempting to land at Rostov-on-Don international airport, killing all 62 on board.
2016 – An explosion occurs in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, killing five people and injuring 36.
2018 – The last male northern white rhinoceros, Sudan, dies, ensuring a chance of extinction for the species.

Births on March 19

1206 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1248)
1434 – Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1443)
1488 – Johannes Magnus, Swedish archbishop and theologian (d. 1544)
1534 – José de Anchieta, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1597)
1542 – Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (d. 1605)
1601 – Alonzo Cano, Spanish painter, sculptor, and architect (d. 1667)
1604 – John IV of Portugal (d. 1656)
1641 – Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Syrian author and scholar (d. 1731)
1661 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer and educator (d. 1727)
1684 – Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (d. 1766)
1721 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish-Italian poet and author (d. 1771) (baptised on this day)
1734 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1817)
1739 – Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, French lawyer and politician (d. 1824)
1742 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian rebel leader (d. 1781)
1748 – Elias Hicks, American farmer, minister, and theologian (d. 1830)
1778 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (d. 1815)
1809 – Fredrik Pacius, German composer and conductor (d. 1891)
1813 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
1816 – Johannes Verhulst, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1891)
1821 – Richard Francis Burton, English soldier, geographer, and diplomat (d. 1890)
1823 – Arthur Blyth, English-Australian politician, 9th Premier of South Australia (d. 1891)
1824 – William Allingham, Irish poet, author, and scholar (d. 1889)
1829 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish businessman (d. 1901)
1844 – Minna Canth, Finnish journalist, playwright, and activist (d. 1897)
1847 – Albert Pinkham Ryder, American painter (d. 1917)
1848 – Wyatt Earp, American police officer (d. 1929)
1849 – Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral and politician (d. 1930)
1858 – Kang Youwei, Chinese scholar and politician (d. 1927)
1860 – William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer and politician, 41st United States Secretary of State (d. 1925)
1861 – Lomer Gouin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Quebec (d. 1929)
1864 – Charles Marion Russell, American painter and sculptor (d. 1926)
1865 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist, myrmecologist, and academic (d. 1937)
1868 – Senda Berenson Abbott, Lithuanian-American basketball player and educator (d. 1954)
1871 – Schofield Haigh, English cricketer and coach (d. 1921)
1872 – Anna Held, Polish singer (d. 1918)
1873 – Max Reger, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1916)
1875 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese warlord (d. 1928)
1876 – Felix Jacoby, German philologist (d. 1959)
1880 – Ernestine Rose, American librarian and advocate (d. 1961)
1881 – Edith Nourse Rogers, American social worker and politician (d. 1960)
1882 – Gaston Lachaise, French-American sculptor (d. 1935)
1883 – Norman Haworth, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
1883 – Joseph Stilwell, American general (d. 1946)
1885 – Attik, Greek composer (d. 1944)
1888 – Josef Albers, German-American painter and educator (d. 1976)
1888 – Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (d. 1969)
1891 – Earl Warren, American lieutenant, jurist, and politician, 14th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1974)
1892 – Theodore Sizer, American professor of the history of art (d. 1967)
1892 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (d. 1961)
1892 – James Van Fleet, American general and diplomat (d. 1992)
1894 – Moms Mabley, American comedian and singer (d. 1975)
1900 – Carmen Carbonell, Spanish stage and film actress (d. 1988)
1900 – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1901 – Jo Mielziner, French-American set designer (d. 1976)
1904 – John Sirica, American lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
1905 – Joe Rollino, American weightlifter and boxer (d. 2010)
1905 – Albert Speer, German architect and politician (d. 1981)
1906 – Adolf Eichmann, German SS officer (d. 1962)
1906 – Clara Breed, American librarian and activist (d. 1994)
1909 – Louis Hayward, South African-born American actor (d. 1985)
1910 – Joseph Carroll, American general (d. 1991)
1912 – Hugh Watt, Australian-New Zealand engineer and politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1980)
1914 – Leonidas Alaoglu, Canadian-American mathematician and theorist (d. 1981)
1914 – Jay Berwanger, American football player and coach (d. 2002)
1915 – Robert G. Cole, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1944)
1915 – Patricia Morison, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
1916 – Eric Christmas, English-Canadian actor (d. 2000)
1916 – Irving Wallace, American journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1917 – Laszlo Szabo, Hungarian chess player (d. 1998)
1919 – Lennie Tristano, American pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1978)
1920 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author, poet, and painter (d. 2002)
1921 – Tommy Cooper, British magician and prop comedian (d. 1984)
1922 – Guy Lewis, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1922 – Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (d. 2014)
1923 – Pamela Britton, American actress (d. 1974)
1923 – Benito Jacovitti, Italian illustrator (d. 1997)
1923 – Henry Morgentaler, Polish-Canadian physician and activist (d. 2013)
1924 – Joe Gaetjens, Haitian footballer (d. 1964)
1925 – Brent Scowcroft, American general and diplomat, 9th United States National Security Advisor
1927 – Richie Ashburn, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
1928 – Hans Küng, Swiss theologian and author
1928 – Patrick McGoohan, Irish-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1931 – Emma Andijewska, Ukrainian poet, writer and painter
1932 – Gay Brewer, American golfer (d. 2007)
1932 – Peter Hall, English geographer, author, and academic (d. 2014)
1932 – Gail Kobe, American actress and producer (d. 2013)
1933 – Phyllis Newman, American actress and singer (d. 2019)
1933 – Philip Roth, American novelist (d. 2018)
1933 – Renée Taylor, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1933 – Richard Williams, Canadian-English animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 2019)
1935 – Nancy Malone, American actress, director, and producer (d. 2014)
1936 – Ursula Andress, Swiss model and actress
1936 – Ben Lexcen, Australian sailor and architect (d. 1988)
1937 – Clarence “Frogman” Henry, American R&B singer and pianist
1937 – Egon Krenz, German politician
1938 – Joe Kapp, American football player, coach, and actor
1942 – Heather Robertson, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2014)
1943 – Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Mario Monti, Italian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Italy
1943 – Vern Schuppan, Australian race car driver
1944 – Said Musa, Belizean lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Belize
1945 – John Holder, English cricketer and umpire
1945 – Modestas Paulauskas, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1946 – Ruth Pointer, American musician
1947 – Glenn Close, American actress, singer, and producer
1947 – Marinho Peres, Brazilian footballer and coach
1948 – David Schnitter, American saxophonist and educator
1949 – Blase J. Cupich, American theologian and cardinal
1950 – José S. Palma, Filipino archbishop
1952 – Warren Lees, New Zealand cricketer and coach
1952 – Martin Ravallion, Australian economist and academic
1952 – Harvey Weinstein, American director and producer
1953 – Ian Blair, English police officer
1953 – Peter Hendy, English businessman
1953 – Ricky Wilson, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1985)
1954 – Cho Kwang-rae, South Korean footballer, coach, and manager
1955 – Bruce Willis, German-American actor and producer
1956 – Yegor Gaidar, Russian economist and politician, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia (d. 2009)
1958 – Andy Reid, American football player and coach
1960 – Eliane Elias, Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist
1962 – Iván Calderón, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2003)
1963 – Neil LaBute, American director and screenwriter
1964 – Yoko Kanno, Japanese pianist and composer
1964 – Jake Weber, English actor
1966 – Michael Crockart, Scottish police officer and politician
1966 – Olaf Marschall, German footballer and manager
1966 – Andy Sinton, English international footballer, midfielder and manager
1967 – Vladimir Konstantinov, Russian-American ice hockey player
1968 – Tyrone Hill, American basketball player and coach
1970 – Harald Johnsen, Norwegian bassist and composer (d. 2011)
1970 – Michael Krumm, German race car driver
1973 – Ashley Giles, English cricketer and coach
1975 – Antonio Daniels, American basketball player
1975 – Matthew Richardson, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1976 – Andre Miller, American basketball player
1976 – Alessandro Nesta, Italian footballer and manager
1978 – Cydonie Mothersille, Jamaican-Caymanian sprinter
1979 – Sheldon Brown, American football player
1979 – Hee-seop Choi, South Korean-American baseball player
1979 – Ivan Ljubičić, Croatian tennis player
1979 – Christos Patsatzoglou, Greek footballer
1979 – Hedo Türkoğlu, Turkish basketball player
1980 – Luca Ferri, Italian footballer
1980 – Taichi Ishikari, Japanese wrestler
1980 – Mikuni Shimokawa, Japanese singer-songwriter
1981 – Steve Cummings, English cyclist
1981 – Kolo Touré, Ivorian footballer
1982 – Jonathan Fanene, American football player
1982 – Brad Jones, Australian footballer
1982 – Eduardo Saverin, Brazilian-Singaporean businessman
1982 – Yoshikaze Masatsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler
1985 – Inesa Jurevičiūtė, Lithuanian figure skater
1986 – Tyler Bozak, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Michal Švec, Czech footballer
1987 – Miloš Teodosić, Serbian basketball player
1988 – Clayton Kershaw, American baseball player
1991 – Aleksandr Kokorin, Russian footballer
1993 – Mateusz Szwoch, Polish footballer
1993 – Hakim Ziyech, Moroccan footballer
1995 – Alexei Sintsov, Russian figure skater
1995 – Héctor Bellerín, Spanish footballer
1996 – Barbara Haas, Austrian tennis player

Deaths on March 19

235 – Severus Alexander, Roman emperor (b. 208)
953 – Al-Mansur Billah, caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate (b. 913)
968 – Emma of Paris, duchess of Normandy (b. 943)
1238 – Henry the Bearded, Polish duke and son of Bolesław I the Tall (b. 1163)
1263 – Hugh of Saint-Cher, French cardinal (b. 1200)
1279 – Zhao Bing, Chinese emperor (b. 1271)
1286 – Alexander III, king of Scotland (b. 1241)
1330 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1301)
1372 – John II, marquess of Montferrat (b. 1321)
1533 – John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, English baron and statesman (b. 1467)
1534 – Michael Weiße, German theologian (b. c. 1488)
1539 – Lord Edmund Howard, English nobleman (b. c. 1478)
1563 – Arthur Brooke, English poet
1568 – Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell, English noblewoman (b.c. 1518)
1581 – Francis I, duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1510)
1612 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (b. 1585)
1637 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1570)
1649 – Gerhard Johann Vossius, German scholar and theologian (b. 1577)
1683 – Thomas Killigrew, English playwright and manager (b. 1612)
1687 – René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, French-American explorer (b. 1643)
1697 – Nicolaus Bruhns, German organist and composer (b. 1665)
1711 – Thomas Ken, English bishop and hymn-writer (b. 1637)
1717 – John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Scottish soldier (b. 1636)
1721 – Pope Clement XI (b. 1649)
1783 – Frederick Cornwallis, English archbishop (b. 1713)
1790 – Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 182nd Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1713)
1797 – Philip Hayes, English organist and composer (b. 1738)
1816 – Philip Mazzei, Italian-American physician and philosopher (b. 1730)
1871 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist, geologist, and physicist (b. 1795)
1897 – Antoine Thomson d’Abbadie, Irish-French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (b. 1810)
1900 – John Bingham, American lawyer and politician, 7th United States Ambassador to Japan (b. 1815)
1900 – Charles-Louis Hanon, French pianist and composer (b. 1819)
1914 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest, geologist, and volcanologist (b. 1850)
1919 – Emma Bell Miles, American writer, poet, and artist of Appalachia (b. 1879)
1930 – Arthur Balfour, Scottish-English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1848)
1930 – Henry Lefroy, Australian politician, 11th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1854)
1942 – Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist, ornithologist, and entomologist (b. 1855)
1944 – William Hale Thompson, American rancher and politician, 41st Mayor of Chicago (b. 1869)
1949 – James Somerville, English admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (b. 1882)
1949 – James Newland, Australian soldier and policeman (b. 1881)
1950 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American soldier and author (b. 1875)
1950 – Norman Haworth, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
1951 – Dmytro Doroshenko, Ukrainian historian and politician, Prime Minister of Ukraine (b. 1882)
1976 – Albert Dieudonné, French actor and author (b. 1889)
1976 – Paul Kossoff, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1950)
1977 – William L. Laurence, Lithuanian-born American journalist and author (b. 1888)
1978 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (b. 1891)
1982 – J. B. Kripalani, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1888)
1982 – Randy Rhoads, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1956)
1984 – Garry Winogrand, American photographer (b. 1928)
1986 – Sabino Barinaga, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1922)
1987 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
1988 – Bun Cook, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1904)
1990 – Andrew Wood, American singer-songwriter (b. 1966)
1993 – Henrik Sandberg, Danish production manager and producer (b. 1915)
1996 – Lise Østergaard, Danish psychologist and politician (b. 1924)
1996 – Virginia Henderson, American nurse, researcher, theorist and author (b. 1897)
1997 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator (b. 1904)
1997 – Eugène Guillevic, French poet and author (b. 1907)
1998 – E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Indian theorist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Kerala (b. 1909)
1999 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, Samoan politician, 5th Prime Minister of Samoa (b. 1924)
2000 – Joanne Weaver, American baseball player (b. 1935)
2000 – Shafiq-ur-Rahman, Pakistani physician and author (b. 1920)
2003 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German soldier and illustrator (b. 1926)
2004 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian economist and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Finance (b. 1911)
2005 – John DeLorean, American engineer and businessman, founded the DeLorean Motor Company (b. 1925)
2008 – Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer (b. 1917)
2008 – Hugo Claus, Belgian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1929)
2008 – Paul Scofield, English actor (b. 1922)
2009 – Maria Bergson, Austrian-American architect and interior designer (b. 1914)
2011 – Kym Bonython, Australian drummer and radio host (b. 1920)
2012 – Jim Case, American director and producer (b. 1927)
2012 – Ulu Grosbard, Belgian-American director and producer (b. 1929)
2012 – Hugo Munthe-Kaas, Norwegian intelligence agent (b. 1922)
2014 – Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman, founded IDG (b. 1937)
2014 – Fred Phelps, American lawyer, pastor, and activist, founded the Westboro Baptist Church (b. 1929)
2014 – Heather Robertson, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1942)
2014 – Robert S. Strauss, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Russia (b. 1918)
2014 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (b. 1912)
2014 – Joseph F. Weis, Jr., American lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
2015 – Gus Douglass, American farmer and politician (b. 1927)
2015 – Safet Plakalo, Bosnian author and playwright (b. 1950)
2015 – Danny Schechter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
2016 – Roger Agnelli, Brazilian banker and businessman (b. 1959)
2016 – Jack Mansell, English footballer and manager (b. 1927)
2019 – William Whitfield, British architect (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances on March 19

Christian feast day:
- Alkmund of Derby
- Saint Joseph (Western Christianity; if this date falls on Sunday, the feast is moved to Monday March 20)
- March 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Maundy Thursday can fall, while April 22 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Easter (Christianity)
Minna Canth’s Birthday (Finland)
Kashubian Unity Day (Poland)
St Joseph’s Day (Roman Catholicism and Anglican Communion) related observances:
- Falles, celebrated on the week leading to March 19 (Valencia)
- Father’s Day (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Honduras, and Bolivia)
- “Return of the Swallow”, annual observance of the swallows’ return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California

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March 19- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

March 19 in History

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