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June 30 in History
- 296 – Pope Marcellinus begins his papacy.
- 763 – The Byzantine army of emperor Constantine V defeats the Bulgarian forces in the Battle of Anchialus.
- 1422 – Battle of Arbedo between the duke of Milan and the Swiss cantons.
- 1521 – Spanish forces defeat a combined French and Navarrese army at the Battle of Noáin during the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre.
- 1559 – King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel, comte de Montgomery.
- 1651 – The Deluge: Khmelnytsky Uprising: The Battle of Berestechko ends with a Polish victory.
- 1688 – The Immortal Seven issue the Invitation to William, which would culminate in the Glorious Revolution.
- 1758 – Seven Years’ War: Habsburg Austrian forces destroy a Prussian reinforcement and supply convoy in the Battle of Domstadtl, helping to expel Prussian King Frederick the Great from Moravia.
- 1794 – Northwest Indian War: Native American forces under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery.
- 1805 – Under An act to divide the Indiana Territory into two separate governments, adopted by the U.S. Congress on January 11, 1805, the Michigan Territory is organized.
- 1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
- 1860 – The 1860 Oxford evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History takes place.
- 1864 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for “public use, resort and recreation”.
- 1882 – Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield.
- 1886 – The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal, Quebec. It arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4.
- 1892 – The Homestead Strike begins near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1905 – Albert Einstein sends the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity, for publication in Annalen der Physik.
- 1906 – The United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act.
- 1908 – The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event on Earth in human recorded history, resulting in a massive explosion over Eastern Siberia.
- 1912 – The Regina Cyclone, Canada’s deadliest tornado event, kills 28 people in Regina, Saskatchewan.
- 1916 – World War I: In “the day Sussex died”, elements of the Royal Sussex Regiment take heavy casualties in the Battle of the Boar’s Head at Richebourg-l’Avoué in France.
- 1921 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft as Chief Justice of the United States.
- 1922 – In Washington D.C., U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and Dominican Ambassador Francisco J. Peynado sign the Hughes–Peynado agreement, which ends the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic.
- 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler’s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place.
- 1936 – Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia appeals for aid to the League of Nations against Italy’s invasion of his country.
- 1937 – The world’s first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cherbourg ends with the fall of the strategically valuable port to American forces.
- 1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
- 1956 – A TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 collide above the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash, killing all 128 on board both airliners.
- 1959 – A United States Air Force F-100 Super Sabre from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, crashes into a nearby elementary school, killing 11 students plus six residents from the local neighborhood.
- 1960 – Belgian Congo gains independence as Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville).
- 1963 – Ciaculli bombing: a car bomb, intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco, kills seven police officers and military personnel near Palermo.
- 1966 – The National Organization for Women, the United States’ largest feminist organization, is founded.
- 1968 – Pope Paul VI issues the Credo of the People of God.
- 1971 – The crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve.
- 1972 – The first leap second is added to the UTC time system.
- 1974 – The Baltimore municipal strike of 1974 begins.
- 1977 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
- 1985 – Thirty-nine American hostages from the hijacked TWA Flight 847 are freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
- 1986 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Bowers v. Hardwick that states can outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
- 1990 – East Germany and West Germany merge their economies.
- 1994 – During a test flight of an Airbus A330-300 at Toulouse–Blagnac Airport, the aircraft crashes killing all seven people on board.
- 1997 – The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to China.
- 2005 – MTV Canada is rebranded as Razer
- 2007 – A Jeep Cherokee filled with propane canisters drives into the entrance of Glasgow Airport, Scotland in a failed terrorist attack. This was linked to the 2007 London car bombs that had taken place the day before.
- 2009 – Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310-300, crashes into the Indian Ocean near Comoros, killing 152 of the 153 people on board. A 14-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari survives the crash.
- 2013 – Nineteen firefighters die controlling a wildfire in Yarnell, Arizona.
- 2013 – Protests begin around Egypt against President Mohamed Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, leading to their overthrow during the 2013 Egyptian coup d’état.
- 2015 – A Hercules C-130 military aircraft with 113 people on board crashes in a residential area in Medan, Indonesia, resulting in at least 116 deaths.
- 2019 – Donald Trump becomes the first sitting US President to visit the Democratic Republic of Korea.
Births on June 30
- 1286 – John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, English magnate (d. 1347)
- 1468 – John, Elector of Saxony (d. 1532)
- 1470 – Charles VIII of France (d. 1498)
- 1478 – John, Prince of Asturias, Son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (d. 1497)
- 1503 – John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1554)
- 1533 – Martín de Rada, Spanish missionary (d. 1578)
- 1588 – Giovanni Maria Sabino, Italian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1649)
- 1641 – Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, German-English general (d. 1719)
- 1685 – John Gay, English poet and playwright (d. 1732)
- 1688 – Abu l-Hasan Ali I, ruler of Tunisia (d. 1756)
- 1722 – Jiří Antonín Benda, Czech composer, violinist and Kapellmeister (d. 1795)
- 1755 – Paul Barras, French soldier and politician (d. 1829)
- 1789 – Horace Vernet, French painter and academic (d. 1863)
- 1791 – Félix Savart, French physicist and psychologist (d. 1841)
- 1803 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (d. 1849)
- 1807 – Friedrich Theodor Vischer, German author, poet, and playwright (d.1887)
- 1817 – Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist and explorer (d. 1911)
- 1843 – Ernest Mason Satow, English orientalist and diplomat (d. 1929)
- 1864 – Frederick Bligh Bond, English architect and archaeologist (d. 1945)
- 1884 – Georges Duhamel, French author and critic (d. 1966)
- 1889 – Archibald Frazer-Nash, English motor car designer, engineer and founder of Frazer Nash (d. 1965)
- 1890 – Paul Boffa, Maltese physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1962)
- 1891 – Man Mountain Dean, American wrestler and sergeant (d. 1953)
- 1891 – Ed Lewis, American wrestler and manager (d. 1966)
- 1891 – Stanley Spencer, English painter (d. 1959)
- 1892 – Pierre Blanchar, Algerian-French actor and director (d. 1963)
- 1893 – Walter Ulbricht, German soldier and politician (d. 1973)
- 1895 – Heinz Warneke, German-American sculptor and educator (d. 1983)
- 1899 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1905 – John Van Ryn, American tennis player (d. 1999)
- 1906 – Anthony Mann, American actor and director (d. 1967)
- 1907 – Roman Shukhevych, Ukrainian general and politician (d. 1950)
- 1908 – Winston Graham, English author (d. 2003)
- 1908 – Luigi Rovere, Italian film producer (d. 1996)
- 1908 – Rob Nieuwenhuys, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
- 1909 – Juan Bosch, 43rd President of the Dominican Republic (d. 2001)
- 1911 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- 1911 – Nagarjun, Indian poet (d. 1998)
- 1912 – Ludwig Bölkow, German engineer (d. 2003)
- 1912 – Dan Reeves, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1971)
- 1912 – María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías, Mexican architect (d. 2009)
- 1913 – Alfonso López Michelsen, Colombian lawyer and politician, 24th President of Colombia (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Harry Wismer, American sportscaster (d. 1967)
- 1914 – Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese general and politician, 15th President of Portugal (d. 2001)
- 1914 – Allan Houser, American sculptor and painter (d. 1994)
- 1917 – Susan Hayward, American actress (d. 1975)
- 1917 – Lena Horne, American actress, singer, and activist (d. 2010)
- 1917 – Willa Kim, American costume designer (d. 2016)
- 1919 – Ed Yost, American inventor of the modern hot air balloon (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Eleanor Ross Taylor, American poet and educator (d. 2011)
- 1921 – Washington SyCip, American-Filipino accountant (d. 2017)
- 1922 – Al Besselink, American professional golfer
- 1923 – Andy Jack, English footballer
- 1924 – Max Trepp, Swiss sprinter
- 1925 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Ebrahim Amini, Iranian politician (d. 2020)
- 1926 – Paul Berg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1926 – David Berglas, American magician and mentalist
- 1927 – Shirley Fry Irvin, American tennis player
- 1927 – James Goldman, American screenwriter and playwright (d. 1998)
- 1927 – Mario Lanfranchi, Italian director, screenwriter, producer, collector and actor
- 1927 – Frank McCabe, American basketball player
- 1928 – Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Islamic philosopher, theologian, mathematician and mystic
- 1928 – Nathaniel Tarn, American poet, essayist, anthropologist, and translator
- 1929 – Yang Ti-liang, Chinese judge
- 1930 – Ben Atchley, American politician (d. 2018)
- 1930 – Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician
- 1930 – Ignatius Peter VIII Abdalahad, Syrian bishop (d. 2018)
- 1931 – Yo-Yo Davalillo, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Andrew Hill, American pianist and composer (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Ronald Rene Lagueux, American judge
- 1931 – Kaye Vaughan, American football player
- 1933 – Tomislav Ivić, Croatian football coach and manager (d. 2011)
- 1933 – M. J. K. Smith, English cricketer and rugby player
- 1933 – Orval Tessier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1933 – Joan Murrell Owens, American educator and marine biologist (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (d. 1997)
- 1935 – John Harlin, American pilot and mountaineer (d. 1966)
- 1936 – Assia Djebar, Algerian-French author and translator (d. 2015)
- 1936 – Nancy Dussault, American actress and singer
- 1936 – Tony Musante, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
- 1937 – Larry Henley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1938 – Billy Mills, American sprinter
- 1939 – Tony Hatch, English pianist, composer, and producer
- 1939 – Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1939 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Mark Spoelstra, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
- 1941 – Peter Pollock, South African cricketer and author
- 1942 – Robert Ballard, American lieutenant and oceanographer
- 1942 – Ron Harris, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1943 – Florence Ballard, American pop/soul singer (d. 1976)
- 1943 – Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Indian director and screenwriter
- 1944 – Raymond Moody, American parapsychologist and author
- 1944 – Glenn Shorrock, English-Australian singer-songwriter
- 1944 – Ron Swoboda, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1949 – Uwe Kliemann, German footballer, coach, and manager
- 1949 – Andy Scott, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1951 – Stanley Clarke, American bass player and composer
- 1952 – Athanassios S. Fokas, Greek mathematician and academic
- 1952 – David Garrison, American actor and singer
- 1953 – Hal Lindes, American-English guitarist and film score composer
- 1954 – Stephen Barlow, English organist, composer, and conductor
- 1954 – Pierre Charles, Dominican educator and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)
- 1954 – Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian politician, 3rd President of Armenia
- 1954 – Wayne Swan, Australian academic and politician, 14th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
- 1955 – Brian Vollmer, Canadian singer
- 1955 – Egils Levits, Latvian judge, jurist, 10th President of Latvia
- 1956 – Volker Beck, German hurdler and coach
- 1956 – David Lidington, English historian, academic, and politician, Minister of State for Europe
- 1956 – David Alan Grier, American actor, singer, and comedian
- 1957 – Bud Black, American baseball player and manager
- 1957 – Sterling Marlin, American race car driver
- 1958 – Pam Royle, British television presenter, journalist and voice coach
- 1958 – Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
- 1959 – Vincent D’Onofrio, American actor
- 1959 – Daniel Goldhagen, American political scientist, author, and academic
- 1959 – Brendan Perry, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1959 – Sakis Tsiolis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1959 – Sandip Verma, Baroness Verma, Indian-English businesswoman and politician
- 1960 – Jack McConnell, Scottish educator and politician, 3rd First Minister of Scotland
- 1960 – Murray Cook, Australian musician, actor, songwriter and producer
- 1961 – Lynne Jolitz, American computer scientist and programmer
- 1961 – Clive Nolan, English musician, composer and producer
- 1962 – Tony Fernández, Dominican baseball player
- 1962 – Julianne Regan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1963 – Olha Bryzhina, Ukrainian sprinter
- 1963 – Rupert Graves, English actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1963 – Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist and songwriter
- 1964 – Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg
- 1964 – Mark Waters, American director and producer
- 1965 – Steve Duchesne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
- 1965 – Cho Jae-hyun, South Korean actor
- 1965 – Anna Levandi, Russian figure skater and coach
- 1965 – Gary Pallister, English footballer and sportscaster
- 1965 – Mitch Richmond, American basketball player
- 1966 – Mike Tyson, American boxer and actor
- 1967 – Patrik Bodén, Swedish javelin thrower
- 1967 – David Busst, English footballer and manager
- 1967 – Victoria Kaspi, American-Canadian astrophysicist and academic
- 1968 – Phil Anselmo, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1969 – Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lankan cricketer and politician
- 1969 – Uta Rohländer, German sprinter
- 1969 – Sébastien Rose, Canadian director and screenwriter
- 1970 – Brian Bloom, American actor and screenwriter
- 1970 – Antonio Chimenti, Italian footballer and manager
- 1970 – Mark Grudzielanek, American baseball player and manager
- 1971 – Monica Potter, American actress
- 1972 – Sandra Cam, Belgian swimmer
- 1973 – Chan Ho Park, South Korean baseball player
- 1973 – Frank Rost, German footballer and manager
- 1974 – Hezekiél Sepeng, South African runner
- 1975 – James Bannatyne, New Zealand footballer
- 1975 – Ralf Schumacher, German race car driver
- 1978 – Ben Cousins, Australian footballer
- 1978 – Patrick Ivuti, Kenyan runner
- 1978 – Claudio Rivalta, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Sylvain Chavanel, French cyclist
- 1980 – Rade Prica, Swedish footballer
- 1980 – Seyi Olofinjana, Nigerian footballer
- 1980 – Ryan ten Doeschate, Dutch cricketer
- 1981 – Can Artam, Turkish race car driver
- 1981 – Matt Kirk, Canadian football player
- 1981 – Barbora Špotáková, Czech javelin thrower
- 1981 – Ben Utecht, American football player
- 1982 – Lizzy Caplan, American actress
- 1982 – Ignacio Carrasco, Mexican footballer
- 1983 – Marcus Burghardt, German cyclist
- 1983 – Katherine Ryan, UK-based Canadian comedian and presenter
- 1983 – Cheryl, English singer and TV personality
- 1984 – Fantasia Barrino, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Tunku Ismail Idris, Crown Prince of Johor, Malaysia
- 1985 – Trevor Ariza, American basketball player
- 1985 – Michael Phelps, American swimmer
- 1985 – Fabiana Vallejos, Argentinian footballer
- 1986 – Alicia Fox, American wrestler, model, and actress
- 1986 – Fredy Guarín, Colombian footballer
- 1986 – Nicola Pozzi, Italian footballer
- 1986 – Allegra Versace, Italian-American businesswoman
- 1987 – Ryan Cook, American baseball player
- 1987 – Andrew Hedgman, New Zealand runner
- 1988 – Elisa Jordana, American singer-songwriter, radio and TV personality
- 1989 – Asbel Kiprop, Kenyan runner
- 1989 – Steffen Liebig, German rugby player
- 1989 – David Myers, Australian footballer
- 1990 – N, South Korean singer
- 1998 – Tom Davies, English footballer
Deaths on June 30
- 350 – Nepotianus, Roman ruler
- 710 – Erentrude, Frankish abbess
- 888 – Æthelred, archbishop of Canterbury
- 945 – Ki no Tsurayuki, Japanese writer and poet (b. 872)
- 1181 – Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester, Welsh politician (b. 1147)
- 1224 – Adolf of Osnabrück, German monk and bishop (b. 1185)
- 1278 – Pierre de la Broce, French courtier
- 1337 – Eleanor de Clare, English noblewoman (b. 1290)
- 1364 – Arnošt of Pardubice, Czech archbishop (b. 1297)
- 1538 – Charles II, Duke of Guelders (b. 1467)
- 1522 – Johann Reuchlin, German humanist and Hebrew scholar (b. 1455)
- 1607 – Caesar Baronius, Italian cardinal and historian (b. 1538)
- 1649 – Simon Vouet, French painter (b. 1590)
- 1660 – William Oughtred, English minister and mathematician (b. 1575)
- 1666 – Alexander Brome, English poet and playwright (b. 1620)
- 1670 – Henrietta of England (b. 1644)
- 1704 – John Quelch, English pirate (b. 1665)
- 1708 – Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (b. 1684)
- 1709 – Edward Lhuyd, Welsh botanist, linguist, and geographer (b. 1660)
- 1785 – James Oglethorpe, English general and politician, 1st Colonial Governor of Georgia (b. 1696)
- 1796 – Abraham Yates Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1724)
- 1857 – Alcide d’Orbigny, French zoologist and paleontologist (b. 1802)
- 1882 – Charles J. Guiteau, American preacher and lawyer, assassin of James A. Garfield (b. 1841)
- 1882 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman (b. 1827)
- 1890 – Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, American organist and composer (b. 1819)
- 1908 – Thomas Hill, American painter (b. 1829)
- 1913 – Alphonse Kirchhoffer, French fencer (b. 1873)
- 1916 – Eunice Eloisae Gibbs Allyn, American correspondent, author, and poet (b. 1847)
- 1917 – Antonio de La Gándara, French painter and illustrator (b. 1861)
- 1917 – Dadabhai Naoroji, Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and social leader (b. 1825)
- 1919 – John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1842)
- 1932 – Bruno Kastner, German actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1890)
- 1934 – Karl Ernst, German soldier (b. 1904)
- 1934 – Erich Klausener, German soldier and politician (b. 1885)
- 1934 – Gustav Ritter von Kahr, German lawyer and politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (b. 1862)
- 1934 – Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (b. 1892)
- 1934 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (b. 1882)
- 1941 – Yefim Fomin, Belarusian politician (b. 1909)
- 1941 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1875)
- 1948 – Prince Sabahaddin, Turkish-Swiss sociologist and academic (b. 1879)
- 1949 – Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, French financier and polo player (b. 1868)
- 1951 – Yrjö Saarela, Finnish wrestler and coach (b. 1884)
- 1953 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (b. 1874)
- 1953 – Charles William Miller, Brazilian footballer and civil servant (b. 1874)
- 1954 – Andrass Samuelsen, Faroese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1873)
- 1956 – Thorleif Lund, Norwegian actor (b. 1880)
- 1959 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican philosopher and politician (b. 1882)
- 1961 – Lee de Forest, American inventor, invented the audion tube (b. 1873)
- 1966 – Giuseppe Farina, Italian race car driver (b. 1906)
- 1966 – Margery Allingham, English author of detective fiction (b. 1904)
- 1968 – Ernst Marcus, German zoologist (b. 1893)
- 1971 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1943)
- 1971 – Herbert Biberman, American director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
- 1971 – Georgy Dobrovolsky Ukrainian pilot and astronaut (b. 1928)
- 1971 – Nikola Kotkov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1938)
- 1971 – Viktor Patsayev, Kazakh engineer and astronaut (b. 1933)
- 1971 – Vladislav Volkov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1935)
- 1973 – Nancy Mitford, English journalist and author (b. 1904)
- 1973 – Vasyl Velychkovsky, Ukrainian-Canadian bishop and martyr (b. 1903)
- 1974 – Alberta Williams King, Civil rights activist (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Firpo Marberry, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1898)
- 1984 – Lillian Hellman, American author and playwright (b. 1905)
- 1985 – Haruo Remeliik, Palauan politician, 1st President of Palau (b. 1933)
- 1995 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian general and astronaut (b. 1921)
- 1995 – Gale Gordon, American actor and voice artist (b. 1906)
- 1996 – Lakis Petropoulos, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1932)
- 2001 – Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1924)
- 2001 – Joe Henderson, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1937)
- 2002 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian medium and author (b. 1910)
- 2003 – Buddy Hackett, American actor and comedian (b. 1924)
- 2003 – Robert McCloskey, American author and illustrator (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Eddie Burns, Australian rugby league player (b. 1916)
- 2007 – Sahib Singh Verma, Indian librarian and politician, 4th Chief Minister of Delhi (b. 1943)
- 2009 – Pina Bausch, German dancer, choreographer, and director (b. 1940)
- 2009 – Harve Presnell, American actor and singer (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun, English-Australian politician (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician, 7th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Michael J. Ybarra, American journalist and author (b. 1966)
- 2013 – Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway, English lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Akpor Pius Ewherido, Nigerian politician (b. 1963)
- 2013 – Kathryn Morrison, American educator and politician (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Thompson Oliha, Nigerian footballer (b. 1968)
- 2013 – Keith Seaman, Australian politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Frank Cashen, American businessman (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Željko Šturanović, Montenegrin lawyer and politician, 31st Prime Minister of Montenegro (b. 1960)
- 2015 – Charles W. Bagnal, American general (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Robert Dewar, English-American computer scientist and academic (b. 1945)
- 2015 – Arthur Porter, Canadian physician and academic (b. 1956)
- 2015 – Leonard Starr, American author and illustrator (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Barry Norman, English television presenter (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Simone Veil, French lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
Holidays and observances on June 30
- Christian feast day:
- Martial
- Theobald of Provins
- First Martyrs of the Church of Rome
- June 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Armed Forces Day (Guatemala)
- Asteroid Day (International observance)
- General Prayer Day (Central African Republic)
- Independence Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo), celebrates the independence of Democratic Republic of the Congo from Belgium in 1960.
- Navy Day (Israel)
- Philippine–Spanish Friendship Day (Philippines)
- Revolution Day (Sudan)
- Teachers’ Day (Dominican Republic)
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June 15 in History
- 763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
- 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II.
- 923 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.
- 1184 – The naval Battle of Fimreite is won by the Birkebeiner pretender Sverre Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson takes the Norwegian throne and King Magnus V of Norway is killed.
- 1215 – King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta.
- 1219 – Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lindanise (modern-day Tallinn) establishes the Danish Duchy of Estonia.
- 1246 – With the death of Frederick II, Duke of Austria, the Babenberg dynasty ends in Austria.
- 1300 – The city of Bilbao is founded.
- 1312 – At the Battle of Rozgony, King Charles I of Hungary wins a decisive victory over the family of Palatine Amade Aba.
- 1389 – Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
- 1410 – In a decisive battle at Onon River, the Mongol forces of Oljei Temur were decimated by the Chinese armies of the Yongle Emperor.
- 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage.
- 1520 – Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in Exsurge Domine.
- 1648 – Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 1667 – The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
- 1670 – The first stone of Fort Ricasoli is laid down in Malta.
- 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).
- 1776 – Delaware Separation Day: Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.
- 1800 – The Provisional Army of the United States is dissolved.
- 1804 – New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.
- 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.
- 1836 – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state.
- 1844 – Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
- 1846 – The Oregon Treaty extends the border between the United States and British North America, established by the Treaty of 1818, westward to the Pacific Ocean.
- 1859 – Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the “Northwestern Boundary Dispute” between American and British/Canadian settlers.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.
- 1864 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.81 km2) of the Arlington estate (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
- 1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.
- 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
- 1888 – Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors.
- 1896 – The deadliest tsunami in Japan’s history kills more than 22,000 people.
- 1904 – A fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City’s East River kills 1,000.
- 1916 – United States President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
- 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they reach Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
- 1920 – Following the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, Northern Schleswig is transferred from Germany to Denmark.
- 1921 – Bessie Coleman earns her pilot’s license, becoming the first female pilot of African-American descent.
- 1934 – The United States Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded.
- 1936 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.
- 1937 – A German expedition led by Karl Wien loses sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. It is the worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.
- 1940 – World War II: Operation Ariel begins: Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany’s takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
- 1944 – World War II: The United States invades Saipan, capital of Japan’s South Seas Mandate.
- 1944 – In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government in North America.
- 1970 – Charles Manson goes on trial for the Sharon Tate murders.
- 1972 – Red Army Faction co-founder Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.
- 1977 – After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections took place in Spain.
- 1978 – King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
- 1985 – Rembrandt’s painting Danaë is attacked by a man (later judged insane) who throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
- 1991 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, killing over 800 people.
- 1992 – The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries.
- 1994 – Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.
- 1996 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonates a powerful truck bomb in the middle of Manchester, England, devastating the city centre and injuring 200 people.
- 2001 – Leaders of the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
- 2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk directly over Niagara Falls.
- 2013 – A bomb explodes on a bus in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 25 people and wounding 22 others.
Births on June 15
- 1330 – Edward, the Black Prince of England (d. 1376)
- 1479 – Lisa del Giocondo, Italian model, subject of the Mona Lisa (d. 1542)
- 1519 – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1536)
- 1542 – Richard Grenville, English captain and explorer (d. 1591)
- 1549 – Elizabeth Knollys, English noblewoman (d. 1605)
- 1553 – Archduke Ernest of Austria (d. 1595)
- 1605 – Thomas Randolph, English poet and playwright (d. 1635)
- 1618 – François Blondel, French architect (d. 1686)
- 1623 – Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (d. 1672)
- 1624 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (d. 1704)
- 1640 – Bernard Lamy, French mathematician and theologian (d. 1715)
- 1645 – Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, English politician (d. 1712)
- 1749 – Georg Joseph Vogler, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1814)
- 1754 – Juan José Elhuyar, Spanish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1796)
- 1755 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist and entomologist (d. 1809)
- 1763 – Franz Danzi, German cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1826)
- 1763 – Kobayashi Issa, Japanese priest and poet (d. 1827)
- 1765 – Martin Baum, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Cincinnati (d. 1831)
- 1765 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1831)
- 1767 – Rachel Jackson, American wife of Andrew Jackson (d. 1828)
- 1777 – David Daniel Davis, Welsh physician and academic (d. 1841)
- 1789 – Josiah Henson, American minister, author, and activist (d. 1883)
- 1792 – Thomas Mitchell, Scottish-Australian colonel and explorer (d. 1855)
- 1801 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (d. 1883)
- 1805 – William B. Ogden, American businessman and politician, 1st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1877)
- 1809 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet and historian (d. 1866)
- 1835 – Adah Isaacs Menken, American actress, painter, and poet (d. 1868)
- 1843 – Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1907)
- 1848 – Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala, Indian bishop and saint (d. 1902)
- 1872 – Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (d. 1950)
- 1875 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian-Canadian skier (d. 1987)
- 1878 – Margaret Abbott, Indian-American golfer (d. 1955)
- 1881 – Kesago Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army (d. 1945)
- 1884 – Harry Langdon, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
- 1886 – Frank Clement, British racing driver (d. 1970)
- 1888 – Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet and author (d. 1921)
- 1890 – Georg Wüst, German oceanographer and academic (d. 1977)
- 1894 – Robert Russell Bennett, American composer and conductor (d. 1981)
- 1894 – Nikolai Chebotaryov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1947)
- 1898 – Hubertus Strughold, German-American physiologist and academic (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Gotthard Günther, German philosopher and academic (d. 1984)
- 1900 – Otto Luening, German-American composer and conductor (d. 1996)
- 1901 – Elmar Lohk, Russian-Estonian architect (d. 1963)
- 1902 – Erik Erikson, German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1994)
- 1906 – Gordon Welchman, English-American mathematician and author (d. 1985)
- 1906 – Léon Degrelle, Belgian SS officer (d. 1994)
- 1907 – James Robertson Justice, English actor and educator (d. 1975)
- 1909 – Elena Nikolaidi, Greek-American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
- 1910 – David Rose, English-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
- 1911 – Wilbert Awdry, English author, co-created Thomas the Tank Engine (d. 1997)
- 1913 – Tom Adair, American songwriter, composer, and screenwriter (d. 1988)
- 1914 – Yuri Andropov, Russian politician (d. 1984)
- 1914 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (d. 1999)
- 1914 – Hilda Terry, American cartoonist (d. 2006)
- 1915 – Nini Theilade, Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, and educator (d. 2018)
- 1915 – Thomas Huckle Weller, American biologist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
- 1916 – Olga Erteszek, Polish-American fashion designer (d. 1989)
- 1916 – Horacio Salgán, Argentinian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2016)
- 1916 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
- 1917 – John Fenn, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
- 1917 – Michalis Genitsaris, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (d. 1996)
- 1918 – François Tombalbaye, Chadian politician, 1st President of Chad (d. 1975)
- 1920 – Keith Andrews, American race car driver (d. 1957)
- 1920 – Alla Kazanskaya, Russian actress (d. 2008)
- 1920 – Sam Sniderman, Canadian businessman, founded Sam the Record Man (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
- 1922 – Jaki Byard, American pianist and composer (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Erland Josephson, Swedish actor and director (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Ninian Stephen, English-Australian lieutenant, judge, and politician, 20th Governor-General of Australia (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Hédi Fried, Swedish author and psychologist
- 1924 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Richard Baker, English journalist and author (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Attilâ İlhan, Turkish poet, author, and critic (d. 2005)
- 1926 – Alfred Duraiappah, Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (d. 1975)
- 1927 – Ross Andru, American illustrator (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Ibn-e-Insha, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (d. 1978)
- 1927 – Hugo Pratt, Italian author and illustrator (d. 1995)
- 1930 – Miguel Méndez, American author and academic (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Joseph Gilbert, English air marshal
- 1931 – Brian Sewell, English art dealer and critic (d. 2015)
- 1932 – David Alliance, Baron Alliance, Iranian-English businessman and politician
- 1932 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Zia Fariduddin Dagar, Indian singer (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player and sportscaster (d. 1999)
- 1933 – Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Iranian politician, 2nd President of Iran (d. 1981)
- 1933 – Predrag Koraksić Corax, Serbian political caricaturist
- 1934 – Ruby Nash Garnett, American R&B singer
- 1936 – William Levada, American cardinal
- 1937 – Pierre Billon, Swiss-Canadian author and screenwriter
- 1937 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
- 1938 – Billy Williams, American baseball player and coach
- 1939 – Ward Connerly, American activist and businessman, founded the American Civil Rights Institute
- 1941 – Neal Adams, American illustrator
- 1941 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1994)
- 1942 – Ian Greenberg, Canadian broadcaster, founded Astral Media
- 1942 – John E. McLaughlin, American diplomat
- 1942 – Peter Norman, Australian sprinter (d. 2006)
- 1943 – Johnny Hallyday, French singer and actor (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Danish politician, 38th Prime Minister of Denmark
- 1944 – Robert D. Keppel, American police officer and academic
- 1945 – Miriam Defensor Santiago, Filipino judge and politician (d. 2016)
- 1945 – Robert Sarah, Guinean cardinal
- 1945 – Lawrence Wilkerson, American colonel
- 1946 – Noddy Holder, English rock singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
- 1946 – John Horner, American paleontologist and academic
- 1946 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015)
- 1947 – John Hoagland, American photographer and journalist (d. 1984)
- 1948 – Mike Holmgren, American football player and coach
- 1948 – Alan Huckle, English politician and diplomat, Governor of Anguilla
- 1948 – Henry McLeish, Scottish footballer, academic, and politician, 2nd First Minister of Scotland
- 1949 – Dusty Baker, American baseball player and manager
- 1949 – Simon Callow, English actor and director
- 1949 – Russell Hitchcock, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1949 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
- 1950 – Uğur Erdener, Turkish ophthalmologist and professor
- 1950 – Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Ghanaian nurse and politician
- 1950 – Deney Terrio, American choreographer and host of the television musical variety series Dance Fever
- 1950 – Lakshmi Mittal, Indian-English businessman
- 1951 – Jane Amsterdam, American magazine and newspaper editor (Manhattan, inc., New York Post)
- 1951 – Vance A. Larson, American painter (d. 2000)
- 1951 – John Redwood, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
- 1951 – Steve Walsh, American rock singer-songwriter and musician
- 1952 – Satya Pal Jain, Indian lawyer and politician, Additional Solicitor General of India
- 1953 – Vilma Bardauskienė, Lithuanian long jumper
- 1953 – Marc Brickman, American lighting and production designer
- 1953 – Eje Elgh, Swedish racing driver and sportscaster
- 1953 – Xi Jinping, Chinese engineer and politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of China
- 1953 – Raphael Wallfisch, English cellist and educator
- 1954 – Jim Belushi, American actor
- 1954 – Terri Gibbs, American country music singer and keyboard player
- 1954 – Paul Rusesabagina, Rwandan humanitarian
- 1954 – Zdeňka Šilhavá, Czech discus thrower and shot putter
- 1954 – Beverley Whitfield, Australian swimmer (d. 1996)
- 1955 – Polly Draper, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1955 – Julie Hagerty, American model and actress
- 1956 – Yevgeny Kiselyov, Russian-Ukrainian journalist
- 1956 – Lance Parrish, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1958 – Wade Boggs, American baseball player
- 1958 – Riccardo Paletti, Italian racing driver (d. 1982)
- 1959 – Alan Brazil, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
- 1959 – Eileen Davidson, American model and actress
- 1960 – Michèle Laroque, French actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Marieke van Doorn, Dutch field hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Dave McAuley, Irish boxer and sportscaster
- 1961 – Scott Norton, American wrestler
- 1962 – Brad Armstrong, American wrestler (d. 2012)
- 1962 – Chris Morris, English actor, satirist, director, and producer
- 1962 – Andrea Rost, Hungarian soprano
- 1963 – Marina Azyabina, Russian hurdler
- 1963 – Mario Gosselin, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1963 – Helen Hunt, American actress, director, and producer
- 1964 – Courteney Cox, American actress and producer
- 1964 – Michael Laudrup, Danish footballer and manager
- 1965 – Annelies Bredael, Belgian rower
- 1965 – Karim Massimov, Kazakhstani politician, 7th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
- 1965 – Adam Smith, American lawyer and politician
- 1966 – Raimonds Vējonis, Latvian politician, 9th President of Latvia
- 1968 – Károly Güttler, Hungarian swimmer
- 1969 – Jesse Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Ice Cube, American rapper, producer, and actor
- 1969 – Idalis DeLeón, American singer and actress
- 1969 – Nasos Galakteros, Greek basketball player
- 1969 – Oliver Kahn, German footballer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Maurice Odumbe, Kenyan cricketer
- 1969 – Cédric Pioline, French tennis player
- 1970 – Christian Bauman, American soldier and author
- 1970 – David Bayssari, Australian rugby league player
- 1970 – Gaëlle Méchaly, French soprano
- 1970 – Leah Remini, American actress and producer
- 1970 – Žan Tabak, Croatian basketball player and coach
- 1971 – Christos Myriounis, Greek basketball player
- 1971 – Jake Busey, American actor, musician, and film producer
- 1972 – Justin Leonard, American golfer
- 1972 – Andy Pettitte, American baseball player
- 1973 – Tore Andre Flo, Norwegian footballer and coach
- 1973 – Neil Patrick Harris, American actor and singer
- 1973 – Pia Miranda, Australian actress
- 1976 – Jiří Ryba, Czech decathlete
- 1977 – Michael Doleac, American basketball player and manager
- 1978 – Wilfred Bouma, Dutch footballer
- 1978 – Zach Day, American baseball player
- 1979 – Yulia Nestsiarenka, Belarusian sprinter
- 1979 – Christian Rahn, German footballer
- 1979 – Charles Zwolsman, Jr., Dutch racing driver
- 1980 – David Lyons, Australian rugby player
- 1981 – John Paintsil, Ghanaian footballer
- 1982 – Mike Delany, New Zealand rugby player
- 1982 – Abdur Razzak, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1983 – Julia Fischer, German violinist and pianist[citation needed]
- 1983 – Laura Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist[citation needed]
- 1983 – Josh McGuire, Canadian fencer
- 1984 – Luke Hodge, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Eva Hrdinová, Czech tennis player
- 1984 – Tim Lincecum, American baseball player
- 1984 – Edison Toloza, Colombian footballer
- 1985 – Ashley Nicole Black, American comedian, actress, and writer
- 1986 – James Maloney, Australian rugby league player
- 1986 – Trevor Plouffe, American baseball player
- 1989 – Víctor Cabedo, Spanish cyclist (d. 2012)
- 1989 – Bryan Clauson, American race car driver (d. 2016)
- 1992 – Michał Kopczyński, Polish footballer
- 1992 – Mohamed Salah, Egyptian footballer
- 1992 – Dafne Schippers, Dutch heptathlete and sprinter
- 1993 – Irfan Hadžić, Bosnian footballer
- 1994 – Inaki Williams, Basque footballer
- 1997 – Madison Kocian, American gymnast
Deaths on June 15
- 923 – Robert I of France (b. 866)
- 948 – Romanos I Lekapenos, Byzantine Emperor (b. c. 870)
- 952 – Murong Yanchao, Chinese general
- 960 – Eadburh of Winchester, English princess and saint
- 970 – Adalbert, bishop of Passau
- 991 – Theophanu, Byzantine wife of Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 960)
- 1073 – Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (b. 1034)
- 1184 – Magnus Erlingsson, King of Norway (b. 1156)
- 1189 – Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (b. 1159)
- 1246 – Frederick II, Duke of Austria (b. 1219)
- 1337 – Angelo da Clareno, Italian Franciscan and leader of a group of Fraticelli (b. 1247)
- 1341 – Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1297)
- 1381 – John Cavendish, English lawyer and judge (b. 1346)
- 1381 – Wat Tyler, English rebel leader (b. 1341)
- 1383 – John VI Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1292)
- 1383 – Matthew Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor
- 1389 – Lazar of Serbia (b. 1329)
- 1389 – Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1319)
- 1389 – Miloš Obilić, Serbian knight.
- 1416 – John, Duke of Berry (b. 1340)
- 1467 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1396)
- 1521 – Tamás Bakócz, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1442)
- 1614 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English courtier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1540)
- 1724 – Henry Sacheverell, English minister and politician (b. 1674)
- 1768 – James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (b. 1710)
- 1772 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (b. 1694)
- 1844 – Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1777)
- 1849 – James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (b. 1795)
- 1858 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (b. 1795)
- 1888 – Frederick III, German Emperor (b. 1831)
- 1889 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1850)
- 1890 – Unryū Kyūkichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 10th Yokozuna (b. 1822)
- 1917 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and academic (b. 1867)
- 1934 – Alfred Bruneau, French cellist and composer (b. 1857)
- 1938 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
- 1941 – Otfrid Foerster, German neurologist and physician (b. 1873)
- 1941 – Evelyn Underhill, English mystic and author (b. 1875)
- 1945 – Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, Austrian diplomat
- 1961 – Giulio Cabianca, Italian racing driver (b. 1923)
- 1961 – Peyami Safa, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1899)
- 1962 – Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1877)
- 1967 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1885)
- 1968 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (b. 1880)
- 1968 – Wes Montgomery, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1925)
- 1971 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Jimmy Dykes, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1896)
- 1984 – Meredith Willson, American playwright, composer, and conductor (b. 1902)
- 1985 – Andy Stanfield, American sprinter (b. 1927)
- 1989 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1912)
- 1989 – Ray McAnally, Irish actor (b. 1926)
- 1991 – Happy Chandler, American businessman and politician, 49th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1898)
- 1991 – Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- 1992 – Chuck Menville, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1940)
- 1992 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (b. 1939)
- 1993 – John Connally, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1917)
- 1993 – James Hunt, English racing driver and sportscaster (b. 1947)
- 1994 – Manos Hatzidakis, Greek composer and theorist (b. 1925)
- 1995 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American physicist and inventor, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer and actress (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish general and politician (b. 1911)
- 1996 – Dick Murdoch, American wrestler (b. 1946)
- 1999 – Omer Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1906)
- 2000 – Jules Roy, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1907)
- 2001 – Henri Alekan, French cinematographer (b. 1909)
- 2002 – Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general and martial artist, founded Taekwondo (b. 1918)
- 2003 – Hume Cronyn, Canadian-American actor (b. 1911)
- 2004 – Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician and mayor of İzmir (b. 1952)
- 2005 – Suzanne Flon, French actress (b. 1918)
- 2006 – Raymond Devos, Belgian-French comedian and clown (b. 1922)
- 2006 – Herb Pearson, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Bill Haast, American herpetologist and academic (b. 1910)
- 2012 – Phillip D. Cagan, American economist and author (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Capitola Dickerson, American pianist and educator (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Barry MacKay, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Israel Nogueda Otero, Mexican economist and politician, 10th Governor of Guerrero (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Jerry Tubbs, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Heinz Flohe, German footballer and manager (b. 1948)
- 2013 – José Froilán González, Argentinian racing driver (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Dennis O’Rourke, Australian director and producer (b. 1945)
- 2013 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Casey Kasem, American radio host, producer, and voice actor, co-created American Top 40 (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Daniel Keyes, American short story writer and novelist (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Moise Safra, Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Banco Safra (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Kirk Kerkorian, American businessman, founded the Tracinda Corporation (b. 1917)
- 2016 – Lois Duncan, American author (b. 1934)
- 2018 – Matt “Guitar” Murphy, American Blues guitarist (The Blues Brothers) (b. 1929)
- 2019 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film director (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances on June 15
- Arbor Day (Costa Rica)
- Christian feast day:
- Abraham of Clermont (or of St Cyriacus)
- Alice (or Adelaide) of Schaerbeek
- Augustine of Hippo (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock
- Blessed Clement Vismara
- Edburga of Winchester
- Evelyn Underhill (Church of England and The Episcopal Church)
- Germaine Cousin
- Landelin (of Crespin or of Lobbes)
- Trillo
- Vitus (Guy), Modestus and Crescentia
- June 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of Valdemar and Reunion Day (Flag Day) (Denmark)
- Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while June 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Sunday in June. (United States, and most other countries.)
- Engineer’s Day (Italy)
- Global Wind Day (international)
- National Beer Day (United Kingdom)
- National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan)
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May 31 in History
- 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
- 1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus’ and Cumans.
- 1293 – Mongol invasion of Java was a punitive expedition against King Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to the Yuan and maimed one of its ministers. However, it ended with failure for the Mongols. Regarded as establish City of Surabaya
- 1578 – King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris, France.
- 1669 – Citing poor eyesight as a reason, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
- 1775 – American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolves are adopted in the Province of North Carolina.
- 1790 – Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- 1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
- 1795 – French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
- 1805 – French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock.
- 1813 – In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
- 1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G.W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginia engages the Army of the Potomac.
- 1879 – Gilmore’s Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
- 1884 – The arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria.
- 1889 – Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam fails and sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
- 1902 – Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
- 1909 – The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), convenes for the first time.
- 1910 – The South Africa Act comes into force, establishing the Union of South Africa.
- 1911 – The RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- 1911 – The President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.
- 1916 – World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet engages the High Seas Fleet in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
- 1921 – The Tulsa race massacre kills at least 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.
- 1935 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000.
- 1941 – Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns ‘Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
- 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
- 1947 – Ferenc Nagy, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, resigns from office after blackmail from the Hungarian Communist Party accusing him of being part of a plot against the state. This grants the Communists effective control of the Hungarian government.
- 1961 – The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.
- 1961 – In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
- 1962 – The West Indies Federation dissolves.
- 1970 – The 7.9 Mw Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794–70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured.
- 1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
- 1973 – The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
- 1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.
- 1985 – United States–Canada tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
- 1991 – Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations’ UNAVEM II mission.
- 2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat”.
- 2008 – Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7 m/s) 9.72 seconds
- 2010 – Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish citizens on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.
- 2013 – The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
- 2013 – A record breaking 2.6 mile wide tornado strikes El Reno, Oklahoma, United States, causing eight fatalities and over 150 injuries.
- 2017 – A car bomb explodes in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463.
- 2017 – U.S. President Donald Trump tweets the word “covfefe” and quickly becomes a worldwide viral phenomenon.
- 2019 – A shooting occurs inside a municipal building at Virginia Beach, Virginia, leaving 13 people dead, including the shooter, and four others injured.
Births on May 31
- 1443 (or 1441) – Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (d. 1509)
- 1462 – Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1504)
- 1469 – Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
- 1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
- 1556 – Jerzy Radziwiłł, Catholic cardinal (d. 1600)
- 1577 – Nur Jahan, Empress consort of the Mughal Empire (d. 1645)
- 1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
- 1640 – Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
- 1641 – Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
- 1725 – Ahilyabai Holkar, Queen of the Malwa Kingdom under the Maratha Empire (d. 1795)
- 1732 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (d. 1812)
- 1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
- 1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter and educator (d. 1817)
- 1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet, author, and critic (d. 1853)
- 1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1887)
- 1815 – Adye Douglas, English-Australian cricketer and politician, 15th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1906)
- 1818 – John Albion Andrew, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1867)
- 1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (d. 1892)
- 1827 – Kusumoto Ine, first Japanese female doctor of Western medicine (d. 1903)
- 1835 – Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (d. 1869)
- 1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (d. 1900)
- 1842 – John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (d. 1894)
- 1847 – William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, Canadian-Irish businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of Belfast (d. 1924)
- 1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentinian explorer and academic (d. 1919)
- 1852 – Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist, invented the Petri dish (d. 1921)
- 1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
- 1858 – Graham Wallas, English socialist, social psychologist, and educationalist (d. 1932)
- 1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
- 1863 – Francis Younghusband, Indian-English captain and explorer (d. 1942)
- 1866 – John Ringling, American entrepreneur; one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus (d. 1936)
- 1875 – Rosa May Billinghurst, British suffragette and women’s rights activist (d.1953)
- 1879 – Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian soprano (d. 1952)
- 1882 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of War (d. 1956)
- 1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
- 1885 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (d. 1967)
- 1887 – Saint-John Perse, French poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Erich Neumann, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1951)
- 1892 – Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian poet and author (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1934)
- 1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian, radio host, game show panelist, and author (d. 1956)
- 1898 – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister and author (d. 1993)
- 1900 – Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (d. 1981)
- 1901 – Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
- 1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1909 – Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
- 1912 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American experimental physicist (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer and educator (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
- 1918 – Robert Osterloh, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1918 – Lloyd Quarterman, African American chemist (d. 1982)
- 1919 – Robie Macauley, American editor, novelist and critic (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Edna Doré, English actress (d. 2014)
- 1921 – Andrew Grima, Anglo-Italian jewellery designer (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer (d. 2008)
- 1921 – Alida Valli, Austrian-Italian actress and singer (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Denholm Elliott, English-Spanish actor (d. 1992)
- 1923 – Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Julian Beck, American actor and director (d. 1986)
- 1927 – James Eberle, English admiral (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Michael Sandberg, Baron Sandberg, English lieutenant and banker (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, musician, and producer
- 1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano and actress (d. 2010)
- 1932 – Ed Lincoln, Brazilian pianist, bassist, and composer (d. 2012)
- 1932 – Jay Miner, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 1994)
- 1933 – Henry B. Eyring, American religious leader, educator, and author
- 1934 – Jim Hutton, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1935 – Jim Bolger, New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
- 1938 – John Prescott, British sailor and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1938 – Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1939 – Terry Waite, English humanitarian and author
- 1940 – Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach
- 1940 – Augie Meyers, American musician and singer-songwriter
- 1940 – Gilbert Shelton, American illustrator
- 1941 – June Clark, Welsh nurse and educator
- 1941 – Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – William Nordhaus, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
- 1943 – Joe Namath, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
- 1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
- 1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, Ivorian academic and politician, 4th President of Côte d’Ivoire
- 1945 – Bernard Goldberg, American journalist and author
- 1946 – Ted Baehr, American publisher and critic
- 1946 – Steve Bucknor, Jamaican cricketer and umpire
- 1946 – Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 2009)
- 1946 – Debbie Moore, English model and businesswoman
- 1947 – Junior Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1947 – Gabriele Hinzmann, German discus thrower
- 1948 – Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1948 – John Bonham, English musician, songwriter and drummer (d. 1980)
- 1948 – Martin Hannett, English bass player, guitarist, and record producer (d. 1991)
- 1948 – Duncan Hunter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician
- 1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor, film producer and television writer
- 1950 – Jean Chalopin, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded DIC Entertainment
- 1950 – Gregory Harrison, American actor
- 1950 – Edgar Savisaar, Estonian politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
- 1951 – Karl-Hans Riehm, German hammer thrower
- 1952 – Karl Bartos, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1953 – Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor and screenwriter
- 1954 – Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer
- 1954 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (d. 2000)
- 1955 – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Susie Essman, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
- 1956 – Fritz Hilpert, German drummer and composer
- 1956 – John Young, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
- 1957 – Jim Craig, American ice hockey player
- 1959 – Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver (d. 2014)
- 1959 – Phil Wilson, English politician
- 1960 – Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman
- 1960 – Chris Elliott, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player
- 1961 – Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961 – Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
- 1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress, director, and producer
- 1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1963 – David Leigh, holder of the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester
- 1963 – Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician, 38th Prime Minister of Hungary
- 1963 – Wesley Willis, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2003)
- 1964 – Leonard Asper, Canadian lawyer and businessman
- 1964 – Stéphane Caristan, French hurdler and coach
- 1964 – Yukio Edano, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
- 1964 – Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, American rapper and producer
- 1965 – Brooke Shields, American model, actress, and producer
- 1966 – Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lankan cricketer and referee
- 1967 – Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television host and producer
- 1967 – Kenny Lofton, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1971 – Arun Luthra, Indo-Anglo-American saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, and arranger
- 1972 – Christian McBride, American bassist and record producer
- 1972 – Archie Panjabi, Indo-British actress
- 1972 – Frode Estil, Norwegian skier
- 1972 – Antti Niemi, Finnish international footballer, goalkeeper and coach
- 1972 – Dave Roberts, American baseball player and coach
- 1974 – Hiroiki Ariyoshi, Japanese comedian and singer
- 1974 – Chad Campbell, American golfer
- 1975 – Mac Suzuki, Japanese baseball player
- 1976 – Colin Farrell, Irish actor
- 1976 – Matt Harpring, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1977 – Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-Greek volleyball player
- 1977 – Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer
- 1977 – Eric Christian Olsen, American actor
- 1977 – Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer
- 1977 – Petr Tenkrát, Czech ice hockey player
- 1979 – Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer
- 1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
- 1981 – Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Jake Peavy, American baseball player
- 1981 – Marlies Schild, Austrian skier
- 1984 – Andrew Bailey, American baseball player
- 1984 – Milorad Čavić, Serbian swimmer
- 1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player
- 1985 – Jordy Nelson, American football player
- 1986 – Robert Gesink, Dutch cyclist
- 1989 – Marco Reus, German footballer
- 1990 – Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1992 – Michaël Bournival, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Laura Ikauniece, Latvian heptathlete
- 1996 – Normani Korde, American singer
- 1998 – Santino Ferrucci, American race car driver
Deaths on May 31
- 455 – Petronius Maximus, Roman emperor (b. 396)
- 930 – Liu Hua, princess of Southern Han (b. 896)
- 960 – Fujiwara no Morosuke, Japanese statesman (b. 909)
- 1076 – Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, English politician (b. 1050)
- 1089 – Sigwin von Are, archbishop of Cologne
- 1162 – Géza II, king of Hungary (b. 1130)
- 1321 – Birger, king of Sweden (b. 1280)
- 1326 – Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (b. 1271)
- 1329 – Albertino Mussato, Italian statesman and writer (b. 1261)
- 1349 – Thomas Wake, English politician (b. 1297)
- 1370 – Vitalis of Assisi, Italian hermit and monk (b. 1295)
- 1408 – Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1358)
- 1410 – Martin of Aragon, Spanish king (b. 1356)
- 1504 – Engelbert II of Nassau (b. 1451)
- 1558 – Philip Hoby, English general and diplomat (b. 1505)
- 1567 – Guido de Bres, Belgian pastor and theologian (b. 1522)
- 1594 – Tintoretto, Italian painter and educator (b. 1518)
- 1601 – Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne (b. 1547)
- 1640 – Zeynab Begum, Safavid princess (date of birth unknown)
- 1665 – Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Dutch painter (b. 1597)
- 1680 – Joachim Neander, German theologian and educator (b. 1650)
- 1740 – Frederick William I of Prussia (b. 1688)
- 1747 – Andrey Osterman, German-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1686)
- 1809 – Joseph Haydn, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1732)
- 1809 – Jean Lannes, French general (b. 1769)
- 1831 – Samuel Bentham, English architect and engineer (b. 1757)
- 1832 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1811)
- 1837 – Joseph Grimaldi, English actor, comedian and dancer, (b. 1779)
- 1846 – Philip Marheineke, German pastor and philosopher (b. 1780)
- 1847 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister and economist (b. 1780)
- 1848 – Eugénie de Guérin, French author (b. 1805)
- 1899 – Stefanos Koumanoudis, Greek archaeologist, teacher and writer (b. 1818)
- 1908 – Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Canadian author, poet, and politician (b. 1839)
- 1909 – Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (b. 1852)
- 1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell, English-American physician and educator (b. 1821)
- 1931 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (b. 1866)
- 1931 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (b. 1864)
- 1945 – Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (b. 1904)
- 1954 – Antonis Benakis, Greek art collector and philanthropist, founded the Benaki Museum (b. 1873)
- 1957 – Stefanos Sarafis, Greek general and politician (b. 1890)
- 1957 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet and academic (b. 1878)
- 1960 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish author and poet (b. 1882)
- 1960 – Walther Funk, German economist, journalist, and politician, German Minister of Economics (b. 1890)
- 1962 – Henry F. Ashurst, American lawyer and politician (b. 1874)
- 1967 – Billy Strayhorn, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
- 1970 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 1976 – Jacques Monod, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1977 – William Castle, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
- 1978 – József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
- 1981 – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist and journalist (b. 1914)
- 1982 – Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer and explorer (b. 1930)
- 1983 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer and lieutenant (b. 1895)
- 1985 – Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (b. 1921)
- 1986 – Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (b. 1918)
- 1986 – James Rainwater, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 1987 – John Abraham, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 1989 – Owen Lattimore, American author and academic (b. 1900)
- 1989 – C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and historian (b. 1901)
- 1993 – Honey Tree Evil Eye, or, Spud Mackenzie, a Bull Terrier, dies of kidney failure.
- 1994 – Uzay Heparı, Turkish actor, producer, and composer (b. 1969)
- 1994 – Herva Nelli, Italian-American soprano (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1930)
- 1996 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (b. 1920)
- 1998 – Charles Van Acker, Belgian-American race car driver (b. 1912)
- 2000 – Petar Mladenov, Bulgarian diplomat, 1st President of Bulgaria (b. 1936)
- 2000 – Tito Puente, American jazz musician (b. 1923)
- 2000 – A. Jeyaratnam Wilson, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (b. 1928)
- 2001 – Arlene Francis, American actress, talk show host, game show panelist, and television personality (b. 1907)
- 2002 – Subhash Gupte, Indian cricketer (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Aiyathurai Nadesan, Sri Lankan journalist (b. 1954)
- 2004 – Robert Quine, American guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2004 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French screenwriter and composer (b. 1941)
- 2006 – Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (b. 1933)
- 2006 – Raymond Davis, Jr., American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Danny La Rue, Irish-British drag queen performer and singer (b. 1927)
- 2009 – George Tiller, American physician (b. 1941)
- 2010 – Louise Bourgeois, French-American sculptor and painter (b. 1911)
- 2010 – Brian Duffy, English photographer and producer (b. 1933)
- 2010 – William A. Fraker, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Rubén Juárez, Argentinian singer-songwriter and bandoneón player (b. 1947)
- 2010 – Merata Mita, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
- 2011 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (b. 1919)
- 2011 – Jonas Bevacqua, American fashion designer, co-founded the Lifted Research Group (b. 1977)
- 2011 – Derek Hodge, Virgin Islander lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (b. 1941)
- 2011 – Hans Keilson, German-Dutch psychoanalyst and author (b. 1909)
- 2011 – John Martin, English admiral and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (b. 1918)
- 2011 – Andy Robustelli, American football player and manager (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Christopher Challis, English cinematographer (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Randall B. Kester, American lawyer and judge (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Paul Pietsch, German racing driver and publisher (b. 1911)
- 2012 – Orlando Woolridge, American basketball player and coach (b. 1959)
- 2013 – Gerald E. Brown, American physicist and academic (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Frederic Lindsay, Scottish author and educator (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Miguel Méndez, American author and poet (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Tim Samaras, American engineer and storm chaser (b. 1957)
- 2013 – Jairo Mora Sandoval, Costa Rican environmentalist (b. 1987)
- 2013 – Jean Stapleton, American actress (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Marilyn Beck, American journalist (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (b. 1952)
- 2014 – Hoss Ellington, American race car driver (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Martha Hyer, American actress (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Lewis Katz, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1942)
- 2014 – Mary Soames, Baroness Soames, English author (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Gladys Taylor, Canadian author and publisher (b. 1917)
- 2016 – Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976–2016) (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Carla Lane, English television writer (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (b. 1939)
Holidays and observances on May 31
- Anniversary of Royal Brunei Malay Regiment (Brunei)
- Christian feast day:
- Camilla Battista da Varano
- Hermias
- Petronella
- Visitation of Mary (Western Christianity)
- May 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- The beginning of Gawai Dayak (Dayaks in Sarawak, Malaysia and West Kalimantan, Indonesia)
- World No Tobacco Day (International)
-
May 24 in History
- 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.
- 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
- 1276 – Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
- 1487 – The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland, with the name of Edward VI in a bid to threaten King Henry VII’s reign.
- 1567 – Erik XIV of Sweden and his guards murder five incarcerated Swedish nobles.
- 1595 – Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
- 1607 – One hundred English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America.
- 1621 – The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.
- 1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
- 1667 – The French Royal Army crosses the border into the Spanish Netherlands, starting the War of Devolution opposing France to the Spanish Empire and the Triple Alliance.
- 1683 – The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world’s first university museum.
- 1689 – The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting dissenting Protestants but excluding Roman Catholics.
- 1738 – John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day and a church service is generally held on the preceding Sunday.
- 1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.
- 1813 – South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”).
- 1822 – Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.
- 1832 – The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
- 1844 – Samuel Morse sends the message “What hath God wrought” (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.
- 1856 – John Brown and his men kill five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
- 1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
- 1900 – Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
- 1915 – World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the conflict on the side of the Allies.
- 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
- 1935 – The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field.
- 1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
- 1940 – Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico.
- 1941 – World War II: In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks then-pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.
- 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Egypt captures the Israeli kibbutz of Yad Mordechai, but the five-day effort gives Israeli forces time to prepare enough to stop the Egyptian advance a week later.
- 1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
- 1958 – United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
- 1960 – Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt.
- 1961 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for “disturbing the peace” after disembarking from their bus.
- 1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
- 1967 – Egypt imposes a blockade and siege of the Red Sea coast of Israel.
- 1976 – The Judgment of Paris takes place in France, launching California as a worldwide force in the production of quality wine.
- 1981 – Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.
- 1982 – Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.
- 1988 – Section 28 of the United Kingdom’s Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted.
- 1991 – Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
- 1992 – The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
- 1992 – The ethnic cleansing in Kozarac, Bosnia and Herzegovina begins when Serbian militia and police forces enter the town.
- 1993 – Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
- 1993 – Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo and five other people are assassinated in a shootout at Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Guadalajara International Airport in Mexico.
- 1994 – Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
- 1995 – While attempting to return to Leeds Bradford Airport in the United Kingdom, Knight Air Flight 816 crashes in Harewood, North Yorkshire, killing all 12 people on board.
- 1999 – The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
- 2000 – Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
- 2002 – Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
- 2014 – A 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, injuring 324 people.
- 2014 – At least three people are killed in a shooting at Brussels’ Jewish Museum of Belgium.
- 2019 – Twenty-two students die in a fire in Surat (India).
- 2019 – Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7.
Births on May 24
- 15 BC – Germanicus, Roman general (d. 19)
- 1335 – Margaret of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary (d. 1349)
- 1494 – Pontormo, Italian painter (d. 1557)
- 1522 – John Jewel, English bishop (d. 1571)
- 1544 – William Gilbert, English physician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1603)
- 1576 – Elizabeth Carey, Lady Berkeley, English courtier (d. 1635)
- 1616 – John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, Scottish politician, Secretary of State, Scotland (d. 1682)
- 1628 – Marek Sobieski, Polish noble (d. 1652)
- 1669 – Emerentia von Düben, Swedish royal favorite (d. 1743)
- 1671 – Gian Gastone de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1737)
- 1686 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Polish-German physicist and engineer, developed the Fahrenheit scale (d. 1736)
- 1689 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1769)
- 1743 – Jean-Paul Marat, Swiss-French physician, journalist, and politician (d. 1793)
- 1789 – Cathinka Buchwieser, German operatic singer and actress (d.1828)
- 1794 – William Whewell, English priest and philosopher (d. 1866)
- 1803 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (d. 1866)
- 1810 – Abraham Geiger, German rabbi and scholar (d. 1874)
- 1816 – Emanuel Leutze, German-American painter (d. 1868)
- 1819 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1901)
- 1830 – Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter and academic (d. 1897)
- 1855 – Arthur Wing Pinero, English actor, director, and playwright (d. 1934)
- 1861 – Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland, Maltese lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1940)
- 1863 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (d. 1938)
- 1868 – Charlie Taylor, American engineer and mechanic (d. 1956)
- 1870 – Benjamin N. Cardozo, American lawyer and judge (d. 1938)
- 1870 – Jan Smuts, South African lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1950)
- 1874 – Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1878)
- 1875 – Robert Garrett, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1961)
- 1878 – Lillian Moller Gilbreth, American psychologist and engineer (d. 1972)
- 1879 – H. B. Reese, American candy maker, created Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (d. 1956)
- 1886 – Paul Paray, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1979)
- 1887 – Mick Mannock, Irish soldier and pilot, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
- 1891 – William F. Albright, American archaeologist, philologist, and scholar (d. 1971)
- 1895 – Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., American publisher, founded Advance Publications (d. 1979)
- 1899 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (d. 1938)
- 1899 – Henri Michaux, Belgian-French poet and painter (d. 1984)
- 1900 – Eduardo De Filippo, Italian actor and screenwriter (d. 1984)
- 1901 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer and manager (d. 1968)
- 1902 – Lionel Conacher, Canadian football player and politician (d. 1954)
- 1902 – Sylvia Daoust, Canadian sculptor (d. 2004)
- 1905 – George Nakashima, American woodworker and architect(d. 1990)
- 1905 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- 1909 – Wilbur Mills, American banker and politician (d. 1992)
- 1910 – Jimmy Demaret, American golfer (d. 1983)
- 1913 – Joe Abreu, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1993)
- 1914 – Lilli Palmer, German-American actress (d. 1986)
- 1916 – Roden Cutler, Australian lieutenant and politician, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway, English lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Coleman Young, American politician, 66th Mayor of Detroit (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Siobhán McKenna, Irish actress (d. 1986)
- 1924 – Philip Pearlstein, American soldier and painter
- 1925 – Carmine Infantino, American illustrator and educator (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and director (d. 1994)
- 1926 – Stanley Baxter, Scottish actor and screenwriter
- 1928 – William Trevor, Irish novelist, playwright and short story writer (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Arnold Wesker, English playwright and producer (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Jane Byrne, American lawyer and politician, 50th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Réal Giguère, Canadian television host and actor
- 1933 – Aharon Lichtenstein, French-Israeli rabbi and author (d. 2015)
- 1935 – Joan Micklin Silver, American director and screenwriter
- 1936 – Harold Budd, American composer and poet
- 1937 – Maryvonne Dupureur, French runner and educator (d. 2008)
- 1937 – Archie Shepp, American saxophonist and composer
- 1938 – Prince Buster, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
- 1938 – Tommy Chong, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1940 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1941 – Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist, writer, and producer; Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Patricia Hollis, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, English academic and politician
- 1942 – Ali Bacher, South African cricketer and manager
- 1942 – Hannu Mikkola, Finnish race car driver
- 1942 – Ichirō Ozawa, Japanese lawyer and politician, Japanese Minister of Home Affairs
- 1943 – Gary Burghoff, American actor
- 1944 – Patti LaBelle, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1944 – Dominique Lavanant, French actress
- 1945 – Terry Callier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
- 1945 – Steven Norris, English engineer and politician
- 1945 – Richard Ottaway, English lieutenant and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- 1945 – Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman
- 1946 – Tansu Çiller, Turkish economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1946 – Jesualdo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer and manager
- 1946 – Irena Szewińska, Russian-Polish sprinter
- 1947 – Albert Bouchard, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and drummer
- 1947 – Mike De Leon, Filipino director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer
- 1947 – Mike Reid, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and American football player
- 1947 – Waddy Wachtel, American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer
- 1947 – Martin Winterkorn, German businessman
- 1948 – Richard Dembo, French director and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1949 – Jim Broadbent, English actor
- 1949 – Roger Deakins , English cinematographer
- 1953 – Alfred Molina, English actor
- 1955 – Rosanne Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1955 – Philippe Lafontaine, Belgian singer and songwriter
- 1955 – Rajesh Roshan, Indian composer
- 1956 – R. B. Bernstein, American constitutional historian
- 1956 – Larry Blackmon, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1956 – Dominic Grieve, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales
- 1956 – Michael Jackson, Irish archbishop
- 1958 – Chip Ganassi, American race car driver, team owner and businessman
- 1959 – Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-American ice hockey player (d. 1985)
- 1959 – Barry O’Farrell, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of New South Wales
- 1960 – Guy Fletcher, English keyboard player, guitarist, and producer
- 1960 – Bill Harrigan, Australian rugby league referee and sportscaster
- 1960 – Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress
- 1961 – Lorella Cedroni, Italian philosopher and theorist (d. 2013)
- 1961 – Alain Lemieux, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
- 1962 – Héctor Camacho, Puerto Rican-American boxer (d. 2012)
- 1962 – Gene Anthony Ray, American actor, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2003)
- 1963 – Ivan Capelli, Italian race car driver and sportscaster
- 1963 – Michael Chabon, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter
- 1963 – Joe Dumars, American basketball player
- 1963 – Rich Rodriguez, American football player and coach
- 1963 – Valerie Taylor, American computer scientist and educator
- 1964 – Liz McColgan, Scottish educator and runner
- 1964 – Adrian Moorhouse, English swimmer
- 1964 – Isidro Pérez, Mexican boxer (d. 2013)
- 1964 – Pat Verbeek, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
- 1965 – John C. Reilly, American actor
- 1965 – Shinichirō Watanabe, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1966 – Éric Cantona, French footballer, manager, and actor
- 1966 – Ricky Craven, American race car driver and sportscaster
- 1967 – Tamer Karadağlı, Turkish actor
- 1967 – Andrey Borodin, Russian-English economist and businessman
- 1967 – Eric Close, American actor
- 1967 – Heavy D, Jamaican-American rapper, producer, and actor (d. 2011)
- 1967 – Carlos Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
- 1969 – Martin McCague, Northern Irish-English cricketer
- 1969 – Jacob Rees-Mogg, English politician
- 1969 – Rich Robinson, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1971 – Kris Draper, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
- 1972 – Greg Berlanti, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1973 – Rodrigo, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
- 1973 – Bartolo Colón, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1973 – Shirish Kunder, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1973 – Vladimír Šmicer, Czech footballer and manager
- 1974 – Sébastien Foucan, French runner and actor
- 1974 – Masahide Kobayashi, Japanese baseball player and coach
- 1974 – Magnus Manske, German biochemist and computer programmer, developed MediaWiki
- 1975 – Will Sasso, Canadian actor and comedian
- 1975 – Marc Gagnon, Canadian speed skater
- 1975 – Giannis Goumas, Greek footballer and coach
- 1975 – Maria Lawson, English singer-songwriter
- 1976 – Alessandro Cortini, Italian-American singer and keyboard player
- 1976 – Catherine Cox, New Zealand-Australian netball player
- 1976 – Silje Vige, Norwegian singer
- 1977 – Jeet Gannguli, Indian score composer, music director and singer
- 1978 – Elijah Burke, American wrestler
- 1978 – Johan Holmqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1978 – Brad Penny, American baseball player
- 1978 – Rose, French singer, songwriter and composer
- 1979 – Tracy McGrady, American basketball player
- 1979 – Kareem McKenzie, American football player
- 1980 – Jason Babin, American football player
- 1980 – Anthony Minichiello, Australian rugby league player
- 1981 – Andy Lee, Australian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
- 1982 – Issah Gabriel Ahmed, Ghanaian footballer
- 1982 – Rian Wallace, American football player
- 1983 – Custódio Castro, Portuguese footballer
- 1983 – Pedram Javaheri, Iranian-American meteorologist and journalist
- 1983 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (d. 2009)
- 1984 – Sarah Hagan, American actress
- 1984 – Dmitri Kruglov, Estonian footballer
- 1985 – Tim Bridgman, English race car driver
- 1986 – Mark Ballas, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, dancer, and actor
- 1986 – Giannis Kontoes, Greek footballer
- 1987 – Guillaume Latendresse, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Artem Anisimov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Monica Lin Brown, American sergeant
- 1988 – Billy Gilman, American musician
- 1988 – Lucian Wintrich, American political artist and White House correspondent
- 1989 – G-Eazy, American rapper
- 1989 – Andrew Jordan, English race car driver
- 1990 – Mattias Ekholm, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1991 – Aled Davies, Welsh discus thrower
- 1991 – Cody Eakin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Marcus Bettinelli, English footballer, goalkeeper
- 1994 – Daiya Seto, Japanese swimmer
- 1994 – Emily Nicholl, Scottish netball player
- 1994 – Daiya Seto, Japanese swimmer
- 1994 – Emily Temple Wood, American 2016 Wikipedian of the Year award
- 1999 – Tarjei Sandvik Moe, Norwegian actor
Deaths on May 24
- 688 – Ségéne, bishop of Armagh (b. c. 610)
- 1089 – Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1136 – Hugues de Payens, first Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1070)
- 1153 – David I of Scotland (b. 1083)
- 1201 – Theobald III, Count of Champagne (b. 1179)
- 1351 – Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman, Moroccan sultan (b. 1297)
- 1408 – Taejo of Joseon (b. 1335)
- 1425 – Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, Scottish politician (b. 1362)
- 1456 – Ambroise de Loré, French commander (b. 1396)
- 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (b. 1473)
- 1612 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1563)
- 1627 – Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet and cleric (b. 1561)
- 1632 – Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (b. 1553)
- 1665 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Spanish Franciscan abbess and mystic (b. 1602)
- 1734 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
- 1792 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1718)
- 1806 – John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, Scottish field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire (b. 1723)
- 1843 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (b. 1765)
- 1848 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German author and composer (b. 1797)
- 1861 – Elmer E. Ellsworth, American colonel (b. 1837)
- 1872 – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter and illustrator (b. 1794)
- 1879 – William Lloyd Garrison, American journalist and activist (b. 1805)
- 1881 – Samuel Palmer, English painter and illustrator (b. 1805)
- 1901 – Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, Canadian bishop (b. 1824)
- 1908 – Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer and architect (b. 1821)
- 1915 – John Condon, Irish-English soldier (b. 1896)
- 1919 – Amado Nervo, Mexican poet, journalist, and educator (b. 1870)
- 1929 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (b. 1863)
- 1941 – Lancelot Holland, English admiral (b. 1887)
- 1945 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German field marshal and pilot (b. 1892)
- 1948 – Jacques Feyder, Belgian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
- 1949 – Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect, designed Lenin’s Mausoleum and Moscow Kazanskaya railway station (b. 1873)
- 1950 – Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English field marshal and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (b. 1883)
- 1951 – Thomas N. Heffron, American actor, director, screenwriter (b. 1872)
- 1956 – Martha Annie Whiteley, English chemist and mathematician (b. 1866)
- 1958 – Frank Rowe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
- 1959 – John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
- 1963 – Elmore James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1918)
- 1965 – Sonny Boy Williamson II, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (b. 1908)
- 1974 – Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer (b. 1899)
- 1976 – Denise Pelletier, Canadian actress (b. 1923)
- 1979 – Ernest Bullock, English organist, composer, and educator (b. 1890)
- 1981 – Herbert Müller, Swiss race car driver (b. 1940)
- 1984 – Vince McMahon Sr., American wrestling promoter and businessman, founded WWE (b. 1914)
- 1988 – Freddie Frith, English motorcycle road racer (b. 1909)
- 1990 – Arthur Villeneuve, Canadian painter (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
- 1992 – Hitoshi Ogawa, Japanese race car driver (b. 1956)
- 1995 – Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
- 1996 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (b. 1934)
- 1996 – Joseph Mitchell, American journalist and author (b. 1908)
- 1997 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (b. 1923)
- 2000 – Kurt Schork, American journalist and scholar (b. 1947)
- 2000 – Majrooh Sultanpuri, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
- 2002 – Wallace Markfield, American author (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (b. 1910)
- 2004 – Henry Ries, German-American photographer (b. 1917)
- 2004 – Milton Shulman, Canadian author and critic (b. 1913)
- 2004 – Edward Wagenknecht, American critic and educator (b. 1900)
- 2005 – Carl Amery, German activist and author (b. 1922)
- 2005 – Arthur Haulot, Belgian journalist and poet (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Guy Tardif, Canadian academic and politician (b. 1935)
- 2006 – Henry Bumstead, American art director and production designer (b. 1915)
- 2006 – Claude Piéplu, French actor (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Michał Życzkowski, Polish technician and educator (b. 1930)
- 2008 – Dick Martin, American actor, comedian, and director (b. 1922)
- 2008 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (b. 1936)
- 2009 – Jay Bennett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1963)
- 2010 – Ray Alan, English ventriloquist, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2010 – Paul Gray, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1972)
- 2010 – Raymond V. Haysbert, American businessman and activist (b. 1920)
- 2010 – Petr Muk, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1965)
- 2010 – Anneliese Rothenberger, German soprano and actress (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Huguette Clark, American heiress, painter, and philanthropist (b. 1906)
- 2011 – Hakim Ali Zardari, Indian-Pakistani businessman and politician (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Klaas Carel Faber, Dutch-German SS officer (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Kathi Kamen Goldmark, American journalist and author (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Jacqueline Harpman, Belgian psychoanalyst and author (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Juan Francisco Lombardo, Argentinian footballer (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Lee Rich, American production manager and producer (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Helmut Braunlich, German-American violinist and composer (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Ron Davies, Welsh footballer (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Gotthard Graubner, German painter (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Haynes Johnson, American journalist and author (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Pyotr Todorovsky, Ukrainian-Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
- 2014 – David Allen, English cricketer (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Stormé DeLarverie, known as the “Rosa Parks of the lesbian community” (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, Iranian businessman (b. 1969)
- 2014 – Knowlton Nash, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1927)
- 2014 – John Vasconcellos, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Dean Carroll, English rugby player (b. 1962)
- 2015 – Kenneth Jacobs, Australian lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
- 2015 – Tanith Lee, English author (b. 1947)
- 2018 – Gudrun Burwitz, daughter of Margarete Himmler and Heinrich Himmler (b. 1929)
- 2018 – John Bain (TotalBiscuit), English gaming commentator and critic (b. 1984)
Holidays and observances on May 24
- Aldersgate Day/Wesley Day (Methodism)
- Battle of Pichincha Day (Ecuador)
- Bermuda Day (Bermuda), celebrated on the nearest weekday if May 24 falls on the weekend.
- Christian feast day:
- Anna Pak Agi (one of The Korean Martyrs)
- Donatian and Rogatian
- Jackson Kemper (Episcopal Church)
- Joanna
- Mary, Help of Christians
- Sarah (celebrated by the Romani people of Camargue)
- Vincent of Lérins
- May 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Commonwealth Day (Belize)
- Earliest day on which El Colacho tradition can fall, while June 27 is the latest; celebrated on Sunday after Corpus Christi. (Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos)
- Independence Day (Eritrea), celebrates the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993.
- Lubiri Memorial Day (Buganda)
- Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian Calendar) and its related observance:
- Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day (Bulgaria)
- Saints Cyril and Methodius, Slavonic Enlighteners’ Day (North Macedonia)
- Victoria Day; celebrated on Monday on or before May 24. (Canada), and its related observance:
- National Patriots’ Day or Journée nationale des patriotes (Quebec)
-
May 18 in History
- 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
- 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.
- 1096 – First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany.
- 1152 – The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king two years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.
- 1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.
- 1291 – Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.
- 1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
- 1388 – During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
- 1499 – Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
- 1565 – The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.
- 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd’s accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
- 1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
- 1652 – Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced.
- 1756 – The Seven Years’ War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
- 1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.
- 1794 – Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
- 1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
- 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
- 1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.
- 1812 – John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
- 1843 – The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
- 1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
- 1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
- 1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the “separate but equal” doctrine is constitutional.
- 1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
- 1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
- 1912 – The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
- 1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
- 1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears in Venice, California.
- 1927 – The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
- 1927 – After being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approves Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China.
- 1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
- 1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino.
- 1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
- 1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
- 1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
- 1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.
- 1965 – Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria.
- 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
- 1973 – Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker’s bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.
- 1974 – Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
- 1977 – Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
- 1980 – Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
- 1980 – Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
- 1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
- 1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognized by the international community.
- 1993 – Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
- 1994 – Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
- 2005 – A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
- 2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
- 2009 – The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
- 2015 – At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.
- 2018 – A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills 10 people.
Births on May 18
- 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (d. 1131)
- 1186 – Konstantin of Rostov (d. 1218)
- 1450 – Piero Soderini, Italian politician and diplomat (d. 1513)
- 1537 – Guido Luca Ferrero, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)
- 1631 – Stanislaus Papczyński, Polish priest (d. 1701)
- 1662 – George Smalridge, English bishop (d. 1719)
- 1692 – Joseph Butler, English bishop, theologian, and apologist (d. 1752)
- 1711 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1787)
- 1777 – John George Children, English chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist (d. 1852)
- 1778 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Irish soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Austria (d. 1854)
- 1785 – John Wilson, Scottish author and critic (d. 1854)
- 1797 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
- 1822 – Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (d. 1896)
- 1835 – Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher and 3rd chancellor of Syracuse University (d. 1908)
- 1850 – Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1925)
- 1851 – James Budd, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of California (d. 1908)
- 1852 – Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (d. 1934)
- 1854 – Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and educator (d. 1924)
- 1855 – Francis Bellamy, American minister and author (d. 1931)
- 1862 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and politician, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1948)
- 1867 – Minakata Kumagusu, Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist (d. 1941)
- 1868 – Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1869 – Lucy Beaumont, English-American actress (d. 1937)
- 1871 – Denis Horgan, Irish shot putter and weight thrower (d. 1922)
- 1872 – Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1876 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)
- 1878 – Johannes Terwogt, Dutch rower (d. 1977)
- 1882 – Babe Adams, American baseball player, manager, and journalist (d. 1968)
- 1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian marshal and politician, 16th President of Brazil (d. 1974)
- 1883 – Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (d. 1969)
- 1886 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
- 1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., American chemist and engineer (d. 1944)
- 1891 – Rudolf Carnap, German-American philosopher and academic (d. 1970)
- 1892 – Ezio Pinza, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1957)
- 1895 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (d. 1934)
- 1896 – Eric Backman, Swedish runner (d. 1965)
- 1897 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1898 – Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Turkish poet, author, and playwright (d. 1973)
- 1901 – Henri Sauguet, French composer (d. 1989)
- 1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Meredith Willson, American playwright and composer (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Shunryū Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator (d. 1971)
- 1904 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York Attorney General (d. 1986)
- 1905 – Ruth Alexander, pioneering American pilot (d. 1930)
- 1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1943)
- 1907 – Irene Hunt, American author and educator (d. 2001)
- 1909 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player and academic (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Ester Boserup, Danish economist and author (d. 1999)
- 1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues/R&B singer (d. 1985)
- 1912 – Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (d. 2001)
- 1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African politician (d. 2003)
- 1913 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English publisher and politician (d. 2000)
- 1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer, founded Balmain (d. 1982)
- 1914 – Boris Christoff, Bulgarian-Italian opera singer (d. 1993)
- 1917 – Bill Everett, American author and illustrator (d. 1973)
- 1919 – Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (d. 1991)
- 1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
- 1921 – Michael A. Epstein, English pathologist and academic
- 1922 – Bill Macy, American actor (d. 2019)
- 1922 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (d. 1983)
- 1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, Canadian actor and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Priscilla Pointer, American actress
- 1924 – Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
- 1927 – Richard Body, English politician (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Ray Nagel, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Jack Sanford, American baseball player and coach (d. 2000)
- 1929 – Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Warren Rudman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Fred Saberhagen, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- 1931 – Robert Morse, American actor
- 1931 – Kalju Pitksaar, Estonian chess player (d. 1995)
- 1931 – Clément Vincent, Canadian farmer and politician (d. 2018)
- 1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician, First Lady of France
- 1933 – H. D. Deve Gowda, Indian farmer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of India
- 1933 – Don Whillans, English rock climber and mountaineer (d. 1985)
- 1934 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor and director
- 1936 – Leon Ashley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Türker İnanoğlu, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1936 – Michael Sandle, English sculptor and academic
- 1937 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourger jurist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Luxembourg
- 1938 – Janet Fish, American painter and academic
- 1939 – Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, English historian, journalist, and politician
- 1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
- 1939 – Gordon O’Connor, Canadian general and politician, 38th Canadian Minister of Defence
- 1940 – Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Gino Brito, Canadian wrestler and promoter
- 1941 – Malcolm Longair, Scottish astronomer, physicist, and academic
- 1941 – Miriam Margolyes, English-Australian actress and singer
- 1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1944 – Albert Hammond, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1944 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist, essayist, and poet (d. 2001)
- 1946 – Frank Hsieh, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 40th Premier of the Republic of China
- 1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1946 – Gerd Langguth, German political scientist and author (d. 2013)
- 1947 – John Bruton, Irish politician, 10th Taoiseach of Ireland
- 1947 – Gail Strickland, American actress
- 1948 – Joe Bonsall, American country/gospel singer
- 1948 – Yi Mun-yol, South Korean author and academic
- 1948 – Richard Swedberg, Swedish sociologist and academic
- 1948 – Tom Udall, American lawyer and politician, 28th New Mexico Attorney General, United States Senator from New Mexico
- 1949 – Rick Wakeman, English progressive rock keyboardist and songwriter (Yes)
- 1949 – Walter Hawkins, American gospel music singer and pastor (d. 2010)
- 1950 – Rod Milburn, American hurdler and coach (d. 1997)
- 1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American singer-songwriter and painter
- 1951 – Richard Clapton, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1951 – Jim Sundberg, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1951 – Angela Voigt, German long jumper (d. 2013)
- 1952 – Diane Duane, American author and screenwriter
- 1952 – David Leakey, English general and politician
- 1952 – George Strait, American singer, guitarist and producer
- 1952 – Jeana Yeager, American pilot
- 1953 – Alan Kupperberg, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
- 1954 – Wreckless Eric, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1954 – Eric Gerets, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1955 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter
- 1956 – Catherine Corsini, French director and screenwriter
- 1956 – John Godber, English playwright and screenwriter
- 1957 – Michael Cretu, Romanian-German keyboard player and producer
- 1957 – Henrietta Moore, English anthropologist and academic
- 1958 – Rubén Omar Romano, Argentinian-Mexican footballer and coach
- 1958 – Toyah Willcox, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1959 – Graham Dilley, English cricketer and coach (d. 2011)
- 1959 – Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1960 – Brent Ashton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1960 – Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player, coach, and manager
- 1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player
- 1961 – Russell Senior, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1963 – Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1963 – Sam Vincent, American basketball player and coach
- 1964 – Ignasi Guardans, Spanish academic and politician
- 1966 – Renata Nielsen, Polish-Danish long jumper and coach
- 1966 – Michael Tait, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1967 – Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author
- 1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German race car driver
- 1967 – Nancy Juvonen, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded Flower Films
- 1967 – Mimi Macpherson, Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity
- 1968 – Philippe Benetton, French rugby player
- 1968 – Ralf Kelleners, German race car driver
- 1969 – Troy Cassar-Daley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1969 – Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1969 – Antônio Carlos Zago, Brazilian footballer and manager
- 1970 – Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1970 – Tim Horan, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
- 1970 – Billy Howerdel, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1970 – Javier Cárdenas, Spanish singer, television and radio presenter
- 1970 – Vicky Sunohara, Canadian former ice hockey player
- 1971 – Brad Friedel, American international soccer player, goalkeeper, manager and sportscaster
- 1971 – Mark Menzies, Scottish politician
- 1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese race car driver
- 1972 – Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1973 – Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach
- 1973 – Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (d. 2011)
- 1974 – Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1975 – Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer
- 1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
- 1975 – Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Ron Mercer, American basketball player
- 1976 – Marko Tomasović, Croatian pianist and composer
- 1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Lee Hendrie, English footballer
- 1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer and sportscaster
- 1977 – Li Tie, Chinese footballer and manager
- 1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
- 1978 – Marcus Giles, American baseball player
- 1978 – Charles Kamathi, Kenyan runner
- 1979 – Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft
- 1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
- 1979 – Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoeist
- 1979 – Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer
- 1979 – Julián Speroni, Argentinian footballer
- 1980 – Reggie Evans, American basketball player
- 1980 – Michaël Llodra, French tennis player
- 1980 – Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian international footballer
- 1981 – Ashley Harrison, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Jason Brown, English footballer
- 1982 – Marie-Ève Pelletier, Canadian tennis player
- 1983 – Gary O’Neil, English footballer
- 1983 – Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player
- 1983 – Vince Young, American football player
- 1984 – Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter
- 1984 – Simon Pagenaud, French race car driver
- 1984 – Darius Šilinskis, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1984 – Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player
- 1984 – Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist
- 1985 – Oliver Sin, Hungarian painter
- 1985 – Henrique Sereno, Portuguese footballer
- 1986 – Ahmed Hamada, Egyptian race car driver
- 1986 – Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player
- 1988 – Taeyang, South Korean singer
- 1990 – Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer
- 1990 – Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer
- 1990 – Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model
- 1993 – Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 – Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
- 1998 – Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
- 1999 – Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
- 2000 – Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer
- 2000 – Steven Sessegnon, English footballer
- 2002 – Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater
Deaths on May 18
- 526 – Pope John I (b. 470)
- 893 – Stephen I of Constantinople (b. 867)
- 932 – Ma Shaohong, general of Later Tang
- 947 – Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty
- 978 – Frederick I, duke of Upper Lorraine
- 1065 – Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine (b. c. 1003)
- 1096 – Minna of Worms, Jewish martyr killed during the Worms massacre (1096)
- 1160 – Eric Jedvardsson (King Eric IX) of Sweden (since 1156); (b. circa 1120)
- 1297 – Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury
- 1401 – Vladislaus II of Opole (b. 1332)
- 1410 – Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1352)
- 1550 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (b. 1498)
- 1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter (b. 1486)
- 1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, historian, and theologian (b. 1623)
- 1675 – Jacques Marquette, French-American missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
- 1692 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (b. 1617)
- 1721 – Maria Barbara Carillo, victim of the Spanish Inquisition (b.1625)
- 1733 – Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (b. 1761)
- 1780 – Charles Hardy, English-American admiral and politician, 29th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1714)
- 1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian-Indian rebel leader (b. 1742)
- 1792 – Levy Solomons, Canadian merchant and fur trader (b. 1730)
- 1795 – Robert Rogers, English colonel (b. 1731)
- 1799 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and publisher (b. 1732)
- 1800 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
- 1807 – John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (b. 1721)
- 1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor, and educator, invented Bourbon whiskey (b. 1738)
- 1844 – Richard McCarty, American lawyer and politician (b. 1780)
- 1853 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (b. 1806)
- 1867 – Clarkson Stanfield, English painter (b. 1793)
- 1889 – Isabella Glyn, Scottish-English actress (b. 1823)
- 1900 – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French archaeologist and philosopher (b. 1813)
- 1908 – Louis-Napoléon Casault, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1823)
- 1909 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
- 1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
- 1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (b. 1841)
- 1910 – Pauline Viardot, French soprano and composer (b. 1821)
- 1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1860)
- 1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1941 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
- 1943 – Ōnishiki Daigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 28th Yokozuna (b. 1883)
- 1947 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
- 1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
- 1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
- 1958 – Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and critic (b. 1881)
- 1963 – Ernie Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1939)
- 1968 – Frank Walsh, Australian politician, 34th Premier of South Australia (b. 1897)
- 1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1908)
- 1973 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (b. 1880)
- 1974 – Harry Ricardo, English engine designer and researcher (b. 1885)
- 1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (b. 1908)
- 1980 – Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
- Reid Blackburn, American photographer and journalist (b. 1952)
- David A. Johnston, American volcanologist and geologist (b. 1949)
- 1980 – Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
- 1981 – Arthur O’Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1981 – William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (b. 1908)
- 1987 – Mahdi Amel, Lebanese journalist, poet, and academic (b. 1936)
- 1989 – Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder and author (b. 1921)
- 1990 – Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
- 1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
- 1995 – Alexander Godunov, Russian-American ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
- 1995 – Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, Irish ufologist and historian (b. 1911)
- 1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
- 1998 – Obaidullah Aleem, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1939)
- 1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1954)
- 1999 – Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)
- 2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian-American composer and musicologist (b. 1946)
- 2001 – Irene Hunt, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
- 2004 – Elvin Jones, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Jaan Eilart, Estonian geographer, ecologist, and historian (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Joseph Pevney, American actor and director (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (b. 1942)
- 2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Peter Jones, English-Australian drummer and songwriter (b. 1967)
- 2012 – Alan Oakley, English bicycle designer, designed the Raleigh Chopper (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Aleksei Balabanov, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1959)
- 2013 – Jo Benkow, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Steve Forrest, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2013 – David McMillan, American football player (b. 1981)
- 2013 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist and academic (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Chukwuedu Nwokolo, Nigerian physician and academic (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (b. 1946)
- 2015 – Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947)
- 2015 – Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (b. 1926)
- 2015 – T. J. Moran, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Roger Ailes, American businessman (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (b. 1916)
- 2017 – Chris Cornell, American singer (b. 1964)
- 2020 – Ken Osmond, American actor and the police officer (b. 1943)
Holidays and observances on May 18
- Christian feast day:
- Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
- Eric IX of Sweden
- Felix of Cantalice
- Pope John I
- Venantius of Camerino
- May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Victoria Day (Canada) (Earliest possible date of the last Monday preceding May 25)
- Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
- Battle of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)
- Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
- Flag and Universities Day (Haiti)
- Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
- International Museum Day
- Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)
- Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
- Teacher’s Day (Syria)
- Victory Day (Sri Lanka)
- World AIDS Vaccine Day
-
March 25 in History
- 708 – Pope Constantine succeeds Pope Sisinnius as the 88th pope.
- 717 – Theodosius III resigns the throne to the Byzantine Empire to enter the clergy.
- 919 – Romanos Lekapenos seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople and becomes regent of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII.
- 1000 – Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah assassinates the eunuch chief minister Barjawan and assumes control of the government.
- 1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (Scotland).
- 1409 – The Council of Pisa opens.
- 1555 – The city of Valencia is founded in present-day Venezuela.
- 1576 – Jerome Savage takes out a sub-lease to start the Newington Butts Theatre outside London.
- 1584 – Sir Walter Raleigh is granted a patent to colonize Virginia.
- 1655 – Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
- 1802 – The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a “Definitive Treaty of Peace” between France and the United Kingdom.
- 1807 – The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
- 1807 – The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger-carrying railway in the world.
- 1811 – Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.
- 1821 – Traditional date of the start of the Greek War of Independence. The war had actually begun on 23 February 1821 (Julian calendar).
- 1845 – New Zealand Legislative Council pass the first Militia Act constituting the New Zealand Army.
- 1865 – American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces temporarily capture Fort Stedman from the Union.
- 1894 – Coxey’s Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington, D.C.
- 1911 – In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.
- 1917 – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.
- 1918 – The Belarusian People’s Republic is established.
- 1924 – On the anniversary of Greek Independence, Alexandros Papanastasiou proclaims the Second Hellenic Republic.
- 1931 – The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
- 1941 – The Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers with the signing of the Tripartite Pact.
- 1947 – An explosion in a coal mine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
- 1948 – The first successful tornado forecast predicts that a tornado will strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
- 1949 – More than 92,000 kulaks are suddenly deported from the Baltic states to Siberia.
- 1957 – United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” on obscenity grounds.
- 1957 – The European Economic Community is established with West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as the first members.
- 1965 – Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1969 – During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
- 1971 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam abandon an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
- 1975 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a mentally ill nephew.
- 1979 – The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
- 1988 – The Candle demonstration in Bratislava is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
- 1995 – WikiWikiWeb, the world’s first wiki, and part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham.
- 1996 – The European Union’s Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
- 2006 – Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
- 2006 – Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged 2006 Belarusian presidential election, clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.
Births on March 25
- 1252 – Conradin, Duke of Swabia (d. 1268)
- 1259 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1332)
- 1297 – Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1341)
- 1297 – Arnošt of Pardubice, Polish archbishop (d. 1364)
- 1345 – Blanche of Lancaster (d. 1369)
- 1347 – Catherine of Siena, Italian philosopher, theologian, and saint (d. 1380)
- 1404 – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (d. 1444)
- 1414 – Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, English noble (d. 1455)
- 1434 – Eustochia Smeralda Calafato, Italian saint (d. 1485)
- 1453 – Giuliano de’ Medici (d. 1478)
- 1479 – Vasili III of Russia (d. 1533)
- 1491 – Marie d’Albret, Countess of Rethel (d. 1549)
- 1510 – Guillaume Postel, French linguist (d. 1581)
- 1538 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1612)
- 1541 – Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)
- 1545 – John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (d. 1622)
- 1546 – Giacomo Castelvetro, Italian writer (d. 1616)
- 1593 – Jean de Brébeuf, French-Canadian missionary and saint (d. 1649)
- 1611 – Evliya Çelebi, Ottoman Turk traveller and writer (d. 1682)
- 1636 – Henric Piccardt, Dutch lawyer (d. 1712)
- 1643 – Louis Moréri, French priest and scholar (d. 1680)
- 1661 – Paul de Rapin, French soldier and historian (d. 1725)
- 1699 – Johann Adolph Hasse, German singer and composer (d. 1783)
- 1741 – Jean-Antoine Houdon, French sculptor and educator (d. 1828)
- 1745 – John Barry, American naval officer and father of the American navy (d. 1803)
- 1767 – Joachim Murat, French general (d. 1815)
- 1782 – Caroline Bonaparte, French daughter of Carlo Buonaparte (d. 1839)
- 1800 – Ernst Heinrich Karl von Dechen, German geologist and academic (d. 1889)
- 1808 – José de Espronceda, Spanish poet and author (d. 1842)
- 1824 – Clinton L. Merriam, American banker and politician (d. 1900)
- 1840 – Myles Keogh, Irish-American colonel (d. 1876)
- 1863 – Simon Flexner, American physician and academic (d. 1946)
- 1867 – Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor, designed Mount Rushmore (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian-American cellist and conductor (d. 1957)
- 1868 – Bill Lockwood, English cricketer (d. 1932)
- 1871 – Louis Perrée, French fencer (d. 1924)
- 1872 – Horatio Nelson Jackson, American race car driver and physician (d. 1955)
- 1873 – Rudolf Rocker, German-American author and activist (d. 1958)
- 1874 – Selim Sırrı Tarcan, Turkish educator and politician (d. 1957)
- 1876 – Irving Baxter, American jumper and pole vaulter (d. 1957)
- 1877 – Walter Little, Canadian politician (d. 1961)
- 1878 – František Janda-Suk, Czech discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1955)
- 1879 – Amedee Reyburn, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1920)
- 1881 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian pianist and composer (d. 1945)
- 1881 – Patrick Henry Bruce, American painter and educator (d. 1936)
- 1881 – Mary Webb, English author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1893 – Johannes Villemson, Estonian runner (d. 1971)
- 1895 – Siegfried Handloser, German general and physician (d. 1954)
- 1885 – Jimmy Seed, English international footballer, inside forward and manager (d. 1966)
- 1897 – Leslie Averill, New Zealand doctor and soldier (d. 1981)
- 1899 – François Rozet, French-Canadian actor (d. 1994)
- 1901 – Ed Begley, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1903 – Binnie Barnes, English-American actress (d. 1998)
- 1903 – Frankie Carle, American pianist and bandleader (d. 2001)
- 1903 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Ukrainian-American theologian and scholar (d. 1990)
- 1904 – Pete Johnson, American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist (d. 1967)
- 1905 – Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, German colonel (d. 1944)
- 1906 – Jean Sablon, French singer and actor (d. 1994)
- 1906 – A. J. P. Taylor, English historian and academic (d. 1990)
- 1908 – David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1910 – Magda Olivero, Italian soprano (d. 2014)
- 1910 – Benzion Netanyahu, Polish-Israeli historian and academic (d. 2012)
- 1912 – Melita Norwood, English civil servant and spy (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Jean Vilar, French actor and director (d. 1971)
- 1913 – Reo Stakis, Cypriot-Scottish businessman, founded Stakis Hotels (d. 2001)
- 1914 – Norman Borlaug, American agronomist and humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Dorothy Squires, Welsh singer (d. 1998)
- 1916 – S. M. Pandit, Indian painter and educator (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Howard Cosell, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1995)
- 1920 – Paul Scott, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1978)
- 1920 – Patrick Troughton, English actor (d. 1987)
- 1920 – Usha Mehta, Gandhian and freedom fighter of India (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)
- 1922 – Eileen Ford, American businesswoman, co-founded Ford Models (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Bonnie Guitar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
- 1923 – Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Roberts Blossom, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Machiko Kyō, Japanese actress (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Flannery O’Connor, American short story writer and novelist (d. 1964)
- 1925 – Anthony Quinton, Baron Quinton, English physician and philosopher (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Kishori Sinha, Indian politician, social activist and advocate (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Riz Ortolani, Italian composer and conductor (d. 2014)
- 1926 – László Papp, Hungarian boxer (d. 2003)
- 1926 – Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet and politician (d. 1999)
- 1926 – Gene Shalit, American journalist and critic
- 1927 – P. Shanmugam, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Puducherry (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Jim Lovell, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
- 1928 – Gunnar Nielsen, Danish runner and typographer (d. 1985)
- 1928 – Hans Steinbrenner, German sculptor (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Cecil Taylor, American pianist and composer (d. 2018)
- 1930 – David Burge, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer and explorer (d. 1982)
- 1930 – Rudy Minarcin, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Humphrey Burton, English radio and television host
- 1932 – Penelope Gilliatt, English novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 1993)
- 1932 – Wes Santee, American runner (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Johnny Burnette, American singer-songwriter (d. 1964)
- 1934 – Bernard King, Australian actor and chef (d. 2002)
- 1934 – Karlheinz Schreiber, German-Canadian businessman
- 1934 – Gloria Steinem, American feminist activist, co-founded the Women’s Media Center
- 1935 – Gabriel Elorde, Filipino boxer (d. 1985)
- 1936 – Carl Kaufmann, American-German sprinter (d. 2008)
- 1937 – Tom Monaghan, American businessman, founded Domino’s Pizza
- 1938 – Hoyt Axton, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)
- 1938 – Daniel Buren, French sculptor and painter
- 1938 – Fritz d’Orey, Brazilian race car driver
- 1939 – Toni Cade Bambara, American author, academic, and activist (d. 1995)
- 1939 – D. C. Fontana, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2019)
- 1941 – Gudmund Hernes, Norwegian sociologist and politician, Norwegian Minister of Education and Research
- 1942 – Aretha Franklin, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2018)
- 1942 – Richard O’Brien, English actor and screenwriter
- 1942 – Kim Woodburn, English television host
- 1943 – Paul Michael Glaser, American actor and director
- 1945 – Leila Diniz, Brazilian actress (d. 1972)
- 1946 – Cliff Balsom, English footballer
- 1946 – Daniel Bensaïd, French philosopher and author (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Stephen Hunter, American author and critic
- 1946 – Maurice Krafft, French volcanologist (d. 1991)
- 1947 – Richard Cork, English historian and critic
- 1947 – Elton John, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor
- 1948 – Bonnie Bedelia, American actress
- 1948 – Michael Stanley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1949 – Ronnie Flanagan, Northern Irish Chief Constable (Royal Irish Constabulary, Police Service of Northern Ireland)
- 1949 – Sue Klebold, American activist
- 1950 – Chuck Greenberg, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1995)
- 1950 – Ronnie McDowell, American singer-songwriter
- 1950 – David Paquette, American-New Zealander pianist
- 1951 – Jumbo Tsuruta, Japanese wrestler (d. 2000)
- 1952 – Stephen Dorrell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health
- 1952 – Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician, philosopher, and politician, Mayor of Bogotá
- 1953 – Robert Fox, English producer and manager
- 1953 – Vesna Pusić, Croatian sociologist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia
- 1953 – Haroon Rasheed, Pakistani cricketer and coach
- 1954 – Thom Loverro, American journalist and author
- 1955 – Daniel Boulud, French chef and author
- 1955 – Lee Mazzilli, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1957 – Christina Boxer, English runner and journalist
- 1957 – Jonathan Michie, English economist and academic
- 1957 – Aleksandr Puchkov, Russian hurdler
- 1957 – Jim Uhls, American screenwriter and producer
- 1958 – Lorna Brown, Canadian artist, curator, and writer
- 1958 – Susie Bright, American journalist, author, and critic
- 1958 – Sisy Chen, Taiwanese journalist and politician
- 1958 – María Caridad Colón, Cuban javelin thrower and shot putter
- 1958 – John Ensign, American physician and politician
- 1958 – Ray Tanner, American baseball player and coach
- 1958 – Åsa Torstensson, Swedish politician, 3rd Swedish Minister for Infrastructure
- 1960 – Steve Norman, English saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
- 1960 – Peter O’Brien, Australian actor
- 1960 – Brenda Strong, American actress
- 1961 – Mark Brooks, American golfer
- 1962 – Marcia Cross, American actress
- 1962 – David Nuttall, English lawyer and politician
- 1963 – Karen Bruce, English dancer and choreographer
- 1963 – Velle Kadalipp, Estonian architect
- 1963 – Andrew O’Connor, British actor, comedian, magician, television presenter and executive producer
- 1964 – René Meulensteen, Dutch footballer and coach
- 1964 – Ken Wregget, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1964 – Norm Duke, American bowler
- 1965 – Avery Johnson, American basketball player and coach
- 1965 – Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper
- 1965 – Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress, producer, and designer
- 1966 – Tom Glavine, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1966 – Humberto Gonzalez, Mexican boxer
- 1966 – Jeff Healey, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2008)
- 1966 – Anton Rogan, Northern Irish footballer
- 1967 – Matthew Barney, American sculptor and photographer
- 1967 – Doug Stanhope, American comedian and actor
- 1967 – Debi Thomas, American figure skater and physician
- 1969 – George Chlitsios, Greek conductor and composer
- 1969 – Dale Davis, American basketball player
- 1969 – Cathy Dennis, English singer-songwriter, record producer and actress
- 1969 – Jeffrey Walker, English singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1970 – Magnus Larsson, Swedish golfer
- 1971 – Stacy Dragila, American pole vaulter and coach
- 1971 – Cammi Granato, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Sheryl Swoopes, American basketball player and coach
- 1972 – Giniel de Villiers, South African race car driver
- 1972 – Phil O’Donnell, Scottish footballer (d. 2007)
- 1973 – Michaela Dorfmeister, Austrian skier
- 1973 – Anders Fridén, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
- 1973 – Bob Sura, American basketball player
- 1974 – Serge Betsen, Cameroonian-French rugby player
- 1974 – Lark Voorhies, American actress and singer
- 1975 – Ladislav Benýšek, Czech ice hockey player
- 1975 – Melanie Blatt, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1975 – Erika Heynatz, Papua New Guinean-Australian model and actress
- 1976 – Francie Bellew, Irish footballer
- 1976 – Lars Figura, German sprinter
- 1976 – Wladimir Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer
- 1976 – Rima Wakarua, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
- 1977 – Natalie Clein, English cellist and educator
- 1977 – Andrew Lindsay, Scottish rower
- 1978 – Gennaro Delvecchio, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Muriel Hurtis-Houairi, French sprinter
- 1980 – Kathrine Sørland, Norwegian fashion model and television presenter
- 1982 – Danica Patrick, American race car driver
- 1982 – Álvaro Saborío, Costa Rican footballer
- 1982 – Jenny Slate, American comedian, actress and author
- 1983 – Mickaël Hanany, French high jumper
- 1984 – Katharine McPhee, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Liam Messam, New Zealand rugby player
- 1985 – Carmen Rasmusen, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1985 – Diana Rennik, Estonian figure skater
- 1986 – Marco Belinelli, Italian basketball player
- 1986 – Megan Gibson, American softball player
- 1986 – Kyle Lowry, American basketball player
- 1986 – Mickey Paea, Australian rugby league player
- 1987 – Jacob Bagersted, Danish handball player
- 1987 – Victor Obinna, Nigerian footballer
- 1987 – Nobunari Oda, Japanese figure skater
- 1988 – Big Sean, American rapper, singer and songwriter
- 1988 – Mitchell Watt, Australian long jumper
- 1988 – Arthur Zeiler, German rugby player
- 1989 – Aly Michalka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1989 – Scott Sinclair, English footballer
- 1990 – Mehmet Ekici, Turkish footballer
- 1990 – Alexander Esswein, German footballer
- 1991 – Scott Malone, English footballer, left-back
- 1993 – Jacob Gagan, Australian rugby league player
- 1993 – Sam Johnstone, English footballer
- 1994 – Justine Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier
Deaths on March 25
- 908 – Li Kening, Chinese general
- 940 – Taira no Masakado, Japanese samurai
- 990 – Nicodemus of Mammola, Italian monk and saint
- 1005 – Kenneth III, king of Scotland
- 1051 – Hugh IV, French nobleman
- 1189 – Frederick, duke of Bohemia
- 1223 – Alfonso II, king of Portugal (b. 1185)
- 1351 – Kō no Moronao, Japanese samurai
- 1351 – Kō no Moroyasu, Japanese samurai
- 1392 – Hosokawa Yoriyuki, Japanese samurai
- 1458 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, Spanish poet and politician (b. 1398)
- 1558 – Marcos de Niza, French friar and explorer (b. 1495)
- 1603 – Ikoma Chikamasa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1526)
- 1609 – Olaus Martini, Swedish archbishop (b. 1557)
- 1609 – Isabelle de Limeuil, French noble (b. 1535)
- 1620 – Johannes Nucius, German composer and theorist (b. 1556)
- 1625 – Giambattista Marino, Italian poet and author (b. 1569)
- 1658 – Herman IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg, German nobleman (b. 1607)
- 1677 – Wenceslaus Hollar, Czech-English painter and etcher (b. 1607)
- 1701 – Jean Regnault de Segrais, French poet and novelist (b. 1624)
- 1712 – Nehemiah Grew, English anatomist and physiologist (b. 1641)
- 1732 – Lucy Filippini, Italian teacher and saint (b. 1672)
- 1736 – Nicholas Hawksmoor, English architect, designed Easton Neston and Christ Church (b. 1661)
- 1738 – Turlough O’Carolan, Irish harp player and composer (b. 1670)
- 1801 – Novalis, German poet and author (b. 1772)
- 1818 – Caspar Wessel, Norwegian-Danish mathematician and cartographer (b. 1745)
- 1857 – William Colgate, English-American businessman and philanthropist, founded Colgate-Palmolive (b. 1783)
- 1860 – James Braid, Scottish-English surgeon (b. 1795)
- 1869 – Edward Bates, American politician and lawyer (b. 1793)
- 1873 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator (b. 1810)
- 1907 – Ernst von Bergmann, Latvian-German surgeon and academic (b. 1836)
- 1908 – Durham Stevens, American diplomat (b. 1851)
- 1914 – Frédéric Mistral, French lexicographer and poet, 1904 Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
- 1917 – Elizabeth Storrs Mead, American academic (b. 1832)
- 1918 – Claude Debussy, French composer (b. 1862)
- 1918 – Peter Martin, Australian footballer and soldier (b. 1875)
- 1927 – Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, Palestinian Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (b. 1843)
- 1931 – Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Indian journalist and politician (b. 1890)
- 1931 – Ida B. Wells, American journalist and activist (b. 1862)
- 1932 – Harriet Backer, Norwegian painter (b.1845)
- 1942 – William Carr, American rower (b. 1876)
- 1951 – Eddie Collins, American baseball player and manager (b. 1887)
- 1956 – Lou Moore, American race car driver (b. 1904)
- 1956 – Robert Newton, English actor (b. 1905)
- 1957 – Max Ophüls, German-American director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
- 1958 – Tom Brown, American trombonist (b. 1888)
- 1964 – Charles Benjamin Howard, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1885)
- 1965 – Viola Liuzzo, American civil rights activist (b. 1925)
- 1969 – Billy Cotton, English singer, drummer, and bandleader (b. 1899)
- 1969 – Max Eastman, American poet and activist (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Jakob Sildnik, Estonian photographer and director (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourgian-American photographer, painter, and curator (b. 1879)
- 1975 – Juan Gaudino, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1893)
- 1975 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (b. 1906)
- 1975 – Deiva Zivarattinam, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1894)
- 1976 – Josef Albers, German-American painter and educator (b. 1888)
- 1976 – Benjamin Miessner, American radio engineer and inventor (b. 1890)
- 1979 – Robert Madgwick, Australian colonel and academic (b. 1905)
- 1979 – Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 37th Yokozuna (b. 1914)
- 1980 – Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist and psychologist (b. 1901)
- 1980 – Walter Susskind, Czech-English conductor and educator (b. 1913)
- 1982 – Goodman Ace, American comedian and writer (b. 1899)
- 1983 – Bob Waterfield, American football player and coach (b. 1920)
- 1986 – Gloria Blondell, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1987 – A. W. Mailvaganam, Sri Lankan physicist and academic (b. 1906)
- 1988 – Robert Joffrey, American dancer, choreographer, and director, co-founded the Joffrey Ballet (b. 1930)
- 1991 – Marcel Lefebvre, French-Swiss archbishop (b. 1905)
- 1992 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Angelines Fernández, Spanish-Mexican actress (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Bernard Kangro, Estonian poet and journalist (b. 1910)
- 1994 – Max Petitpierre, Swiss jurist and politician (b. 1899)
- 1995 – James Samuel Coleman, American sociologist and academic (b. 1926)
- 1995 – John Hugenholtz, Dutch engineer (b. 1914)
- 1996 – John Snagge, English journalist (b. 1904)
- 1998 – Max Green, Australian lawyer (b. 1952)
- 1998 – Steven Schiff, American lawyer and politician (b. 1947)
- 1999 – Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1936)
- 2000 – Helen Martin, American actress (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Brian Trubshaw, English cricketer and pilot (b. 1924)
- 2002 – Kenneth Wolstenholme, English journalist and sportscaster (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Paul Henning, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1911)
- 2006 – Bob Carlos Clarke, Irish photographer (b. 1950)
- 2006 – Rocío Dúrcal, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1944)
- 2006 – Richard Fleischer, American film director (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Buck Owens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Andranik Margaryan, Armenian engineer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Armenia (b. 1951)
- 2008 – Ben Carnevale, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915)
- 2008 – Thierry Gilardi, French journalist and sportscaster (b. 1958)
- 2008 – Abby Mann, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1927)
- 2008 – Herb Peterson, American businessman, created the McMuffin (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Johnny Blanchard, American baseball player (b. 1933)
- 2009 – Kosuke Koyama, Japanese-American theologian and academic (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Dan Seals, American musician (b. 1948)
- 2009 – Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, Turkish politician and member of the Parliament of Turkey (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Priscilla Buckley, American journalist and author (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Hal E. Chester, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1921)
- 2012 – John Crosfield, English businessman, founded Crosfield Electronics (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Edd Gould, English animator and voice actor, founded Eddsworld (b. 1988)
- 2012 – Antonio Tabucchi, Italian author and academic (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Léonce Bernard, Canadian politician, 26th Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Ben Goldfaden, American basketball player and educator (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Anthony Lewis, American journalist and academic (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Jean Pickering, English runner and long jumper (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Jean-Marc Roberts, French author and screenwriter (b. 1954)
- 2013 – John F. Wiley, American lieutenant, football player, and coach (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Lorna Arnold, English historian and author (b. 1915)
- 2014 – Hank Lauricella, American football player and politician (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Jon Lord, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1956)
- 2014 – Sonny Ruberto, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Jonathan Schell, American journalist and author (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Ralph Wilson, American businessman, founded the Buffalo Bills (b. 1918)
- 2015 – George Fischbeck, American journalist and educator (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
- 2017 – Cuthbert Sebastian, St. Kitts and Nevis politician (b. 1921)
- 2018 – Zell Miller, American author and politician (b. 1932)
- 2019 – Scott Walker, American-born British singer-songwriter (b. 1943)[9]
Holidays and observances on March 25
- Anniversary of the Arengo and the Feast of the Militants (San Marino)
- Christian feast days:
- Ælfwold II of Sherborne
- Barontius and Desiderius
- Blessed Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas
- Omelyan Kovch (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
- Dismas, the “Good Thief”
- Humbert of Maroilles
- Quirinus of Tegernsee
- March 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Cultural Workers Day (Russia)
- Earliest day on which Seward’s Day can fall, while March 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Monday in March. (Alaska)
- Empress Menen’s Birthday (Rastafari)
- EU Talent Day (European Union)
- Feast of the Annunciation (Christianity), and its related observances (if March 25 falls in Holy Week or Easter Week the feast is moved to the Monday after the 2nd Sunday of Easter):
- Historic start of the new year (Lady Day) in England, Wales, Ireland, and the future United States until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. (The year 1751 began on 25 March; the year 1752 began on 1 January.) It is one of the four Quarter days in Ireland and England.
- International Day of the Unborn Child (international)
- Mother’s Day (Slovenia)
- Vårfrudagen or Våffeldagen, “Waffle Day” (Sweden, Norway & Denmark)
- Freedom Day (Belarus)
- International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (international)
- International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members (United Nations General Assembly)
- Maryland Day (Maryland, United States)
- Medal of Honor Day (United States)
- Independence Day, celebrates the start of Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1821. (Greece)
- NZ Army Day
- Struggle for Human Rights Day (Slovakia)
- Tolkien Reading Day
-
February 22 in History
- 705 – Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.
- 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand.
- 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
- 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city’s throne.
- 1632 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems .
- 1651 – St. Peter’s Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.
- 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.
- 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
- 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
- 1821 – Greek War of Independence: Alexander Ypsilantis crosses the Prut river at Sculeni into the Danubian Principalities.
- 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops.
- 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
- 1853 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania).
- 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
- 1862 – Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
- 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
- 1878 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
- 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- 1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.
- 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
- 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
- 1915 – World War I: The Imperial German Navy institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1921 – After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.
- 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
- 1943 – World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.
- 1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
- 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.
- 1946 – The “Long Telegram”, proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.
- 1957 – Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
- 1958 – Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
- 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- 1972 – The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
- 1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon’s visit to the People’s Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
- 1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
- 1974 – Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but is killed by police.
- 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
- 1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
- 1984 – President of Bangladesh, H M Ershad upgraded South Sylhet’s sub-division status to a district and renamed it back to Moulvibazar.
- 1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
- 1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
- 1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
- 1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
- 2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
- 2005 – The 6.4 Mw Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman Province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.
- 2006 – At least six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
- 2011 – New Zealand’s second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people.
- 2011 – Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.
- 2012 – A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.
- 2014 – President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
- 2015 – A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.
- 2018 – A man throws a grenade at the U.S embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.
Births on February 22
- 1028 – Al-Juwayni, Persian jurist and theologian (died 1085)
- 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi and author (d. 1105)
- 1302 – Gegeen Khan, Emperor Yingzong of Yuan (d. 1323)
- 1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
- 1440 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Hungarian king (d. 1457)
- 1500 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (d. 1564)
- 1514 – Tahmasp I, Iranian shah (d. 1576)
- 1520 – Moses Isserles, Polish rabbi (d. 1572)
- 1550 – Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (d. 1616)
- 1592 – Nicholas Ferrar, English scholar (d. 1637)
- 1631 – Peder Syv, Danish historian (d. 1702)
- 1649 – Bon Boullogne, French painter (d. 1717)
- 1715 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (d. 1790)
- 1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
- 1749 – Johann Nikolaus Forkel, German musicologist and theorist (d. 1818)
- 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter and curator (d. 1860)
- 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (d. 1860)
- 1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French priest and missionary (d. 1837)
- 1796 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician, astronomer, and sociologist (d. 1874)
- 1805 – Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, English poet and hymnwriter (d. 1848)
- 1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish historian and philosopher (d. 1875)
- 1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
- 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (d. 1891)
- 1824 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1907)
- 1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1898)
- 1836 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar and academic (d. 1906)
- 1840 – August Bebel, German theorist and politician (d. 1913)
- 1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1915)
- 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1894)
- 1860 – Mary W. Bacheler, American physician and Baptist medical missionary (d. 1939)
- 1863 – Charles McLean Andrews, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1943)
- 1864 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (d. 1910)
- 1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (d. 1938)
- 1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951)
- 1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1947)
- 1880 – Eric Lemming, Swedish athlete (d. 1930)
- 1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
- 1881 – Albin Prepeluh, Slovenian journalist and politician (d. 1937)
- 1882 – Eric Gill, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1940)
- 1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
- 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1887 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish journalist, author, and chess player (d. 1956)
- 1887 – Pat Sullivan, Australian-American animator and producer (d. 1933)
- 1888 – Owen Brewster, American captain and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (d. 1961)
- 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English scout leader, founded the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
- 1889 – R. G. Collingwood, English historian and philosopher (d. 1943)
- 1891 – Vlas Chubar, Russian economist and politician (d. 1939)
- 1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950)
- 1895 – Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
- 1897 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
- 1899 – George O’Hara, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1966)
- 1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican director and producer (d. 1983)
- 1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1903 – Frank P. Ramsey, English economist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1930)
- 1906 – Constance Stokes, Australian painter (d. 1991)
- 1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
- 1907 – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1908 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan politician, 56th President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
- 1908 – John Mills, English soldier and actor (d. 2005)
- 1910 – George Hunt, English international footballer, forward (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
- 1915 – Gus Lesnevich, American boxer (d. 1964)
- 1917 – Reed Crandall, American illustrator (d. 1982)
- 1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2000)
- 1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)
- 1918 – Robert Wadlow, American man, the tallest person in recorded history (d. 1940)
- 1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African general and politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
- 1921 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
- 1922 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
- 1922 – Joe Wilder, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
- 1923 – François Cavanna, French author and editor (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Gerald Stern, American poet and academic
- 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1988)
- 1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino political scientist and chess player (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
- 1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969)
- 1928 – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor
- 1928 – Bruce Forsyth, English singer and television host (d. 2017)
- 1929 – James Hong, American actor and director
- 1929 – Rebecca Schull, American stage, film, and television actress
- 1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
- 1933 – Sheila Hancock, English actress and author
- 1933 – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (d. 2001)
- 1933 – Bobby Smith, English international footballer, centre forward (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
- 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 – Tommy Aaron, American golfer
- 1937 – Joanna Russ, American author and activist (d. 2011)
- 1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Tony Macedo, Gibraltarian born English footballer, goalkeeper
- 1938 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, novelist, essayist
- 1940 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
- 1940 – Chet Walker, American basketball player
- 1941 – Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician, 52nd President of the Dominican Republic
- 1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and dancer (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Terry Eagleton, English philosopher and critic
- 1943 – Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany
- 1943 – Dick Van Arsdale, American basketball player
- 1943 – Tom Van Arsdale, American basketball player
- 1943 – Otoya Yamaguchi, Japanese assassin of Inejiro Asanuma (d. 1960)
- 1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Mick Green, English rock & roll guitarist (d. 2010)
- 1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003)
- 1944 – Christopher Meyer, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
- 1944 – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player and painter
- 1945 – Oliver, American pop singer (d. 2000)
- 1946 – Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Pirjo Honkasalo, Finnish director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
- 1947 – Harvey Mason, American drummer
- 1947 – John Radford, English footballer and manager
- 1947 – Frank Van Dun, Belgian philosopher and theorist
- 1949 – John Duncan, Scottish footballer, forward and manager
- 1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver (d. 2019)
- 1949 – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player and coach
- 1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1950 – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Miou-Miou, French actress
- 1950 – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
- 1950 – Julie Walters, English actress and author
- 1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
- 1952 – Bill Frist, American physician and politician
- 1952 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP (d. 2020)
- 1953 – Nigel Planer, English actor and screenwriter
- 1955 – David Axelrod, American journalist and political adviser
- 1955 – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1957 – Willie Smits, Dutch microbiologist and engineer
- 1958 – Dave Spitz, American bass player and songwriter
- 1959 – Jiří Čunek, Czech politician
- 1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
- 1959 – Bronwyn Oliver, Australian sculptor (d. 2006)
- 1960 – Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, Scottish politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
- 1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (d. 2006)
- 1963 – Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
- 1963 – Devon Malcolm, Jamaican-English cricketer
- 1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian-American golfer
- 1964 – Ed Boon, American video game designer, co-created Mortal Kombat
- 1964 – Diane Charlemagne, English singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1964 – Andy Gray, English footballer, midfielder and manager
- 1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player and politician
- 1965 – Kieren Fallon, Irish jockey
- 1965 – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player
- 1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedian
- 1966 – Thorsten Kaye, German-English actor
- 1967 – Psicosis II, Mexican wrestler
- 1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician, 31st Premier of New Brunswick
- 1968 – Bradley Nowell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1996)
- 1968 – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress
- 1968 – Jayson Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer and sportscaster
- 1969 – Marc Wilmots, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1971 – Super Caló, Mexican wrestler
- 1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipino actress and singer
- 1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player and coach
- 1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
- 1973 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (d. 2013)
- 1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
- 1973 – Scott Phillips, American drummer and producer
- 1974 – James Blunt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1974 – Chris Moyles, English radio and television host
- 1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1977 – Timo Rose, German actor, director, and producer
- 1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
- 1978 – Jenny Frost, English singer and dancer
- 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
- 1979 – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
- 1980 – Shamari Fears, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1980 – Kang Sung-hoon, South Korean singer
- 1980 – Jeanette Biedermann, German singer-songwriter and actress
- 1983 – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
- 1984 – Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
- 1984 – Branislav Ivanović, Serbian footballer
- 1985 – Hameur Bouazza, Algerian international footballer, winger
- 1985 – Georgios Printezis, Greek basketball player
- 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
- 1987 – Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
- 1987 – Sergio Romero, Argentinian footballer
- 1988 – Jonathan Borlée, Belgian sprinter
- 1988 – Efraín Juárez, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Sebastian Tyrała, Polish-German footballer
- 1989 – Franco Vázquez, Argentinian footballer
- 1990 – Luca Profeta, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Alexander Merkel, Kazakhstani-German footballer
- 1999 – Harry Brook, English cricketer
Deaths on February 22
- 556 – Maximianus, bishop of Ravenna (b. 499)
- 606 – Sabinian, pope of the Catholic Church
- 793 – Sicga, Anglo-Saxon nobleman and regicide
- 845 – Wang, Chinese empress dowager
- 954 – Guo Wei, Chinese emperor (b. 904)
- 965 – Otto, duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
- 970 – García I, king of Pamplona
- 978 – Lambert, count of Chalon (b. 930)
- 1071 – Arnulf III, count of Flanders
- 1072 – Peter Damian, Italian cardinal
- 1079 – John of Fécamp, Italian Benedictine abbot
- 1111 – Roger Borsa, king of Sicily (b. 1078)
- 1297 – Margaret of Cortona, Italian penitent (b. 1247)
- 1371 – David II, king of Scotland (b. 1324)
- 1452 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (b. 1425)
- 1500 – Gerhard VI, German nobleman (b. 1430)
- 1511 – Henry, duke of Cornwall (b. 1511)
- 1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (b. 1454)
- 1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch explorer (b. 1558)
- 1674 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic (b. 1595)
- 1680 – La Voisin, French occultist (b. 1640)
- 1690 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (b. 1619)
- 1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
- 1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop (b. 1663)
- 1799 – Heshen, Chinese politician (b. 1750)
- 1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish historian and philosopher (b. 1723)
- 1875 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1796)
- 1875 – Charles Lyell, Scottish-English geologist and lawyer (b. 1797)
- 1888 – Anna Kingsford, English physician and activist (b. 1846)
- 1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
- 1890 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (b. 1834)
- 1897 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat (b. 1824)
- 1898 – Heungseon Daewongun, Korean king (b. 1820)
- 1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
- 1904 – Leslie Stephen, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1832)
- 1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (b. 1857)
- 1913 – Francisco I. Madero, Mexican president and author (b. 1873)
- 1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1852)
- 1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish-French poet and author (b. 1875)
- 1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1881)
- 1943 – Christoph Probst, German activist (b. 1919)
- 1943 – Hans Scholl, German activist (b. 1918)
- 1943 – Sophie Scholl, German activist (b. 1921)
- 1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, Indian activist (b. 1869)
- 1945 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (b. 1888)
- 1958 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of Education (b. 1888)
- 1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian-French painter and critic (b. 1905)
- 1961 – Nick LaRocca, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1889)
- 1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
- 1971 – Frédéric Mariotti, French actor (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
- 1973 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author (b. 1899)
- 1973 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
- 1973 – Winthrop Rockefeller, American colonel and politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
- 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
- 1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter, poet and playwright (b. 1886)
- 1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1898)
- 1983 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
- 1983 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1889)
- 1986 – John Donnelly, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
- 1987 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (b. 1920)
- 1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
- 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (b. 1906)
- 1994 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (b. 1917)
- 1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
- 1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
- 1998 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1910)
- 1999 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
- 2002 – Roden Cutler, Australian lieutenant and politician, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
- 2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (b. 1934)
- 2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Lee Eun-ju, South Korean actress and singer (b. 1980)
- 2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
- 2007 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English politician, Leader of the House of Lords (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Sukhbir, Indian author and poet (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Frank Carson, Irish-English comedian and actor (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
- 2012 – Rémi Ochlik, French photographer and journalist (b. 1983)
- 2013 – Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Jean-Louis Michon, French-Swiss scholar and translator (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand–Australian television host (b. 1966)
- 2014 – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Chris Rainbow, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Yolande Fox, American model and singer, Miss America 1951 (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
- 2018 – Forges, Spanish cartoonist (b. 1942)
- 2019 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (b. 1970)
- 2019 – Morgan Woodward, American actor (b. 1925)
Holidays and observances on February 22
- Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance:
- Founder’s Day or “B.-P. day” (World Organization of the Scout Movement)
- World Thinking Day (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts)
- Christian feast day:
- Baradates
- Eric Liddell (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (Roman Catholic Church)
- Margaret of Cortona
- February 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Crime Victims Day (Europe)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom in 1979.
-
February 9 in History
- 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
- 1555 – Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.
- 1621 – Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.
- 1654 – The Capture of Fort Rocher takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
- 1778 – Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
- 1788 – The Habsburg Empire joins the Russo-Turkish War in the Russian camp.
- 1825 – After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as President of the United States.
- 1849 – The new Roman Republic is declared.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1870 – US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.
- 1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.
- 1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.
- 1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established.
- 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.
- 1907 – The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
- 1913 – A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
- 1920 – Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.
- 1922 – Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1934 – The Balkan Entente is formed.
- 1941 – World War II: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate.
- 1942 – World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
- 1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
- 1943 – World War II: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.
- 1945 – World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat.
- 1945 – World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attacked a German destroyer in Førdefjorden, Norway.
- 1950 – Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.
- 1951 – Korean War: The two-day Geochang massacre begins as a battalion of the 11th Division of the South Korean Army kills 719 unarmed citizens in Geochang, in the South Gyeongsang district of South Korea
- 1959 – The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.
- 1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a “record-busting” audience of 73 million viewers across the USA.
- 1965 – The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.
- 1971 – The 6.5–6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.
- 1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the USA’s Baseball Hall of Fame.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.
- 1975 – The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
- 1976 – Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24.
- 1978 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1986 – Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
- 1991 – Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.
- 1996 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London’s Canary Wharf, killing two people.
- 1996 – Copernicium is discovered, by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al.
- 2016 – Two passenger trains collided in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. Twelve people died, and 85 others were injured.
- 2018 – Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea.
Births on February 9
- 1060 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1130)
- 1274 – Louis of Toulouse, French bishop (d. 1297)
- 1313 – Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile, Portuguese infanta (d. 1357)
- 1344 – Meinhard III, count of Tyrol (d. 1363)
- 1441 – Ali-Shir Nava’i, Turkic poet, linguist, and painter (d. 1501)
- 1533 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyō (d. 1611)
- 1579 – Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (d. 1639)
- 1651 – Procopio Cutò, French entrepreneur (d. 1727)
- 1666 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish field marshal (d. 1737)
- 1711 – Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Spanish sailor and commander (d. 1762)
- 1737 – Thomas Paine, English-American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 1809)
- 1741 – Henri-Joseph Rigel, German-French composer (d. 1799)
- 1748 – Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet, English admiral and politician, Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1817)
- 1763 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (d. 1830)
- 1769 – George W. Campbell, Scottish-American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1848)
- 1773 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
- 1775 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1856)
- 1781 – Johann Baptist von Spix, German biologist and explorer (d. 1826)
- 1783 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1852)
- 1789 – Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, German engineer, invented Gabelsberger shorthand (d. 1849)
- 1800 – Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d. 1844)
- 1814 – Samuel J. Tilden, American lawyer and politician, 28th Governor of New York (d. 1886)
- 1815 – Federico de Madrazo, Spanish painter (d.1894)
- 1834 – Felix Dahn, German lawyer, historian, and author (d. 1912)
- 1826 – Keʻelikōlani, Hawaiian royal and governor (d. 1883)
- 1837 – José Burgos, Filipino priest and revolutionary (d. 1872)
- 1839 – Silas Adams, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 1896)
- 1846 – Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (d. 1929)
- 1846 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman and financier (d. 1904)
- 1847 – Hugh Price Hughes, Welsh-English clergyman and theologian (d. 1902)
- 1854 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician and suffrage activist (d. 1929)
- 1856 – Hara Takashi, Japanese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1921)
- 1859 – Akiyama Yoshifuru, Japanese general (d. 1930)
- 1863 – Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (d. 1933)
- 1864 – Miina Härma, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
- 1865 – Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English-French actress (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer and geophysicist (d. 1949)
- 1867 – Natsume Sōseki, Japanese author and poet (d. 1916)
- 1871 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist and physician (d. 1910)
- 1874 – Amy Lowell, American poet, critic, and educator (d. 1925)
- 1876 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (d. 1963)
- 1878 – Jack Kirwan, Irish international footballer (d. 1959)
- 1880 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1959)
- 1883 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1935)
- 1885 – Clarence H. Haring, American historian and author (d. 1960)
- 1889 – Larry Semon, American actor, producer, director and screenwriter (d. 1928)
- 1891 – Ronald Colman, English-American actor (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)
- 1893 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician, 163rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1987)
- 1895 – Hermann Brill, German lawyer and politician, 8th Minister-President of Thuringia (d. 1959)
- 1896 – Alberto Vargas, Peruvian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian captain and pilot (d. 1935)
- 1898 – Jūkichi Yagi, Japanese poet and educator (d. 1927)
- 1901 – Brian Donlevy, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1901 – James Murray, American actor (d. 1936)
- 1905 – David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, English hurdler and politician (d. 1981)
- 1906 – André Kostolany, Hungarian-French economist and journalist (d. 1999)
- 1907 – Trường Chinh, Vietnamese politician, 4th President of Vietnam (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
- 1909 – Heather Angel, English-American actress (d. 1986)
- 1909 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1955)
- 1909 – Dean Rusk, American colonel and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Jacques Monod, French biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- 1911 – William Orlando Darby, American general (d. 1945)
- 1912 – Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (d. 1968)
- 1912 – Ginette Leclerc, French actress (d. 1992)
- 1914 – Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
- 1916 – Tex Hughson, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Lloyd Noel Ferguson, African American chemist (d. 2011)
- 1920 – Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress and soprano (d. 2010)
- 1922 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1986)
- 1922 – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Robert E. Ogren, American zoologist (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Brendan Behan, Irish rebel, poet, and playwright (d. 1964)
- 1923 – Tonie Nathan, American radio host, producer, and politician (d. 2014)
- 1925 – John B. Cobb, American philosopher and theologian
- 1925 – Burkhard Heim, German physicist and academic (d. 2001)
- 1926 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 2011)
- 1927 – Richard A. Long, American historian and author (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Frank Frazetta, American painter and illustrator (d. 2010)
- 1928 – Rinus Michels, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Roger Mudd, American journalist
- 1929 – A. R. Antulay, Indian social worker and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor (d. 2005)
- 1930 – Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist and author (d. 2003)
- 1931 – Thomas Bernhard, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1989)
- 1931 – Josef Masopust, Czech footballer and coach (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Robert Morris, American sculptor and painter (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Tatsuro Hirooka, Japanese baseball player and manager
- 1932 – Gerhard Richter, German painter and photographer
- 1935 – Lionel Fanthorpe, English-Welsh priest, journalist, and author
- 1936 – Clive Swift, English actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Ron Logan, Disney theatrical producer and professor
- 1939 – Mahala Andrews, British vertebrae palaeontologist (d. 1997)
- 1939 – Barry Mann, American pianist, songwriter, and producer
- 1939 – Janet Suzman, South African-British actress and director
- 1940 – Brian Bennett, English drummer and songwriter
- 1940 – J. M. Coetzee, South African-Australian novelist, essayist, and linguist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Kermit Gosnell, American abortionist and serial killer
- 1941 – Sheila Kuehl, American actress, lawyer, gay rights activist, and politician
- 1942 – Carole King, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1943 – Barbara Lewis, American soul/R&B singer-songwriter
- 1943 – Joe Pesci, American actor
- 1943 – Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1944 – Derryn Hinch, New Zealand-Australian radio and television host and politician
- 1944 – Alice Walker, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
- 1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress, activist, and former fashion model
- 1945 – Yoshinori Ohsumi, Japanese cell biologist, 2016 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
- 1945 – Carol Wood, American mathematician and academic
- 1946 – Bob Eastwood, American golfer
- 1946 – Vince Papale, American football player and sportscaster
- 1946 – Jim Webb, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of the Navy
- 1947 – Carla Del Ponte, Swiss lawyer and diplomat
- 1947 – Joe Ely, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Major Harris, American R&B singer (d. 2012)
- 1947 – Alexis Smirnoff, Canadian-American wrestler and actor (d. 2019)
- 1948 – Guy Standing, English economist and academic
- 1949 – Bernard Gallacher, Scottish golfer and journalist
- 1949 – Judith Light, American actress
- 1950 – Richard F. Colburn, American sergeant and politician
- 1951 – David Pomeranz, American singer, musician, and composer
- 1952 – Danny White, American football player and sportscaster
- 1953 – Ciarán Hinds, Irish actor
- 1953 – Ezechiele Ramin, Italian missionary, priest, and martyr (d. 1985)
- 1953 – Gabriel Rotello, American journalist and author, founded OutWeek
- 1954 – Jo Duffy, American author
- 1954 – Chris Gardner, American businessman and philanthropist
- 1954 – Kevin Warwick, English cybernetics scientist
- 1955 – Jerry Beck, American historian and author
- 1955 – Jimmy Pursey, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1955 – Charles Shaughnessy, English actor
- 1956 – Mookie Wilson, American baseball player and coach
- 1957 – Terry McAuliffe, American businessman and politician, 72nd Governor of Virginia
- 1957 – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1958 – Sandy Lyle, Scottish golfer
- 1958 – Chris Nilan, American ice hockey player, coach, and radio host
- 1960 – Holly Johnson, English singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1960 – David Simon, American journalist, author, screenwriter, and television producer
- 1960 – Peggy Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut
- 1961 – John Kruk, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1962 – Anik Bissonnette, Canadian ballerina
- 1963 – Brian Greene, American physicist
- 1963 – Peter Rowsthorn, Australian comedian and actor
- 1963 – Travis Tritt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1964 – Debrah Miceli, Italian-American wrestler and manager
- 1964 – Dewi Morris, English rugby player
- 1964 – Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1964 – Alejandro Ávila, Mexican telenovela actor
- 1964 – Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1965 – Dieter Baumann, German runner
- 1966 – Harald Eia, Norwegian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
- 1967 – Todd Pratt, American baseball player and coach
- 1967 – Dan Shulman, Canadian sportscaster
- 1967 – Gaston Browne, Antiguan and Barbudan Prime Minister
- 1968 – Alejandra Guzmán, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress
- 1968 – Derek Strong, American basketball player and race car driver
- 1968 – Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress
- 1969 – Jimmy Smith, American football player
- 1970 – Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1971 – Matt Gogel, American golfer
- 1971 – Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer and manager
- 1972 – Darren Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1973 – Svetlana Boginskaya, Belarusian gymnast
- 1973 – Colin Egglesfield, American actor
- 1973 – Makoto Shinkai, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Jordi Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1974 – Brad Maynard, American football player
- 1974 – Amber Valletta, American model
- 1974 – John Wallace, American basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Kurt Asle Arvesen, Norwegian cyclist and coach
- 1975 – Clinton Grybas, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
- 1975 – Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1976 – Charlie Day, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1978 – A. J. Buckley, Irish-Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1979 – Akinori Iwamura, Japanese baseball player
- 1979 – Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater
- 1980 – Angelos Charisteas, Greek footballer
- 1980 – Margarita Levieva, Russian-American actress
- 1980 – Manu Raju, American journalist
- 1981 – Tom Hiddleston, English actor, producer, and musical performer
- 1981 – Daisuke Sekimoto, Japanese wrestler
- 1982 – Domingo Cisma, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Jameer Nelson, American basketball player
- 1982 – Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
- 1982 – Chris Weale, English footballer and manager
- 1983 – Mikel Arruabarrena, Spanish footballer
- 1984 – Maurice Ager, American basketball player, singer, and producer
- 1984 – Shōhōzan Yūya, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1985 – David Gallagher, American actor
- 1987 – Sam Coulson, English guitarist
- 1987 – Michael B. Jordan, American actor
- 1987 – Davide Lanzafame, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Magdalena Neuner, German biathlete
- 1988 – Lotte Friis, Danish swimmer
- 1989 – Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier
- 1990 – Tariq Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
- 1991 – Logan Ryan, American football player
- 1992 – Kyle Feldt, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Mitchell Frei, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Avan Jogia, Canadian actor
- 1993 – Niclas Füllkrug, German footballer
- 1995 – André Burakovsky, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1995 – Mario Pašalić, Croatian footballer
- 1997 – Saquon Barkley, American football player
Deaths on February 9
- 966 – Ono no Michikaze, Japanese calligrapher (b. 894)
- 967 – Sayf al-Dawla, emir of Aleppo (b. 916)
- 978 – Luitgarde, duchess consort of Normandy
- 1011 – Bernard I, Duke of Saxony
- 1014 – Yang Yanzhao, Chinese general
- 1135 – Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1075)
- 1199 – Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1147)
- 1251 – Matthias II, duke of Lorraine
- 1407 – William I, margrave of Meissen (b. 1343)
- 1450 – Agnès Sorel, French mistress of Charles VII of France (b. 1421)
- 1555 – John Hooper, English bishop and martyr (b. 1495)
- 1555 – Rowland Taylor, English priest and martyr (b. 1510)
- 1588 – Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish admiral (b. 1526)
- 1600 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1542)
- 1619 – Lucilio Vanini, Italian physician and philosopher (b. 1585)
- 1640 – Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1612)
- 1670 – Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)
- 1675 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (b. 1613)
- 1709 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (b. 1664)
- 1777 – Seth Pomeroy, American general and gunsmith (b. 1706)
- 1803 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier, poet, and philosopher (b. 1716)
- 1857 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and translator (b. 1798)
- 1874 – Jules Michelet, French historian, philosopher, and academic (b. 1798)
- 1881 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and philosopher (b. 1821)
- 1891 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (b. 1819)
- 1903 – Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (b. 1816)
- 1906 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1872)
- 1928 – William Gillies, Australian politician, 21st Premier of Queensland (b. 1868)
- 1930 – Richard With, Norwegian captain and businessman, founded Hurtigruten (b. 1846)
- 1932 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and banker (b. 1869)
- 1932 – A.K. Golam Jilani, Bangladeshi soldier and activist (b. 1904)
- 1945 – Ella D. Barrier, American educator (b. 1852)
- 1950 – Ted Theodore, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Queensland (b. 1884)
- 1951 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist, bandleader, and actor (b. 1910)
- 1957 – Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (b. 1868)
- 1960 – Alexandre Benois, Russian painter and critic (b. 1870)
- 1960 – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1877)
- 1965 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and educator (b. 1874)
- 1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer (b. 1884)
- 1969 – George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor and singer (b. 1885)
- 1976 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1908)
- 1977 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer and businessman, founded the Ilyushin Design Company (b. 1894)
- 1978 – Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist and coach (b. 1893)
- 1979 – Allen Tate, American poet and academic (b. 1899)
- 1980 – Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and author (b. 1900)
- 1981 – M. C. Chagla, Indian jurist and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1900)
- 1981 – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
- 1984 – Yuri Andropov, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
- 1989 – Osamu Tezuka, Japanese illustrator, animator, and producer (b. 1928)
- 1994 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1934)
- 1995 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
- 1995 – David Wayne, American actor (b. 1914)
- 1998 – Maurice Schumann, French journalist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1911)
- 2001 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist, economist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Isabelle Holland, Swiss-American author (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Robert Kearns, American engineer, invented the windscreen wiper (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Freddie Laker, English pilot and businessman, founded Laker Airways (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (b. 1934)
- 2008 – Christopher Hyatt, American occultist and author (b. 1943)
- 2008 – Jazeh Tabatabai, Iranian painter, poet, and sculptor (b. 1931)
- 2009 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (b. 1920)
- 2011 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek lawyer and politician, 69th Mayor of Athens (b. 1939)
- 2012 – O. P. Dutta, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2012 – John Hick, English philosopher and academic (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Joe Moretti, Scottish-South African guitarist and songwriter (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist and trainer (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Jimmy Smyth, Irish hurler (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Gabriel Axel, Danish actor, director, and producer (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Hal Herring, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Logan Scott-Bowden, English general (b. 1920)
- 2015 – Liu Han, Chinese businessman and philanthropist (b. 1965)
- 2015 – Ed Sabol, American film producer, co-founded NFL Films (b. 1916)
- 2016 – Sushil Koirala, Nepalese politician, 37th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1939)
- 2016 – Zdravko Tolimir, Bosnian Serb military commander (b. 1948)
- 2017 – André Salvat, French Army colonel (b. 1920)
- 2018 – Reg E. Cathey, American actor of stage, film, and television (b. 1958)
- 2018 – Nebojša Glogovac, Serbian actor (b. 1969)
- 2018 – Jóhann Jóhannsson, Icelandic composer (b. 1969)
- 2018 – John Gavin, American actor and United States ambassador to Mexico (b. 1931)
- 2020 – Sergiy Vilkomir, Ukrainian-born computer scientist (b. 1956)
Holidays and observances on February 9
- Christian feast day:
- Alto of Altomünster
- Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
- Ansbert of Rouen
- Apollonia
- Bracchio
- Blessed Leopold of Alpandeire
- Maron (Maronite Church)
- Miguel Febres Cordero
- Nebridius
- Sabinus of Canosa
- Teilo (Wales)
- February 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Clean Monday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of Great Lent. (Eastern Christianity)
- Earliest day on which People’s Sunday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent. (Malta)
- St. Maroun’s Day (public holiday in Lebanon)
-
January 23 in History
- 393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
- 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
- 1264 – In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons’ War.
- 1368 – In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
- 1546 – Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
- 1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.
- 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.
- 1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London.
- 1579 – The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
- 1656 – Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
- 1719 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.).
- 1793 – Second Partition of Poland.
- 1795 – After an extraordinary charge across the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of a battle between ships and cavalry.
- 1846 – Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.
- 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States’ first female doctor.
- 1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.
- 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke’s Drift ends.
- 1899 – The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first President.
- 1900 – Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.
- 1904 – Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
- 1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.
- 1912 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
- 1920 – The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
- 1937 – The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin’s regime.
- 1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan’s invasion of Australia’s Territory of New Guinea.
- 1943 – World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.
- 1945 – World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
- 1950 – The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
- 1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the “Frisbee”.
- 1958 – After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.
- 1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1961 – The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by opponents of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar is overthrown.
- 1963 – The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese army stationed in Tite.
- 1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
- 1967 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.
- 1967 – Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.
- 1968 – USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by naval forces of North Korea.
- 1973 – United States President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
- 1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
- 1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
- 1998 – Netscape announced Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.
- 2001 – Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Communist Party of China to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.
- 2002 – U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.
- 2003 – A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted.
- 2018 – A 7.9 Mw earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Alaska. It is tied as the sixth-largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States, but there are no reports of significant damage or fatalities.
- 2018 – A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds “dozens” of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.
Births on January 23
- 599 – Tai Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 649)
- 1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
- 1378 – Louis III, Elector Palatine (d. 1436)
- 1514 – Hai Rui, Chinese politician (d. 1587)
- 1585 – Mary Ward, English Catholic Religious Sister (d. 1645)
- 1622 – Abraham Diepraam, Dutch painter (d. 1670)
- 1719 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1790)
- 1737 – John Hancock, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1793)
- 1745 – William Jessop, English engineer, built the Cromford Canal (d. 1814)
- 1752 – Muzio Clementi, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1832)
- 1780 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (d. 1827)
- 1783 – Stendhal, French novelist (d. 1842)
- 1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French-Russian architect, designed Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and Alexander Column (d. 1858)
- 1799 – Alois Negrelli, Tyrolean engineer and railroad pioneer active in the Austrian Empire (d. 1858)
- 1809 – Surendra Sai, Indian activist (d. 1884)
- 1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian novelist and activist (d. 1895)
- 1828 – Saigō Takamori, Japanese samurai (d. 1877)
- 1832 – Édouard Manet, French painter (d. 1883)
- 1833 – Muthu Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1879)
- 1838 – Marianne Cope, German-American nun and saint (d. 1918)
- 1840 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist and engineer (d. 1905)
- 1846 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist and mathematician (d. 1915)
- 1855 – John Browning, American weapons designer, founded the Browning Arms Company (d. 1926)
- 1857 – Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian meteorologist and seismologist (d. 1936)
- 1862 – David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1943)
- 1862 – Frank Shuman, American inventor and engineer (d. 1918)
- 1872 – Paul Langevin, French physicist and academic (d. 1946)
- 1872 – Jože Plečnik, Slovenian architect, designed Plečnik Parliament (d. 1957)
- 1876 – Otto Diels, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
- 1878 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
- 1880 – Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama, Mexican politician (d. 1967)
- 1889 – Claribel Kendall, American mathematician (d.1965)
- 1894 – Jyotirmoyee Devi, Indian author (d. 1988)
- 1896 – Alf Blair, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1944)
- 1896 – Alf Hall, English-South African cricketer (d. 1964)
- 1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian activist and politician (d. 1945)
- 1897 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
- 1897 – Ieva Simonaitytė, Lithuanian author (d. 1978)
- 1897 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (d. 1989)
- 1898 – Georg Kulenkampff, German violinist (d. 1948)
- 1898 – Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1898 – Freda Utley, English scholar and author (d. 1978)
- 1899 – Glen Kidston, English race car driver and pilot (d. 1931)
- 1900 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh organist and conductor (d. 1988)
- 1901 – Arthur Wirtz, American businessman (d. 1983)
- 1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Minister of National Education of Colombia (d. 1948)
- 1905 – Erich Borchmeyer, German sprinter (d. 2000)
- 1907 – Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (d. 1968)
- 1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
- 1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (d. 1953)
- 1912 – Boris Pokrovsky, Russian director and manager (d. 2009)
- 1913 – Jean-Michel Atlan, Algerian-French painter (d. 1960)
- 1913 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (d. 2007)
- 1915 – Herma Bauma, Austrian javelin thrower and handball player (d. 2003)
- 1915 – W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian-Barbadian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- 1915 – Potter Stewart, American lawyer and judge (d. 1985)
- 1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photographer and journalist (d. 2018)
- 1916 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (d. 1979)
- 1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- 1918 – Florence Rush, American social worker and theorist (d. 2008)
- 1919 – Frances Bay, Canadian-American actress (d. 2011)
- 1919 – Hans Hass, Austrian biologist and diver (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Ernie Kovacs, American actor and game show host (d. 1962)
- 1919 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (d. 1996)
- 1920 – Gottfried Böhm, German architect
- 1920 – Henry Eriksson, Swedish runner (d. 2000)
- 1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (d. 2010)
- 1922 – Leon Golub, American painter and academic (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Tom Lewis, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 2016)
- 1923 – Horace Ashenfelter, American runner (d. 2018)
- 1923 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American soldier and author (d. 1996)
- 1924 – Frank Lautenberg, American soldier, businessman, and politician (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Marty Paich, American pianist, composer, producer, and conductor (d. 1995)
- 1926 – Bal Thackeray, Indian journalist, cartoonist, and politician (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer (d. 1994)
- 1927 – Fred Williams, Australian painter (d. 1982)
- 1928 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Myron Cope, American journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Phillip Knightley, Australian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2016)
- 1929 – John Polanyi, German-Canadian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 – Filaret, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan
- 1930 – Mervyn Rose, Australian tennis player (d. 2017)
- 1930 – Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
- 1932 – George Allen, English footballer (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Larri Thomas, American actress and dancer (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Bill Hayden, Australian politician, 21st Governor General of Australia
- 1933 – Chita Rivera, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1934 – Pierre Bourgault, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Mike Agostini, Trinidadian sprinter (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Tom Reamy, American author (d. 1977)
- 1935 – Teresa Żylis-Gara, Polish operatic soprano
- 1936 – Brian Howe, Australian minister and politician, 8th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
- 1936 – Jerry Kramer, American football player and sportscaster
- 1936 – Cécile Ousset, French pianist
- 1938 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and promoter, founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (d. 1999)
- 1938 – Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
- 1939 – Ed Roberts, American disability rights activist (d. 1995)
- 1940 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (d. 2015)
- 1940 – Joe Dowell, American pop singer (d. 2016)
- 1941 – Jock R. Anderson, Australian economist and academic
- 1941 – João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Brazilian journalist, author, and academic (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Laurie Mayne, Australian cricketer
- 1942 – Herman Tjeenk Willink, Dutch judge and politician
- 1942 – Phil Clarke, New Zealand rugby union player
- 1943 – Gary Burton, American vibraphone player and composer
- 1943 – Özhan Canaydın, Turkish basketball player and businessman (d. 2010)
- 1943 – Gil Gerard, American actor and producer
- 1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, director, and producer (d. 2019)
- 1945 – Mike Harris, Canadian politician, 22nd Premier of Ontario
- 1946 – Arnoldo Alemán, Nicaraguan lawyer and politician, President of Nicaragua
- 1946 – Boris Berezovsky, Russian-English businessman and mathematician (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Zvonko Bušić, Croatian terrorist, hijacker of TWA Flight 355 (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Don Whittington, American race car driver
- 1947 – Tom Carper, American captain and politician, 71st Governor of Delaware
- 1947 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesian politician, 5th President of Indonesia
- 1948 – Anita Pointer, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, American actor, producer, and composer
- 1950 – Bill Cunningham, American bass and keyboard player
- 1950 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (d. 2018)
- 1950 – Suzanne Scotchmer, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1950 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet (d. 2012)
- 1951 – Margaret Bailes, American sprinter
- 1951 – Chesley Sullenberger, American captain and pilot
- 1952 – Omar Henry, South African cricketer
- 1953 – John Luther Adams, American composer
- 1953 – Alister McGrath, Irish priest, historian, and theologian
- 1953 – Antonio Villaraigosa, American politician, 41st Mayor of Los Angeles
- 1953 – Robin Zander, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1954 – Trevor Hohns, Australian cricketer
- 1957 – Caroline, Princess of Hanover
- 1958 – Sergey Litvinov, Russian hammer thrower (d. 2018)
- 1959 – Clive Bull, English radio host
- 1960 – Jean-François Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Greg Ritchie, Australian cricketer
- 1961 – Neil Henry, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1961 – Yelena Sinchukova, Russian long jumper
- 1962 – David Arnold, English composer
- 1962 – Aivar Lillevere, Estonian footballer and coach
- 1962 – Elvira Lindo, Spanish journalist and author
- 1964 – Jonatha Brooke, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1964 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress and producer
- 1964 – Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyanese economist and politician, 7th President of Guyana
- 1964 – Mario Roberge, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965 – Louie Clemente, American drummer
- 1966 – Damien Hardman, Australian surfer
- 1966 – Haywoode Workman, American basketball player and referee
- 1967 – Owen Cunningham, Australian rugby league player
- 1968 – Taro Hakase, Japanese violinist and composer
- 1968 – Petr Korda, Czech-Monacan tennis player
- 1969 – Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager
- 1969 – Brendan Shanahan, Canadian ice hockey player and actor
- 1969 – Susen Tiedtke, German long jumper
- 1970 – Spyridon Vasdekis, Greek long jumper
- 1971 – Scott Gibbs, Welsh-South African rugby player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Kevin Mawae, American football player and coach
- 1971 – Marc Nelson, American singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Adam Parore, New Zealand cricketer and mountaineer
- 1971 – Claire Rankin, Canadian actress
- 1971 – Lisa Snowdon, English television and radio presenter and fashion model
- 1972 – Ewen Bremner, Scottish actor
- 1973 – Tomas Holmström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1974 – Glen Chapple, English cricketer
- 1974 – Rebekah Elmaloglou, Australian actress
- 1974 – Yosvani Pérez, Cuban baseball player
- 1974 – Richard T. Slone, English painter
- 1974 – Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
- 1975 – Nick Harmer, German musician
- 1975 – Phil Dawson, American football player
- 1976 – Brandon Duckworth, American baseball player and scout
- 1976 – Anne Margrethe Hausken, Norwegian orienteering competitor
- 1976 – Alex Shaffer, American skier
- 1979 – Larry Hughes, American basketball player
- 1979 – Dawn O’Porter, Scottish-English fashion designer and journalist
- 1979 – Juan Rincón, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
- 1981 – Rob Friend, Canadian soccer player
- 1982 – Wily Mo Peña, Dominican baseball player
- 1982 – Oceana Mahlmann, German singer and songwriter
- 1982 – Andrew Rock, American sprinter
- 1983 – Irving Saladino, Panamanian long jumper
- 1984 – Robbie Farah, Australian rugby league player
- 1984 – Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
- 1985 – Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese footballer
- 1985 – Doutzen Kroes, Dutch model and actress
- 1985 – Yevgeny Lukyanenko, Russian pole vaulter
- 1985 – Aselefech Mergia, Ethiopian runner
- 1985 – Jeff Samardzija, American baseball player
- 1985 – San E, South Korean rapper
- 1986 – Gelete Burka, Ethiopian runner
- 1986 – Marc Laird, Scottish footballer
- 1986 – José Enrique, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Michael Stevens, American YouTuber and educator
- 1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer
- 1986 – Sandro Viletta, Swiss skier
- 1987 – Leo Komarov, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1988 – Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
- 1990 – Şener Özbayraklı, Turkish footballer
- 1990 – Alex Silva, Canadian wrestler
- 1990 – Martyn Waghorn, English footballer
- 1992 – Reina Triendl, Japanese model and actress
- 1994 – Addison Russell, American baseball player
- 1995 – Luke Bateman, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Tuimoala Lolohea, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1998 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (d. 2018)
Deaths on January 23
- 667 – Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo
- 989 – Adalbero, archbishop of Reims
- 1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
- 1199 – Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, Moroccan caliph (b. 1160)
- 1252 – Isabella, Queen of Armenia
- 1297 – Florent of Hainaut, Prince of Achaea (b. c. 1255)
- 1423 – Margaret of Bavaria, Burgundian regent (b. 1363)
- 1516 – Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
- 1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian priest, scholar, and composer (b. 1490)
- 1549 – Johannes Honter, Romanian-Hungarian cartographer and theologian (b. 1498)
- 1567 – Jiajing Emperor of China (b. 1507)
- 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Scottish politician (b. 1531)
- 1620 – John Croke, English politician and judge (b. 1553)
- 1622 – William Baffin, English explorer and navigator (b. 1584)
- 1650 – Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke (b. 1584)
- 1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian historian and philosopher (b. 1668)
- 1785 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician and academic (b. 1717)
- 1789 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (b. 1724)
- 1789 – John Cleland, English author (b. 1709)
- 1800 – Edward Rutledge, American captain and politician, 39th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1749)
- 1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (b. 1725)
- 1805 – Claude Chappe, French engineer (b. 1763)
- 1806 – William Pitt the Younger, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
- 1810 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist and physicist (b. 1776)
- 1812 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (b. 1764)
- 1820 – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (b. 1767)
- 1833 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (b. 1757)
- 1837 – John Field, Irish pianist and composer (b. 1782)
- 1866 – Thomas Love Peacock, English author and poet (b. 1785)
- 1875 – Charles Kingsley English priest and author (b. 1819)
- 1883 – Gustave Doré, French engraver and illustrator (b. 1832)
- 1893 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, American lawyer and politician, 16th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1825)
- 1893 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1817)
- 1921 – Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer and conductor (b. 1877)
- 1922 – René Beeh, Alsatian painter and draughtsman (b. 1886)
- 1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor and academic (b. 1855)
- 1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian physician and author (b. 1849)
- 1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina (b. 1881)
- 1937 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (b. 1876)
- 1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (b. 1903)
- 1943 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (b. 1887)
- 1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and illustrator (b. 1863)
- 1947 – Pierre Bonnard, French painter (b. 1867)
- 1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian-English director and producer (b. 1893)
- 1963 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (b. 1908)
- 1966 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1895)
- 1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (b. 1871)
- 1973 – Alexander Onassis, American-Greek businessman (b. 1948)
- 1973 – Kid Ory, American trombonist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1886)
- 1976 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, and activist (b. 1898)
- 1977 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (b. 1903)
- 1978 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1946)
- 1978 – Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
- 1980 – Giovanni Michelotti, Italian engineer (b. 1921)
- 1981 – Samuel Barber, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
- 1983 – Fred Bakewell, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
- 1984 – Muin Bseiso, Palestinian-Egyptian poet and critic (b. 1926)
- 1985 – James Beard, American chef and cookbook author for whom the James Beard Foundation Awards are named (b.1905)
- 1986 – Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and painter (b. 1921)
- 1988 – Charles Glen King, American biochemist and academic (b. 1896)
- 1989 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish race car driver (b. 1961)
- 1990 – Allen Collins, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1952)
- 1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian author and critic (b. 1912)
- 1992 – Freddie Bartholomew, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1993 – Keith Laumer, American soldier, author, and diplomat (b. 1925)
- 1994 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Russian field marshal (b. 1917)
- 1994 – Brian Redhead, English journalist and author (b. 1929)
- 1999 – Joe D’Amato, Italian director and cinematographer (b. 1936)
- 1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman, co-founded the Hyatt Corporation (b. 1922)
- 2002 – Paul Aars, American race car driver (b. 1934)
- 2002 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (b. 1930)
- 2002 – Robert Nozick, American philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1938)
- 2003 – Nell Carter, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
- 2004 – Bob Keeshan, American television personality and producer (b. 1927)
- 2004 – Helmut Newton, German-Australian photographer (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Johnny Carson, American talk show host, television personality, and producer (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Syed Hussein Alatas, Malaysian sociologist and politician (b. 1928)
- 2007 – E. Howard Hunt, American CIA officer (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1932)
- 2009 – Robert W. Scott, American farmer and politician, 67th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1929)
- 2010 – Kermit Tyler, American colonel and pilot (b. 1913)
- 2010 – Earl Wild, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
- 2011 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness instructor, author, and television host (b. 1914)
- 2012 – Wesley E. Brown, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1907)
- 2012 – Maurice Meisner, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Bingham Ray, American businessman, co-founded October Films (b. 1954)
- 2013 – Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Jean-Félix-Albert-Marie Vilnet, French bishop (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Yuri Izrael, Russian meteorologist and journalist (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Riz Ortolani, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Prosper Ego, Dutch activist, founded the Oud-Strijders Legioen (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Jimmy Bain, Scottish bassist (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player and coach (b. 1921)
- 2017 – Bobby Freeman, American singer, songwriter and record producer (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (b. 1941)
- 2018 – Hugh Masekela, South African trumpeter, composer and singer (b. 1939)
- 2018 – Nicanor Parra, Chilean poet (b. 1914)
- 2018 – Wyatt Tee Walker, American civil rights activist and pastor (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances on January 23
- Bounty Day (Pitcairn Islands)
- Christian feast day:
- Abakuh
- Marianne of Molokai
- Emerentiana
- Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Ildefonsus of Toledo
- Phillips Brooks (Episcopal Church (USA))
- January 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Jayanti (Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal, India)
- World Freedom Day (Taiwan and South Korea)
-
January 8 in History
- 307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying
- 871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
- 1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco
- 1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador
- 1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
- 1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg.
- 1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
- 1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
- 1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
- 1806 – Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes a British colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
- 1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in the north American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
- 1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
- 1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
- 1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
- 1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
- 1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
- 1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator.
- 1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
- 1912 – The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
- 1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.
- 1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
- 1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ ascends the throne to become the last monarch of Vietnam.
- 1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
- 1936 – Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran’s head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
- 1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
- 1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
- 1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
- 1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
- 1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria.
- 1963 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
- 1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States.
- 1972 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
- 1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
- 1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
- 1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
- 1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
- 1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be “perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time”.
- 1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
- 1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
- 1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
- 1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
- 2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
- 2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
- 2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
- 2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
- 2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
- 2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
- 2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three.
- 2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead.
- 2016 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
- 2020 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.
Births on January 8
- 1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
- 1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
- 1462 – Walraven II van Brederode, Dutch nobleman (d. 1531)
- 1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
- 1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese daimyō (d. 1623)
- 1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
- 1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
- 1587 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629
- 1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)
- 1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
- 1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
- 1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
- 1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
- 1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
- 1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
- 1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
- 1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
- 1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
- 1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
- 1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
- 1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (d. 1878)
- 1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
- 1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
- 1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
- 1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
- 1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
- 1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
- 1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
- 1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
- 1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
- 1843 – Karl Eduard Heusner, German admiral (d. 1891)
- 1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
- 1854 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
- 1860 – Emma Booth, English author (d. 1903)
- 1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)
- 1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
- 1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
- 1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
- 1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
- 1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
- 1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
- 1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
- 1876 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Latvia (d. 1934)
- 1879 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (d. 1948)
- 1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
- 1881 – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
- 1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
- 1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
- 1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
- 1885 – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
- 1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
- 1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
- 1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1891 – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
- 1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972) name=”Jöckle1995″>Clemens Jöckle (1995). Encyclopedia of Saints. Alpine Fine Arts Collection. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-88168-226-7.</ref>
- 1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
- 1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
- 1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
- 1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
- 1900 – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)
- 1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
- 1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
- 1904 – Tampa Red, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1981)
- 1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
- 1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer and poet (d. 1988)
- 1906 – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)
- 1907 – Keizō Hayashi, Japanese general and civil servant (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
- 1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
- 1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
- 1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
- 1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
- 1909 – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
- 1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
- 1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
- 1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
- 1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
- 1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian
- 1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
- 1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
- 1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
- 1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
- 1924 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
- 1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Lazzaro Donati, Italian artist (d. 1977)
- 1926 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
- 1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
- 1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington
- 1928 – Gaston Miron, Canadian poet and author (d. 1996)
- 1928 – Luther Perkins, American country guitarist (d. 1968)
- 1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (d. 1991)
- 1931 – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
- 1933 – Nolan Miller, American fashion and jewelry designer (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist
- 1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter
- 1933 – Willie Tasby, American baseball player
- 1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
- 1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
- 1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (d. 2004)
- 1935 – Lewis H. Lapham, American publisher, founded Lapham’s Quarterly
- 1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
- 1936 – Zdeněk Mácal, Czech-American conductor
- 1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
- 1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
- 1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
- 1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian opera singer and educator
- 1939 – Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan-American fashion designer
- 1939 – Ruth Maleczech, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Alan Wilson, English mathematician and academic
- 1940 – Mark Bretscher, English biologist and academic
- 1940 – Cristy Lane, American country and gospel singer
- 1941 – Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1989)
- 1942 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (d. 2018)
- 1942 – Junichirō Koizumi, Japanese politician, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
- 1942 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress
- 1942 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
- 1943 – Charles Murray, American political scientist and author
- 1944 – Terry Brooks, American lawyer and author
- 1945 – Nancy Bond, American author and academic
- 1945 – Phil Beal, English footballer, defender
- 1945 – Kadir Topbaş, Turkish architect and politician, 31st Mayor of Istanbul
- 1946 – Robby Krieger, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1946 – Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexican drug lord
- 1947 – Don Bendell, American rancher and author
- 1947 – David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
- 1947 – David Gates, American journalist and novelist
- 1947 – Antti Kalliomäki, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
- 1947 – Luke Williams, New Zealand-American wrestler
- 1948 – Gillies MacKinnon, Scottish director and screenwriter
- 1949 – Lawrence Rowe, Jamaican cricketer
- 1951 – Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
- 1951 – Karen Tei Yamashita, American author and academic
- 1952 – Vladimir Feltsman, Russian-American pianist and educator
- 1952 – Peter McCullagh, Irish mathematician and academic
- 1953 – Bruce Sutter, American baseball player
- 1954 – Konstantinos Kypriotis, Greek martial artist (d. 1995)
- 1955 – Spiros Livathinos, Greek footballer and coach
- 1955 – Mike Reno, Canadian singer and drummer
- 1957 – Nacho Duato, Spanish dancer and choreographer
- 1958 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education
- 1958 – Rey Misterio, Sr., Mexican wrestler, trainer, and actor
- 1959 – Kim Duk-koo, South Korean boxer (d. 1982)
- 1959 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (d. 2005)
- 1960 – Dave Weckl, American drummer
- 1961 – Calvin Smith, American sprinter
- 1966 – Willie Anderson, American basketball player
- 1966 – Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2009)
- 1966 – Andrew Wood, American singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
- 1967 – Torsten Gowitzke, German footballer and manager
- 1967 – Steven Jacobs, Australian television host and actor
- 1967 – R. Kelly, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player
- 1967 – Tom Watson, English politician
- 1971 – Jason Giambi, American baseball player
- 1971 – Jesper Jansson, Swedish footballer
- 1971 – Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer and coach
- 1972 – Paul Clement, English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1972 – Giuseppe Favalli, Italian footballer
- 1973 – Mike Cameron, American baseball player
- 1975 – Harris Jayaraj, Indian composer and producer
- 1976 – Kenneth Andam, Ghanaian sprinter and businessman
- 1976 – Carl Pavano, American baseball player
- 1977 – Amber Benson, American actress, writer, director, and producer
- 1977 – Francesco Coco, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Seol Ki-hyeon, South Korean footballer and manager
- 1979 – Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer
- 1979 – Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer
- 1979 – Sarah Polley, Canadian actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1980 – Adam Goodes, Australian footballer
- 1980 – Rachel Nichols, American actress and producer
- 1981 – Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
- 1981 – Trent Waterhouse, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
- 1983 – Jon Daly, Irish footballer
- 1984 – Jeff Francoeur, American baseball player
- 1984 – Jeon Ji-ae, South Korean actress
- 1984 – Kim Jong-un, North Korean soldier and politician, 3rd Supreme Leader of North Korea (probable)
- 1986 – David Silva, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Adrián López, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Michael Mancienne, English footballer
- 1989 – Aaron Cruden, New Zealand rugby player
- 1991 – Josh Hazlewood, Australian cricketer
- 1991 – Stefan Johansen, Norwegian footballer
- 1991 – Stefan Savić, Montenegrin footballer
- 1991 – Shin Ji-min, South Korean singer and rapper
- 1992 – Stefanie Dolson, American basketball player
- 1992 – Koke, Spanish footballer
- 1992 – Apostolos Vellios, Greek footballer
Deaths on January 8
- 307 – Hui of Jin, Chinese emperor (b. 259)
- 482 – Severinus of Noricum, Italian apostle and saint
- 871 – Bagsecg, Viking warrior and leader
- 926 – Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury
- 1079 – Adèle of France, countess of Flanders (b. 1009)
- 1107 – Edgar, king of Scotland (b. 1074)
- 1198 – Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1106)
- 1332 – Andronikos III, emperor of Trebizond
- 1337 – Giotto, Italian painter and architect, designed Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto’s Campanile (b. 1266)
- 1354 – Charles de La Cerda, French nobleman (b. 1327)
- 1424 – Stephen Zaccaria, archbishop of Patras
- 1456 – Lawrence Giustiniani, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1381)
- 1464 – Thomas Ebendorfer, Austrian historian and academic (b. 1385)
- 1538 – Beatrice of Portugal, duchess of Savoy (b. 1504)
- 1557 – Albert Alcibiades, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (b. 1522)
- 1570 – Philibert de l’Orme, French sculptor and architect, designed the Château d’Anet (b. 1510)
- 1598 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)
- 1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1564)
- 1664 – Moses Amyraut, French physician and theologian (b. 1596)
- 1707 – John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and politician, Scottish Secretary of State (b. 1648)
- 1713 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1653)
- 1775 – John Baskerville, English printer and type designer (b. 1706)
- 1789 – Jack Broughton, English boxer (b. 1703)
- 1794 – Justus Möser, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1720)
- 1815 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (b. 1778)
- 1825 – Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (b. 1765)
- 1853 – Mihály Bertalanits, Slovene-Hungarian poet and educator (b. 1788)
- 1854 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English field marshal and politician, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance (b. 1768)
- 1865 – Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1779)
- 1874 – Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French historian and archaeologist (b. 1814)
- 1878 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet and critic (b. 1821)
- 1878 – Gauchito Gil, Argentinian saint (b. 1847)
- 1880 – Emperor Norton, English-American businessman (b. 1811)
- 1883 – Miska Magyarics, Slovene-Hungarian poet (b. 1825)
- 1896 – William Rainey Marshall, American banker and politician, 5th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
- 1896 – Paul Verlaine, French poet and writer (b. 1844)
- 1901 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1873)
- 1912 – Friedrich Schrempf, German journalist and politician (b. 1858)
- 1914 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and 30th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1823)
- 1916 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)
- 1916 – Ada Rehan, Irish-American actress (b. 1860)
- 1918 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (b. 1892)
- 1918 – Ellis H. Roberts, American journalist and politician, 20th Treasurer of the United States (b. 1827)
- 1920 – Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (b.1852)
- 1925 – George Bellows, American painter (b.1882)
- 1934 – Andrei Bely, Russian novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1880)
- 1934 – Alexandre Stavisky, Ukrainian-French financier (b. 1886)
- 1935 – Rauf Yekta, Turkish musicologist and author (b. 1871)
- 1938 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (b. 1880)
- 1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general (b. 1857)
- 1942 – Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American lawyer and religious leader (b. 1869)
- 1943 – Richard Hillary, Australian pilot and author (b. 1919)
- 1943 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (b. 1879)
- 1944 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American lieutenant and sailor (b. 1878)
- 1945 – Karl Ernst Krafft, Swiss astrologer and author (b. 1900)
- 1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and graphic designer (b. 1887)
- 1950 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and academic (b. 1883)
- 1952 – Antonia Maury, American astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1866)
- 1953 – Hugh Binney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)
- 1954 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1898)
- 1956 – Jim Elliot, American missionary and martyr (b. 1928)
- 1958 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (b. 1869)
- 1961 – Schoolboy Rowe, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
- 1963 – Kay Sage, American painter (b. 1898)
- 1969 – Albert Hill, English runner and coach (b. 1889)
- 1969 – Elmar Kaljot, Estonian footballer and coach (b. 1901)
- 1970 – Georges Guibourg, French actor, singer, and playwright (b. 1891)
- 1972 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet and author (b. 1911)
- 1975 – Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
- 1976 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1898)
- 1976 – Robert Forgan, Scottish-English physician and politician (b. 1891)
- 1979 – Sara Carter, American singer-songwriter and harp player (b. 1898)
- 1980 – John Mauchly, American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
- 1981 – Matthew Beard, American actor (b. 1925)
- 1982 – Grégoire Aslan, Swiss-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German general and pilot (b. 1919)
- 1983 – Tom McCall, American journalist and politician, 30th Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
- 1983 – Gale Page, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1984 – Eerik Kumari, Estonian ornithologist and academic (b. 1912)
- 1986 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (b. 1906)
- 1990 – Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (b. 1919)
- 1990 – Terry-Thomas, English actor and comedian (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Steve Clark, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1960)
- 1994 – Pat Buttram, American actor and comedian (b. 1915)
- 1994 – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player and coach (b. 1925)
- 1996 – Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (b. 1968)
- 1996 – François Mitterrand, French sergeant and politician, 21st President of France (b. 1916)
- 1996 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (b. 1907)
- 1997 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1998 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (b. 1905)
- 2002 – Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy’s (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
- 2004 – John A. Gambling, American radio host (b. 1930)
- 2006 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish broadcaster and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (b. 1943)
- 2007 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (b. 1908)
- 2007 – Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1916)
- 2007 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1922)
- 2007 – David Ervine, Northern Irish politician and activist (b. 1953)
- 2007 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1925)
- 2008 – George Moore, Australian jockey and trainer (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan Journalist (b. 1958)
- 2010 – Art Clokey, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (b. 1937)
- 2011 – Thorbjørn Svenssen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Dave Alexander, American singer and pianist (b. 1938)
- 2012 – T. J. Hamblin, English haematologist and academic (b. 1943)
- 2012 – John Madin, English architect, designed the Birmingham Central Library (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Bernhard Schrader, German chemist and academic (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist and educator (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Jeanne Manford, American educator and activist, co-founded PFLAG (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Alasdair Milne, Indian-English director and producer (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Vicente T. Blaz, American general and politician (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Madeline Gins, American poet and architect (b. 1941)
- 2014 – Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher, Dutch-Australian swimmer (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Antonino P. Roman, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (b. 1942)
- 2015 – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian racing driver (b. 1926)
- 2016 – German Moreno, Filipino television host, actor, comedian and talent manager (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Nicolai Gedda, Swedish operatic tenor (b. 1925)
- 2017 – James Mancham, Seychellois politician (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian politician (b. 1934)
- 2017 – Peter Sarstedt, Indian-British singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2020 – Pat Dalton, Australian rules footballer (b. 1942)
- 2020 – Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter, and director (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances on January 8
- Babinden (Belarus, Russia)
- Christian feast day:
- Abo of Tiflis
- Apollinaris Claudius
- Blessed Eurosia Fabris
- Gauchito Gil (Folk Catholicism)
- Gudula
- Harriet Bedell (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Lawrence Giustiniani
- Lucian of Beauvais
- Maximus of Pavia
- Our Lady of Prompt Succor (Roman Catholic Church)
- Pega (Anglican and Roman Catholic churches)
- Severinus of Noricum
- Thorfinn of Hamar
- January 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Commonwealth Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
- Earliest day on which Children’s Day can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday in January. (Thailand)
- Earliest day on which Lee–Jackson Day can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Virginia)
- Typing Day (International observance)