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  • July 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple.
    • 238 – The Praetorian Guard storm the palace and capture Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day, Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed emperor.
    • 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12.
    • 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire’s second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week.
    • 923 – Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany).
    • 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6.
    • 1018 – Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen.
    • 1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
    • 1148 – The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
    • 1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland.
    • 1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
    • 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
    • 1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
    • 1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.
    • 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning “Memoir on the Diffraction of Light”, precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light.
    • 1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
    • 1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
    • 1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
    • 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
    • 1871 – The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States.
    • 1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.
    • 1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
    • 1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9, 1907, and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement.
    • 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.
    • 1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
    • 1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
    • 1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.
    • 1937 – Tōngzhōu Incident: In Tōngzhōu, China, the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.
    • 1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
    • 1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad: After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
    • 1950 – Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.
    • 1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
    • 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
    • 1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
    • 1965 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
    • 1967 – Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
    • 1967 – During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
    • 1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
    • 1973 – During the Dutch Grand Prix driver Roger Williamson was killed in the race, after a suspected tire failure caused the car to pitch into the barriers at high speed.
    • 1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the “Son of Sam”) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
    • 1980 – Iran adopts a new “holy” flag after the Islamic Revolution.
    • 1981 – A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
    • 1981 – After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
    • 1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
    • 1987 – Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.
    • 1993 – The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
    • 1996 – The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad.
    • 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.
    • 2010 – An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths.
    • 2013 – Two passenger trains collide in the Swiss municipality of Granges-près-Marnand near Lausanne injuring 25 people.
    • 2019 – Prison riot between rival gangs broke out in Brazil, at least 57 people have been killed.

    Births on July 29 

    • 869 – Muhammad al-Mahdi, Iraqi 12th Imam (d. 941)
    • 996 – Fujiwara no Norimichi, Japanese nobleman (d. 1075)
    • 1166 – Henry II, French nobleman and king of Jerusalem (d. 1197)
    • 1356 – Martin the Elder, king of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca (d. 1410)
    • 1537 – Pedro Téllez-Girón, Spanish nobleman (d. 1590)
    • 1573 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania-Stettin (d. 1618)
    • 1580 – Francesco Mochi, Italian sculptor (d. 1654)
    • 1605 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymn-writer (d. 1659)
    • 1646 – Johann Theile, German organist and composer (d. 1724)
    • 1744 – Giulio Maria della Somaglia, Italian cardinal (d. 1830)
    • 1763 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1845)
    • 1797 – Daniel Drew, American businessman and financier (d. 1879)
    • 1801 – George Bradshaw, English cartographer and publisher (d. 1853)
    • 1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher (d. 1859)
    • 1806 – Horace Abbott, American businessman and banker (d. 1887)
    • 1817 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter and illustrator (d. 1900)
    • 1817 – Martin Körber, Baltic German pastor, composer, and conductor (d. 1893)
    • 1841 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian physician (d. 1912)
    • 1843 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (d. 1901)
    • 1846 – Sophie Menter, German pianist and composer (d. 1918)
    • 1846 – Isabel, Brazilian princess (d. 1921)
    • 1849 – Max Nordau, Hungarian physician, author, and critic, co-founded the World Zionist Organization (d. 1923)
    • 1860 – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, English politician, 8th Governor of Queensland (d. 1940)
    • 1867 – Berthold Oppenheim, Moravian rabbi (d. 1942)
    • 1869 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (d. 1946)
    • 1871 – Jakob Mändmets, Estonian writer and journalist (d. 1930)
    • 1872 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American author, lawyer, and politician (d. 1957)
    • 1874 – J. S. Woodsworth, Canadian minister and politician (d. 1942)
    • 1876 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-American actress and acting teacher (d. 1949)
    • 1878 – Don Marquis, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1937)
    • 1883 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and author (d. 1942)
    • 1883 – Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist revolutionary and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1945)
    • 1884 – Ralph Austin Bard, American financier and politician, 2nd Under Secretary of the Navy (d. 1975)
    • 1885 – Theda Bara, American actress (d. 1955)
    • 1887 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-American pianist and composer (d. 1951)
    • 1888 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (d. 1982)
    • 1891 – Bernhard Zondek, German-Israeli gynecologist and academic (d. 1966)
    • 1892 – William Powell, American actor and singer (d. 1984)
    • 1896 – Maria L. de Hernández, Mexican-American rights activist (d. 1986)
    • 1897 – Neil Ritchie, Guyanese-English general (d. 1983)
    • 1898 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1988)
    • 1899 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (d. 1959)
    • 1900 – Mary V. Austin, Australian community worker and political activist (d. 1986)
    • 1900 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1976)
    • 1900 – Teresa Noce, Italian labor leader, activist, and journalist (d. 1980)
    • 1900 – Don Redman, American composer, and bandleader (d. 1964)
    • 1904 – Mahasi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (d. 1982)
    • 1904 – J. R. D. Tata, French-Indian pilot and businessman, founded Tata Motors and Tata Global Beverages (d. 1993)
    • 1905 – Clara Bow, American actress (d. 1965)
    • 1905 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat, 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1961)
    • 1905 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (d. 2006)
    • 1906 – Thelma Todd, American actress and singer (d. 1935)
    • 1907 – Melvin Belli, American lawyer (d. 1996)
    • 1909 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American author (d. 1997)
    • 1909 – Chester Himes, American-Spanish author (d. 1984)
    • 1910 – Gale Page, American actress (d. 1983)
    • 1911 – Foster Furcolo, American lawyer and politician, 60th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1995)
    • 1911 – Archbishop Iakovos of America (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Erich Priebke, German war criminal, leader of the 1944 Ardeatine massacre (d. 2013)
    • 1914 – Irwin Corey, American actor and activist (d. 2017)
    • 1915 – Bruce R. McConkie, American colonel and religious leader (d. 1985)
    • 1915 – Francis W. Sargent, American soldier and politician, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1998)
    • 1916 – Budd Boetticher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Charlie Christian, American guitarist (d. 1942)
    • 1916 – Rupert Hamer, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Victoria (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Rochus Misch, German SS officer (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Don Ingalls, American writer and producer (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Edwin O’Connor, American journalist and author (d. 1968)
    • 1918 – Mary Lee Settle, American novelist, essayist, and memoirist (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Neville Jeffress, Australian businessman (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – Richard Egan, American actor (d. 1987)
    • 1921 – Chris Marker, French photographer and journalist (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – George Burditt, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Jim Marshall, English businessman, founded Marshall Amplification (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – Gordon Mitchell, American bodybuilder and actor (d. 2003)
    • 1924 – Lloyd Bochner, Canadian-American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Robert Horton, American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Harold W. Kuhn, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Ted Lindsay, Canadian ice hockey player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Mikis Theodorakis, Greek composer
    • 1926 – Robert Kilpatrick, Baron Kilpatrick of Kincraig, Scottish physician, academic, and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Harry Mulisch, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (d. 2010)
    • 1930 – Paul Taylor, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2018)
    • 1931 – Kjell Karlsen, Norwegian pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2020)
    • 1932 – Leslie Fielding, English diplomat
    • 1932 – Nancy Kassebaum, American businesswoman and politician
    • 1933 – Lou Albano, Italian-American wrestler, manager, and actor (d. 2009)
    • 1933 – Colin Davis, English race car driver (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – Robert Fuller, American actor and rancher
    • 1933 – Randy Sparks, American folk singer-songwriter and musician (The New Christy Minstrels)
    • 1935 – Peter Schreier, German tenor and conductor (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – Elizabeth Dole, American lawyer and politician, 20th United States Secretary of Labor
    • 1937 – Daniel McFadden, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate
    • 1938 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (d. 2005)
    • 1938 – Jean Rochon, Canadian physician and politician
    • 1940 – Betty Harris, American chemist
    • 1940 – Winnie Monsod, Filipina economist and political commentator
    • 1941 – Jennifer Dunn, American engineer and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1941 – Goenawan Mohamad, Indonesian poet and playwright
    • 1941 – David Warner, English actor
    • 1942 – Doug Ashdown, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1943 – David Taylor, English snooker player and sportscaster
    • 1944 – Jim Bridwell, American rock climber and mountaineer
    • 1945 – Sharon Creech, American author and educator
    • 1945 – Mircea Lucescu, Romanian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1946 – Ximena Armas, Chilean painter
    • 1946 – Stig Blomqvist, Swedish race car driver
    • 1946 – Neal Doughty, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1946 – Alessandro Gogna, Italian mountaineer and adventurer
    • 1946 – Diane Keen, English actress
    • 1946 – Aleksei Tammiste, Estonian basketball player
    • 1947 – Dick Harmon, American golfer and coach (d. 2006)
    • 1948 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
    • 1949 – Leslie Easterbrook, American actress
    • 1949 – Jamil Mahuad, Ecuadorian lawyer and politician, 51st President of Ecuador
    • 1950 – Jenny Holzer, American painter, author, and dancer
    • 1951 – Susan Blackmore, English psychologist and theorist
    • 1951 – Dan Driessen, American baseball player and coach
    • 1951 – Dean Pitchford, American actor, director, screenwriter, and composer
    • 1952 – Norman Blackwell, Baron Blackwell, English businessman and politician
    • 1952 – Joe Johnson, English snooker player and sportscaster
    • 1952 – Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Greek politician
    • 1953 – Ken Burns, American director and producer
    • 1953 – Geddy Lee, Canadian musician
    • 1953 – Frank McGuinness, Irish poet and playwright
    • 1953 – Tim Gunn, American television host and actor
    • 1954 – Patti Scialfa, American musician
    • 1955 – Jean-Hugues Anglade, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Dave Stevens, American illustrator (d. 2008)
    • 1955 – Stephen Timms, English politician, Minister of State for Competitiveness
    • 1956 – Teddy Atlas, American boxer, trainer, and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Ronnie Musgrove, American lawyer and politician, 62nd Governor of Mississippi
    • 1956 – Faustino Rupérez, Spanish cyclist
    • 1957 – Liam Davison, Australian author and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1957 – Viktor Gavrikov, Lithuanian-Swiss chess player (d. 2016)
    • 1957 – Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast and coach
    • 1958 – Gail Dines, English-American author, activist, and academic
    • 1958 – Simon Nye, English screenwriter and producer
    • 1958 – Cynthia Rowley, American fashion designer
    • 1959 – Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor, singer, and producer
    • 1959 – Ruud Janssen, Dutch blogger and illustrator
    • 1959 – Dave LaPoint, American baseball player and manager
    • 1959 – John Sykes, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1960 – Didier Van Cauwelaert, French author
    • 1962 – Carl Cox, English DJ and producer
    • 1962 – Frank Neubarth, German footballer and manager
    • 1962 – Scott Steiner, American wrestler
    • 1962 – Vincent Rousseau, Belgian runner
    • 1963 – Hans-Holger Albrecht, Belgian-German businessman
    • 1963 – Jim Beglin, Irish footballer and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Julie Elliott, English politician
    • 1963 – Azeem Hafeez, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1963 – Alexandra Paul, American actress and producer
    • 1963 – Graham Poll, English footballer, referee, and journalist
    • 1964 – Jaanus Veensalu, Estonian footballer
    • 1965 – Luis Alicea, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
    • 1965 – Dean Haglund, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Adam Holloway, English captain and politician
    • 1965 – Stan Koziol, American soccer player (d. 2014)
    • 1965 – Chang-Rae Lee, South Korean-American author and academic
    • 1965 – Xavier Waterkeyn, Australian author
    • 1965 – Woody Weatherman, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1966 – Sally Gunnell, English hurdler and sportscaster
    • 1966 – Stuart Lampitt, English cricketer
    • 1966 – Martina McBride, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1968 – Gideon Henderson, English geologist and academic
    • 1968 – Paavo Lötjönen, Finnish cellist and educator
    • 1970 – Adele Griffin, American author
    • 1970 – Andi Peters, English journalist, actor, and producer
    • 1970 – John Rennie, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1971 – Andrea Philipp, German sprinter
    • 1972 – Wil Wheaton, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Stephen Dorff, American actor and producer
    • 1973 – Denis Urubko, Kazakh mountaineer
    • 1975 – Yoshihiro Akiyama, Japanese mixed martial artist
    • 1975 – Lanka de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
    • 1975 – Corrado Grabbi, Italian footballer
    • 1975 – Jaanus Sirel, Estonian footballer
    • 1978 – Mike Adams, American baseball player
    • 1978 – Marina Lazarovska, Macedonian tennis player
    • 1979 – Karim Essediri, Tunisian footballer
    • 1979 – Ronald Murray, American basketball player
    • 1979 – Juris Umbraško, Latvian basketball player
    • 1980 – Ryan Braun, Canadian-American baseball player
    • 1980 – Fernando González, Chilean tennis player
    • 1980 – Ben Koller, American drummer
    • 1980 – John Morris, Australian rugby league player
    • 1981 – Fernando Alonso, Spanish race car driver
    • 1981 – Andrés Madrid, Argentinian footballer
    • 1981 – Troy Perkins, American soccer player
    • 1982 – Janez Aljančič, Slovenian footballer
    • 1982 – Jônatas Domingos, Brazilian footballer
    • 1982 – Allison Mack, American actress and criminal
    • 1983 – Jason Belmonte, Australian bowler
    • 1983 – Inés Gómez Mont, Mexican journalist and actress
    • 1983 – Alexei Kaigorodov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Jerious Norwood, American football player
    • 1983 – Elise Testone, American singer-songwriter
    • 1984 – Oh Beom-seok, South Korean footballer
    • 1984 – Chad Billingsley, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Wilson Palacios, Honduran footballer
    • 1985 – Besart Berisha, Albanian footballer
    • 1985 – Okinoumi Ayumi, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1985 – Simon Santoso, Indonesian badminton player
    • 1988 – Tarjei Bø, Norwegian biathlete
    • 1989 – Grit Šadeiko, Estonian heptathlete
    • 1991 – Dale Copley, Australian rugby league player
    • 1991 – Irakli Logua, Russian footballer
    • 1992 – Karen Torrez, Bolivian swimmer
    • 1993 – Nicole Melichar, American tennis player
    • 1994 – Liam O’Brien, Canadian ice hockey player

    Deaths on July 29

    • 238 – Balbinus, Roman emperor (b. 165)
    • 238 – Pupienus, Roman emperor (b. 178)
    • 451 – Tuoba Huang, prince of Northern Wei (b. 428)
    • 796 – Offa of Mercia (b. 730)
    • 846 – Li Shen, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
    • 1030 – Olaf II of Norway (b. 995)
    • 1095 – Ladislaus I of Hungary (b. 1040)
    • 1099 – Pope Urban II (b. 1042)
    • 1108 – Philip I of France (b. 1052)
    • 1236 – Ingeborg of Denmark, Queen of France (b. 1175)
    • 1326 – Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (b. 1259)
    • 1504 – Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby (b. 1435)
    • 1507 – Martin Behaim, German-Bohemian geographer and astronomer (b. 1459)
    • 1573 – John Caius, English physician and academic (b. 1510)
    • 1612 – Jacques Bongars, French scholar and diplomat (b. 1554)
    • 1644 – Pope Urban VIII (b. 1568)
    • 1752 – Peter Warren, Irish admiral and politician (b. 1703)
    • 1781 – Johann Kies, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1713)
    • 1792 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, French lawyer and politician, Chancellor of France (b. 1714)
    • 1813 – Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (b. 1771)
    • 1833 – William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and politician (b. 1759)
    • 1839 – Gaspard de Prony, French mathematician and engineer (b. 1755)
    • 1844 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1791)
    • 1856 – Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (b. 1810)
    • 1857 – Thomas Dick, Scottish minister, astronomer, and author (b. 1774)
    • 1887 – Agostino Depretis, Italian politician, 9th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1813)
    • 1890 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1853)
    • 1895 – Floriano Peixoto, Brazilian general and politician, 2nd President of Brazil (b. 1839)
    • 1900 – Umberto I of Italy (b. 1844)
    • 1908 – Marie Adam-Doerrer (b. 1838)
    • 1913 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and jurist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1838)
    • 1918 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (b. 1863)
    • 1924 – Sotirios Krokidas, Greek educator and politician, 110th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1852)
    • 1934 – Didier Pitre, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1883)
    • 1938 – Nikolai Krylenko, Russian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Prosecutor General of the Russian SFSR (b. 1885)
    • 1950 – Joe Fry, English race car driver (b. 1915)
    • 1951 – Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded Galatasaray S.K. (b. 1886)
    • 1954 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
    • 1960 – Hasan Saka, Turkish politician, 7th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1885)
    • 1962 – Ronald Fisher, English biologist and statistician (b. 1890)
    • 1962 – Leonardo De Lorenzo, Italian-American flute player and educator (b. 1875)
    • 1964 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (b. 1885)
    • 1966 – Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigerian general and politician, 2nd Head of State of Nigeria (b. 1924)
    • 1966 – Adekunle Fajuyi, Nigerian colonel (b. 1926)
    • 1970 – John Barbirolli, English cellist and conductor (b. 1899)
    • 1973 – Norm Smith, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1915)
    • 1973 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (b. 1948)
    • 1974 – Cass Elliot, American singer (b. 1941)
    • 1974 – Erich Kästner, German author and poet (b. 1899)
    • 1976 – Mickey Cohen, American gangster (b. 1913)
    • 1978 – Andrzej Bogucki, Polish actor, operetta singer, and songwriter (b. 1904)
    • 1979 – Herbert Marcuse, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1898)
    • 1979 – Bill Todman, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1916)
    • 1981 – Robert Moses, American urban planner, designed the Northern State Parkway and Southern State Parkway (b. 1888)
    • 1982 – Harold Sakata, American wrestler and actor (b. 1920)
    • 1982 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (b. 1889)
    • 1983 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1900)
    • 1983 – Raymond Massey, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1896)
    • 1983 – David Niven, English military officer and actor (b. 1910)
    • 1984 – Fred Waring, American television host and bandleader (b. 1900)
    • 1987 – Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay, Indian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1894)
    • 1990 – Bruno Kreisky, Austrian academic and politician, 22nd Chancellor of Austria (b. 1911)
    • 1992 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1952)
    • 1994 – John Britton, American physician (b. 1925)
    • 1994 – Dorothy Hodgkin, Egyptian-English biochemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
    • 1995 – Les Elgart, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1917)
    • 1996 – Ric Nordman, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1919)
    • 1996 – Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1920)
    • 1996 – Jason Thirsk, American singer and bass player (b. 1967)
    • 1998 – Jerome Robbins, American director, producer, and choreographer (b. 1918)
    • 2001 – Edward Gierek, Polish soldier and politician (b. 1913)
    • 2001 – Wau Holland, German computer scientist, co-founded Chaos Computer Club (b. 1951)
    • 2003 – Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean soldier, founded the Revolutionary United Front (b. 1937)
    • 2004 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress and singer (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Mike Reid, English comedian, actor, and author (b. 1940)
    • 2007 – Michel Serrault, French actor (b. 1928)
    • 2007 – Tom Snyder, American journalist and talk show host (b. 1936)
    • 2007 – Marvin Zindler, American journalist (b. 1921)
    • 2008 – Bruce Edward Ivins, American scientist and bio-defense researcher (b. 1946)
    • 2010 – Charles E. Wicks, American chemist and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Tatiana Egorova, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1970)
    • 2012 – August Kowalczyk, Polish actor and director (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Chris Marker, French photographer and journalist (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – James Mellaart, English archaeologist and author (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – John Stampe, Danish footballer and coach (b. 1957)
    • 2013 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1986)
    • 2013 – Peter Flanigan, American banker and civil servant (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Tony Gaze, Australian soldier, pilot, and race car driver (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Munir Hussain, Indian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – M. Caldwell Butler, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Jon R. Cavaiani, English-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Giorgio Gaslini, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – María Antonia Iglesias, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1945)
    • 2014 – Péter Kiss, Hungarian engineer and politician (b. 1959)
    • 2014 – Idris Muhammad, American drummer and composer (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Thomas R. St. George, American soldier and author (b. 1919)
    • 2015 – Antony Holland, English-Canadian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Peter O’Sullevan, Anglo-Irish sportscaster (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Mike Pyle, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Franklin H. Westervelt, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1930)
    • 2018 – Oliver Dragojević, a Croatian recording artist (b. 1947)
    • 2018 – Josip Peruzovic, Yugoslav-born American professional wrestler (b. 1947)

    Holidays and observances on July 29

    • Christian feast day:
      • Lupus of Troyes
      • Martha of Bethany (Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Church)
      • Mary of Bethany
      • Olaf II of Norway
      • Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix
      • July 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Somer’s Day can fall, while August 4 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before the first Monday in August. (Bermuda)
    • International Tiger Day
    • Mohun Bagan Day (India)
    • National Anthem Day (Romania)
    • National Thai Language Day (Thailand)
    • Ólavsøka or Olsok, opening of the Løgting session. (Faroe Islands and the Nordic countries)

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

    • AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
    • 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.
    • 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
    • 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy.
    • 1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations.
    • 1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster.
    • 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.
    • 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it.
    • 1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice’s “Kingdom of the Morea”, thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea.
    • 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
    • 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
    • 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world’s first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France.
    • 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
    • 1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.
    • 1848 – The first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
    • 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
    • 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
    • 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association.
    • 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.
    • 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
    • 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks.
    • 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
    • 1932 – In the Preußenschlag (“Prussian coup”), German President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the government of Prussia
    • 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven.
    • 1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
    • 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
    • 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
    • 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
    • 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
    • 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
    • 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.
    • 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
    • 1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
    • 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
    • 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
    • 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany’s secret service, defects to East Germany.
    • 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world’s first elected female head of government.
    • 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
    • 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
    • 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).
    • 1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
    • 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11’s crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
    • 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the “Football War”.
    • 1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d’état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
    • 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
    • 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.
    • 1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.
    • 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
    • 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
    • 1989 – Burma’s ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
    • 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
    • 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
    • 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
    • 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.
    • 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
    • 2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
    • 2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.
    • 2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.
    • 2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

    Births on July 20

    • 356 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (d. 323 BC)
    • 647 – Yazid I, Arabian caliph (d. 683)
    • 682 – Taichō, Japanese monk and scholar (d. 767)
    • 1304 – Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1374)
    • 1313 – John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tibetot (d. 1367)
    • 1346 – Margaret, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1361)
    • 1470 – John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath, English noble (d. 1539)
    • 1519 – Pope Innocent IX (d. 1591)
    • 1537 – Arnaud d’Ossat, French cardinal (d. 1604)
    • 1583 – Alban Roe, English Benedictine martyr (d. 1642)
    • 1591 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (d. 1643)
    • 1592 – Johan Björnsson Printz, governor of New Sweden (d. 1663)
    • 1601 – Robert Wallop, English politician (d. 1667)
    • 1620 – Nikolaes Heinsius the Elder, Dutch poet and scholar (d. 1681)
    • 1649 – William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (d. 1709)
    • 1754 – Antoine Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher and academic (d. 1836)
    • 1757 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian politician and diplomat (d. 1811)
    • 1762 – Jakob Haibel, Austrian tenor and composer (d. 1826)
    • 1774 – Auguste de Marmont, French general (d. 1852)
    • 1789 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1839)
    • 1804 – Richard Owen, English biologist, anatomist, and paleontologist (d. 1892)
    • 1822 – Gregor Mendel, Austro-German monk, geneticist and botanist (d. 1884)
    • 1838 – Augustin Daly, American playwright and manager (d. 1899)
    • 1838 – William Paine Lord, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Oregon (d. 1911)
    • 1838 – Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, English civil servant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1928)
    • 1847 – Max Liebermann, German painter and academic (d. 1935)
    • 1849 – Robert Anderson Van Wyck, American lawyer and politician, 91st Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
    • 1852 – Theo Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1932)
    • 1854 – Philomène Belliveau, Canadian artist (d. 1940)
    • 1864 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
    • 1864 – Ruggero Oddi, Italian physiologist and anatomist (d. 1913)
    • 1868 – Miron Cristea, Romanian cleric and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1939)
    • 1873 – Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian pilot (d. 1932)
    • 1876 – Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician and academic (d. 1944)
    • 1877 – Tom Crean, Irish sailor and explorer (d. 1938)
    • 1882 – Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1937)
    • 1889 – John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, Scottish broadcaster, co-founded BBC (d. 1971)
    • 1890 – Verna Felton, American actress (d. 1966)
    • 1890 – Julie Vinter Hansen, Danish-Swiss astronomer and academic (d. 1960)
    • 1890 – Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (d. 1964)
    • 1893 – George Llewelyn Davies, English soldier (d. 1915)
    • 1895 – László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
    • 1897 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
    • 1900 – Maurice Leyland, English cricketer and coach (d. 1967)
    • 1901 – Vehbi Koç, Turkish businessman and philanthropist, founded Koç Holding (d. 1996)
    • 1901 – Eugenio Lopez Sr., Filipino businessman and founder of the Lopez Group of Companies (d. 1975)
    • 1901 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player and manager (d. 1971)
    • 1902 – Leonidas Berry, American gastroenterologist (d. 1995)
    • 1905 – Joseph Levis, American foil fencer (d. 2005)
    • 1909 – Eric Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1993)
    • 1910 – Vilém Tauský, Czech-English conductor and composer (d. 2004)
    • 1911 – Baqa Jilani, Indian cricketer (d. 1941)
    • 1911 – José Zabala-Santos, Filipino author and illustrator (d. 1985)
    • 1912 – George Johnston, Australian journalist and author (d. 1970)
    • 1914 – Dobri Dobrev, Bulgarian philanthropist (d. 2018)
    • 1914 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (d. 2005)
    • 1914 – Ersilio Tonini, Italian cardinal (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Cindy Walker, American singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 2006)
    • 1919 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – Jacquemine Charrott Lodwidge, English writer (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Elliot Richardson, American lieutenant and politician, 11th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Henri Alleg, English-French journalist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Alan Stephenson Boyd, American lawyer and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Transportation
    • 1923 – Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Lola Albright, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Thomas Berger, American author and playwright (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Mort Garson, Canadian-American songwriter and composer (d. 2008)
    • 1925 – Jacques Delors, French economist and politician, 8th President of the European Commission
    • 1925 – Frantz Fanon, French–Algerian psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1961)
    • 1927 – Barbara Bergmann, American economist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Heather Chasen, English actress (d. 2020)
    • 1927 – Michael Gielen, Austrian conductor and composer (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Ian P. Howard, English-Canadian psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Józef Czyrek, Polish economist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Belaid Abdessalam, Prime Minister of Algeria
    • 1929 – Hazel Hawke, Australian social worker and pianist, 23rd Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Mike Ilitch, American businessman, co-founded Little Caesars (d. 2017)
    • 1929 – Rajendra Kumar, Pakistani-Indian actor and producer (d. 1999)
    • 1929 – David Tonkin, Australian politician, 38th Premier of South Australia (d. 2000)
    • 1930 – Giannis Agouris, Greek journalist and author (d. 2006)
    • 1930 – Chuck Daly, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
    • 1930 – William H. Goetzmann, American historian and author (d. 2010)
    • 1930 – Sally Ann Howes, English-American singer and actress
    • 1931 – Tony Marsh, English race car driver (d. 2009)
    • 1932 – Nam June Paik, American artist (d. 2006)
    • 1932 – Otto Schily, German lawyer and politician, German Minister of the Interior
    • 1933 – Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
    • 1933 – Cormac McCarthy, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
    • 1933 – Rex Williams, English snooker player
    • 1935 – Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo, English businessman and art collector
    • 1935 – Sleepy LaBeef, American rockabilly singer and musician (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – Alistair MacLeod, Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2014)
    • 1936 – Barbara Mikulski, American social worker and politician
    • 1938 – Deniz Baykal, Turkish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
    • 1938 – Roger Hunt, English footballer
    • 1938 – Tony Oliva, Cuban-American baseball player and coach
    • 1938 – Diana Rigg, English actress
    • 1938 – Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
    • 1939 – Judy Chicago, American painter and sculptor
    • 1941 – Don Chuy, American football player (d. 2014)
    • 1941 – Periklis Korovesis, Greek author and journalist
    • 1941 – Kurt Raab, German actor, screenwriter, and production designer (d. 1988)
    • 1942 – Pete Hamilton, American race car driver
    • 1943 – Chris Amon, New Zealand race car driver (d. 2016)
    • 1943 – Bob McNab, English footballer
    • 1943 – Adrian Păunescu, Romanian poet, journalist, and politician (d. 2010)
    • 1943 – Wendy Richard, English actress (d. 2009)
    • 1944 – Mel Daniels, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – W. Cary Edwards, American politician (d. 2010)
    • 1944 – Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor
    • 1944 – T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Larry Craig, American soldier and politician
    • 1945 – John Lodge, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1945 – Bo Rein, American football player and coach (d. 1980)
    • 1946 – Randal Kleiser, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1947 – Gerd Binnig, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1947 – Carlos Santana, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1948 – Muse Watson, American actor and producer
    • 1950 – Edward Leigh, English lawyer and politician
    • 1950 – Lucille Lemay, Canadian archer
    • 1951 – Jeff Rawle, English actor and screenwriter
    • 1953 – Dave Evans, Welsh-Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1953 – Thomas Friedman, American journalist and author
    • 1953 – Marcia Hines, American-Australian singer and actress
    • 1954 – Moira Harris, American actress
    • 1954 – Jay Jay French, American guitarist and producer
    • 1955 – Desmond Douglas, Jamaican-English table tennis player
    • 1955 – René-Daniel Dubois, Canadian actor and playwright
    • 1955 – Jem Finer, English banjo player and songwriter
    • 1956 – Paul Cook, English drummer
    • 1956 – Thomas N’Kono, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1956 – Jim Prentice, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Alberta (d. 2016)
    • 1958 – Mick MacNeil, Scottish keyboard player and songwriter
    • 1959 – Radney Foster, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1960 – Claudio Langes, Italian race car driver
    • 1960 – Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher
    • 1960 – Sudesh Berry, Indian actor
    • 1961 – Óscar Elías Biscet, Cuban physician and activist, founded the Lawton Foundation
    • 1962 – Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver
    • 1962 – Julie Bindel, English journalist, author, and academic
    • 1963 – Frank Whaley, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1964 – Terri Irwin, American-Australian zoologist and author
    • 1964 – Sebastiano Rossi, Italian footballer
    • 1964 – Bernd Schneider, German race car driver
    • 1965 – Jess Walter, American journalist and author
    • 1966 – Stone Gossard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1966 – Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico
    • 1967 – Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1968 – Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player
    • 1968 – Hami Mandıralı, Turkish footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Kool G Rap, American hip-hop artist
    • 1969 – Josh Holloway, American actor
    • 1969 – Kreso Kovacec, Croatian-German footballer
    • 1969 – Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist
    • 1969 – Joon Park, South Korean-American singer
    • 1969 – Tobi Vail, American singer and guitarist
    • 1971 – Charles Johnson, American baseball player
    • 1971 – Sandra Oh, Canadian actress
    • 1972 – Jamie Ainscough, Australian rugby league player
    • 1972 – Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player
    • 1972 – Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician
    • 1972 – Vitamin C, American singer-songwriter
    • 1973 – Omar Epps, American actor
    • 1973 – Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
    • 1973 – Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
    • 1973 – Nixon McLean, Caribbean cricketer
    • 1973 – Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer
    • 1973 – Claudio Reyna, American soccer player
    • 1975 – Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor
    • 1975 – Judy Greer, American actress and producer
    • 1975 – Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer
    • 1975 – Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish journalist and politician, 5th Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs
    • 1975 – Jason Raize, American singer and actor
    • 1975 – Yusuf Şimşek, Turkish footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Erica Hill, American journalist
    • 1976 – Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach
    • 1976 – Andrew Stockdale, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1976 – Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver
    • 1977 – Kiki Musampa, Congolese footballer
    • 1977 – Yves Niaré, French shot putter (d. 2012)
    • 1977 – Alessandro Santos, Brazilian-Japanese footballer
    • 1978 – Pavel Datsyuk, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Will Solomon, American basketball player
    • 1978 – Elliott Yamin, American singer-songwriter
    • 1978 – Ieva Zunda, Latvian runner and hurdler
    • 1979 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (d. 2004)
    • 1979 – Charlotte Hatherley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1979 – David Ortega, Spanish swimmer
    • 1980 – Tesfaye Bramble, English-Montserratian footballer
    • 1980 – Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model, fashionista, and businesswoman
    • 1981 – Viktoria Ladõnskaja, Estonian journalist and politician
    • 1982 – Antoine Vermette, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Alexi Casilla, Dominican baseball player
    • 1984 – Matt Gilroy, American ice hockey player
    • 1985 – John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter
    • 1985 – Harley Morenstein, Canadian actor and YouTube personality
    • 1985 – David Mundy, Australian footballer
    • 1986 – Osric Chau, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1987 – Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist
    • 1987 – Niall McGinn, Irish footballer
    • 1988 – Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
    • 1988 – Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player
    • 1988 – Shahram Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball player
    • 1989 – Javier Cortés, Mexican footballer
    • 1989 – Cristian Pasquato, Italian footballer
    • 1990 – Lars Unnerstall, German footballer
    • 1991 – Chiyoshōma Fujio, Mongolian sumo wrestler
    • 1991 – Ryan James, Australian rugby league player
    • 1991 – Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015
    • 1991 – Philipp Reiter, German mountaineer and runner
    • 1993 – Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player
    • 1995 – Moses Leota, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1996 – Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player

    Deaths on July 20

    • 518 – Amantius, Byzantine grand chamberlain and Monophysite martyr
    • 833 – Ansegisus, Frankish abbot and saint
    • 985 – Boniface VII, antipope of Rome
    • 1031 – Robert II, king of France (b. 972)
    • 1156 – Toba, emperor of Japan (b. 1103)
    • 1320 – Oshin, king of Armenia (b. 1282)
    • 1332 – Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland
    • 1387 – Robert IV, French nobleman (b. 1356)
    • 1398 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, Welsh nobleman (b. 1374)
    • 1453 – Enguerrand de Monstrelet, French historian and author (b. 1400)
    • 1454 – John II, king of Castile and León (b. 1405)
    • 1514 – György Dózsa, Transylvanian peasant revolt leader (b. 1470)
    • 1524 – Claude, queen consort of France (b. 1499)
    • 1526 – García Jofre de Loaísa, Spanish explorer (b. 1490)
    • 1600 – William More, English courtier (b. 1520)
    • 1616 – Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, Irish nobleman and rebel soldier (b. 1550)
    • 1704 – Peregrine White, English-American farmer and soldier (b. 1620)
    • 1752 – Johann Christoph Pepusch, German-English composer and theorist (b. 1667)
    • 1816 – Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (b. 1743)
    • 1866 – Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician and academic (b. 1826)
    • 1897 – Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (b. 1820)
    • 1901 – William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (b. 1840)
    • 1903 – Leo XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1810)
    • 1908 – Demetrius Vikelas, Greek businessman and author (b. 1835)
    • 1908 – Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz, German geophysicist and seismologist (b. 1881)
    • 1910 – Anderson Dawson, Australian politician, 14th Premier of Queensland (b. 1863)
    • 1922 – Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1856)
    • 1923 – Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (b. 1878)
    • 1926 – Felix Dzerzhinsky, Russian educator and politician (b. 1877)
    • 1927 – Ferdinand I, king of Romania (b. 1865)
    • 1928 – Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet and author (b. 1896)
    • 1932 – René Bazin, French author and academic (b. 1853)
    • 1937 – Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1882)
    • 1937 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
    • 1941 – Lew Fields, American actor and producer (b. 1867)
    • 1944 – Ludwig Beck, German general (b. 1880)
    • 1945 – Paul Valéry, French author and poet (b. 1871)
    • 1951 – Abdullah I, king of Jordan (b. 1882)
    • 1953 – Dumarsais Estimé, Haitian lawyer and politician, 33rd President of Haiti (b. 1900)
    • 1953 – Jan Struther, English author and hymn-writer (b. 1901)
    • 1955 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1869)
    • 1956 – James Alexander Calder, Canadian educator and politician, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence (b. 1868)
    • 1959 – William D. Leahy, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (b. 1875)
    • 1965 – Batukeshwar Dutt, Indian activist (b. 1910)
    • 1968 – Bray Hammond, American historian and author (b. 1886)
    • 1970 – Iain Macleod, English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1913)
    • 1972 – Geeta Dutt, Indian singer and actress (b. 1930)
    • 1973 – Bruce Lee, American actor and martial artist (b. 1940)
    • 1973 – Robert Smithson, American photographer and sculptor (b. 1938)
    • 1974 – Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (b. 1900)
    • 1974 – Kamal Dasgupta, Bengali music director, composer and folk artist. (b. 1912)
    • 1976 – Joseph Rochefort, American captain and cryptanalyst (b. 1900)
    • 1977 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (b. 1939)
    • 1980 – Maria Martinez, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) potter (b. 1887)
    • 1981 – Kostas Choumis, Greek-Romanian footballer (b. 1913)
    • 1983 – Frank Reynolds, American soldier and journalist (b. 1923)
    • 1987 – Richard Egan, American soldier and actor (b. 1921)
    • 1989 – Forrest H. Anderson, American judge and politician, 17th Governor of Montana (b. 1913)
    • 1990 – Herbert Turner Jenkins, American police officer (b. 1907)
    • 1993 – Vince Foster, American lawyer and political figure (b. 1945)
    • 1994 – Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter (b. 1897)
    • 1997 – M. E. H. Maharoof, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1939)
    • 1998 – June Byers, American wrestler (b. 1922)
    • 1999 – Sandra Gould, American actress (b. 1916)
    • 2002 – Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (b. 1946)
    • 2003 – Nicolas Freeling, English author (b. 1927)
    • 2004 – Lala Mara, Fijian politician (b. 1931)
    • 2004 – Valdemaras Martinkėnas, Lithuanian footballer and coach (b. 1965)
    • 2005 – James Doohan, Canadian-American actor (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Finn Gustavsen, Norwegian journalist and politician (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Kayo Hatta, American director and cinematographer (b. 1958)
    • 2006 – Ted Grant, South African-English theorist and activist (b. 1913)
    • 2006 – Gérard Oury, French actor, director, and producer (b. 1919)
    • 2007 – Tammy Faye Messner, American Christian evangelist and talk show host (b. 1942)
    • 2008 – Artie Traum, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1943)
    • 2008 – Dinko Šakić, Croatian concentration camp commander (b. 1921)
    • 2009 – Vedat Okyar, Turkish footballer (b. 1945)
    • 2009 – Mark Rosenzweig, American psychologist and academic (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Alastair Burnet, English journalist (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Jack Davis, American hurdler (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – José Hermano Saraiva, Portuguese historian, jurist, and politician, Portuguese Minister of Education (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist and businessman, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Khurshed Alam Khan, Indian politician, 2nd Governor of Goa (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – Augustus Rowe, Canadian physician and politician (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Helen Thomas, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Constantin Lucaci, Romanian sculptor and educator (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Bob McNamara, American football player (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Klaus Schmidt, German archaeologist and academic (b. 1953)
    • 2015 – Wayne Carson, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1943)
    • 2015 – Fred Else, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (b. 1944)
    • 2016 – Radu Beligan, Romanian actor, director, and essayist (b. 1918)
    • 2017 – Chester Bennington, American singer (b. 1976)

    Holidays and observances on July 20

    • Birthday of Crown Prince Haakon Magnus (Norway)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Ansegisus
      • Apollinaris of Ravenna
      • Aurelius
      • Ealhswith (or Elswith)
      • Elijah
      • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • John Baptist Yi (one of The Korean Martyrs)
      • Margaret the Virgin
      • Thorlac (relic translation)
      • Wilgefortis (cult suppressed)
      • July 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Día del Amigo (Argentina, Brazil)
    • Engineer’s Day (Costa Rica)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence declaration of Colombia from Spain in 1810.
    • International Chess Day
    • Lempira Day (Honduras)
    • Tree Planting Day (Central African Republic)

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

    The terms 7th July, July 7th, and 7/7 (pronounced “Seven-seven“) have been widely used in the Western media as a shorthand for the 7 July 2005 bombings on London’s transport system. In the Chinese language, this term is used to denote the Battle of Lugou Bridge started on July 7, 1937, marking the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

    July 7 in History

    • 1124 – The city of Tyre falls to the Venetian Crusade after a siege of nineteen weeks.
    • 1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
    • 1520 – Spanish conquistadores defeat a larger Aztec army at the Battle of Otumba.
    • 1534 – Jacques Cartier makes his first contact with aboriginal peoples in what is now Canada.
    • 1575 – The Raid of the Redeswire is the last major battle between England and Scotland.
    • 1585 – The Treaty of Nemours abolishes tolerance to Protestants in France.
    • 1770 – The Battle of Larga between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire takes place.
    • 1777 – American forces retreating from Fort Ticonderoga are defeated in the Battle of Hubbardton.
    • 1798 – As a result of the XYZ Affair, the US Congress rescinds the Treaty of Alliance with France sparking the “Quasi-War”.
    • 1807 – The Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia ends the War of the Fourth Coalition.
    • 1834 – In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists began.
    • 1846 – US troops occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the US conquest of California.
    • 1863 – The United States begins its first military draft; exemptions cost $300.
    • 1865 – Four conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
    • 1892 – The Katipunan is established, the discovery of which by Spanish authorities initiated the Philippine Revolution.
    • 1898 – US President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
    • 1907 – Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. staged his first Follies on the roof of the New York Theater in New York City.
    • 1911 – The United States, UK, Japan, and Russia sign the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 banning open-water seal hunting, the first international treaty to address wildlife preservation issues.
    • 1915 – The First Battle of the Isonzo comes to an end.
    • 1915 – Colombo Town Guard officer Henry Pedris is executed in British Ceylon for allegedly inciting persecution of Muslims.
    • 1916 – The New Zealand Labour Party was founded in Wellington.
    • 1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time (on the inventor’s 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.
    • 1930 – Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser begins construction of Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam).
    • 1937 – The Marco Polo Bridge Incident provides the Imperial Japanese Army with a pretext for starting the Second Sino-Japanese War.
    • 1937 – The Peel Commission Report recommends the partition of Palestine, which was the first formal recommendation for partition in the history of Palestine.
    • 1941 – The US occupation of Iceland replaces the UK’s occupation.
    • 1944 – World War II: Largest Banzai charge of the Pacific War at the Battle of Saipan.
    • 1946 – Mother Francesca S. Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized.
    • 1946 – Howard Hughes nearly dies when his XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood.
    • 1952 – The ocean liner SS United States passes Bishop Rock on her maiden voyage, breaking the transatlantic speed record to become the fastest passenger ship in the world.
    • 1953 – Ernesto “Che” Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
    • 1954 – Elvis Presley makes his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, “That’s All Right”.
    • 1958 – US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
    • 1959 – Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
    • 1963 – Buddhist crisis: The police of Ngô Đình Nhu, brother and chief political adviser of President Ngo Dinh Diem, attacked a group of American journalists who were covering a protest.
    • 1978 – The Solomon Islands becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
    • 1980 – Institution of sharia law in Iran.
    • 1980 – During the Lebanese Civil War, 83 Tiger militants are killed during what will be known as the Safra massacre.
    • 1981 – US President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.
    • 1983 – Cold War: Samantha Smith, a US schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov.
    • 1985 – Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at age 17.
    • 1991 – Yugoslav Wars: The Brioni Agreement ends the ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
    • 1992 – The New York Court of Appeals rules that women have the same right as men to go topless in public.
    • 1997 – The Turkish Armed Forces withdraw from northern Iraq after assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War.
    • 2003 – NASA Opportunity rover, MER-B or Mars Exploration Rover–B, was launched into space aboard a Delta II rocket.
    • 2005 – A series of four explosions occurs on London’s transport system, killing 56 people, including four suicide bombers, and injuring over 700 others.
    • 2007 – The first Live Earth benefit concert was held in 11 locations around the world.
    • 2012 – At least 172 people are killed in a flash flood in the Krasnodar Krai region of Russia.
    • 2013 – A De Havilland Otter air taxi crashes in Soldotna, Alaska, killing ten people.
    • 2016 – Ex-US Army soldier Micah Xavier Johnson shoots fourteen policemen during an anti-police protest in downtown Dallas, Texas, killing five of them. He is subsequently killed by a robot-delivered bomb.

    Births on July 7

    • 611 – Eudoxia Epiphania, daughter of Byzantine emperor Heraclius
    • 1053 – Emperor Shirakawa of Japan (d. 1129)
    • 1119 – Emperor Sutoku of Japan (d. 1164)
    • 1207 – Elizabeth of Hungary (d. 1231)
    • 1482 – Andrzej Krzycki, Polish archbishop (d. 1537)
    • 1528 – Archduchess Anna of Austria (d. 1590)
    • 1540 – John Sigismund Zápolya, King of Hungary (d. 1571)
    • 1586 – Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English courtier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland (d. 1646)
    • 1616 – John Leverett, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1679)
    • 1752 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French merchant, invented the Jacquard loom (d. 1834)
    • 1766 – Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, French general (d. 1815)
    • 1831 – Jane Elizabeth Conklin, American poet and religious writer (d. 1914)
    • 1833 – Félicien Rops, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1898)
    • 1843 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
    • 1846 – Heinrich Rosenthal, Estonian physician and author (d. 1916)
    • 1848 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian politician, 5th President of Brazil (d. 1919)
    • 1851 – Charles Albert Tindley, American minister and composer (d. 1933)
    • 1855 – Ludwig Ganghofer, German author and playwright (d. 1920)
    • 1859 – Rettamalai Srinivasan, Indian politician (d. 1911)
    • 1860 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1911)
    • 1861 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist (d. 1912)
    • 1869 – Rachel Caroline Eaton, American academic (d. 1938)
    • 1869 – Fernande Sadler (d.1949), French painter and mayor
    • 1874 – Erwin Bumke, German lawyer and jurist (d. 1945)
    • 1880 – Otto Frederick Rohwedder, American engineer, invented sliced bread (d. 1960)
    • 1882 – Yanka Kupala, Belarusian poet and writer (d. 1941)
    • 1884 – Toivo Kuula, Finnish conductor and composer (d. 1918)
    • 1884 – Lion Feuchtwanger, German author and playwright (d. 1958)
    • 1891 – Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Japanese general and poet (d. 1945)
    • 1891 – Virginia Rappe, American model and actress (d. 1921)
    • 1893 – Herbert Feis, American historian and author (d. 1972)
    • 1893 – Miroslav Krleža, Croatian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1981)
    • 1898 – Arnold Horween, American football player and coach (d. 1985)
    • 1899 – George Cukor, American director and producer (d. 1983)
    • 1900 – Maria Bard, German stage and silent film actress (d. 1944)
    • 1900 – Earle E. Partridge, American general (d. 1990)
    • 1901 – Vittorio De Sica, Italian actor and director (d. 1974)
    • 1901 – Sam Katzman, American director and producer (d. 1973)
    • 1901 – Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese cinematographer and producer (d. 1970)
    • 1902 – Ted Radcliffe, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
    • 1904 – Simone Beck, French chef and author (d. 1991)
    • 1905 – Marie-Louise Dubreil-Jacotin, French mathematician (d. 1972)
    • 1906 – William Feller, Croatian-American mathematician and academic (d. 1970)
    • 1906 – Anton Karas, Austrian zither player and composer (d. 1985)
    • 1906 – Satchel Paige, American baseball player and coach (d. 1982)
    • 1907 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (d. 1988)
    • 1908 – Revilo P. Oliver, American author and academic (d. 1994)
    • 1909 – Gottfried von Cramm, German tennis player (d. 1976)
    • 1910 – Doris McCarthy, Canadian painter and author (d. 2010)
    • 1911 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-American composer (d. 2007)
    • 1913 – Pinetop Perkins, American singer and pianist (d. 2011)
    • 1915 – Margaret Walker, American novelist and poet (d. 1998)
    • 1917 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, Salvadoran general and politician, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Iva Withers, Canadian-American actress and singer (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Bob Vanatta, American head basketball coach (d. 2016)
    • 1918 – Jing Shuping, Chinese businessman (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Jon Pertwee, English actor (d. 1996)
    • 1921 – Ezzard Charles, American boxer (d. 1975)
    • 1921 – Adolf von Thadden, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1996)
    • 1922 – Alan Armer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1922 – James D. Hughes, American Air Force lieutenant general
    • 1923 – Liviu Ciulei, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Whitney North Seymour Jr., American politician (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Eduardo Falú, Argentinian guitarist and composer (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Natalia Bekhtereva, Russian neuroscientist and psychologist (d. 2008)
    • 1924 – Karim Olowu, Nigerian sprinter and long jumper (d. 2019)
    • 1924 – Mary Ford, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
    • 1924 – Eddie Romero, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Wally Phillips, American radio host (d. 2008)
    • 1926 – Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician (d. 2019)
    • 1926 – Anand Mohan Zutshi Gulzar Dehlvi, Urdu poet (d. 2020)
    • 1927 – Alan J. Dixon, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 34th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Charlie Louvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
    • 1927 – Doc Severinsen, American trumpet player and conductor
    • 1928 – Patricia Hitchcock, English actress
    • 1928 – Kapelwa Sikota Zambian nurse and health official (d. 2006)
    • 1929 – Hasan Abidi, Pakistani journalist and poet (d. 2005)
    • 1929 – Sergio Romano, Italian writer, journalist, and historian
    • 1930 – Biljana Plavšić, 2nd President of Republika Srpska
    • 1930 – Hamish MacInnes, Scottish mountaineer and author
    • 1930 – Theodore Edgar McCarrick, American cardinal
    • 1930 – Hank Mobley, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1986)
    • 1931 – David Eddings, American author and academic (d. 2009)
    • 1932 – T. J. Bass, American physician and author (d. 2011)
    • 1932 – Joe Zawinul, Austrian jazz keyboardist and composer (d. 2007)
    • 1933 – David McCullough, American historian and author
    • 1934 – Robert McNeill Alexander, British zoologist (d. 2016)
    • 1935 – Gian Carlo Michelini, Italian-Taiwanese Roman Catholic priest
    • 1936 – Egbert Brieskorn, German mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Jo Siffert, Swiss race car driver (d. 1971)
    • 1936 – Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 1980)
    • 1937 – Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong businessman and politician, 1st Chief Executive of Hong Kong
    • 1938 – James Montgomery Boice, American pastor and theologian (d. 2000)
    • 1939 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian soprano and actress (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Ringo Starr, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
    • 1941 – Marco Bollesan, Italian rugby player and coach
    • 1941 – John Fru Ndi, Cameroonian politician
    • 1941 – Michael Howard, Welsh lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for the Environment
    • 1941 – Bill Oddie, English comedian, actor, and singer
    • 1941 – Jim Rodford, English bass player (d. 2018)
    • 1942 – Carmen Duncan, Australian actress (d. 2019)
    • 1943 – Joel Siegel, American journalist and critic (d. 2007)
    • 1944 – Feleti Sevele, Tongan politician; Prime Minister of Tonga
    • 1944 – Tony Jacklin, English golfer and sportscaster
    • 1944 – Glenys Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, English educator and politician, Minister of State for Europe
    • 1944 – Emanuel Steward, American boxer and trainer (d. 2012)
    • 1944 – Ian Wilmut, English-Scottish embryologist and academic
    • 1945 – Michael Ancram, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1945 – Adele Goldberg, American computer scientist and academic
    • 1945 – Helô Pinheiro, inspiration for the song “The Girl from Ipanema”
    • 1947 – Gyanendra, King of Nepal
    • 1947 – Howard Rheingold, American author and critic
    • 1949 – Shelley Duvall, American actress, writer, and producer
    • 1954 – Simon Anderson, Australian surfer
    • 1955 – Len Barker, American baseball player and coach
    • 1957 – Jonathan Dayton, American director and producer
    • 1957 – Berry Sakharof, Turkish-Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1958 – Alexander Svinin, Russian figure skater and coach
    • 1959 – Billy Campbell, American actor
    • 1960 – Kevin A. Ford, American colonel and astronaut
    • 1960 – Ralph Sampson, American basketball player and coach
    • 1963 – Vonda Shepard, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1964 – Dominik Henzel, Czech-Swedish actor and comedian
    • 1965 – Mo Collins, American actress, comedian and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Jeremy Kyle, English talk show host
    • 1966 – Jim Gaffigan, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1967 – Tom Kristensen, Danish race car driver
    • 1968 – Jorja Fox, American actress
    • 1969 – Sylke Otto, German luger
    • 1969 – Joe Sakic, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1969 – Cree Summer, American-Canadian actress
    • 1970 – Wayne McCullough, Northern Irish boxer
    • 1970 – Min Patel, Indian-English cricketer
    • 1970 – Erik Zabel, German cyclist and coach
    • 1971 – Christian Camargo, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1972 – Lisa Leslie, American basketball player and actress
    • 1972 – Manfred Stohl, Austrian race car driver
    • 1972 – Kirsten Vangsness, American actress and writer
    • 1973 – José Jiménez, Dominican baseball player
    • 1973 – Kārlis Skrastiņš, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
    • 1974 – Patrick Lalime, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1975 – Tony Benshoof, American luger
    • 1975 – Louis Koen, South African rugby player
    • 1975 – Adam Nelson, American shot putter
    • 1976 – Bérénice Bejo, Argentinian-French actress
    • 1976 – Dominic Foley, Irish footballer
    • 1976 – Vasily Petrenko, Russian conductor
    • 1976 – Ercüment Olgundeniz, Turkish discus thrower and shot putter
    • 1978 – Chris Andersen, American basketball player
    • 1978 – Davor Kraljević, Croatian footballer
    • 1979 – Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad Arbaysh, Saudi Arabian terrorist (d. 2015)
    • 1979 – Anastasios Gousis, Greek sprinter
    • 1979 – Douglas Hondo, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1980 – John Buck, American baseball player
    • 1980 – Serdar Kulbilge, Turkish footballer
    • 1980 – Michelle Kwan, American figure skater
    • 1981 – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricketer
    • 1982 – Jan Laštůvka, Czech footballer
    • 1982 – George Owu, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1983 – Justin Davies, Australian footballer
    • 1984 – Minas Alozidis, Greek hurdler
    • 1984 – Alberto Aquilani, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladeshi cricketer
    • 1985 – Marc Stein, German footballer
    • 1986 – Ana Kasparian, American journalist and producer
    • 1986 – Udo Schwarz, German rugby player
    • 1986 – Sevyn Streeter, American singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Kaci Brown, American singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Lukas Rosenthal, German rugby player
    • 1989 – Landon Cassill, American race car driver
    • 1989 – Miina Kallas, Estonian footballer
    • 1989 – Karl-August Tiirmaa, Estonian skier
    • 1990 – Lee Addy, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1990 – Pascal Stöger, Austrian footballer
    • 1991 – Alesso, Swedish DJ, record producer and musician
    • 1992 – Ellina Anissimova, Estonian hammer thrower
    • 1992 – Dominik Furman, Polish footballer
    • 1994 – Timothy Cathcart, Northern Irish race car driver (d. 2014)

    Deaths on July 7

    • 984 – Crescentius the Elder, Italian politician and aristocrat
    • 1021 – Fujiwara no Akimitsu, Japanese bureaucrat (b. 944)
    • 1162 – Haakon II Sigurdsson, king of Norway (b. 1147)
    • 1285 – Tile Kolup, German impostor claiming to be Frederick II
    • 1304 – Benedict XI, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1240)
    • 1307 – Edward I, king of England (b. 1239)
    • 1345 – Momchil, Bulgarian brigand and ruler
    • 1531 – Tilman Riemenschneider, German sculptor (b. 1460)
    • 1568 – William Turner, British ornithologist and botanist (b. 1508)
    • 1572 – Sigismund II Augustus, Polish king (b. 1520)
    • 1573 – Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Italian architect, designed the Church of the Gesù and Villa Farnese (b. 1507)
    • 1593 – Mohammed Bagayogo, Malian scholar and academic (b. 1523)
    • 1600 – Thomas Lucy, English politician (b. 1532)
    • 1607 – Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire, English noblewoman (b. 1563)
    • 1647 – Thomas Hooker, English minister, founded the Colony of Connecticut (b. 1586)
    • 1701 – William Stoughton, American judge and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1631)
    • 1713 – Henry Compton, English bishop (b. 1632)
    • 1718 – Alexei Petrovich, Russian tsar (b. 1690)
    • 1730 – Olivier Levasseur, French pirate (b. 1690)
    • 1758 – Marthanda Varma, Rani of Attingal (b. 1706)
    • 1764 – William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician, Secretary at War (b. 1683)
    • 1776 – Jeremiah Markland, English scholar and academic (b. 1693)
    • 1790 – François Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher and author (b. 1721)
    • 1816 – Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish playwright and poet (b. 1751)
    • 1863 – William Mulready, Irish genre painter (b. 1786)
    • 1865 – George Atzerodt (b. 1833)
    • 1865 – David Herold (b. 1842)
    • 1865 – Lewis Payne (b. 1844)
    • 1865 – Mary Surratt (b. 1823)
    • 1890 – Henri Nestlé, German businessman, founded Nestlé (b. 1814)
    • 1901 – Johanna Spyri, Swiss author (b. 1827)
    • 1913 – Edward Burd Grubb Jr., American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Spain (b. 1841)
    • 1922 – Cathal Brugha, Irish revolutionary and politician, active in the Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence; first Ceann Comhairle and first President of Dáil Éireann (b. 1874)
    • 1925 – Clarence Hudson White, American photographer and educator (b. 1871)
    • 1927 – Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician and academic (b. 1846)
    • 1930 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (b. 1859)
    • 1932 – Alexander Grin, Russian author (b. 1880)
    • 1932 – Henry Eyster Jacobs, American theologian and educator (b. 1844)
    • 1939 – Deacon White, American baseball player and manager (b. 1847)
    • 1950 – Fats Navarro, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1923)
    • 1955 – Ali Naci Karacan, Turkish journalist and publisher (b. 1896)
    • 1956 – Gottfried Benn, German author and poet (b. 1886)
    • 1960 – Francis Browne, Irish priest and photographer (b. 1880)
    • 1964 – Lillian Copeland, American discus thrower and shot putter (b. 1904)
    • 1965 – Moshe Sharett, Ukrainian-Israeli lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1894)
    • 1968 – Jo Schlesser, French race car driver (b. 1928)
    • 1971 – Claude Gauvreau, Canadian poet and playwright (b. 1925)
    • 1972 – Athenagoras I of Constantinople (b. 1886)
    • 1973 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (b. 1895)
    • 1973 – Veronica Lake, American actress (b. 1922)
    • 1976 – Walter Giesler, American soccer player and referee (b. 1910)
    • 1978 – Francisco Mendes, Guinea-Bissau lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1933)
    • 1980 – Dore Schary, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1905)
    • 1982 – Bon Maharaja, Indian guru and religious writer (b. 1901)
    • 1984 – George Oppen, American poet and author (b. 1908)
    • 1987 – Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, Dutch-French pianist (b. 1902)
    • 1990 – Bill Cullen, American television panelist and game show host (b. 1920)
    • 1990 – Cazuza, Brazilian singer and songwriter (b. 1958)
    • 1993 – Rıfat Ilgaz, Turkish author, poet, and educator (b. 1911)
    • 1994 – Carlo Chiti, Italian engineer (b. 1924)
    • 1994 – Cameron Mitchell, American actor (b. 1918)
    • 1994 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German general (b. 1907)
    • 1998 – Moshood Abiola, Nigerian businessman and politician (b. 1937)
    • 1999 – Julie Campbell Tatham, American author (b. 1908)
    • 1999 – Vikram Batra, Param Vir Chakra, Indian Army personnel (b. 1974)
    • 2000 – Kenny Irwin Jr., American race car driver (b. 1969)
    • 2001 – Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
    • 2003 – Izhak Graziani, Bulgarian trumpet player and conductor (b. 1924)
    • 2006 – Syd Barrett, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1946)
    • 2006 – Juan de Ávalos, Spanish sculptor (b. 1911)
    • 2006 – John Money, New Zealand-American psychologist and author (b. 1921)
    • 2008 – Bruce Conner, American sculptor, painter, and photographer (b. 1933)
    • 2008 – Dorian Leigh, American model (b. 1917)
    • 2011 – Allan W. Eckert, American historian and author (b. 1931)
    • 2011 – Dick Williams, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – Ronaldo Cunha Lima, Brazilian poet and politician (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Dennis Flemion, American drummer (b. 1955)
    • 2012 – Doris Neal, American baseball player (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Jerry Norman, American sinologist and linguist (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Leon Schlumpf, Swiss politician (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Artur Hajzer, Polish mountaineer (b. 1962)
    • 2013 – Robert Hamerton-Kelly, South African-American pastor, theologian, and author (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Donald J. Irwin, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian general and politician, 2nd President of Georgia (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Peter Underwood, Australian lawyer and politician, 27th Governor of Tasmania (b. 1937)
    • 2015 – Maria Barroso, Portuguese actress and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Bob MacKinnon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1927)

    Holidays and observances on July 7

    • Christian feast day:
      • Æthelburh of Faremoutiers
      • Felix of Nantes
      • Illidius
      • The job of Manyava (Ukrainian Orthodox Church)
      • Willibald (Catholic Church)
      • July 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Solomon Islands from the United Kingdom in 1978.
    • Ivan Kupala Day (Belarus, Poland, Russia, Ukraine)
    • Saba Saba Day (Tanzania)
    • Tanabata (Japan)
    • World Chocolate Day

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

    • 371 BC – The Battle of Leuctra shatters Sparta’s reputation of military invincibility.
    • 640 – Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under ‘Amr ibn al-‘As defeat the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt).
    • 1253 – Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania.
    • 1348 – Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death.
    • 1411 – Ming China’s Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presents the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor.
    • 1415 – Jan Hus is condemned by the assembly of the council in the cathedral as a heretic and sentenced to be burned at the stake. (See Deaths section.)
    • 1438 – A temporary compromise between the rebellious Transylvanian peasants and the noblemen is signed in Kolozsmonostor Abbey.
    • 1483 – Richard III is crowned King of England.
    • 1484 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.
    • 1495 – First Italian War: Battle of Fornovo: Charles VIII defeats the Holy League.
    • 1535 – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England.
    • 1557 – King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.
    • 1560 – The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.
    • 1573 – Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
    • 1573 – French Wars of Religion: Siege of La Rochelle ends.
    • 1614 – Raid on Żejtun: The south east of Malta, and the town of Żejtun, suffer a raid from Ottoman forces. This was the last unsuccessful attempt by the Ottomans to conquer the island of Malta.
    • 1630 – Thirty Years’ War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.
    • 1685 – Battle of Sedgemoor: Last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion. troops of King James II defeat troops of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth.
    • 1751 – Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.
    • 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
    • 1779 – Battle of Grenada: The French defeat British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.
    • 1801 – First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeat the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras.
    • 1809 – The second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeats the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars.
    • 1854 – In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.
    • 1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
    • 1887 – David Kalākaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution, which transfers much of the king’s authority to the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
    • 1892 – Three thousand eight hundred striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead and dozens wounded.
    • 1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
    • 1918 – The Left SR uprising in Russia starts with the assassination of German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach by Cheka members.
    • 1919 – The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
    • 1933 – The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4–2.
    • 1936 – A major breach of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in England sends millions of gallons of water cascading 200 feet (61 m) into the River Irwell.
    • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle begins with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid.
    • 1939 – Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany closes the last remaining Jewish enterprises.
    • 1940 – Story Bridge, a major landmark in Brisbane, as well as Australia’s longest cantilever bridge is formally opened.
    • 1941 – The German army launches its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk.
    • 1942 – Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annexe” above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
    • 1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court-martial.
    • 1944 – The Hartford circus fire, one of America’s worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut.
    • 1947 – Referendum held in Sylhet to decide its fate in the Partition of India.
    • 1947 – The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.
    • 1957 – Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so.
    • 1957 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.
    • 1962 – As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place.
    • 1962 – The Late Late Show, the world’s longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, airs on RTÉ One for the first time.
    • 1964 – Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
    • 1966 – Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President.
    • 1967 – Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war.
    • 1975 – The Comoros declares independence from France.
    • 1986 – Davis Phinney becomes the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France.
    • 1988 – The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers are killed, making it the world’s worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.
    • 1989 – The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack: Sixteen bus passengers are killed when a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad took control of the bus and drove it over a cliff.
    • 1990 – The Electronic Frontier Foundation is founded.
    • 1995 – In the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia begins its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
    • 1997 – The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
    • 1998 – Hong Kong International Airport opens in Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong, replacing Kai Tak Airport as the city’s international airport.
    • 2003 – The 70-metre Yevpatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to five stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, and 2049, respectively.
    • 2006 – The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
    • 2013 – At least 42 people are killed in a shooting at a school in Yobe State, Nigeria.
    • 2013 – A Boeing 777 operating as Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashes at San Francisco International Airport, killing three and injuring 181 of the 307 people on board.
    • 2013 – A 73-car oil train derails in the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec and explodes into flames, killing at least 47 people and destroying more than 30 buildings in the town’s central area.

    Births on July 6

    • 1387 – Queen Blanche I of Navarre (d. 1441)
    • 1423 – Antonio Manetti, Italian mathematician and architect (d. 1497)
    • 1580 – Johann Stobäus, German lute player and composer (d. 1646)
    • 1623 – Jacopo Melani, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1676)
    • 1678 – Nicola Francesco Haym, Italian cellist and composer (d. 1729)
    • 1686 – Antoine de Jussieu, French biologist and academic (d. 1758)
    • 1701 – Mary, Countess of Harold, English aristocrat and philanthropist (d. 1785)
    • 1736 – Daniel Morgan, American general and politician (d. 1802)
    • 1747 – John Paul Jones, Scottish-American captain (d. 1792)
    • 1766 – Alexander Wilson, Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, and illustrator (d. 1813)
    • 1781 – Stamford Raffles, English politician, founded Singapore (d. 1826)
    • 1782 – Maria Luisa of Spain (d. 1824)
    • 1785 – William Hooker, English botanist and academic (d. 1865)
    • 1789 – María Isabella of Spain (d. 1846)
    • 1796 – Nicholas I of Russia (d. 1855)
    • 1797 – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey (d. 1869)
    • 1799 – Louisa Caroline Huggins Tuthill, American author (d. 1879)
    • 1817 – Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (d. 1905)
    • 1818 – Adolf Anderssen, German chess player (d. 1879)
    • 1823 – Sophie Adlersparre, Swedish publisher, writer, and women’s rights activist (d. 1895)
    • 1829 – Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1880)
    • 1831 – Sylvester Pennoyer, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Oregon (d. 1902)
    • 1832 – Maximilian I of Mexico (d. 1867)
    • 1837 – R. G. Bhandarkar, Indian orientalist and scholar (d. 1925)
    • 1838 – Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian philologist and scholar (d. 1923)
    • 1840 – José María Velasco Gómez, Mexican painter and academic (d. 1912)
    • 1843 – John Downer, Australian politician, 16th Premier of South Australia (d. 1915)
    • 1856 – George Howard Earle, Jr., American lawyer and businessman (d. 1928)
    • 1858 – William Irvine, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Victoria (d. 1943)
    • 1865 – Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and educator (d. 1950)
    • 1868 – Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1935)
    • 1873 – Dimitrios Maximos, Greek banker and politician, 140th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1955)
    • 1877 – Arnaud Massy, French golfer (d. 1950)
    • 1878 – Eino Leino, Finnish poet and journalist (d. 1926)
    • 1883 – Godfrey Huggins, Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (d. 1971)
    • 1884 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American businessman and sailor (d. 1970)
    • 1885 – Ernst Busch, German field marshal (d. 1945)
    • 1886 – Marc Bloch, French historian and academic (d. 1944)
    • 1887 – Marc Chagall, Belarusian-French painter and poet (d. 1985)
    • 1887 – Annette Kellerman, Australian swimmer and actress (d. 1975)
    • 1890 – Dhan Gopal Mukerji, Indian-American author and scholar (d. 1936)
    • 1892 – Will James, American author and illustrator (d. 1942)
    • 1897 – Richard Krautheimer, German-American historian and scholar (d. 1994)
    • 1898 – Hanns Eisler, German-Austrian soldier and composer (d. 1962)
    • 1899 – Susannah Mushatt Jones, American supercentarian (d. 2016)
    • 1900 – Frederica Sagor Maas, American author and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1900 – Elfriede Wever, German Olympic runner (d. 1941)
    • 1903 – Hugo Theorell, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1982)
    • 1904 – Robert Whitney, American conductor and composer (d. 1986)
    • 1904 – Erik Wickberg, Swedish 9th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Juan O’Gorman, Mexican painter and architect (d. 1982)
    • 1907 – Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter and educator (d. 1954)
    • 1907 – George Stanley, Canadian soldier, historian, and author, designed the flag of Canada (d. 2002)
    • 1908 – Anton Muttukumaru, Sri Lankan general and diplomat (d. 2001)
    • 1909 – Eric Reece, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Tasmania (d. 1999)
    • 1910 – René Le Grèves, French cyclist (d. 1946)
    • 1911 – June Gale, American actress (d. 1996)
    • 1912 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian geographer and mountaineer (d. 2006)
    • 1912 – Molly Yard, American feminist (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Vance Trimble, American journalist and author
    • 1914 – Vince McMahon Sr., American wrestling promoter, founded WWE (d. 1984)
    • 1914 – Ernest Kirkendall, American chemist and metallurgist (d. 2005)
    • 1915 – Leonard Birchall, Royal Canadian Air Force pilot (d. 2004)
    • 1916 – Harold Norse, American poet and author (d. 2009)
    • 1916 – Don R. Christensen, American animator, cartoonist, illustrator, writer and inventor (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand runner and coach (d. 2004)
    • 1918 – Sebastian Cabot, English-Canadian actor (d. 1977)
    • 1918 – Herm Fuetsch, American professional basketball player (d. 2010)
    • 1918 – Francisco Moncion, Dominican-American ballet dancer, charter member of the New York City Ballet (d.1995)
    • 1919 – Ernst Haefliger, Swiss tenor and educator (d. 2007)
    • 1919 – Edward Kenna, Australian Second World War recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Ray Dowker, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2004)
    • 1921 – Allan MacEachen, Canadian economist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2017)
    • 1921 – Billy Mauch, American actor (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Bobby Mauch, American actor (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – Nancy Reagan, American actress and activist, 42nd First Lady of the United States (d. 2016)
    • 1922 – William Schallert, American actor; president (1979–81) of the Screen Actors Guild (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and politician, 1st President of Poland (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Mahim Bora, Indian writer and educationist, recipients of the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – Louie Bellson, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (d. 2009)
    • 1925 – Merv Griffin, American actor, singer, and producer, created Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! (d. 2007)
    • 1925 – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
    • 1925 – Gazi Yaşargil, Turkish neurosurgeon and academic
    • 1926 – Sulev Vahtre, Estonian historian and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Armando Silvestre, Mexican-American actor
    • 1927 – Jan Hein Donner, Dutch chess player and journalist (d. 1988)
    • 1927 – Janet Leigh, American actress and author (d. 2004)
    • 1928 – Bernard Malgrange, French mathematician
    • 1929 – Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, French politician historian
    • 1930 – George Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1930 – Ian Burgess, English racing driver (d. 2012)
    • 1931 – Della Reese, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
    • 1931 – László Tábori, Hungarian runner and coach (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Herman Hertzberger, Dutch architect and academic
    • 1935 – Candy Barr, American model, dancer, and actress (d. 2005)
    • 1935 – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
    • 1936 – Dave Allen, Irish comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
    • 1937 – Vladimir Ashkenazy, Russian-Icelandic pianist and conductor
    • 1937 – Ned Beatty, American actor
    • 1937 – Gene Chandler, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1937 – Bessie Head, Botswanan writer
    • 1937 – Michael Sata, Zambian police officer and politician, 5th President of Zambia (d. 2014)
    • 1939 – Jet Harris, English bass player (d. 2011)
    • 1939 – Mary Peters, English-Irish pentathlete and shot putter
    • 1939 – Bruce Hunter, American swimmer (d. 2018)
    • 1940 – Jeannie Seely, Grammy Award-winning country music singer-songwriter and Grand Ole Opry member
    • 1940 – Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakh politician, 1st President of Kazakhstan
    • 1941 – David Crystal, British linguist, author, and academic
    • 1941 – Reinhard Roder, German footballer and manager
    • 1943 – Tamara Sinyavskaya, Russian soprano
    • 1944 – Gunhild Hoffmeister, German runner
    • 1946 – George W. Bush, American businessman and politician, 43rd President of the United States
    • 1946 – Fred Dryer, American football player and actor
    • 1946 – Peter Singer, Australian philosopher and academic
    • 1946 – Sylvester Stallone, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1947 – Roy Señeres, Filipino diplomat and politician (d. 2016)
    • 1948 – Nathalie Baye, French actress
    • 1948 – Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Canadian academic and politician, 26th Canadian Minister of Veterans Affairs
    • 1948 – Brad Park, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1949 – Noli de Castro, Filipino journalist and politician, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
    • 1949 – Phyllis Hyman, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1995)
    • 1949 – Michael Shrieve, American composer, drummer, and percussionist
    • 1950 – John Byrne, English-American author and illustrator
    • 1951 – Lorna Golding, Former First Lady of Jamaica
    • 1951 – Geoffrey Rush, Australian actor and producer
    • 1952 – Hilary Mantel, English author and critic
    • 1953 – Nanci Griffith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1953 – Kaiser Kalambo, Zambian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1953 – Robert Ménard, French politician and former journalist
    • 1954 – Allyce Beasley, American actress
    • 1954 – Willie Randolph, American baseball player and manager
    • 1958 – Jennifer Saunders, English actress, comedian and screenwriter
    • 1959 – Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
    • 1960 – Maria Wasiak, Polish businesswoman and politician, Polish Minister of Infrastructure and Development
    • 1961 – Robin Antin, American dancer, choreographer, and businesswoman
    • 1962 – Todd Bennett, English runner and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1962 – Peter Hedges, American author, screenwriter, and director
    • 1967 – Heather Nova, Bermudian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1970 – Inspectah Deck, American rapper and producer
    • 1970 – Martin Smith, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1972 – Daniel Andrews, Australian politician, 48th Premier of Victoria
    • 1972 – Laurent Gaudé, French author and playwright
    • 1972 – Greg Norton, American baseball player and coach
    • 1972 – Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, Ukrainian sprinter
    • 1974 – Zé Roberto, Brazilian footballer
    • 1975 – 50 Cent, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1975 – Sebastián Rulli, Argentine-Mexican actor and model
    • 1975 – Amir-Abbas Fakhravar, Iranian journalist and activist
    • 1976 – Rory Delap, English-Irish footballer
    • 1976 – Ioana Dumitriu, Romanian-American mathematician and academic
    • 1977 – Max Mirnyi, Belarusian tennis player
    • 1977 – Makhaya Ntini, South African cricketer
    • 1978 – Adam Busch, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1978 – Tamera Mowry, American actress and producer
    • 1978 – Tia Mowry, American actress and producer
    • 1978 – Kevin Senio, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1979 – Nic Cester, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1979 – Kevin Hart, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1980 – Joell Ortiz, American rapper
    • 1980 – Eva Green, French actress and model
    • 1981 – Nnamdi Asomugha, American football player
    • 1981 – Roman Shirokov, Russian footballer
    • 1982 – Brandon Jacobs, American football player
    • 1982 – Misty Upham, American actress (d. 2014)
    • 1983 – Gregory Smith, Canadian actor, director, and producer
    • 1984 – Zhang Hao, Chinese figure skater
    • 1985 – Ranveer Singh, Indian film actor
    • 1986 – David Karp, American businessman, founded Tumblr
    • 1987 – Sophie Auster, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1987 – Manteo Mitchell, American runner
    • 1987 – Kate Nash, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
    • 1987 – Caroline Trentini, Brazilian model
    • 1988 – Kevin Fickentscher, Swiss footballer
    • 1990 – Magaye Gueye, French footballer
    • 1992 – Manny Machado, Dominican-American baseball player

    Deaths on July 6

    • 371 BC – Cleombrotus I, Spartan king
    • 649 – Goar of Aquitaine, French bishop
    • 887 – Wang Chongrong, Chinese warlord
    • 918 – William I, duke of Aquitaine (b. 875)
    • 1017 – Genshin, Japanese scholar (b. 942)
    • 1070 – Godelieve, Flemish saint (b. 1049)
    • 1189 – Henry II, king of England (b. 1133)
    • 1218 – Odo III, duke of Burgundy (b. 1166)
    • 1249 – Alexander II, king of Scotland (b. 1198)
    • 1415 – Jan Hus, Czech priest, philosopher, and reformer (b. 1369)
    • 1476 – Regiomontanus, German mathematician and astrologer (b. 1436)
    • 1480 – Antonio Squarcialupi, Italian composer (b. 1416)
    • 1533 – Ludovico Ariosto, Italian poet and playwright (b. 1474)
    • 1535 – Thomas More, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1478)
    • 1553 – Edward VI, king of England and Ireland (b. 1537)
    • 1583 – Edmund Grindal, English archbishop (b. 1519)
    • 1585 – Thomas Aufield, English priest and martyr (b. 1552)
    • 1614 – Man Singh I, Rajput Raja of Amer (b. 1550)
    • 1684 – Peter Gunning, English bishop (b. 1614)
    • 1758 – George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe, English general and politician (b. 1725)
    • 1768 – Conrad Beissel, German-American religious leader (b. 1690)
    • 1802 – Daniel Morgan, American general and politician (b. 1736)
    • 1809 – Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle, French general (b. 1775)
    • 1813 – Granville Sharp, English activist (b. 1735)
    • 1815 – Samuel Whitbread, English politician (b. 1764)
    • 1835 – John Marshall, American captain and politician, 4th United States Secretary of State (b. 1755)
    • 1854 – Georg Ohm, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1789)
    • 1868 – Harada Sanosuke, Japanese captain (b. 1840)
    • 1893 – Guy de Maupassant, French short story writer, novelist, and poet (b. 1850)
    • 1901 – Chlodwig Carl Viktor, German prince and chancellor (b. 1819)
    • 1902 – Maria Goretti, Italian martyr and saint (b. 1890)
    • 1904 – Abai Qunanbaiuly, Kazakh poet and philosopher (b. 1845)
    • 1907 – August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein, German linguist and theologian (b. 1826)
    • 1916 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (b. 1840)
    • 1918 – Wilhelm von Mirbach, German diplomat (b. 1871)
    • 1922 – Maria Teresia Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and missionary (b. 1863)
    • 1932 – Kenneth Grahame, Scottish-English author (b. 1859)
    • 1934 – Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian commander (b. 1888)
    • 1946 – Horace Pippin, American painter (b. 1888)
    • 1947 – Adolfo Müller-Ury, Swiss-American painter (b. 1862)
    • 1952 – Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 14th Premier of Quebec (b. 1867)
    • 1959 – George Grosz, German painter and illustrator (b. 1893)
    • 1960 – Aneurin Bevan, Welsh-English politician, Secretary of State for Health (b. 1897)
    • 1961 – Scott LaFaro, American bassist (b. 1936)
    • 1961 – Woodall Rodgers, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of Dallas (b. 1890)
    • 1962 – Paul Boffa, Maltese soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1890)
    • 1962 – William Faulkner, American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
    • 1962 – Joseph August, archduke of Austria (b. 1872)
    • 1963 – George, duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1899)
    • 1964 – Claude V. Ricketts, American admiral (b. 1906)
    • 1966 – Sad Sam Jones, American baseball player and manager (b. 1892)
    • 1967 – Hilda Taba, Estonian architect and educator (b. 1902)
    • 1971 – Louis Armstrong, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1901)
    • 1973 – Otto Klemperer, German-American conductor and composer (b. 1885)
    • 1975 – Reşat Ekrem Koçu, Turkish historian, scholar, and poet (b. 1905)
    • 1976 – Zhu De, Chinese general and politician, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (b. 1886)
    • 1976 – Fritz Lenz, German geneticist and physician (b. 1887)
    • 1977 – Ödön Pártos, Hungarian-Israeli viola player and composer (b. 1907)
    • 1978 – Babe Paley, American socialite and fashion style icon (b. 1915)
    • 1979 – Van McCoy, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1940)
    • 1986 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian lawyer and politician, 4th Deputy Prime Minister of India (b. 1908)
    • 1989 – János Kádár, Hungarian mechanic and politician, Hungarian Minister of the Interior (b. 1912)
    • 1991 – Mudashiru Lawal, Nigerian footballer (b. 1954)
    • 1992 – Marsha P. Johnson, American drag queen performer and activist (b. 1945)
    • 1994 – Ahmet Haxhiu, Kosovan activist (b. 1932)
    • 1995 – Aziz Nesin, Turkish author and poet (b. 1915)
    • 1997 – Chetan Anand, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
    • 1998 – Roy Rogers, American cowboy, actor, and singer (b. 1911)
    • 1999 – Joaquín Rodrigo, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1901)
    • 2000 – Władysław Szpilman, Polish pianist and composer (b. 1911)
    • 2002 – Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman, founded Reliance Industries (b. 1932)
    • 2002 – John Frankenheimer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2003 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1908)
    • 2003 – Çelik Gülersoy, Turkish lawyer, historical preservationist, writer and poet (b. 1930)
    • 2004 – Thomas Klestil, Austrian politician, 10th President of Austria (b. 1932)
    • 2004 – Syreeta Wright, American singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
    • 2005 – Ed McBain, American author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Claude Simon, Malagasy-French novelist and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
    • 2006 – Kasey Rogers, American actress (b. 1925)
    • 2007 – Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, American author (b. 1939)
    • 2009 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian author and academic (b. 1932)
    • 2009 – Robert McNamara, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1916)
    • 2010 – Harvey Fuqua, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
    • 2011 – Carly Hibberd, Australian road racing cyclist (b. 1985)
    • 2012 – Hani al-Hassan, Palestinian engineer and politician (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – Lo Hsing Han, Burmese businessman, co-founded Asia World (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Alan J. Dixon, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 34th Illinois Secretary of State (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Jerry Weintraub, American film producer, and talent agent (b. 1937)
    • 2018 – Shoko Asahara, founder of Japanese cult group Aum Shinrikyo (b. 1955)
    • 2019 – João Gilberto, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist, pioneer of bossa nova music style (b. 1931)
    • 2020 – Charlie Daniels, American singer-songwriter, fiddle-player and guitarist (b. 1936)
    • 2020 – Ennio Morricone, Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpet player (b. 1928)

    Holidays and observances on July 6

    • The first day of San Fermín, which lasts until July 14. (Pamplona)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Maria Goretti
      • Romulus of Fiesole
      • July 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Constitution Day (Cayman Islands)
    • Day of the Capital (Kazakhstan)
    • Independence Day (Comoros), celebrates the independence of the Comoros from France in 1975.
    • Independence Day (Malawi), celebrates the independence of Malawi from United Kingdom in 1964.
    • International Kissing Day (informally observed)
    • Jan Hus Day (Czech Republic)
    • Kupala Night (Poland, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine)
    • National Fried Chicken Day (United States)
    • Statehood Day (Lithuania)
    • Teachers’ Day (Peru)

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

    • 229 – Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.
    • 1266 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.
    • 1280 – The Spanish Reconquista: In the Battle of Moclín the Emirate of Granada ambush a superior pursuing force, killing most of them in a military disaster for the Kingdom of Castile.
    • 1305 – A peace treaty between the Flemish and the French is signed at Athis-sur-Orge.
    • 1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn (south of Stirling) begins.
    • 1532 – Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France sign the “Treaty of Closer Amity With France” (also known as the Pommeraye treaty), pledging mutual aid against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
    • 1565 – Dragut, commander of the Ottoman navy, dies during the Great Siege of Malta.
    • 1594 – The Action of Faial, Azores. The Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas, loaded with slaves and treasure, is attacked and sunk by English ships with only 13 survivors out of over 700 on board.
    • 1611 – The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson’s fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.
    • 1683 – William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.
    • 1713 – The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.
    • 1757 – Battle of Plassey: Three thousand British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000-strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah at Plassey.
    • 1758 – Seven Years’ War: Battle of Krefeld: British, Hanoverian, and Prussian forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.
    • 1760 – Seven Years’ War: Battle of Landeshut: Austria defeats Prussia.
    • 1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township).
    • 1794 – Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.
    • 1810 – John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.
    • 1812 – War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.
    • 1860 – The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army.
    • 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the “Type-Writer”.
    • 1887 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada creating the nation’s first national park, Banff National Park.
    • 1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
    • 1913 – Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.
    • 1914 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.
    • 1917 – In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.
    • 1919 – Estonian War of Independence: The decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cēsis; this date is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.
    • 1926 – The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
    • 1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.
    • 1938 – The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
    • 1940 – Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city.
    • 1940 – Henry Larsen begins the first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
    • 1941 – The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.
    • 1942 – World War II: Germany’s latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.
    • 1946 – The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
    • 1947 – The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman’s veto of the Taft–Hartley Act.
    • 1951 – The ocean liner SS United States is christened and launched.
    • 1956 – The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa.
    • 1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.
    • 1960 – The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world.
    • 1961 – The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force.
    • 1967 – Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
    • 1969 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.
    • 1969 – IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry.
    • 1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
    • 1972 – Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds.
    • 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale.
    • 1985 – A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard.
    • 1994 – NASA’s Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center.
    • 2001 – The 8.4 Mw  southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami followed, leaving at least 74 people dead, and 2,687 injured.
    • 2012 – Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials.
    • 2013 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.
    • 2013 – Militants stormed a high-altitude mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan killing ten climbers, and a local guide.
    • 2014 – The last of Syria’s declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction.
    • 2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.
    • 2017 – A series of terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan resulting in 96 deaths and wounded 200 others.

    Births on June 23

    • 47 BC – Caesarion, Egyptian king (d. 30 BC)
    • 1385 – Stefan, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken (d. 1459)
    • 1433 – Francis II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1488)
    • 1456 – Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland (d. 1486)
    • 1489 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy, Italian nobleman (d. 1496)
    • 1534 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
    • 1596 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (d. 1641)
    • 1616 – Shah Shuja, Mughal prince (d. 1661)
    • 1625 – John Fell, English churchman and influential academic (d. 1686)
    • 1668 – Giambattista Vico, Italian jurist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1744)
    • 1683 – Étienne Fourmont, French orientalist and sinologist (d. 1745)
    • 1711 – Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Italian instrument maker (d. 1786)
    • 1716 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales (d. 1789)
    • 1750 – Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, French geologist and academic (d. 1801)
    • 1763 – Joséphine de Beauharnais, French wife of Napoleon I (d. 1814)
    • 1799 – John Milton Bernhisel, American physician and politician (d. 1881)
    • 1800 – Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and activist (d. 1846)
    • 1824 – Carl Reinecke, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1910)
    • 1843 – Paul Heinrich von Groth, German scientist (d. 1927)
    • 1860 – Albert Giraud, Belgian poet and librarian (d. 1929)
    • 1863 – Sándor Bródy, Hungarian author and journalist (d. 1924)
    • 1877 – Norman Pritchard, Indian-English hurdler and actor (d. 1929)
    • 1879 – Huda Sha’arawi, Egyptian feminist and journalist (d. 1947)
    • 1884 – Cyclone Taylor, Canadian ice hockey player and politician (d. 1979)
    • 1888 – Bronson M. Cutting, American publisher and politician (d. 1935)
    • 1889 – Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet and author (d. 1966)
    • 1889 – Verena Holmes, English engineer (d. 1964)
    • 1894 – Harold Barrowclough, New Zealand military leader, lawyer and Chief Justice (d. 1972)
    • 1894 – Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (d. 1956)
    • 1894 – Edward VIII, King of the United Kingdom (d. 1972)
    • 1899 – Amédée Gordini, Italian-born French race car driver and sports car manufacturer (d. 1979)
    • 1900 – Blanche Noyes, American aviator, winner of the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race (d. 1981)
    • 1901 – Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Turkish author, poet, and scholar (d. 1962)
    • 1903 – Paul Martin Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1904 – Quintin McMillan, South African cricketer (d. 1938)
    • 1905 – Jack Pickersgill, Canadian civil servant and politician, 35th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1997)
    • 1906 – Tribhuvan of Nepal (d. 1955)
    • 1907 – Dercy Gonçalves, Brazilian actress and singer (d. 2008)
    • 1907 – James Meade, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
    • 1909 – David Lewis, Russian-Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1981)
    • 1909 – Georges Rouquier, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1910 – Jean Anouilh, French playwright and screenwriter (d. 1987)
    • 1910 – Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader, 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2008)
    • 1910 – Milt Hinton, American bassist and photographer (d. 2000)
    • 1910 – Bill King, English commander and author (d. 2012)
    • 1910 – Lawson Little, American golfer (d. 1968)
    • 1912 – Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (d. 1954)
    • 1913 – William P. Rogers, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (d. 2001)
    • 1915 – Frances Gabe, American artist and inventor (d. 2016)
    • 1916 – Len Hutton, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1990)
    • 1916 – Irene Worth, American actress (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Al G. Wright, American bandleader and conductor
    • 1919 – Mohamed Boudiaf, Algerian politician, President of Algeria (d. 1992)
    • 1920 – Saleh Ajeery, Kuwaiti astronomer
    • 1921 – Paul Findley, American politician (d. 2019)
    • 1922 – Morris R. Jeppson, American lieutenant and physicist (d. 2010)
    • 1922 – Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1998)
    • 1923 – Peter Corr, Irish-English footballer and manager (d. 2001)
    • 1923 – Elroy Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Doris Johnson, American politician
    • 1923 – Jerry Rullo, American professional basketball player (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian communist and Partisan (d. 1945)
    • 1924 – Frank Bolle, American comic-strip artist, comic-book artist, and illustrator (d. 2020)
    • 1925 – Miriam Karlin, English actress (d. 2011)
    • 1925 – Art Modell, American businessman (d. 2012)
    • 1925 – Anna Chennault, Chinese widow of Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Lawson Soulsby, Baron Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, English microbiologist and parasitologist (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Magda Herzberger, Romanian author, poet and composer, a survivor of the Holocaust
    • 1926 – Annette Mbaye d’Erneville, Senegalese writer
    • 1926 – Arnaldo Pomodoro, Italian sculptor
    • 1927 – Bob Fosse, American actor, dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 1987)
    • 1927 – John Habgood, Baron Habgood, English archbishop (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Jean Cione, American baseball player (d. 2010)
    • 1928 – Klaus von Dohnányi, German politician
    • 1928 – Michael Shaara, American author and academic (d. 1988)
    • 1929 – June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (d. 2003)
    • 1929 – Mario Ghella, Italian racing cyclist
    • 1930 – Donn F. Eisele, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1987)
    • 1930 – John Elliott, English historian and academic
    • 1930 – Francis Newall, 2nd Baron Newall, English businessman and politician
    • 1930 – Anthony Thwaite, English poet, critic, and academic
    • 1930 – Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny, former First Lady of Ivory Coast
    • 1931 – Gunnar Uusi, Estonian chess player (d. 1981)
    • 1931 – Ola Ullsten, Swedish politician and diplomat (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Peter Millett, Baron Millett, English lawyer and judge
    • 1934 – Keith Sutton, English bishop (d. 2017)
    • 1934 – Bill Torrey, Canadian businessman (d. 2018)
    • 1934 – Virbhadra Singh, Indian politician
    • 1935 – Maurice Ferré, Puerto Rican-American politician, 32nd Mayor of Miami
    • 1935 – Keith Burkinshaw, English footballer and manager
    • 1936 – Richard Bach, American novelist and essayist
    • 1936 – Costas Simitis, Greek economist, lawyer, and politician, 180th Prime Minister of Greece
    • 1937 – Martti Ahtisaari, Finnish captain and politician, 10th President of Finland, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1937 – Alan Haselhurst, English academic and politician
    • 1937 – Niki Sullivan, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1939 – Scott Burton, American sculptor (d. 1989)
    • 1940 – Adam Faith, English singer (d. 2003)
    • 1940 – George Feigley, American sex cult leader and two-time prison escapee (d. 2009)
    • 1940 – Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
    • 1940 – Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
    • 1940 – Mike Shrimpton, New Zealand cricketer and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Stuart Sutcliffe, Scottish painter and musician (d. 1962)
    • 1940 – Diana Trask, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1941 – Robert Hunter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
    • 1941 – Roger McDonald, Australian author and screenwriter
    • 1941 – Keith Newton, English footballer (d. 1998)
    • 1942 – Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, English cosmologist and astrophysicist
    • 1943 – Patrick Bokanowski, French filmmaker
    • 1943 – Ellyn Kaschak, American psychologist and academic
    • 1943 – James Levine, American pianist and conductor
    • 1945 – Kjell Albin Abrahamson, Swedish journalist and author
    • 1945 – John Garang, Sudanese colonel and politician, President of Southern Sudan (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – Julian Hipwood, English polo player and coach
    • 1946 – Ted Shackelford, American actor
    • 1947 – Bryan Brown, Australian actor and producer
    • 1948 – Clarence Thomas, American lawyer and judge, United States Supreme Court Justice
    • 1949 – Gordon Bray, Australian journalist and sportscaster
    • 1949 – Sheila Noakes, Baroness Noakes, English accountant and politician
    • 1951 – Angelo Falcón, Puerto Rican-American political scientist, activist, and academic, founded the National Institute for Latino Policy
    • 1951 – Michèle Mouton, French race car driver and manager
    • 1951 – Raj Babbar, Indian actor and politician
    • 1953 – Armen Sarkissian, Armenian physicist, politician and current President of Armenia
    • 1955 – Pierre Corbeil, Canadian dentist and politician
    • 1955 – Glenn Danzig, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1955 – Jean Tigana, French footballer and manager
    • 1956 – Daniel J. Drucker, Canadian academic and educator
    • 1956 – Tony Hill, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Randy Jackson, American bass player and producer
    • 1957 – Dave Houghton, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
    • 1957 – Frances McDormand, American actress, winner of the Triple Crown of Acting
    • 1958 – John Hayes, English politician, Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change
    • 1960 – Donald Harrison, American saxophonist, composer, and producer
    • 1960 – Tatsuya Uemura, Japanese composer and programmer
    • 1961 – Richard Arnold, English lawyer and judge
    • 1961 – Zoran Janjetov, Serbian singer and illustrator
    • 1961 – LaSalle Thompson, American basketball player, coach, and manager
    • 1962 – Chuck Billy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1963 – Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
    • 1964 – Nicolas Marceau, Canadian economist and politician
    • 1964 – Tara Morice, Australian actress and singer
    • 1964 – Joss Whedon, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Lou Yun, Chinese gymnast
    • 1965 – Paul Arthurs, English guitarist
    • 1965 – Sylvia Mathews Burwell, American government and non-profit executive
    • 1965 – Peter O’Malley, Australian golfer
    • 1966 – Chico DeBarge, American singer and pianist
    • 1969 – Martin Klebba, American actor, producer, and stuntman
    • 1970 – Robert Brooks, American football player
    • 1970 – Martin Deschamps, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1970 – Yann Tiersen, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1971 – Fred Ewanuick, Canadian actor and producer
    • 1971 – Félix Potvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1972 – Selma Blair, American actress
    • 1972 – Louis Van Amstel, Dutch dancer and choreographer
    • 1972 – Zinedine Zidane, French footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Joel Edgerton, Australian actor
    • 1974 – Mark Hendrickson, American basketball and baseball player
    • 1975 – Kevin Dyson, American football player and coach
    • 1975 – David Howell, English golfer
    • 1975 – Mike James, American basketball player
    • 1975 – KT Tunstall, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1976 – Wade Barrett, American soccer player and manager
    • 1976 – Joe Becker, American guitarist and composer
    • 1976 – Savvas Poursaitidis, Greek-Cypriot footballer and scout
    • 1976 – Brandon Stokley, American football player
    • 1976 – Paola Suárez, Argentinian tennis player
    • 1976 – Emmanuelle Vaugier, Canadian actress and singer
    • 1976 – Patrick Vieira, French footballer and manager
    • 1977 – Miguel Ángel Angulo, Spanish footballer
    • 1977 – Hayden Foxe, Australian footballer and manager
    • 1977 – Jaan Jüris, Estonian ski jumper
    • 1977 – Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Shaun O’Hara, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1978 – Memphis Bleek, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1978 – Frederic Leclercq, French heavy metal musician
    • 1978 – Matt Light, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1979 – LaDainian Tomlinson, American football player
    • 1980 – Becky Cloonan, American author and illustrator
    • 1980 – Melissa Rauch, American actress
    • 1980 – Ramnaresh Sarwan, Guyanese cricketer
    • 1980 – Francesca Schiavone, Italian tennis player
    • 1981 – Antony Costa, English singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Rolf Wacha, German rugby player
    • 1982 – Derek Boogaard, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2011)
    • 1983 – Brooks Laich, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – José Manuel Rojas, Chilean footballer
    • 1984 – Duffy, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1984 – Takeshi Matsuda, Japanese swimmer
    • 1984 – Levern Spencer, Saint Lucian high jumper
    • 1985 – Marcel Reece, American football player
    • 1986 – Christy Altomare, American actress and singer songwriter
    • 1987 – Alessia Filippi, Italian swimmer
    • 1988 – Chet Faker, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Chellsie Memmel, American gymnast
    • 1989 – Lisa Carrington, New Zealand flatwater canoeist
    • 1989 – Jordan Nolan, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Clevid Dikamona, French footballer
    • 1990 – Vasek Pospisil, Canadian tennis player
    • 1990 – Laura Ràfols, Spanish footballer
    • 1991 – Katie Armiger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1992 – Luiza Galiulina, Uzbekistani gymnast
    • 1992 – Nampalys Mendy, French footballer
    • 1993 – Tim Anderson, American baseball player
    • 1993 – Marvin Grumann, German footballer
    • 2004 – Alexandra Trusova, Russian figure skater

    Deaths on June 23

    • AD 79 – Vespasian, Roman emperor (b. AD 9)
    • 679 – Æthelthryth, English saint (b. 636)
    • 947 – Li Congyi, prince of Later Tang (b. 931)
    • 947 – Wang, imperial consort of Later Tang
    • 960 – Feng Yanji, chancellor of Southern Tang (b. 903)
    • 994 – Lothair Udo I, count of Stade (b. 950)
    • 1018 – Henry I, margrave of Austria
    • 1137 – Adalbert of Mainz, German archbishop
    • 1222 – Constance of Aragon, Hungarian queen (b. 1179)
    • 1290 – Henryk IV Probus, duke of Wrocław and high duke of Kraków (b. c. 1258)
    • 1314 – Henry de Bohun, English knight
    • 1324 – Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (b. 1270)
    • 1343 – Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi, Italian cardinal (b. c. 1270)
    • 1356 – Margaret II, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1311)
    • 1537 – Pedro de Mendoza, Spanish conquistador (b. 1487)
    • 1565 – Dragut, Ottoman admiral (b. 1485)
    • 1582 – Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese commander (b. 1537)
    • 1615 – Mashita Nagamori, Japanese daimyō (b. 1545)
    • 1677 – William Louis, duke of Württemberg (b. 1647)
    • 1686 – William Coventry, English politician (b. 1628)
    • 1707 – John Mill, English theologian and author (b. 1645)
    • 1733 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss paleontologist and scholar (b. 1672)
    • 1770 – Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (b. 1721)
    • 1775 – Karl Ludwig von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and author (b. 1692)
    • 1779 – Mikael Sehul, Ethiopian warlord (b. 1691)
    • 1806 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (b. 1723)
    • 1811 – Nicolau Tolentino de Almeida, Portuguese poet and author (b. 1740)
    • 1832 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (b. 1761)
    • 1836 – James Mill, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1773)
    • 1848 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este, Electress of Bavaria (b. 1776)
    • 1856 – Ivan Kireyevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1806)
    • 1881 – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist and academic (b. 1804)
    • 1891 – Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist and academic (b. 1804)
    • 1891 – Samuel Newitt Wood, American lawyer and politician (b. 1825)
    • 1893 – William Fox, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1812)
    • 1893 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (b. 1817)
    • 1914 – Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1838)
    • 1945 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian journalist and activist (b. 1923)
    • 1953 – Albert Gleizes, French painter (b. 1881)
    • 1954 – Salih Omurtak, Turkish general (b. 1889)
    • 1956 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer and educator (b. 1875)
    • 1959 – Boris Vian, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1920)
    • 1959 – Hidir Lutfi, Iraqi poet. (b. 1880)
    • 1969 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish runner (b. 1907)
    • 1970 – Roscoe Turner, American soldier and pilot (b. 1895)
    • 1973 – Gerry Birrell, Scottish race car driver (b. 1944)
    • 1980 – Sanjay Gandhi, Indian engineer and politician (b. 1946)
    • 1980 – Clyfford Still, American painter and academic (b. 1904)
    • 1989 – Werner Best, German police officer and jurist (b. 1903)
    • 1990 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor, and politician (b. 1898)
    • 1992 – Eric Andolsek, American football player (b. 1966)
    • 1995 – Roger Grimsby, American journalist (b. 1928)
    • 1995 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Anatoli Tarasov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
    • 1996 – Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, 174th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
    • 1996 – Ray Lindwall, Australian cricketer and rugby player (b. 1921)
    • 1997 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (b. 1936)
    • 1998 – Maureen O’Sullivan, Irish-American actress (b. 1911)
    • 2000 – Peter Dubovský, Slovak footballer (b. 1972)
    • 2002 – Pedro Alcázar, Panamanian boxer (b. 1975)
    • 2005 – Shana Alexander, American journalist and author (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet and critic (b. 1925)
    • 2006 – Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter, founded Spelling Television (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (b. 1968)
    • 2008 – Claudio Capone, Italian-Scottish actor (b. 1952)
    • 2008 – Arthur Chung, Guyanese surveyor and politician, 1st President of Guyana (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – Marian Glinka, Polish actor and bodybuilder (b. 1943)
    • 2009 – Raymond Berthiaume, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1931)
    • 2009 – Ed McMahon, American game show host and announcer (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Jerri Nielsen, American physician and explorer (b. 1952)
    • 2010 – John Burton, Australian public servant and diplomat (b. 1915)
    • 2011 – Peter Falk, American actor (b. 1927)
    • 2011 – Dennis Marshall, Costa Rican footballer (b. 1985)
    • 2011 – Fred Steiner, American composer and conductor (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – James Durbin, English economist and statistician (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Brigitte Engerer, French pianist and educator (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – Alan McDonald, Northern Ireland footballer and manager (b. 1963)
    • 2012 – Frank Chee Willeto, American soldier and politician, 4th Vice President of the Navajo Nation (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Walter J. Zable, American football player and businessman, founded the Cubic Corporation (b. 1915)
    • 2013 – Bobby Bland, American singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Gary David Goldberg, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1944)
    • 2013 – Frank Kelso, American admiral and politician, United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Kurt Leichtweiss, German mathematician and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Darryl Read, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor (b. 1951)
    • 2013 – Sharon Stouder, American swimmer (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Nancy Garden, American author (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Euros Lewis, Welsh cricketer (b. 1942)
    • 2014 – Paula Kent Meehan, American businesswoman, co-founded Redken (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Miguel Facussé Barjum, Honduran businessman (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Nirmala Joshi, Indian nun, lawyer, and social worker (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Dick Van Patten, American actor (b. 1928)
    • 2016 – Ralph Stanley, American singer and banjo player (b. 1927)

    Holidays and observances on June 23

    • Christian feast day:
      • Æthelthryth
      • Marie of Oignies
      • Joseph Cafasso
      • June 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Feast of Raḥmat can fall, while June 24 is the latest. (Bahá’í Faith)
    • Father’s Day (Nicaragua, Poland)
    • Grand Duke’s Official Birthday (Luxembourg)
    • International Widows Day (international)
    • National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism (Canada)
    • Okinawa Memorial Day (Okinawa Prefecture)
    • St John’s Eve and the first day of the Midsummer celebrations [although this is not the real summer solstice; see June 20] (Roman Catholic Church, Europe):
      • Bonfires of Saint John (Spain)
      • First night of Festa de São João do Porto (Porto)
      • First day of Golowan Festival (Cornwall)
      • Jaaniõhtu (Estonia)
      • Jāņi (Latvia)
      • Kupala Night (Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine)
      • Last day of Drăgaica fair (Buzău, Romania)
    • United Nations Public Service Day (International)
    • Victory Day (Estonia)

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

    • 350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.
    • 713 – The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the reorganization of the Byzantine army.
    • 1140 – The French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy.
    • 1326 – The Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.
    • 1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.
    • 1608 – Samuel de Champlain completes his third voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec.
    • 1621 – The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherland.
    • 1658 – Pope Alexander VII appoints François de Laval vicar apostolic in New France.
    • 1665 – James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England), defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
    • 1781 – Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending raid by Banastre Tarleton.
    • 1839 – In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kilograms of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races): Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor: Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.
    • 1866 – The Fenians are driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario back into the United States.
    • 1885 – In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, the Cree leader, Big Bear, escapes the North-West Mounted Police.
    • 1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
    • 1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
    • 1935 – One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa.
    • 1937 – The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson.
    • 1940 – World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.
    • 1940 – World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.
    • 1940 – Franz Rademacher proposes plans to make Madagascar the “Jewish homeland”, an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground and murders 180 of its inhabitants.
    • 1942 – World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island.
    • 1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots.
    • 1950 – Herzog and Lachenal of the French Annapurna expedition become the first climbers to reach the summit of an 8,000-metre peak.
    • 1962 – At Paris Orly Airport, Air France Flight 007 overruns the runway and explodes when the crew attempts to abort takeoff, killing 130.
    • 1963 – Soldiers of the South Vietnamese Army attack protesting Buddhists in Huế with liquid chemicals from tear-gas grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalized for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments.
    • 1965 – The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.
    • 1969 – Melbourne–Evans collision: off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.
    • 1973 – A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
    • 1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m3) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded.
    • 1980 – An explosive device is detonated at the Statue of Liberty. The FBI suspects Croatian nationalists.
    • 1980 – The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, causing five deaths and $300 million (equivalent to $931 million in 2019) worth of damage.
    • 1982 – The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street; he survives but is left paralysed.
    • 1984 – Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
    • 1989 – The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
    • 1991 – Mount Unzen erupts in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.
    • 1992 – Aboriginal land rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Eddie Mabo.
    • 1998 – After suffering a mechanical failure, a high speed train derails at Eschede, Germany, killing 101 people.
    • 2006 – The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro’s formal declaration of independence.
    • 2012 – A plane carrying 153 people on board crashes in a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing everyone on board and 10 people on the ground.
    • 2012 – The pageant for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II takes place on the River Thames.
    • 2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.
    • 2013 – At least 119 people are killed in a fire at a poultry farm in Jilin Province in northeastern China.
    • 2015 – An explosion at a gasoline station in Accra, Ghana, killing more than 200 people.
    • 2017 – London Bridge attack: Eight people are murdered and dozens of civilians are wounded by Islamist terrorists. Three of the attackers are shot dead by the police.
    • 2019 – Khartoum massacre: In Sudan, over 100 people are killed when security forces accompanied by Janjaweed militiamen storm and open fire on a sit-in protest.

    Births on June 3

    • 20 BC – Sejanus, Roman soldier and bodyguard (d. 31 AD)
    • 1139 – Conon of Naso, Basilian abbot (d. 1236)
    • 1421 – Giovanni di Cosimo de’ Medici, Italian noble (d. 1463)
    • 1454 – Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania (1474–1523) (d. 1523)
    • 1537 – João Manuel, Prince of Portugal (d. 1554)
    • 1540 – Charles II, Archduke of Austria (d. 1590)
    • 1554 – Pietro de’ Medici, Italian noble (d. 1604)
    • 1576 – Giovanni Diodati, Swiss-Italian minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1649)
    • 1594 – César, Duke of Vendôme, French nobleman (d. 1665)
    • 1603 – Pietro Paolini, Italian painter (d. 1681)
    • 1635 – Philippe Quinault, French playwright and composer (d. 1688)
    • 1636 – John Hale, American minister (d. 1700)
    • 1659 – David Gregory, Scottish-English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1708)
    • 1662 – Willem van Mieris, Dutch painter (d. 1747)
    • 1723 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician, geologist, and botanist (d. 1788)
    • 1726 – James Hutton, Scottish geologist and physician (d. 1797)
    • 1736 – Ignaz Fränzl, German violinist and composer (d. 1811)
    • 1770 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentinian economist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1820)
    • 1808 – Jefferson Davis, American colonel and politician, President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1889)
    • 1818 – Louis Faidherbe, French general and politician, Governor of Senegal (d. 1889)
    • 1819 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss religious leader, 23rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1892)
    • 1819 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (d. 1891)
    • 1832 – Charles Lecocq, French pianist and composer (d. 1918)
    • 1843 – Frederick VIII of Denmark (d. 1912)
    • 1844 – Garret Hobart, American lawyer and politician, 24th Vice President of the United States (d. 1899)
    • 1844 – Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and author (d. 1909)
    • 1852 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (d. 1896)
    • 1853 – Flinders Petrie, English archaeologist and academic (d. 1942)
    • 1864 – Otto Erich Hartleben, German poet and playwright (d. 1905)
    • 1864 – Ransom E. Olds, American businessman, founded Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company (d. 1950)
    • 1865 – George V of the United Kingdom (d. 1936)
    • 1866 – George Howells Broadhurst, English-American director and manager (d. 1952)
    • 1873 – Otto Loewi, German-American pharmacologist and psychobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
    • 1877 – Raoul Dufy, French painter and illustrator (d. 1953)
    • 1879 – Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1945)
    • 1879 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist and botanist (d. 1940)
    • 1879 – Vivian Woodward, English footballer and soldier (d. 1954)
    • 1881 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter and set designer (d. 1964)
    • 1890 – Baburao Painter, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1954)
    • 1897 – Memphis Minnie, American singer-songwriter (d. 1973)
    • 1899 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian-American biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
    • 1900 – Adelaide Ames, American astronomer and academic (d. 1932)
    • 1900 – Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist and academic (d. 1997)
    • 1901 – Maurice Evans, English actor (d. 1989)
    • 1901 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese general and warlord (d. 2001)
    • 1903 – Eddie Acuff, American actor (d. 1956)
    • 1904 – Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (d. 1950)
    • 1904 – Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (d. 1984)
    • 1905 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, German SS officer (d. 1946)
    • 1906 – R. G. D. Allen, English economist, mathematician, and statistician (d. 1983)
    • 1906 – Josephine Baker, French actress, singer, and dancer; French Resistance operative (d. 1975)
    • 1906 – Walter Robins, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1968)
    • 1907 – Paul Rotha, English director and producer (d. 1984)
    • 1910 – Paulette Goddard, American actress and model (d. 1990)
    • 1911 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1999)
    • 1913 – Pedro Mir, Dominican poet and author (d. 2000)
    • 1914 – Ignacio Ponseti, Spanish physician and orthopedist (d. 2009)
    • 1917 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (d. 1969)
    • 1918 – Patrick Cargill, English actor and producer (d. 1996)
    • 1918 – Lili St. Cyr, American dancer (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Forbes Carlile, Australian pentathlete and coach (d. 2016)
    • 1921 – Jean Dréjac, French singer and composer (d. 2003)
    • 1922 – Alain Resnais, French director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Igor Shafarevich, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Karunanidhi, Indian screenwriter and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 2018)
    • 1924 – Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-American actress (d. 1991)
    • 1924 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Jimmy Rogers, American singer and guitarist (d. 1997)
    • 1924 – Torsten Wiesel, Swedish neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010)
    • 1925 – Thomas Winning, Scottish cardinal (d. 2001)
    • 1926 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d. 1997)
    • 1926 – Flora MacDonald, Canadian banker and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2007)
    • 1928 – Donald Judd, American sculptor and painter (d. 1994)
    • 1928 – John Richard Reid, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1929 – Werner Arber, Swiss microbiologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1929 – Chuck Barris, American game show host and producer (d. 2017)
    • 1930 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American author and poet (d. 1999)
    • 1930 – George Fernandes, Indian journalist and politician, Minister of Defence for India (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Dakota Staton, American singer (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Abbas Zandi, Iranian wrestler (d. 2017)
    • 1930 – Ben Wada, Japanese director and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1930 – Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe’s (d. 2020)
    • 1931 – Françoise Arnoul, Algerian-French actress
    • 1931 – Raúl Castro, Cuban commander and politician, 18th President of Cuba
    • 1931 – John Norman, American philosopher and author
    • 1931 – Lindy Remigino, American runner and coach (d. 2018)
    • 1933 – Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Bahranian king (d. 1999)
    • 1936 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter
    • 1936 – Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2017)
    • 1937 – Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, French race car driver
    • 1939 – Frank Blevins, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of South Australia (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Steve Dalkowski, American baseball player (d. 2020)
    • 1939 – Ian Hunter, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1942 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1999)
    • 1943 – Billy Cunningham, American basketball player and coach
    • 1944 – Thomas Burns, British bishop
    • 1944 – Edith McGuire, American sprinter and educator
    • 1944 – Eddy Ottoz, Italian hurdler and coach
    • 1945 – Hale Irwin, American golfer and architect
    • 1945 – Ramon Jacinto, Filipino singer, guitarist, and businessman, founded the Rajah Broadcasting Network
    • 1945 – Bill Paterson, Scottish actor
    • 1946 – Michael Clarke, American drummer (d. 1993)
    • 1946 – Eddie Holman, American pop/R&B/gospel singer
    • 1946 – Penelope Wilton, English actress
    • 1947 – John Dykstra, American special effects artist and producer
    • 1947 – Mickey Finn, English drummer (d. 2003)
    • 1948 – Jan Reker, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1950 – Frédéric François, Belgian-Italian singer-songwriter
    • 1950 – Melissa Mathison, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1950 – Juan José Muñoz, Argentinian businessman (d. 2013)
    • 1950 – Larry Probst, American businessman
    • 1950 – Suzi Quatro, American-English singer-songwriter, bass player, producer, and actress
    • 1950 – Christos Verelis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of Transport and Communications
    • 1950 – Deniece Williams, American singer-songwriter
    • 1952 – Billy Powell, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1952 – David Richards, Welsh entrepreneur and businessman
    • 1954 – Dan Hill, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1954 – Susan Landau, American mathematician and engineer
    • 1956 – George Burley, Scottish footballer and manager
    • 1956 – Danny Wilde, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1957 – Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player
    • 1959 – Imbi Paju, Estonian-Finnish journalist and author
    • 1960 – Catherine Davani, first female Papua New Guinean judge (d. 2016)
    • 1960 – Tracy Grimshaw, Australian television host
    • 1960 – Carl Rackemann, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1961 – Lawrence Lessig, American lawyer, academic, and author, founded the Creative Commons
    • 1961 – Peter Vidmar, American gymnast
    • 1961 – Ed Wynne, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1962 – Susannah Constantine, English fashion designer, journalist, and author
    • 1962 – Dagmar Neubauer, German sprinter
    • 1963 – Rudy Demotte, Belgian politician, 8th Minister-President of the Walloon Region
    • 1963 – Toshiaki Karasawa, Japanese actor
    • 1964 – André Bellavance, Canadian politician
    • 1964 – Kerry King, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1964 – James Purefoy, English actor
    • 1965 – Hans Kroes, Dutch swimmer
    • 1965 – Michael Moore, British accountant and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
    • 1966 – Wasim Akram, Pakistani cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1967 – Anderson Cooper, American journalist and author
    • 1967 – Tamás Darnyi, Hungarian swimmer
    • 1969 – Takako Minekawa, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1969 – Dean Pay, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1971 – Luigi Di Biagio, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Mary Grigson, Australian cross-country mountain biker
    • 1972 – Julie Gayet, French actress
    • 1974 – Kelly Jones, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1974 – Serhiy Rebrov, Ukrainian international footballer and manager
    • 1975 – Jose Molina, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
    • 1976 – Nikos Chatzis, Greek basketball player
    • 1976 – Jamie McMurray, American race car driver
    • 1977 – Cris, Brazilian footballer
    • 1978 – Lyfe Jennings, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1979 – Luis Fernando López, Colombian race walker
    • 1979 – Christian Malcolm, Welsh sprinter
    • 1980 – Amauri, Brazilian-Italian footballer
    • 1981 – Sosene Anesi, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1982 – Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter
    • 1982 – Manfred Mölgg, Italian skier
    • 1983 – Pasquale Foggia, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Todd Reid, Australian tennis player (d. 2018)
    • 1985 – Papiss Cissé, Senegalese footballer
    • 1985 – Łukasz Piszczek, Polish footballer
    • 1986 – Al Horford, Dominican basketball player
    • 1986 – Micah Kogo, Kenyan runner
    • 1986 – Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
    • 1986 – Adrián Vallés, Spanish race car driver
    • 1986 – Tomáš Verner, Czech ice skater
    • 1987 – Masami Nagasawa, Japanese actress
    • 1989 – Katie Hoff, American swimmer
    • 1991 – Lukasz Teodorczyk, Polish footballer
    • 1991 – Sami Vatanen, Finnish ice hockey defenceman
    • 1991 – Yordano Ventura, Dominican baseball player (d. 2017)
    • 1992 – Mario Götze, German footballer

    Deaths on June 3

    • 628 – Liang Shidu, Chinese rebel leader
    • 800 – Staurakios, Byzantine general
    • 1052 – Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno
    • 1395 – Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria (b. 1350)
    • 1397 – William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (b. 1328)
    • 1411 – Leopold IV, Duke of Austria (b. 1371)
    • 1453 – Loukas Notaras, last megas doux of the Byzantine Empire
    • 1511 – Ahmad ibn Abi Jum’ah, Islamic scholar, author of the Oran fatwa
    • 1548 – Juan de Zumárraga, Spanish-Mexican archbishop (b. 1468)
    • 1553 – Wolf Huber, Austrian painter, printmaker and architect (b. 1485)
    • 1594 – John Aylmer, English bishop and scholar (b. 1521)
    • 1605 – Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (b. 1542)
    • 1615 – Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (b. 1567)
    • 1640 – Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1584)
    • 1649 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (b. 1590)
    • 1657 – William Harvey, English physician and academic (b. 1578)
    • 1659 – Morgan Llwyd, Welsh minister and poet (b. 1619)
    • 1665 – Charles Weston, 3rd Earl of Portland, English noble (b. 1639)
    • 1780 – Thomas Hutchinson, American businessman and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1711)
    • 1826 – Nikolay Karamzin, Russian historian and poet (b. 1766)
    • 1858 – Julius Reubke, German pianist and composer (b. 1834)
    • 1861 – Stephen A. Douglas, American lawyer and politician, 7th Secretary of State of Illinois (b. 1813)
    • 1865 – Okada Izō, Japanese samurai (b. 1838)
    • 1875 – Georges Bizet, French pianist and composer (b. 1838)
    • 1877 – Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Austrian botanist, composer, and publisher (b. 1800)
    • 1882 – Christian Wilberg, German painter and illustrator (b. 1839)
    • 1894 – Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1812)
    • 1899 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer and educator (b. 1825)
    • 1900 – Mary Kingsley, English explorer and author (b. 1862)
    • 1902 – Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary (b. 1829)
    • 1906 – John Maxwell, American golfer (b. 1871)
    • 1921 – Coenraad Hiebendaal, Dutch rower and physician (b. 1879)
    • 1924 – Franz Kafka, Czech-Austrian lawyer and author (b. 1883)
    • 1928 – Li Yuanhong, Chinese general and politician, 2nd President of the Republic of China (b. 1864)
    • 1933 – William Muldoon, American wrestler (b. 1852)
    • 1938 – John Flanagan, Irish-American hammer thrower and tug of war competitor (b. 1873)
    • 1946 – Mikhail Kalinin, Russian civil servant and politician (b. 1875)
    • 1963 – Edmond Decottignies, French weightlifter (b. 1893)
    • 1963 – Pope John XXIII (b. 1881)
    • 1963 – Nâzım Hikmet Ran, Turkish poet, author, and playwright (b. 1902)
    • 1964 – Kâzım Orbay, Turkish general and politician, 9th Turkish Speaker of the Parliament (b. 1887)
    • 1964 – Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
    • 1969 – George Edwin Cooke, American soccer player (b. 1883)
    • 1970 – Hjalmar Schacht, Danish-German economist, banker, and politician (b. 1877)
    • 1971 – Heinz Hopf, German-Swiss mathematician and academic (b. 1894)
    • 1973 – Jean Batmale, French footballer and manager (b. 1895)
    • 1975 – Ozzie Nelson, American actor and bandleader (b. 1906)
    • 1975 – Eisaku Satō, Japanese lawyer and politician, 39th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1901)
    • 1977 – Archibald Hill, English physiologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
    • 1977 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
    • 1981 – Carleton S. Coon, American anthropologist and academic (b. 1904)
    • 1986 – Anna Neagle, English actress and singer (b. 1904)
    • 1987 – Will Sampson, American actor and painter (b. 1933)
    • 1989 – Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian religious leader and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of Iran (b. 1902)
    • 1990 – Robert Noyce, American physicist and businessman, co-founded the Intel Corporation (b. 1927)
    • 1991 – Brian Bevan, Australian rugby league player (b. 1924)
    • 1991 – Katia Krafft, French volcanologist and geologist (b. 1942)
    • 1991 – Maurice Krafft, French volcanologist and geologist (b. 1946)
    • 1991 – Lê Văn Thiêm, Vietnamese mathematician and academic (b. 1918)
    • 1992 – Robert Morley, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1908)
    • 1994 – Puig Aubert, German-French rugby player and coach (b. 1925)
    • 1997 – Dennis James, American actor and game show host (b. 1917)
    • 2001 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor and producer (b. 1915)
    • 2002 – Lew Wasserman, American talent agent and manager (b. 1913)
    • 2003 – Felix de Weldon, Austrian-American sculptor, designed the Marine Corps War Memorial (b. 1907)
    • 2005 – Harold Cardinal, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
    • 2009 – David Carradine, American actor (b. 1936)
    • 2009 – Koko Taylor, American singer (b. 1928)
    • 2010 – John Hedgecoe, English photographer and author (b. 1932)
    • 2010 – Rue McClanahan, American actress (b. 1934)
    • 2011 – James Arness, American actor and producer (b. 1923)
    • 2011 – Andrew Gold, American singer, songwriter, musician and arranger (b. 1951)
    • 2011 – Bhajan Lal, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of Haryana (b. 1930)
    • 2011 – Jack Kevorkian, American pathologist, author, and activist (b. 1928)
    • 2011 – Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Carol Ann Abrams, American producer, author, and academic (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – Rajsoomer Lallah, Mauritian lawyer and judge (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Roy Salvadori, English race car driver and manager (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Brian Talboys, New Zealand journalist and politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Atul Chitnis, German-Indian technologist and journalist (b. 1962)
    • 2013 – Józef Czyrek, Polish economist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Frank Lautenberg, American soldier and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (b. 1942)
    • 2014 – Gopinath Munde, Indian politician, 3rd Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1949)
    • 2015 – Avi Beker, Israeli political scientist and academic (b. 1951)
    • 2016 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer (b. 1942)

    Holidays and observances on June 3

    • Christian feast day:
      • Charles Lwanga and Companions (Roman Catholic Church), and its related observances:
        • Martyrs’ Day (Uganda)
      • Clotilde
      • Kevin of Glendalough
      • Ovidius
      • Vladimirskaya (Russian Orthodox)
      • June 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Confederate Memorial Day (Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee, United States)
    • Economist day (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
    • Mabo Day (Australia)
    • Opium Suppression Movement Day (Taiwan)
    • World Bicycle Day

  • June 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 455 – Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
    • 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later.
    • 1615 – The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
    • 1676 – Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
    • 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
    • 1763 – Pontiac’s Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison’s attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
    • 1774 – Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
    • 1793 – French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.
    • 1805 – Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptures Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, from the British.
    • 1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States.
    • 1848 – The Slavic congress in Prague begins.
    • 1866 – The Fenians defeat Canadian forces at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, but the raids end soon after.
    • 1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.
    • 1909 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
    • 1910 – Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
    • 1919 – Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.
    • 1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
    • 1941 – World War II: German paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the villages of Kondomari and Alikianos.
    • 1946 – Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled.
    • 1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, who is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to be televised.
    • 1955 – The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between both countries, discontinued since 1948.
    • 1962 – During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.
    • 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed.
    • 1966 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
    • 1967 – Luis Monge is executed in Colorado’s gas chamber, in the last pre-Furman execution in the United States.
    • 1967 – Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
    • 1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
    • 1983 – After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane’s doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
    • 1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12.
    • 1997 – In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later.
    • 2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
    • 2012 – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
    • 2014 – Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh.

    Births on June 2 

    • 1305 – Abu Sa’id Bahadur Khan, ruler of Ilkhanate (d. 1335)
    • 1423 – Ferdinand I of Naples (d. 1494)
    • 1489 – Charles, Duke of Vendôme (d. 1537)
    • 1535 – Pope Leo XI (d. 1605)
    • 1602 – Rudolf Christian, Count of East Frisia, Ruler of East Frisia (d. 1628)
    • 1621 – Rutger von Ascheberg, Courland-born soldier in Swedish service (d. 1693)
    • 1621 – (baptized) Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (d. 1649)
    • 1638 – Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (d. 1709)
    • 1644 – William Salmon, English medical writer (d. 1713)
    • 1739 – Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1815)
    • 1740 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and politician (d. 1814)
    • 1743 – Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian occultist and explorer (d. 1795)
    • 1773 – John Randolph of Roanoke, American planter and politician, 8th United States Ambassador to Russia (d. 1833)
    • 1774 – William Lawson, English-Australian explorer and politician (d. 1850)
    • 1813 – Daniel Pollen, Irish-New Zealand politician, 9th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1896)
    • 1823 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (d. 1905)
    • 1835 – Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
    • 1838 – Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (d. 1900)
    • 1840 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (d. 1928)
    • 1840 – Émile Munier, French artist (d. 1895)
    • 1857 – Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (d. 1934)
    • 1857 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
    • 1861 – Concordia Selander, Swedish actress and manager (d. 1935)
    • 1863 – Felix Weingartner, Croatian-Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942)
    • 1865 – George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901)
    • 1865 – Adelaide Casely-Hayford, Sierra Leone Creole advocate and activist for cultural nationalism (d. 1960)
    • 1869 – Jack O’Connor, American baseball player and manager (d. 1937)
    • 1875 – Charles Stewart Mott, American businessman and politician, 50th Mayor of Flint, Michigan (d. 1973)
    • 1878 – Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (d. 1912)
    • 1881 – Walter Egan, American golfer (d. 1971)
    • 1891 – Thurman Arnold, American lawyer and judge (d. 1969)
    • 1891 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral and pilot (d. 1945)
    • 1899 – Lotte Reiniger, German animator and director (d. 1981)
    • 1899 – Edwin Way Teale, American environmentalist and photographer (d. 1980)
    • 1904 – Frank Runacres, English painter and educator (d. 1974)
    • 1904 – Johnny Weissmuller, Hungarian-American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
    • 1907 – Dorothy West, American journalist and author (d. 1998)
    • 1907 – John Lehmann, English poet and publisher (d. 1987)
    • 1910 – Hector Dyer, American sprinter (d. 1990)
    • 1911 – Joe McCluskey, American runner (d. 2002)
    • 1913 – Barbara Pym, English author (d. 1980)
    • 1913 – Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1914 – Johnny Bulla, American golfer (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy (d. 1992)
    • 1917 – Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and director (d. 2006)
    • 1918 – Ruth Atkinson, Canadian-American illustrator (d. 1997)
    • 1918 – Kathryn Tucker Windham, American journalist and author (d. 2011)
    • 1919 – Nat Mayer Shapiro, American painter (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Frank G. Clement, American lawyer and politician, 41st Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
    • 1920 – Yolande Donlan, American-English actress (d. 2014)
    • 1920 – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-German author and critic (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Tex Schramm, American businessman (d. 2003)
    • 1920 – Johnny Speight, English screenwriter and producer (d. 1998)
    • 1921 – Betty Freeman, American photographer and philanthropist (d. 2009)
    • 1921 – Ernie Royal, American trumpet player (d. 1983)
    • 1921 – Sigmund Sternberg, Hungarian-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
    • 1921 – András Szennay, Hungarian priest (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1922 – Carmen Silvera, Canadian-English actress (d. 2002)
    • 1923 – Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 41st Yokozuna (d. 1977)
    • 1926 – Milo O’Shea, Irish-American actor (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Colin Brittan, English footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Christopher Slade, English lawyer and judge
    • 1928 – Erzsi Kovács, Hungarian singer (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Rafael A. Lecuona, Cuban-American gymnast and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Ron Reynolds, English footballer (d. 1999)
    • 1929 – Norton Juster, American architect, author, and academic
    • 1929 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1999)
    • 1933 – Jerry Lumpe, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Lew “Sneaky Pete” Robinson, drag racer (d. 1971)
    • 1934 – Johnny Carter, American singer (d. 2009)
    • 1935 – Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2003)
    • 1935 – Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek poet and educator
    • 1936 – Volodymyr Holubnychy, Ukrainian race walker
    • 1937 – Rosalyn Higgins, English lawyer and judge
    • 1937 – Sally Kellerman, American actress
    • 1937 – Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1937 – Robert Paul, Canadian figure skater and choreographer
    • 1937 – Deric Washburn, American screenwriter and playwright
    • 1938 – Kevin Brownlow, English historian and author
    • 1938 – George William Penrose, Lord Penrose, Scottish lawyer and judge
    • 1939 – Charles Miller, American musician (d. 1980)
    • 1939 – John Schlee, American golfer (d. 2000)
    • 1940 – Constantine II of Greece
    • 1941 – Ünal Aysal, Turkish businessman
    • 1941 – Stacy Keach, American actor
    • 1941 – Lou Nanne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
    • 1941 – Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer
    • 1942 – Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland
    • 1943 – Charles Haid, American actor and director
    • 1943 – Crescenzio Sepe, Italian cardinal
    • 1944 – Robert Elliott, American actor (d. 2004)
    • 1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and conductor (d. 2012)
    • 1945 – Richard Long, English painter, sculptor, and photographer
    • 1945 – Bonnie Newman, American businesswoman and politician
    • 1946 – Lasse Hallström, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1946 – Peter Sutcliffe, UK serial killer
    • 1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor
    • 1949 – Heather Couper, English astronomer and physicist (d. 2020)
    • 1949 – Frank Rich, American journalist and critic
    • 1950 – Jonathan Evans, Welsh lawyer and politician
    • 1950 – Joanna Gleason, Canadian actress and singer
    • 1950 – Anne Phillips, English theorist and academic
    • 1950 – Momčilo Vukotić, Serbian footballer and manager
    • 1951 – Gilbert Baker, American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag (d. 2017)
    • 1951 – Arnold Mühren, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1951 – Larry Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1951 – Alexander Wylie, Lord Kinclaven, Scottish lawyer, judge, and educator
    • 1952 – Gary Bettman, American commissioner of the National Hockey League
    • 1953 – Vidar Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist
    • 1953 – Craig Stadler, American golfer
    • 1953 – Cornel West, American philosopher, author, and academic
    • 1954 – Dennis Haysbert, American actor and producer
    • 1955 – Dana Carvey, American comedian and actor
    • 1955 – Nandan Nilekani, Indian businessman, co-founded Infosys
    • 1955 – Mani Ratnam, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Michael Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1956 – Jan Lammers, Dutch race car driver
    • 1957 – Mark Lawrenson, English footballer and manager
    • 1958 – Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player
    • 1959 – Rineke Dijkstra, Dutch photographer
    • 1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
    • 1959 – Erwin Olaf, Dutch photographer
    • 1960 – Olga Bondarenko, Russian runner
    • 1960 – Tony Hadley, English singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1960 – Kyle Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1961 – Dez Cadena, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1962 – Mark Plaatjes, South African-American runner and coach
    • 1963 – Anand Abhyankar, Indian actor (d. 2012)
    • 1964 – Caroline Link, German director and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Russ Courtnall, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1965 – Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer and journalist
    • 1965 – Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
    • 1966 – Dayana Cadeau, Haitian born Canadian-American professional bodybuilder
    • 1966 – Candace Gingrich, American activist
    • 1966 – Pedro Guerra, Spanish singer-songwriter
    • 1966 – Petra van Staveren, Dutch swimmer
    • 1967 – Remigija Nazarovienė, Lithuanian heptathlete and coach
    • 1967 – Mike Stanton, American baseball player
    • 1968 – Merril Bainbridge, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1968 – Andy Cohen, American television host
    • 1969 – Kurt Abbott, American baseball player
    • 1969 – Paulo Sérgio, Brazilian footballer
    • 1969 – David Wheaton, American tennis player, radio host, and author
    • 1970 – B Real, American rapper and actor
    • 1971 – Kateřina Jacques, Czech translator and politician
    • 1972 – Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, game show host, and singer
    • 1972 – Raúl Ibañez, American baseball player
    • 1972 – Wentworth Miller, American actor and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Marko Kristal, Estonian footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Neifi Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1974 – Gata Kamsky, Russian-American chess player
    • 1974 – Matt Serra, American mixed martial artist
    • 1975 – Salvatore Scibona, American author
    • 1976 – Earl Boykins, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Martin Čech, Czech ice hockey player (d. 2007)
    • 1976 – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer
    • 1976 – Tim Rice-Oxley, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1977 – Teet Allas, Estonian footballer
    • 1977 – A.J. Styles, American wrestler
    • 1977 – Zachary Quinto, American actor and producer
    • 1978 – Dominic Cooper, English actor
    • 1978 – Nikki Cox, American actress
    • 1978 – Justin Long, American actor
    • 1978 – Yi So-yeon, biotechnologist and astronaut, the first Korean in space
    • 1978 – Luke Williamson, Australian rugby league player
    • 1979 – Morena Baccarin, Brazilian-American actress
    • 1979 – Butterfly Boucher, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1979 – Natalia Rodríguez, Spanish runner
    • 1980 – Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian-American drummer
    • 1980 – Bobby Simmons, American basketball player
    • 1980 – Richard Skuse, English rugby player
    • 1980 – Abby Wambach, American soccer player and coach
    • 1980 – Tomasz Wróblewski, Polish bass player and songwriter
    • 1981 – Nikolay Davydenko, Russian tennis player
    • 1981 – Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player
    • 1982 – Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
    • 1983 – Chris Higgins, American ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Leela James, American singer-songwriter
    • 1983 – Toni Livers, Swiss skier
    • 1983 – Brooke White, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1984 – Jack Afamasaga, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1984 – Max Boyer, Canadian wrestler
    • 1984 – Feleti Mateo, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
    • 1985 – Miyuki Sawashiro, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1985 – Maggie Thrash, American graphic novelist and writer
    • 1986 – Todd Carney, Australian rugby league player
    • 1987 – Maryka Holtzhausen, South African netball player
    • 1987 – Yoann Huget, French rugby player
    • 1987 – Matthew Koma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1987 – Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan cricketer
    • 1987 – Darin Zanyar, Swedish singer-songwriter
    • 1987 – Sonakshi Sinha, Indian actress
    • 1988 – Sergio Agüero, Argentinian footballer
    • 1988 – Patrik Berglund, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Staniliya Stamenova, Bulgarian canoeist
    • 1989 – Freddy Adu, Ghanaian-American footballer
    • 1989 – Steve Smith, Australian cricketer
    • 1990 – Jack Lowden, Scottish actor
    • 1992 – Pajtim Kasami, Swiss footballer
    • 1993 – Adam Taggart, Australian footballer
    • 1994 – Mike Grzesiek, Esports player and streamer
    • 1999 – Campbell Graham, Australian rugby league player
    • 2000 – Lilimar Hernandez, Venezuelan actress

    Deaths on June 2 

    • 657 – Pope Eugene I
    • 891 – Al-Muwaffaq, Abbasid general (b. 842)
    • 910 – Richilde of Provence (b. 845)
    • 1200 – Bishop John of Oxford
    • 1258 – Peter I, Count of Urgell
    • 1292 – Rhys ap Maredudd, Welsh nobleman and rebel leader
    • 1418 – Katherine of Lancaster, queen of Henry III of Castile
    • 1453 – Álvaro de Luna, Duke of Trujillo, Constable of Castile
    • 1567 – Shane O’Neill, head of the O’Neill dynasty in Ireland (b. 1530)
    • 1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (b. 1536)
    • 1581 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Scottish soldier and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1525)
    • 1603 – Bernard of Wąbrzeźno, Roman Catholic priest (b. 1575)
    • 1693 – John Wildman, English soldier and politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (b. 1621)
    • 1701 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (b. 1607)
    • 1716 – Ogata Kōrin, Japanese painter and educator (b. 1658)
    • 1754 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish minister and theologian (b. 1680)
    • 1761 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish businessman (b. 1685)
    • 1785 – Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician and academic (b. 1713)
    • 1806 – William Tate, English painter (b. 1747)
    • 1853 – Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, English general (b. 1777)
    • 1865 – Ner Middleswarth, American judge and politician (b. 1783)
    • 1875 – Józef Kremer, Polish psychologist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1806)
    • 1881 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (b. 1801)
    • 1882 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (b. 1807)
    • 1901 – George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary and author (b. 1844)
    • 1927 – Hüseyin Avni Lifij, Turkish painter (b. 1886)
    • 1929 – Enrique Gorostieta, Mexican general (b. 1889)
    • 1933 – Frank Jarvis, American runner and triple jumper (b. 1878)
    • 1937 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (b. 1870)
    • 1941 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)
    • 1942 – Bunny Berigan, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
    • 1947 – John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, English sailor and politician (b. 1867)
    • 1948 – Viktor Brack, German physician (b. 1904)
    • 1948 – Karl Brandt, German SS officer (b. 1904)
    • 1948 – Karl Gebhardt, German physician (b. 1897)
    • 1948 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (b. 1903)
    • 1948 – Wolfram Sievers, German SS officer (b. 1905)
    • 1952 – Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Central Sofia Market Hall (b. 1880)
    • 1956 – Jean Hersholt, Danish-American actor and director (b. 1886)
    • 1959 – Lyda Borelli, Italian actress (b. 1884)
    • 1961 – George S. Kaufman, American director, producer, and playwright (b. 1889)
    • 1962 – Vita Sackville-West, English author and poet (b. 1892)
    • 1967 – Benno Ohnesorg, German student and activist (b. 1940)
    • 1968 – André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1929)
    • 1969 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (b. 1917)
    • 1970 – Orhan Kemal, Turkish author (b. 1914)
    • 1970 – Albert Lamorisse, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
    • 1970 – Bruce McLaren, New Zealand race car driver and engineer, founded the McLaren racing team (b. 1937)
    • 1970 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian soldier, journalist, and academic (b. 1888)
    • 1974 – Hiroshi Kazato, Japanese race car driver (b. 1949)
    • 1976 – Kenneth Mason, English soldier and geographer (b. 1887)
    • 1976 – Juan José Torres, Bolivian general and politician, 61st President of Bolivia (b. 1920)
    • 1977 – Albert Bittlmayer, German footballer (b. 1952)
    • 1977 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish-born American actor (b. 1931)
    • 1978 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and coach (b. 1895)
    • 1979 – Jim Hutton, American actor (b. 1934)
    • 1982 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (b. 1904)
    • 1983 – Stan Rogers, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
    • 1983 – Ray Stehr, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1913)
    • 1986 – Aurèle Joliat, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1901)
    • 1987 – Anthony de Mello, Indian-American priest and psychotherapist (b. 1931)
    • 1987 – Sammy Kaye, American bandleader and songwriter (b. 1910)
    • 1987 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
    • 1988 – Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, director, and producer (b. 1924)
    • 1989 – Ted a’Beckett, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1907)
    • 1990 – Jack Gilford, American actor and comedian (b. 1908)
    • 1990 – Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)
    • 1991 – Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (b. 1927)
    • 1992 – Philip Dunne, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
    • 1993 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1913)
    • 1993 – Tahar Djaout, Algerian journalist, writer and poet (b. 1954)
    • 1994 – David Stove, Australian philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1927)
    • 1996 – John Alton, Hungarian-American cinematographer and director (b. 1901)
    • 1996 – Leon Garfield, English author (b. 1921)
    • 1996 – Ray Combs, American game show host (b. 1956)
    • 1997 – Doc Cheatham, American trumpet player, singer, and bandleader (b. 1905)
    • 1999 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican singer (b. 1949)
    • 2000 – Svyatoslav Fyodorov, Russian ophthalmologist, academic, and politician (b. 1927)
    • 2000 – John Schlee, American golfer (b. 1939)
    • 2000 – Gerald James Whitrow, English mathematician, cosmologist, and historian (b. 1912)
    • 2001 – Imogene Coca, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
    • 2001 – Joey Maxim, American boxer (b. 1922)
    • 2002 – Hugo van Lawick, Dutch director and photographer (b. 1937)
    • 2003 – Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (b. 1918)
    • 2003 – Alma Ricard, Canadian broadcaster and philanthropist (b. 1906)
    • 2005 – Lucien Cliche, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1916)
    • 2005 – Gunder Gundersen, Norwegian skier (b. 1930)
    • 2005 – Samir Kassir, Lebanese journalist and educator (b. 1950)
    • 2005 – Melita Norwood, English civil servant and spy (b. 1912)
    • 2006 – Keith Smith, English rugby player and coach (b. 1952)
    • 2007 – Kentarō Haneda, Japanese pianist and composer (b. 1949)
    • 2007 – Huang Ju, Chinese engineer and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1938)
    • 2008 – Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
    • 2008 – Mel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1917)
    • 2008 – Cevher Özden, Turkish banker and businessman (b. 1933)
    • 2009 – David Eddings, American author (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Avraham Botzer, Polish-Israeli commander (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – Adolfo Calero, Nicaraguan businessman and political activist (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Richard Dawson, English-American soldier, actor, television personality, and game show host (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – LeRoy Ellis, American basketball player (b. 1940)
    • 2012 – Kathryn Joosten, American actress (b. 1939)
    • 2012 – Jan Gmelich Meijling, Dutch commander and politician (b. 1943)
    • 2013 – Mario Bernardi, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Chen Xitong, Chinese politician, 8th Mayor of Beijing (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Mandawuy Yunupingu, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1956)
    • 2014 – Ivica Brzić, Serbian footballer and manager (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Anjan Das, Indian director and producer (b. 1951)
    • 2014 – Gennadi Gusarov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1937)
    • 2014 – Nikolay Khrenkov, Russian bobsledder (b. 1984)
    • 2014 – Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Kuaima Riruako, Namibian politician (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Alexander Shulgin, American pharmacologist and chemist (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Fernando de Araújo, East Timorese politician, President of East Timor (b. 1963)
    • 2015 – Irwin Rose, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
    • 2017 – Peter Sallis, English actor (b. 1921)

    Holidays and observances on June 2 

    • Children’s Day (North Korea)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Alexander (martyr)
      • Elmo
      • Felix of Nicosia
      • Marcellinus and Peter
      • Martyrs of Lyon, including Blandina
      • Pope Eugene I
      • Pothinus
      • June 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Civil Aviation Day (Azerbaijan)
    • Coronation of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, also Social Forestry Day (Bhutan)
    • Day of Hristo Botev (Bulgaria)
    • Decoration Day (Canada)
    • Festa della Repubblica (Italy)
    • International Sex Workers Day
    • Telangana Day (Telangana, India)

  • May 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens.At least 600 Jews are killed.
    • 1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death.
    • 1153 – Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.
    • 1199 – John is crowned King of England.
    • 1257 – Richard of Cornwall, and his wife, Sanchia of Provence, are crowned King and Queen of the Germans at Aachen Cathedral.
    • 1644 – Manchu regent Dorgon defeats rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer the capital city of Beijing.
    • 1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
    • 1798 – The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland; Irish rebel leaders defeat and kill a detachment of militia.
    • 1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeat the French at Winterthur, Switzerland.
    • 1813 – War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
    • 1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian unification.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson.
    • 1874 – The first group of Dorsland trekkers under the leadership of Gert Alberts leaves Pretoria.
    • 1883 – Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
    • 1896 – The F4-strength St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing over $10–million in damage.
    • 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
    • 1917 – Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive codification of Catholic canon law in the legal history of the Catholic Church.
    • 1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.
    • 1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.
    • 1930 – The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.
    • 1933 – New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
    • 1933 – The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon Three Little Pigs, with its hit song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”
    • 1935 – New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).
    • 1937 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.
    • 1940 – World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.
    • 1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an “unlimited national emergency”.
    • 1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.
    • 1942 – World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.
    • 1958 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.
    • 1960 – In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celâl Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.
    • 1962 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited in the town’s landfill above a coal mine.
    • 1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.
    • 1967 – Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.
    • 1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.
    • 1971 – The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.
    • 1971 – Pakistani forces massacre over 200 civilians, mostly Bengali Hindus, in the Bagbati massacre.
    • 1975 – Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.
    • 1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
    • 1984 – The Danube-Black Sea canal is opened, in a ceremony attended by the Ceaușescus. It had been under construction since the 1950s.
    • 1996 – First Chechen War: the Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.
    • 1997 – The 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak occurs, spawning multiple tornadoes in Central Texas, including the F5 that killed 27 in Jarrell.
    • 1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
    • 2001 – Members of the Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.
    • 2006 – The 6.4 Mw  Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.
    • 2016 – Barack Obama is the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha.
    • 2017 – Andrew Scheer takes over after Rona Ambrose as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
    • 2018 – Maryland Flood Event: A flood occurs throughout the Patapsco Valley causing one death and destroying the entire first floors of buildings on Main Street in Ellicott City and causing cars to overturn.

    Births on May 27

    • 742 – Emperor Dezong of Tang (d. 805)
    • 1332 – Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian historian and theologian (d. 1406)
    • 1378 – Zhu Quan, Chinese military commander, historian and playwright (d. 1448)
    • 1519 – Girolamo Mei, Italian historian and theorist (d. 1594)
    • 1537 – Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (d. 1604)
    • 1576 – Caspar Schoppe, German author and scholar (d. 1649)
    • 1584 – Michael Altenburg, German theologian and composer (d. 1640)
    • 1601 – Antoine Daniel, French-Canadian missionary and saint (d. 1648)
    • 1626 – William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)
    • 1627 – Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (d. 1693)
    • 1651 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (d. 1729)
    • 1652 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine of Germany (d. 1722)
    • 1738 – Nathaniel Gorham, American merchant and politician, 14th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1796)
    • 1756 – Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (d. 1825)
    • 1774 – Francis Beaufort, Irish hydrographer and officer in the Royal Navy (d. 1857)
    • 1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1877)
    • 1814 – John Rudolph Niernsee, Viennese-born American architect (d.1885)
    • 1815 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1896)
    • 1818 – Amelia Bloomer, American journalist and activist (d. 1894)
    • 1819 – Julia Ward Howe, American poet and songwriter (d. 1910)
    • 1827 – Samuel F. Miller, American lawyer and politician (d. 1892)
    • 1832 – Zenas Ferry Moody, American surveyor and politician, 7th Governor of Oregon (d. 1917)
    • 1836 – Jay Gould, American businessman and financier (d. 1892)
    • 1837 – Wild Bill Hickok, American police officer (d. 1876)
    • 1852 – Billy Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1899)
    • 1857 – Theodor Curtius, German chemist (d. 1928)
    • 1860 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portuguese politician, 7th President of Portugal (d. 1941)
    • 1863 – Arthur Mold, English cricketer (d. 1921)
    • 1867 – Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (d. 1931)
    • 1868 – Aleksa Šantić, Bosnian poet and author (d. 1924)
    • 1871 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (d. 1958)
    • 1875 – Frederick Cuming, English cricketer (d. 1942)
    • 1876 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and author (d. 1945)
    • 1876 – William Stanier, English engineer (d. 1965)
    • 1878 – Anna Cervin, Swedish artist (d. 1972)
    • 1879 – Karl Bühler, German-American linguist and psychologist (d. 1963)
    • 1879 – Hans Lammers, German judge and politician (d. 1962)
    • 1883 – Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (d. 1971)
    • 1884 – Max Brod, Czech journalist, author, and composer (d. 1968)
    • 1887 – Frank Woolley, English cricketer (d. 1978)
    • 1888 – Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
    • 1891 – Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (d. 1965)
    • 1891 – Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (d. 1958)
    • 1894 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (d. 1961)
    • 1894 – Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist and screenwriter (d. 1961)
    • 1895 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian educator and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1995)
    • 1897 – John Cockcroft, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
    • 1897 – Dink Templeton, American rugby player and coach (d. 1962)
    • 1898 – David Crosthwait, American engineer, inventor and writer (d. 1976)
    • 1899 – Johannes Türn, Estonian chess and draughts player (d. 1993)
    • 1900 – Lotte Toberentz, German overseer of the Nazi Uckermark concentration camp (d. 1964)
    • 1900 – Uładzimir Žyłka, Belarusian poet and translator (d. 1933)
    • 1904 – Chūhei Nambu, Japanese jumper and journalist (d. 1997)
    • 1906 – Buddhadasa, Thai monk and philosopher (d. 1993)
    • 1906 – Harry Hibbs, English footballer (d. 1984)
    • 1906 – Antonio Rosario Mennonna, Italian bishop (d. 2009)
    • 1907 – Nicolas Calas, Greek-American poet and critic (d. 1988)
    • 1907 – Rachel Carson, American biologist, environmentalist, and author (d. 1964)
    • 1909 – Dolores Hope, American singer and philanthropist (d. 2011)
    • 1911 – Hubert Humphrey, American journalist and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (d. 1978)
    • 1911 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (d. 2007)
    • 1911 – Vincent Price, American actor (d. 1993)
    • 1912 – John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1982)
    • 1912 – Sam Snead, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2002)
    • 1912 – Terry Moore, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1995)
    • 1915 – Ester Soré, Chilean singer-songwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1915 – Herman Wouk, American novelist (d. 2019)
    • 1917 – Harry Webster, English engineer (d. 2007)
    • 1918 – Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japanese commander and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2019)
    • 1921 – Bob Godfrey, Australian-English animator, director, and voice actor (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Otto Carius, German lieutenant and pharmacist (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Christopher Lee, English actor (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – John D. Vanderhoof, American banker and politician, 37th Governor of Colorado (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Henry Kissinger, German-American political scientist and politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1923 – Sumner Redstone, American businessman and philanthropist
    • 1924 – Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – John Sumner, English-Australian director, founded the Melbourne Theatre Company (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Tony Hillerman, American journalist and author (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – Jüri Randviir, Estonian chess player and journalist (d. 1996)
    • 1928 – Thea Musgrave, Scottish-American composer and educator
    • 1930 – John Barth, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1930 – William S. Sessions, American civil servant and judge, 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • 1930 – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2010)
    • 1931 – André Barbeau, French-Canadian neurologist (d. 1986)
    • 1931 – John Chapple, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Gibraltar
    • 1931 – Bernard Fresson, French actor (d. 2002)
    • 1931 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1931 – Philip Kotler, American author and professor
    • 1933 – Edward Samuel Rogers, Canadian businessman (d. 2008)
    • 1933 – Manfred Sommer, Spanish author and illustrator (d. 2007)
    • 1934 – Ray Daviault, Canadian-American baseball player
    • 1934 – Harlan Ellison, American author and screenwriter (d. 2018)
    • 1935 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1935 – Mal Evans, British road manager of The Beatles (d. 1976)
    • 1935 – Jerry Kindall, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
    • 1935 – Ramsey Lewis, American jazz pianist and composer
    • 1935 – Lee Meriwether, American model and actress, Miss America 1955
    • 1936 – Benjamin Bathurst, English admiral
    • 1936 – Louis Gossett, Jr., American actor and producer
    • 1936 – Marcel Masse, Canadian educator and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2014)
    • 1937 – Allan Carr, American playwright and producer (d. 1999)
    • 1939 – Simon Cairns, 6th Earl Cairns, English courtier and businessman
    • 1939 – Yves Duhaime, Canadian captain and politician
    • 1939 – Sokratis Kokkalis, Greek businessman
    • 1939 – Gerald Ronson, English businessman and philanthropist
    • 1939 – Lionel Sosa, Mexican-American advertising and marketing executive
    • 1939 – Don Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1940 – Mike Gibson, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Lee Baca, American police officer
    • 1942 – Piers Courage, English racing driver (d. 1970)
    • 1942 – Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman, English accountant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
    • 1942 – Robin Widdows, English racing driver
    • 1943 – Cilla Black, English singer and actress (d. 2015)
    • 1943 – Bruce Weitz, American actor
    • 1944 – Chris Dodd, American lawyer and politician
    • 1944 – Ingrid Roscoe, English historian and politician, Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire
    • 1944 – Alain Souchon, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1945 – Bruce Cockburn, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1946 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish bassist and composer (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – John Williams, English motorcycle racer (d. 1978)
    • 1947 – Peter DeFazio, American politician
    • 1947 – Marty Kristian, German-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1947 – Branko Oblak, Slovenian footballer and coach
    • 1947 – Riivo Sinijärv, Estonian politician, 19th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1948 – Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant (d. 2017)
    • 1948 – Pete Sears, English bass player
    • 1948 – Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, American occultist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1949 – Hugh Lowther, 8th Earl of Lonsdale, English politician
    • 1949 – Christa Vahlensieck, German runner
    • 1950 – Dee Dee Bridgewater, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1950 – Makis Dendrinos, Greek basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1951 – John Conteh, English boxer
    • 1954 – Pauline Hanson, Australian businesswoman, activist, and politician
    • 1954 – Jackie Slater, American football player and coach
    • 1955 – Eric Bischoff, American wrestler, manager, and producer
    • 1955 – Richard Schiff, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1955 – Ian Tracey, English organist and conductor
    • 1956 – Cynthia McFadden, American journalist
    • 1956 – Rosemary Squire, English producer and manager, co-founded Ambassador Theatre Group
    • 1956 – Giuseppe Tornatore, Italian director and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Dag Terje Andersen, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Labour
    • 1957 – Nitin Gadkari, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Transport
    • 1957 – Eddie Harsch, Canadian-American keyboard player and bass player (d. 2016)
    • 1957 – Siouxsie Sioux, English singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
    • 1958 – Nick Anstee, English accountant and politician, 682nd Lord Mayor of London
    • 1958 – Neil Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1958 – Jesse Robredo, Filipino politician, 23rd Filipino Secretary of the Interior (d. 2012)
    • 1960 – Gaston Therrien, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1961 – José Luíz Barbosa, Brazilian runner and coach
    • 1961 – Peri Gilpin, American actress
    • 1962 – Marcelino Bernal, Mexican footballer
    • 1962 – Ray Borner, Australian basketball player
    • 1962 – Steven Brill, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Anthony A. Hyman, Israeli-English biologist and academic
    • 1962 – David Mundell, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
    • 1962 – Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Cuban pianist and composer
    • 1963 – Maria Walliser, Swiss skier
    • 1964 – Adam Carolla, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Pat Cash, Australian-English tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1966 – Heston Blumenthal, English chef and author
    • 1967 – Paul Gascoigne, English international footballer, midfielder, coach, and manager
    • 1967 – Eddie McClintock, American actor
    • 1968 – Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player and coach
    • 1968 – Rebekah Brooks, English journalist
    • 1968 – Harun Erdenay, Turkish basketball player and coach
    • 1968 – Frank Thomas, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Todd Hundley, American baseball player
    • 1969 – Jeremy Mayfield, American race car driver
    • 1969 – Craig Federighi, American computer scientist and engineer
    • 1970 – Michele Bartoli, Italian cyclist
    • 1970 – Tim Farron, English educator and politician
    • 1970 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor
    • 1970 – Alex Archer, American-born Australian musician
    • 1971 – Mathew Batsiua, Nauruan politician
    • 1971 – Paul Bettany, English actor
    • 1971 – Wayne Carey, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1971 – Kaur Kender, Estonian author
    • 1971 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper and dancer (d. 2002)
    • 1971 – Lee Sharpe, English footballer
    • 1971 – Grant Stafford, South African tennis player
    • 1971 – Sophie Walker, British politician, leader of the Women’s Equality Party
    • 1971 – Petroc Trelawny, British radio and television broadcaster
    • 1972 – Todd Demsey, American golfer
    • 1972 – Antonio Freeman, American football player
    • 1972 – Maxim Sokolov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1973 – Jack McBrayer, American actor and comedian
    • 1973 – Tana Umaga, New Zealand rugby player and coach
    • 1973 – Yorgos Lanthimos, Greek film video, and theatre director, producer and screenwriter
    • 1974 – Skye Edwards, British singer-songwriter
    • 1974 – Denise van Outen, English actress, singer, and television host
    • 1974 – Derek Webb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1974 – Danny Wuerffel, American football player
    • 1975 – André 3000, American rapper
    • 1975 – Michael Hussey, Australian cricketer
    • 1975 – Jamie Oliver, English chef and author
    • 1975 – Feryal Özel, Turkish astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
    • 1976 – Marcel Fässler, Swiss racing driver
    • 1977 – Abderrahmane Hammad, Algerian high jumper
    • 1977 – Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan cricketer
    • 1978 – Adin Brown, American soccer player
    • 1979 – Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (d. 2004)
    • 1979 – Mile Sterjovski, Australian footballer
    • 1980 – Craig Buntin, Canadian figure skater
    • 1981 – Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina
    • 1981 – Johan Elmander, Swedish footballer
    • 1984 – Blake Ahearn, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Miguel González, Mexican baseball pitcher
    • 1985 – Chiang Chien-ming, Taiwanese baseball player
    • 1985 – Roberto Soldado, Spanish footballer
    • 1986 – Conor Cummins, Manx motorcycle racer
    • 1986 – Bamba Fall, Senegalese basketball player
    • 1986 – Lasse Schöne, Danish footballer
    • 1987 – Gervinho, Ivorian footballer
    • 1987 – Bella Heathcote, Australian actress
    • 1987 – Eric Kolelas, French-English actor and director
    • 1987 – Bora Paçun, Turkish basketball player
    • 1987 – Matt Prior, Australian rugby league player
    • 1987 – Martina Sablikova, Czech speed skater and cyclist
    • 1988 – Vontae Davis, American football player
    • 1988 – Irina Davydova, Russian hurdler
    • 1988 – Garrett Richards, American baseball pitcher
    • 1988 – Tyler Sash, American football player (d. 2015)
    • 1989 – Igor Morozov, Estonian footballer
    • 1990 – Yenew Alamirew, Ethiopian runner
    • 1990 – Chris Colfer, American actor and singer
    • 1990 – Marcus Kruger, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1991 – Sebastien Dewaest, Belgian footballer
    • 1991 – Tim Lafai, Samoan rugby league player
    • 1991 – Ksenia Pervak, Russian tennis player
    • 1991 – Eneli Vals, Estonian footballer
    • 1992 – Aaron Brown, Canadian sprinter
    • 1992 – Laurence Vincent-Lapointe, Canadian canoer

    Deaths on May 27

    • 366 – Procopius, Roman usurper (b. 325)
    • 398 – Murong Bao, emperor of the Xianbei state Later Yan (b. 355)
    • 475 – Eutropius, bishop of Orange
    • 866 – Ordoño I of Asturias (b. 831)
    • 927 – Simeon I of Bulgaria first Bulgarian Emperor (b. 864)
    • 1039 – Dirk III, Count of Holland (b. 981)
    • 1045 – Bruno of Würzburg, imperial chancellor of Italy (b. c. 1005)
    • 1178 – Godfrey van Rhenen, bishop of Utrecht
    • 1240 – William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (b. 1166)
    • 1444 – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1404)
    • 1508 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)
    • 1508 – Lucrezia Crivelli, mistress of Ludovico Sforza (b. 1452)
    • 1525 – Thomas Müntzer, German mystic and theologian (b. 1488)
    • 1541 – Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (b. 1473)
    • 1564 – John Calvin, French pastor and theologian (b. 1509)
    • 1610 – François Ravaillac, French assassin of Henry IV of France (b. 1578)
    • 1624 – Diego Ramírez de Arellano, Spanish sailor and cosmographer (b. c. 1580)
    • 1637 – John Boteler, 1st Baron Boteler of Brantfield, English politician (b. c. 1566)
    • 1661 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, Scottish general and politician (b. 1607)
    • 1675 – Gaspard Dughet, Italian-French painter (b. 1613)
    • 1690 – Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1626)
    • 1702 – Dominique Bouhours, French priest and critic (b. 1628)
    • 1707 – Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (b. 1640)
    • 1781 – Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1716)
    • 1797 – François-Noël Babeuf, French journalist (b. 1760)
    • 1831 – Jedediah Smith, American hunter, explorer, and author (b. 1799)
    • 1840 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1782)
    • 1867 – Thomas Bulfinch American mythologist (b. 1796)
    • 1896 – Aleksandr Stoletov, Russian physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1839)
    • 1910 – Robert Koch, German physician and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1843)
    • 1918 – Ōzutsu Man’emon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 18th Yokozuna (b. 1869)
    • 1919 – Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian author and activist (b. 1848)
    • 1933 – Achille Paroche, French target shooter (b. 1868)
    • 1939 – Joseph Roth, Austrian-French journalist and author (b. 1894)
    • 1941 – Ernst Lindemann, German captain (b. 1894)
    • 1941 – Günther Lütjens, German admiral (b. 1889)
    • 1942 – Muhammed Hamdi Yazır, Turkish theologian, logician, and translator (b. 1878)
    • 1943 – Gordon Coates, New Zealand soldier and politician, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1878)
    • 1945 – Enno Lolling, German physician (b. 1888)
    • 1947 – Ed Konetchy, American baseball player and manager (b. 1885)
    • 1949 – Robert Ripley, American cartoonist, publisher, and businessman, founded Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (b. 1890)
    • 1953 – Jesse Burkett, American baseball player and manager (b. 1868)
    • 1960 – James Montgomery Flagg, American painter and illustrator (b. 1877)
    • 1963 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (b. 1912)
    • 1964 – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of India (b. 1889)
    • 1967 – W. Otto Miessner, American composer and educator (b. 1880)
    • 1967 – Ernst Niekisch, German academic and politician (b. 1889)
    • 1969 – Jeffrey Hunter, American actor and producer (b. 1926)
    • 1971 – Béla Juhos, Hungarian-Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1901)
    • 1971 – Armando Picchi, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1935)
    • 1980 – Gün Sazak, Turkish agronomist and politician (b. 1932)
    • 1984 – Vasilije Mokranjac, Serbian composer (b. 1923)
    • 1986 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (b. 1921)
    • 1986 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1901)
    • 1986 – Giorgos Tzifos, Greek actor and cinematographer (b. 1918)
    • 1987 – John Howard Northrop, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
    • 1988 – Hjördis Petterson, Swedish actress (b. 1908)
    • 1988 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
    • 1989 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet and translator (b. 1907)
    • 1990 – Robert B. Meyner, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1908)
    • 1991 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist and theorist (b. 1904)
    • 1992 – Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (b. 1890)
    • 1998 – Minoo Masani, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
    • 2000 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish engineer and pilot (b. 1912)
    • 2000 – Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, Scottish politician and diplomat, 25th Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1917)
    • 2000 – Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1921)
    • 2003 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer and educator (b. 1925)
    • 2006 – Rob Borsellino, American journalist (b. 1949)
    • 2006 – Paul Gleason, American actor (b. 1939)
    • 2006 – Craig Heyward, American football player (b. 1966)
    • 2007 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1967)
    • 2007 – Gretchen Wyler, American actress and dancer (b. 1932)
    • 2007 – Ed Yost, American inventor, created the hot air balloon (b. 1919)
    • 2008 – Franz Künstler, Hungarian soldier (b. 1900)
    • 2009 – Thomas M. Franck, American lawyer and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2009 – Clive Granger, Welsh-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1934)
    • 2009 – Mona Grey, British nursing administrator; Northern Ireland’s first Chief Nursing Officer
    • 2009 – Abram Hoffer, Canadian biochemist, physician, and psychiatrist (b. 1917)
    • 2009 – Gérard Jean-Juste, Haitian-American priest and theologian (b. 1946)
    • 2009 – Carol Anne O’Marie, American nun and author (b. 1933)
    • 2009 – William Refshauge, Australian soldier and physician (b. 1913)
    • 2009 – Paul Sharratt, English-American television host (b. 1933)
    • 2010 – Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator and director (b. 1929)
    • 2011 – Jeff Conaway, American actor and singer (b. 1950)
    • 2011 – Margo Dydek, Polish-American basketball player (b. 1974)
    • 2011 – Gil Scott-Heron, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1949)
    • 2012 – Simeon Daniel, Nevisian educator and politician, 1st Premier of Nevis (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Friedrich Hirzebruch, German mathematician and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Anahit Perikhanian, Russian-born Armenian Iranologist (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – David Rimoin, Canadian-American geneticist and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri, Indian politician (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – Bill Pertwee, English actor (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Abdoulaye Sékou Sow, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Robert Genn, Canadian painter and author (b. 1936)
    • 2014 – Helma Sanders-Brahms, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1940)
    • 2014 – Roberto Vargas, Puerto Rican-American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Massimo Vignelli, Italian-American graphic designer (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Erik Carlsson, Swedish rally driver (b. 1929)
    • 2015 – Nils Christie, Norwegian sociologist, criminologist, and author (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Andy King, English footballer and manager (b. 1956)
    • 2015 – Michael Martin, American philosopher and academic (b. 1932)
    • 2017 – Gregg Allman, American musician, singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
    • 2020 – Larry Kramer, American playwright, public health advocate and LGBT rights activist (b. 1935)

    Holidays and observances on May 27

    • Armed Forces Day (Nicaragua)
    • Children’s Day (Nigeria)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Augustine of Canterbury
      • Blessed Lojze Grozde
      • Bede (commemoration, Anglican Communion)
      • Bruno of Würzburg
      • Eutropius of Orange
      • Hildebert
      • Julius the Veteran
      • May 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Mother’s Day (Bolivia)
    • Navy Day (Japan)
    • Slavery Abolition Day (Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin)
    • Start of National Reconciliation Week (Australia)

  • May 21 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
    • 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabids after a nine-month siege.
    • 879 – Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.
    • 996 – Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
    • 1349 – Dušan’s Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.
    • 1403 – Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1554 – Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.
    • 1659 – In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end.
    • 1660 – The Battle of Long Sault concludes after five days in which French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, are defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy.
    • 1674 – The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
    • 1703 – Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel.
    • 1725 – The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
    • 1758 – Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later.
    • 1792 – A lava dome collapses on Mount Unzen, near the city of Shimbara on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, creating a deadly tsunami that kills nearly 15,000 people.
    • 1809 – The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.
    • 1851 – Slavery in Colombia is abolished.
    • 1856 – Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
    • 1864 – Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
    • 1864 – The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece.
    • 1871 – French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of “Bloody Week”, some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
    • 1871 – Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi Bahnen on Mount Rigi.
    • 1879 – War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
    • 1881 – The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
    • 1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
    • 1904 – The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.
    • 1911 – President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
    • 1917 – The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire’s military forces.
    • 1917 – The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).
    • 1924 – University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a “thrill killing”.
    • 1927 – Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
    • 1932 – Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
    • 1934 – Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.
    • 1936 – Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover’s severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan’s most notorious scandals.
    • 1937 – A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.
    • 1939 – The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
    • 1946 – Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
    • 1951 – The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition: A gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.
    • 1961 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
    • 1966 – The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.
    • 1969 – Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
    • 1972 – Michelangelo’s Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth.
    • 1976 – Twenty-nine people are killed in the Yuba City bus disaster in Martinez, California.
    • 1979 – White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
    • 1981 – The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.
    • 1981 – Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven’s Gate.
    • 1982 – Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos.
    • 1991 – Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
    • 1991 – Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
    • 1992 – After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show.
    • 1994 – The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.
    • 1996 – The ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000.
    • 1998 – In Miami, five abortion clinics are attacked by a butyric acid attacker.
    • 1998 – President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
    • 2001 – French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
    • 2003 – The 6.8 Mw  Boumerdès earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). More than 2,200 people were killed and a moderate tsunami sank boats at the Balearic Islands.
    • 2005 – The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey.
    • 2006 – The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence.
    • 2010 – JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year.
    • 2011 – Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date.
    • 2012 – A bus accident near Himara, Albania kills 13 people and injures 21 others.
    • 2012 – A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sana’a, Yemen.
    • 2017 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

    Births on May 21

    • 1471 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (d. 1528)
    • 1497 – Al-Hattab, Muslim jurist (d. 1547)
    • 1527 – Philip II of Spain (d. 1598)
    • 1653 – Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1697)
    • 1688 – Alexander Pope, English poet, essayist, and translator (d. 1744)
    • 1755 – Alfred Moore, American lawyer and judge (d. 1810)
    • 1756 – William Babington, Irish-born, English physician and mineralogist (d. 1833)
    • 1763 – Joseph Fouché, French lawyer and politician (d. 1820)
    • 1775 – Lucien Bonaparte, French soldier and politician (d. 1840)
    • 1780 – Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, philanthropist and Quaker (d. 1845)
    • 1790 – William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Lord Chamberlain of the Household (d. 1858)
    • 1792 – Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1843)
    • 1799 – Mary Anning, English paleontologist (d. 1847)
    • 1801 – Princess Sophie of Sweden, Swedish princess (d. 1865)
    • 1806 – Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, English duchess (d. 1868)
    • 1808 – David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (d. 1890)
    • 1827 – William P. Sprague, American banker and politician (d. 1899)
    • 1828 – Rudolf Koller, Swiss painter (d. 1905)
    • 1835 – František Chvostek, Czech-Austrian physician and academic (d. 1884)
    • 1837 – Itagaki Taisuke, Japanese soldier and politician (d. 1919)
    • 1843 – Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer and politician, and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
    • 1843 – Louis Renault, French jurist, educator, and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1918)
    • 1844 – Henri Rousseau, French painter (d. 1910)
    • 1850 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest and volcanologist (d. 1914)
    • 1851 – Léon Bourgeois, French police officer and politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
    • 1853 – Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (d. 1905)
    • 1856 – José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguayan journalist and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 1929)
    • 1860 – Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physician, physiologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1927)
    • 1861 – Abel Ayerza, Argentinian physician and academic (d. 1918)
    • 1863 – Archduke Eugen of Austria (d. 1954)
    • 1864 – Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (d. 1945)
    • 1873 – Hans Berger, German neurologist and academic (d. 1941)
    • 1878 – Glenn Curtiss, American cyclist and engineer (d. 1930)
    • 1880 – Tudor Arghezi, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1967)
    • 1884 – Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet and publisher (d. 1920)
    • 1885 – Princess Sophie of Albania, (Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg) (d. 1936)
    • 1893 – Arthur Carr, English cricketer (d. 1963)
    • 1893 – Giles Chippindall, Australian public servant (d. 1969)
    • 1895 – Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexican general, president (1934–1940) and father of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (d. 1970)
    • 1898 – Armand Hammer, American physician and businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (d. 1990)
    • 1898 – Charles Léon Hammes, Luxembourgian lawyer and judge (d. 1967)
    • 1898 – Carl Johnson, American long jumper (d. 1932)
    • 1898 – John McLaughlin, American painter and translator (d. 1976)
    • 1901 – Regina M. Anderson, Multiracial playwright and librarian (d. 1993)
    • 1901 – Horace Heidt, American pianist, bandleader, and radio host (d. 1986)
    • 1901 – Sam Jaffe, American film producer and agent (d. 2000)
    • 1901 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian author and playwright (d. 1992)
    • 1902 – Earl Averill, American baseball player (d. 1983)
    • 1902 – Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American architect and academic, designed the Ameritrust Tower (d. 1981)
    • 1902 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1974)
    • 1903 – Manly Wade Wellman, American author (d. 1986)
    • 1904 – Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (d. 1981)
    • 1904 – Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1943)
    • 1907 – John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (d. 1979)
    • 1912 – Chen Dayu, Chinese painter and calligrapher (d. 2001)
    • 1912 – John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist and academic (d. 1986)
    • 1912 – Monty Stratton, American baseball player and coach (d. 1982)
    • 1913 – Gina Bachauer, Greek pianist and composer (d. 1976)
    • 1915 – Cathleen Cordell, American actress (d. 1997)
    • 1915 – Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, Indian Civil Service Officer and former Under Secretary-General of the UN (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Dennis Day, American singer and actor (d. 1988)
    • 1916 – Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter and police officer (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Harold Robbins, American author and screenwriter (d. 1997)
    • 1917 – Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1993)
    • 1918 – Anthony Steel, English actor and singer (d. 2001)
    • 1919 – George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Bill Barber, American tuba player and educator (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Forrest White, American businessman, co-founded the Music Man Company (d. 1994)
    • 1921 – Sandy Douglas, English computer scientist and academic, designed OXO (d. 2010)
    • 1921 – Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
    • 1923 – Vernon Biever, American photographer (d. 2010)
    • 1923 – Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
    • 1923 – Ara Parseghian, American football player and coach (d. 2017)
    • 1923 – Dorothy Hewett, Australian feminist poet, novelist and playwright (d. 2002)
    • 1923 – Evelyn Ward, American actress (d. 2012)
    • 1924 – Peggy Cass, American actress, comedian, and game show panelist (d. 1999)
    • 1926 – Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (d. 2005)
    • 1927 – Kay Kendall, English actress and comedian (d. 1959)
    • 1927 – Péter Zwack, Hungarian businessman and diplomat (d. 2012)
    • 1928 – Tom Donahue, American radio host and producer (d. 1975)
    • 1928 – Alice Drummond, American actress (d. 2016)
    • 1929 – Larance Marable, American drummer (d. 2012)
    • 1929 – Robert Welch, English silversmith and industrial designer (d. 2000)
    • 1930 – Tommy Bryant, American bassist (d. 1982)
    • 1930 – Keith Davis, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Inese Jaunzeme, Latvian javelin thrower and surgeon (d. 2011)
    • 1932 – Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral and intelligence chief (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Maurice André, French trumpet player (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (d. 1993)
    • 1934 – Jocasta Innes, Chinese-English journalist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Bob Northern, American horn player and bandleader
    • 1934 – Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1935 – Terry Lightfoot, English clarinet player and bandleader (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Günter Blobel, Polish-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
    • 1938 – Lee “Shot” Williams, American singer (d. 2011)
    • 1939 – Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer, and conductor
    • 1940 – Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1941 – Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1941 – Bobby Cox, American baseball player and manager
    • 1941 – Ambrose Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, English photographer and politician
    • 1941 – Ronald Isley, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1942 – David Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
    • 1942 – John Konrads, Australian swimmer
    • 1942 – Danny Ongais, American race car driver
    • 1943 – Vincent Crane, English pianist and composer (d. 1989)
    • 1943 – John Dalton, English bass player
    • 1943 – Hilton Valentine, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1944 – Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, Iranian-English academic and politician
    • 1944 – Marcie Blane, American singer
    • 1944 – Janet Dailey, American author and entrepreneur (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Mary Robinson, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th President of Ireland
    • 1945 – Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut
    • 1945 – Richard Hatch, American actor, writer, and producer (d. 2017)
    • 1946 – Allan McKeown, English-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1946 – Wayne Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider and coach
    • 1947 – Bill Champlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1947 – Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (d. 1992)
    • 1947 – İlber Ortaylı, Turkish historian and academic
    • 1948 – Elizabeth Buchan, English author and critic
    • 1948 – Joe Camilleri, Maltese-Australian singer-songwriter and saxophonist
    • 1948 – Jonathan Hyde, Australian-English actor
    • 1948 – Denis MacShane, Scottish journalist and politician, UK Minister of State for Europe
    • 1948 – Leo Sayer, English-Australian singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1949 – Andrew Neil, Scottish journalist and academic
    • 1949 – Denis O’Connor, British police officer
    • 1949 – Rosalind Plowright, English soprano
    • 1950 – Will Hutton, English economist and journalist
    • 1951 – Al Franken, American actor, screenwriter, and politician
    • 1951 – Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (d. 2016)
    • 1952 – Mr. T, American actor and wrestler
    • 1953 – Nora Aunor, Filipino actress and recording artist
    • 1954 – D. B. S. Jeyaraj, Sri Lankan-Canadian journalist and blogger
    • 1954 – Janice Karman, American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice actress
    • 1954 – Marc Ribot, American guitarist and composer
    • 1955 – Paul Barber, English field hockey player
    • 1955 – Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
    • 1957 – James Bailey, American basketball player
    • 1957 – Nadine Dorries, English nurse and politician
    • 1957 – Judge Reinhold, American actor and producer
    • 1957 – Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
    • 1958 – Christian Audigier, French fashion designer (d. 2015)
    • 1958 – Muffy Calder, Canadian-Scottish computer scientist and academic
    • 1958 – Michael Crick, English journalist and author
    • 1958 – Naeem Khan, Indian-American fashion designer
    • 1958 – Jefery Levy, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1959 – Nick Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1959 – Abdulla Yameen, Maldivian politician, 6th President of the Maldives
    • 1960 – Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (d. 1994)
    • 1960 – Kent Hrbek, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1960 – Mohanlal, Indian actor
    • 1960 – Mark Ridgway, Australian cricketer
    • 1960 – Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer
    • 1962 – David Crumb, American composer and educator
    • 1963 – Richard Appel, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1963 – Patrick Grant, American musician and producer
    • 1963 – David Lonsdale, English actor
    • 1964 – Pete Sandoval, Salvadoran-American drummer
    • 1963 – Kevin Shields, American-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1963 – Dave Specter, American guitarist
    • 1963 – Laurie Spina, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1964 – Danny Bailey, English footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Josh Richman, American actor and producer
    • 1966 – Lisa Edelstein, American actress and playwright
    • 1966 – Tatyana Ledovskaya, Belarusian hurdler
    • 1967 – Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2007)
    • 1968 – Ilmar Raag, Estonian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Matthias Ungemach, German-Australian rower
    • 1968 – Julie Vega, Filipino actress and singer (d. 1985)
    • 1969 – Pierluigi Brivio, Italian footballer
    • 1969 – Georgiy Gongadze, Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and director (d. 2000)
    • 1969 – Masayo Kurata, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1969 – George LeMieux, American lawyer and politician
    • 1969 – Brian Statham, Rhodesian born English footballer, defender and manager
    • 1970 – Brigita Bukovec, Slovenian hurdler
    • 1970 – Dorsey Levens, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1970 – Pauline Menczer, Australian surfer
    • 1970 – Carl Veart, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1972 – The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (d. 1997)
    • 1973 – Stewart Cink, American golfer
    • 1973 – Noel Fielding, English comedian, musician and television presenter
    • 1974 – Brad Arthur, Australian rugby league coach
    • 1974 – Fairuza Balk, American actress
    • 1974 – Aditi Gowitrikar, Indian model, actress, and physician, Mrs. World 2001
    • 1974 – Havoc, American rapper and producer
    • 1975 – Anthony Mundine, Australian rugby league player and boxer
    • 1976 – Stuart Bingham, English snooker player
    • 1976 – Abderrahim Goumri, Moroccan runner (d. 2013)
    • 1976 – Deron Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Quinton Fortune, South African international footballer midfielder and coach
    • 1977 – Michael Fuß, German footballer
    • 1977 – Ricky Williams, American football player and coach
    • 1978 – Max B, American rapper and songwriter
    • 1978 – Briana Banks, German-American porn actress and model
    • 1978 – Jamaal Magloire, Canadian basketball player and coach
    • 1979 – Damián Ariel Álvarez, Argentinian-Mexican footballer
    • 1979 – Jamie Hepburn, Scottish politician, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health
    • 1979 – James Clancy Phelan, Australian author and academic
    • 1979 – Scott Smith, American mixed martial artist
    • 1979 – Sonja Vectomov, Czech musician/composer
    • 1980 – Gotye, Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Craig Anderson, American ice hockey player
    • 1981 – Edson Buddle, American soccer player
    • 1981 – Josh Hamilton, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Maximilian Mutzke, German singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter
    • 1983 – Līga Dekmeijere, Latvian tennis player
    • 1983 – Deidson Araújo Maia, Brazilian footballer
    • 1983 – Kaori Shimizu, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1984 – Brandon Fields, American football player
    • 1984 – Sara Goller, German volleyball player
    • 1984 – Syamsul Yusof, Malaysian actor, film director, scriptwriter, film producer, rapper and singer
    • 1985 – Mutya Buena, English singer-songwriter
    • 1985 – Alison Carroll, English gymnast, model, and actress
    • 1985 – Mark Cavendish, Manx cyclist
    • 1985 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (d. 2012)
    • 1985 – Isa Guha, English cricketer
    • 1985 – Lucie Hradecká, Czech tennis player
    • 1985 – Kano, English rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1985 – Dušan Kuciak, Slovak footballer
    • 1985 – Heath L’Estrange, Australian rugby league player
    • 1985 – Andrew Miller, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Mario Mandžukić, Croatian footballer
    • 1986 – Myra, American singer and actress
    • 1986 – Eder Sánchez, Mexican race walker
    • 1986 – Park Sojin, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1986 – Greg Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1987 – Beau Falloon, Australian rugby league player
    • 1988 – Claire Cashmore, English Paralympic swimmer
    • 1988 – Park Gyu-ri, South Korean singer
    • 1988 – Jonny Howson, English footballer
    • 1988 – Kaire Leibak, Estonian triple jumper
    • 1989 – Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer
    • 1989 – Hal Robson-Kanu, English footballer
    • 1990 – Kierre Beckles, Barbadian athlete
    • 1990 – Rene Krhin, Slovenian footballer
    • 1991 – Guilherme, Brazilian footballer
    • 1992 – Hutch Dano, American actor
    • 1992 – Lisa Evans, Scottish footballer
    • 1992 – Philipp Grüneberg, German footballer
    • 1992 – Olivia Olson, American singer and actress
    • 1993 – Grete Gaim, Estonian biathlete
    • 1993 – Luke Garbutt, English footballer, left-back
    • 1994 – Tom Daley, English diver
    • 1995 – Katharina Andresen, Norwegian heiress and equestrian
    • 1995 – Diego Loyzaga, Filipino actor
    • 1996 – Josh Allen, American footballer
    • 1996 – Indy de Vroome, Dutch tennis player
    • 1996 – Karen Khachanov, Russian tennis player
    • 1997 – Ivan De Santis, Italian footballer
    • 1997 – Sisca Folkertsma, Dutch footballer
    • 1997 – Viktoria Petryk, Ukrainian singer-songwriter

    Deaths on May 21

    • 252 – Sun Quan, Chinese emperor of Eastern Wu (b. 182)
    • 954 – Feng Dao, Chinese prince and chancellor (b. 882)
    • 987 – Louis V, king of West Francia (b. c. 966)
    • 1075 – Richeza of Poland, queen of Hungary (b. 1013)
    • 1086 – Wang Anshi, Chinese statesman and poet (b. 1021)
    • 1237 – Olaf the Black, Manx son of Godred II Olafsson
    • 1254 – Conrad IV, king of Germany (b. 1228)
    • 1416 – Anna of Celje, queen consort of Poland (b. 1386)
    • 1471 – Henry VI, king of England (b. 1421)
    • 1481 – Christian I, king of Denmark (b. 1426)
    • 1512 – Pandolfo Petrucci, Italian ruler (b. 1452)
    • 1524 – Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1443)
    • 1542 – Hernando de Soto, Spanish-American explorer (b. 1496)
    • 1563 – Martynas Mažvydas, Lithuanian writer (b. 1510)
    • 1607 – John Rainolds, English scholar and academic (b. 1549)
    • 1619 – Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (b. 1537)
    • 1639 – Tommaso Campanella, Italian astrologer, theologian, and poet (b. 1568)
    • 1647 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet and playwright (b. 1581)
    • 1650 – James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish general and politician (b. 1612)
    • 1664 – Elizabeth Poole, English settler, founded Taunton, Massachusetts (b. 1588)
    • 1670 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (b. 1586)
    • 1686 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist and inventor of the Magdeburg Hemispheres (b. 1602)
    • 1690 – John Eliot, English-American minister and missionary (b. 1604)
    • 1719 – Pierre Poiret, French mystic and philosopher (b. 1646)
    • 1724 – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
    • 1742 – Lars Roberg, Swedish physician and academic (b. 1664)
    • 1762 – Alexander Joseph Sulkowski, Polish and Saxon general (b. 1695)
    • 1771 – Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (b. 1722)
    • 1786 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, German-Swedish chemist and pharmacist (b. 1742)
    • 1790 – Thomas Warton, English poet and critic (b. 1728)
    • 1810 – Chevalier d’Eon, French diplomat and spy (b. 1728)
    • 1844 – Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest and composer (b. 1775)
    • 1858 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (b. 1783)
    • 1862 – John Drew, Irish-American actor and manager (b. 1827)
    • 1879 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and commander (b. 1848)
    • 1894 – Émile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)
    • 1894 – August Kundt, German physicist and academic (b. 1839)
    • 1895 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1819)
    • 1901 – Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (b. 1874)
    • 1911 – Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (b. 1857)
    • 1915 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general and engineer (b. 1875)
    • 1919 – Evgraf Fedorov, Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist (b. 1853)
    • 1920 – Venustiano Carranza, Mexican politician, 54th President of Mexico (b. 1859)
    • 1925 – Hidesaburō Ueno, Japanese agriculturalist, guardian of Hachikō (b. 1871)
    • 1926 – Ronald Firbank, English-Italian author (b. 1886)
    • 1929 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1847)
    • 1932 – Marcel Boulenger, French fencer and author (b. 1873)
    • 1935 – Jane Addams, American activist and author, co-founded Hull House, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
    • 1935 – Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist and geneticist (b. 1848)
    • 1940 – Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (b. 1888)
    • 1949 – Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, playwright, and critic (b. 1906)
    • 1952 – John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
    • 1956 – Harry Bensley, English businessman and adventurer (b. 1877)
    • 1957 – Alexander Vertinsky, Ukrainian-Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (b. 1889)
    • 1964 – James Franck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
    • 1965 – Marguerite Bise, French chef (b. 1898)
    • 1965 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (b. 1882)
    • 1968 – Doris Lloyd, English actress (b. 1896)
    • 1970 – E. L. Grant Watson, English-Australian biologist and author (b. 1885)
    • 1973 – Vaughn Monroe, American singer, trumpet player, bandleader, and actor (b. 1911)
    • 1973 – Ivan Konev, Soviet Marshal and general (b. 1897)
    • 1981 – Raymond McCreesh, PIRA volunteer (b. 1957)
    • 1981 – Patsy O’Hara, INLA volunteer (b. 1957)
    • 1983 – Kenneth Clark, English historian and author (b. 1903)
    • 1984 – Ann Little, American actress (b. 1891)
    • 1988 – Sammy Davis Sr., American actor and dancer (b. 1900)
    • 1991 – Lino Brocka, Filipino director and screenwriter (b. 1939)
    • 1991 – Rajiv Gandhi, Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
    • 1995 – Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1938)
    • 1996 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1957)
    • 1996 – Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (b. 1917)
    • 1996 – Villem Raam, Estonian art historian, art critic and conservator (b. 1910)
    • 1998 – Robert Gist, American actor and director (b. 1917)
    • 2000 – Barbara Cartland, English author (b. 1901)
    • 2000 – John Gielgud, English actor (b. 1904)
    • 2000 – Mark R. Hughes, American businessman, founded Herbalife (b. 1956)
    • 2002 – Niki de Saint Phalle, French-American sculptor and painter (b. 1930)
    • 2003 – Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (b. 1928)
    • 2003 – Frank D. White, American captain, banker, and politician, 41st Governor of Arkansas (b. 1933)
    • 2005 – Deborah Berger, American outsider artist (b. 1956)
    • 2005 – Stephen Elliott, American actor (b. 1918)
    • 2005 – Howard Morris, American actor and director (b. 1919)
    • 2006 – Spencer Clark, American race car driver (b. 1987)
    • 2006 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer, choreographer, and author (b. 1909)
    • 2006 – Cherd Songsri, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2006 – Billy Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – Eddie Blazonczyk, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
    • 2012 – Otis Clark, American butler and preacher, survivor of the Tulsa race riot (b. 1903)
    • 2012 – Constantine of Irinoupolis, Metropolitan of Irinoupolis and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Roman Dumbadze, Georgian commander (b. 1964)
    • 2012 – Douglas Rodríguez, Cuban boxer (b. 1950)
    • 2012 – Bill Stewart, American football player and coach (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – Alan Thorne, Australian anthropologist and academic (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – Count Christian of Rosenborg, member of the Danish royal family (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Frank Comstock, American trombonist, composer, and conductor (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Mohammad Khaled Hossain, Bangladeshi mountaineer (b. 1979)
    • 2013 – Leonard Marsh, American businessman, co-founded Snapple (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Bob Thompson, American pianist and composer (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – David Voelker, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1953)
    • 2014 – Tunku Annuar, Malaysian son of Badlishah of Kedah (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Evelyn Blackmon, American businesswoman and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Johnny Gray, American baseball player (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Alireza Soleimani, Iranian wrestler (b. 1956)
    • 2015 – Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker (b. 1969)
    • 2015 – Twinkle, English singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
    • 2015 – Jassem Al-Kharafi, Kuwaiti businessman and politician, 8th Kuwaiti Speaker of the National Assembly (b. 1940)
    • 2015 – Fred Gladding, American baseball player and coach (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Louis Johnson, American bass player and producer (b. 1955)
    • 2016 – Nick Menza, American drummer and songwriter (b. 1964)
    • 2019 – Rik Kuypers, Belgian film director (b. 1925)
    • 2019 – Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (b. 1971)
    • 2020 – Alan Merten, fifth President of George Mason University (b. 1941)

    Holidays and observances on May 21

    • Afro-Colombian Day (Colombia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Arcangelo Tadini
      • Blessed Adílio Daronch and Manuel Gómez González
      • Blessed Franz Jägerstätter
      • Earliest day on which Corpus Christi can fall, while June 24 is the latest; held on Thursday after Trinity Sunday (often locally moved to Sunday). (Roman Catholic Church)
      • Emperor Constantine I
      • Eugène de Mazenod
      • Helena of Constantinople, also known as “Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles.” (Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion)
      • John Elliot (Episcopal Church)
      • Saints of the Cristero War, including Christopher Magallanes
      • May 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Circassian Day of Mourning (Circassians)
    • Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the Montenegrin independence referendum in 2006, celebrated until the next day. (Montenegro)
    • Navy Day (Chile)
    • Saint Helena Day, celebrates the discovery of Saint Helena in 1502. (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
    • World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (International)
    • International Tea Day (International)

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

    • 325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
    • 491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery.
    • 685 – The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
    • 794 – While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded.
    • 1217 – The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
    • 1293 – King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares.
    • 1449 – The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
    • 1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
    • 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
    • 1521 – Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.
    • 1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
    • 1609 – Shakespeare’s sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
    • 1631 – The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years’ War.
    • 1645 – Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of 800,000 residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
    • 1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses.
    • 1775 – The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
    • 1802 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
    • 1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
    • 1840 – York Minster is badly damaged by fire.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
    • 1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening 84 million acres of public land to settlers.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
    • 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
    • 1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
    • 1882 – The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.
    • 1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
    • 1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope.
    • 1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country’s first President.
    • 1927 – Treaty of Jeddah: The United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
    • 1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
    • 1940 – The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
    • 1941 – World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete.
    • 1948 – Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wins the 1948 Republic of China presidential election and is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of China at Nanjing.
    • 1949 – In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
    • 1956 – In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
    • 1964 – Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
    • 1967 – The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
    • 1969 – The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
    • 1971 – In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.
    • 1980 – In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
    • 1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.
    • 1983 – Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by Umkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.
    • 1985 – Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
    • 1989 – The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
    • 1990 – The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
    • 1996 – Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
    • 2002 – The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
    • 2012 – At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.
    • 2013 – An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.
    • 2019 – The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.

    Births on May 20

    • 1315 – Bonne of Luxembourg, first wife of John II of France (d. 1349)
    • 1470 – Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal, poet, and scholar (d. 1547)
    • 1505 – Levinus Lemnius, Dutch writer (d. 1568)
    • 1531 – Thado Minsaw of Ava, Viceroy of Ava (d. 1584)
    • 1537 – Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (d. 1619)
    • 1575 – Robert Heath, English judge and politician (d. 1649)
    • 1664 – Andreas Schlüter, German sculptor and architect (d. 1714)
    • 1726 – Francis Cotes, English painter and academic (d. 1770)
    • 1743 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian revolutionary, general, and president (d. 1803)
    • 1759 – William Thornton, Virgin Islander-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (d. 1828)
    • 1769 – Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician (d. 1835)
    • 1772 – Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet, English inventor and politician, developed Congreve rockets (d. 1828)
    • 1776 – Simon Fraser, American-Canadian fur trader and explorer (d. 1862)
    • 1795 – Pedro María de Anaya, Mexican soldier. President (1847-1848) (d. 1854)
    • 1799 – Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (d. 1850)
    • 1806 – John Stuart Mill, English economist, civil servant, and philosopher (d. 1873)
    • 1811 – Alfred Domett, English-New Zealand poet and politician, 4th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1887)
    • 1818 – William Fargo, American businessman and politician, co-founded Wells Fargo and American Express (d. 1881)
    • 1822 – Frédéric Passy, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1912)
    • 1824 – Cadmus M. Wilcox, Confederate States Army general (d. 1890)
    • 1825 – Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the U.S. (d. 1921)
    • 1830 – Hector Malot, French author (d. 1907)
    • 1838 – Jules Méline, French lawyer and politician, 65th Prime Minister of France (d. 1925)
    • 1851 – Emile Berliner, German-American inventor, invented the Gramophone record (d. 1929)
    • 1854 – George Prendergast, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Victoria (d. 1937)
    • 1856 – Henri-Edmond Cross, French Neo-Impressionist painter (d. 1910)
    • 1860 – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, zymologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
    • 1875 – Hendrik Offerhaus, Dutch rower (d. 1953)
    • 1877 – Pat Leahy, Irish-American jumper (d. 1927)
    • 1879 – Hans Meerwein, German chemist (d. 1965)
    • 1882 – Sigrid Undset, Danish-Norwegian novelist, essayist, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
    • 1883 – Faisal I of Iraq (d. 1933)
    • 1886 – Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded the Galatasaray Sports Club (d. 1951)
    • 1894 – Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Indian guru and scholar (d. 1994)
    • 1895 – R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire and Supermarine S.6B (d. 1937)
    • 1897 – Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish economist and author (d. 1983)
    • 1897 – Malcolm Nokes, English hammer and discus thrower (d. 1986)
    • 1898 – Eduard Ole, Estonian painter (d. 1995)
    • 1899 – Aleksandr Deyneka, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1969)
    • 1899 – John Marshall Harlan II, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1971)
    • 1900 – Sumitranandan Pant, Indian poet and author (d. 1977)
    • 1901 – Max Euwe, Dutch chess player, mathematician, and author (d. 1981)
    • 1901 – Doris Fleeson, American journalist (d. 1970)
    • 1904 – Margery Allingham, English author of detective fiction (d. 1966)
    • 1906 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (d. 1989)
    • 1907 – Carl Mydans, American photographer and journalist (d. 2004)
    • 1908 – Henry Bolte, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Victoria (d. 1990)
    • 1908 – Louis Daquin, French actor and director (d. 1980)
    • 1908 – Francis Raymond Fosberg, American botanist and author (d. 1993)
    • 1908 – James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
    • 1911 – Gardner Fox, American author (d. 1986)
    • 1911 – Annie M. G. Schmidt, Dutch author and playwright (d. 1995)
    • 1913 – Teodoro Fernández, Peruvian footballer (d. 1996)
    • 1913 – William Redington Hewlett, American engineer, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (d. 2001)
    • 1915 – Peter Copley, English actor (d. 2008)
    • 1915 – Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1981)
    • 1915 – Joff Ellen, Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
    • 1916 – Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1916 – Alexey Maresyev, Russian soldier and pilot (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Ondina Valla, Italian sprinter and hurdler (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Tony Cliff, Israeli-English author and activist (d. 2000)
    • 1917 – Guy Favreau, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician, 28th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1967)
    • 1918 – Alexandra Boyko, Russian tank commander (d. 1996)
    • 1918 – Edward B. Lewis, American biologist, geneticist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – George Gobel, American comedian (d. 1991)
    • 1920 – John Cruickshank, Scottish lieutenant and banker, Victoria Cross recipient
    • 1921 – Wolfgang Borchert, German author and playwright (d. 1947)
    • 1921 – Hal Newhouser, American baseball player and scout (d. 1998)
    • 1921 – Hao Wang, Chinese-American logician, philosopher, and mathematician (d. 1995)
    • 1922 – Ted Hinton, Northern Irish international footballer (d. 1988)
    • 1923 – Edith Fellows, American actress (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Sam Selvon, Trinidad-born writer (d. 1994)
    • 1924 – David Chavchavadze, English-American CIA officer and author (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (d. 1976)
    • 1925 – Alexei Tupolev, Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-144 (d. 2001)
    • 1926 – Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (d. 1956)
    • 1927 – Bud Grant, American football player and coach
    • 1927 – David Hedison, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Franciszek Macharski, Polish cardinal (d. 2016)
    • 1929 – Gilles Loiselle, Canadian politician and diplomat, 33rd Canadian Minister of Finance
    • 1930 – Sam Etcheverry, American football player and coach (d. 2009)
    • 1931 – Ken Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1982)
    • 1931 – Louis Smith, American trumpeter (d. 2016)
    • 1933 – Constance Towers, American actress and singer
    • 1935 – José Mujica, Uruguayan guerrilla leader and politician, 40th President of Uruguay
    • 1936 – Anthony Zerbe, American actor
    • 1937 – Dave Hill, American golfer (d. 2011)
    • 1937 – Derek Lampe, English footballer
    • 1939 – Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1940 – Shorty Long, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1969)
    • 1940 – Stan Mikita, Slovak-Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 2018)
    • 1940 – Sadaharu Oh, Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager
    • 1941 – Goh Chok Tong, Singaporean politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Singapore
    • 1941 – John Strasberg, American actor and teacher
    • 1942 – Raymond Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
    • 1942 – Lynn Davies, Welsh sprinter and long jumper
    • 1942 – Carlos Hathcock, American sergeant and sniper (d. 1999)
    • 1942 – Frew McMillan, South African tennis player
    • 1943 – Albano Carrisi, Italian singer, actor, and winemaker
    • 1943 – Deryck Murray, Trinidadian cricketer
    • 1944 – Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Boudewijn de Groot, Indonesian-Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1944 – Keith Fletcher, English cricketer and manager
    • 1944 – Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman, co-founded Red Bull GmbH
    • 1945 – Vladimiro Montesinos, Peruvian intelligence officer
    • 1946 – Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1946 – Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2008)
    • 1947 – Steve Currie, English bass player (d. 1981)
    • 1947 – Greg Dyke, English journalist and academic
    • 1949 – Robert Morin, Canadian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Michèle Roberts, English author and poet
    • 1949 – Dave Thomas, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1950 – Andy Johns, English-American engineer and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1950 – Reinaldo Merlo, Argentinian footballer and coach
    • 1951 – Thomas Akers, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut
    • 1951 – Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (d. 2020)
    • 1951 – Mike Crapo, American lawyer and politician
    • 1952 – Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer and manager
    • 1952 – Michael Wills, English politician, British Minister of Justice
    • 1953 – Robert Doyle, Australian educator and politician, 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne
    • 1954 – David Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 55th Governor of New York
    • 1954 – Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway, Scottish lawyer and judge
    • 1955 – Steve George, American keyboard player and songwriter
    • 1955 – Zbigniew Preisner, Polish composer and producer
    • 1956 – Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian-German author and critic
    • 1956 – Gerry Peyton, English born Irish international footballer and coach
    • 1956 – Douglas Preston, American journalist and author
    • 1957 – Yoshihiko Noda, Japanese lawyer and politician, 62nd Prime Minister of Japan
    • 1958 – Ron Reagan, American journalist and radio host
    • 1958 – Jane Wiedlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
    • 1959 – Susan Cowsill, American singer-songwriter
    • 1960 – Tony Goldwyn, American actor and director
    • 1961 – Clive Allen, English international footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Nick Heyward, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1963 – David Wells, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1964 – Kōichirō Genba, Japanese politician, 80th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
    • 1964 – Edin Osmanović, Slovenian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1964 – Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, English journalist and author
    • 1965 – Ted Allen, American television host and author
    • 1965 – Stu Grimson, Canadian ice hockey player, sportscaster, and lawyer
    • 1966 – Dan Abrams, American journalist and author
    • 1967 – Graham Brady, English politician
    • 1967 – Gabriele Muccino, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer
    • 1969 – Road Dogg, American wrestler, producer, and soldier
    • 1970 – Terrell Brandon, American basketball player
    • 1970 – Louis Theroux, Singaporean-English journalist and producer
    • 1971 – Šárka Kašpárková, Czech triple jumper and coach
    • 1971 – Tony Stewart, American race car driver
    • 1972 – Michael Diamond, Australian shooter
    • 1972 – Christophe Dominici, French rugby player
    • 1972 – Busta Rhymes, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1973 – Nathan Long, Australian rugby league player
    • 1974 – Allison Amend, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1974 – Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Indian film director, writer and actor
    • 1975 – Juan Minujín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1976 – Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player
    • 1976 – Tomoya Satozaki, Japanese baseball player
    • 1977 – Matt Czuchry, American actor
    • 1977 – Leo Franco, Argentinian footballer
    • 1977 – Angela Goethals, American actress
    • 1977 – Stirling Mortlock, Australian rugby player
    • 1977 – Vesa Toskala, Finnish ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Hristos Banikas, Greek chess player
    • 1978 – Pavla Hamáčková-Rybová, Czech pole vaulter
    • 1978 – Nils Schumann, German runner
    • 1979 – Andrew Scheer, Canadian politician, 28th Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
    • 1979 – Jayson Werth, American baseball player
    • 1980 – Austin Kearns, American baseball player
    • 1980 – Kassim Osgood, American football player
    • 1981 – Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer
    • 1981 – Rachel Platten, American singer and songwriter
    • 1981 – Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Mark Winterbottom, Australian race car driver
    • 1982 – Petr Čech, Czech footballer
    • 1982 – Imran Farhat, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1982 – Jessica Raine, English actress
    • 1982 – Daniel Ribeiro, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1983 – Óscar Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer
    • 1983 – Matt Langridge, English rower
    • 1984 – Mauro Rafael da Silva, Brazilian footballer
    • 1984 – Patrick Ewing, Jr., American basketball player
    • 1984 – Keith Grennan, American football player
    • 1985 – Chris Froome, Kenyan-English cyclist
    • 1985 – Brendon Goddard, Australian footballer
    • 1986 – Dexter Blackstock, English footballer
    • 1986 – Stéphane Mbia, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1986 – Jiřina Svobodová, Czech pole vaulter
    • 1987 – Mike Havenaar, Japanese footballer
    • 1987 – Julian Wright, American basketball player
    • 1988 – Joel Moon, Australian rugby league player
    • 1989 – Siosia Vave, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
    • 1991 – Bastian Baker, Swiss singer, songwriter, and performer
    • 1991 – Emre Colak, Turkish footballer
    • 1992 – Cate Campbell, Malawian-Australian swimmer
    • 1992 – Jack Gleeson, Irish actor
    • 1992 – Enes Kanter, Turkish basketball player
    • 1993 – Caroline Zhang, American figure skater
    • 1996 – Brian Kelly, Australian rugby league player
    • 1998 – Jamie Chadwick, English race car driver
    • 1998 – Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater

    Deaths on May 20

    • 685 – Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645)
    • 794 – Æthelberht II, king of East Anglia
    • 965 – Gero the Great, Saxon ruler (b.c. 900)
    • 1062 – Bao Zheng, Chinese magistrate and mayor of Kaifeng (b. 999)
    • 1277 – Pope John XXI (b. 1215)
    • 1285 – John II of Jerusalem (b. 1259)
    • 1291 – Sufi Saint Sayyid Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari
    • 1366 – Maria of Calabria, Empress of Constantinople (b. 1329)
    • 1444 – Bernardino of Siena, Italian-Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1380)
    • 1449 – Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches
    • 1449 – Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra (b. 1392)
    • 1501 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican tertiary Religious Sister (b. 1467)
    • 1503 – Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, Italian banker and politician (b. 1463)
    • 1506 – Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer, discovered the Americas (b. 1451)
    • 1550 – Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1510)
    • 1579 – Isabella Markham, English courtier (b. 1527)
    • 1622 – Osman II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1604)
    • 1645 – Shi Kefa, Chinese general and calligrapher (b. 1601)
    • 1648 – Władysław IV Vasa, Polish son of Sigismund III Vasa (b. 1595)
    • 1677 – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, Spanish-English politician, English Secretary of State (b. 1612)
    • 1713 – Thomas Sprat, English bishop (b. 1635)
    • 1717 – John Trevor, Welsh lawyer and politician, 102nd Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1637)
    • 1722 – Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist and mycologist (b. 1669)
    • 1732 – Thomas Boston, Scottish author and educator (b. 1676)
    • 1782 – William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1701)
    • 1793 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss botanist and biologist (b. 1720)
    • 1812 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (b. 1732)
    • 1834 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French general (b. 1757)
    • 1841 – Joseph Blanco White, Spanish poet and theologian (b. 1775)
    • 1864 – John Clare, English poet (b. 1793)
    • 1873 – George-Étienne Cartier, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of East Canada (b. 1814)
    • 1880 – Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (b. 1814)
    • 1896 – Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (b. 1819)
    • 1909 – Ernest Hogan, American actor and composer (b. 1859)
    • 1917 – Valentine Fleming, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1887)
    • 1917 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
    • 1924 – Bogd Khan, Mongolian ruler (c. 1869)
    • 1925 – Joseph Howard, Maltese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1862)
    • 1931 – Ernest Noel, Scottish businessman and politician (b. 1831)
    • 1940 – Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
    • 1942 – Hector Guimard, French Architect (b. 1867)
    • 1946 – Jacob Ellehammer, Danish pilot and engineer (b. 1871)
    • 1947 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
    • 1947 – Georgios Siantos, Greek sergeant and politician (b. 1890)
    • 1949 – Damaskinos of Athens, Greek archbishop and politician, 137th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1891)
    • 1956 – Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (b. 1872)
    • 1956 – Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer and trainer (b. 1881)
    • 1961 – Josef Priller, German colonel and pilot (b. 1915)
    • 1964 – Rudy Lewis, American singer (b. 1936)
    • 1971 – Waldo Williams, Welsh poet and academic (b. 1904)
    • 1973 – Renzo Pasolini, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1938)
    • 1973 – Jarno Saarinen, Finnish motorcycle racer (b. 1945)
    • 1975 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor and lithographer (b. 1903)
    • 1976 – Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1911)
    • 1976 – Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (b. 1924)
    • 1976 – Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, Uruguayan politician (b. 1934)
    • 1989 – John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
    • 1989 – Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (b. 1946)
    • 1995 – Les Cowie, Australian rugby league player (b. 1925)
    • 1996 – Jon Pertwee, English actor, portrayed the Third Doctor (b. 1919)
    • 1998 – Robert Normann, Norwegian guitarist (b. 1916)
    • 2000 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (b. 1922)
    • 2000 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (b. 1970)
    • 2000 – Yevgeny Khrunov, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933)
    • 2001 – Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, biologist, and academic (b. 1941)
    • 2005 – Paul Ricœur, French philosopher and academic (b. 1913)
    • 2005 – William Seawell, American general (b. 1918)
    • 2007 – Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (b. 1914)
    • 2008 – Hamilton Jordan, American politician, 8th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1944)
    • 2009 – Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect and urban planner, designed Roy Thomson Hall (b. 1924)
    • 2009 – Lucy Gordon, American actress and model (b. 1980)
    • 2009 – Pierre Gamarra, French author, poet, and critic (b. 1919)
    • 2011 – Randy Savage, American wrestler and actor (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – Leela Dube, Indian anthropologist and scholar (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Robin Gibb, Manx-English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1949)
    • 2012 – David Littman, English-Swiss historian, author, and academic (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Ken Lyons, American bass guitarist (b. 1953)
    • 2012 – Eugene Polley, American engineer, invented the remote control (b. 1915)
    • 2012 – Andrew B. Steinberg, American lawyer (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Flavio Costantini, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Miloslav Kříž, Czech basketball player and coach (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – Denys Roberts, English judge and politician (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Zach Sobiech, American singer-songwriter (b. 1995)
    • 2014 – Sandra Bem, American psychologist and academic (b. 1944)
    • 2014 – Ross Brown, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Robyn Denny, English-French painter (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Arthur Gelb, American journalist, author, and critic (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-English businessman (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Barbara Murray, English actress (b. 1929)
    • 2015 – Bob Belden, American saxophonist, composer, and producer (b. 1956)
    • 2015 – Femi Robinson, Nigerian actor and playwright (b. 1940)

    Holidays and observances on May 20

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abercius and Helena
      • Alcuin of York
      • Aurea of Ostia
      • Austregisilus
      • Baudilus
      • Bernardino of Siena
      • Ivo of Chartres
      • Lucifer of Cagliari
      • Sanctan
      • May 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Remembrance (Cambodia)
    • Emancipation Day (Florida)
    • European Maritime Day (European Council)
    • Independence Restoration Day, celebrates the independence of East Timor from Indonesia in 2002.
    • Josephine Baker Day (NAACP)
    • National Awakening Day (Indonesia), and its related observances:
      • Indonesian Doctor Day (Indonesia)
    • National Day (Cameroon)
    • World Bee Day
    • World Metrology Day