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1540

June 15 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 763 BC – Assyrians record a solar eclipse that is later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
  • 844 – Louis II is crowned as king of Italy at Rome by pope Sergius II.
  • 923 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.
  • 1184 – The naval Battle of Fimreite is won by the Birkebeiner pretender Sverre Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson takes the Norwegian throne and King Magnus V of Norway is killed.
  • 1215 – King John of England puts his seal to Magna Carta.
  • 1219 – Northern Crusades: Danish victory at the Battle of Lindanise (modern-day Tallinn) establishes the Danish Duchy of Estonia.
  • 1246 – With the death of Frederick II, Duke of Austria, the Babenberg dynasty ends in Austria.
  • 1300 – The city of Bilbao is founded.
  • 1312 – At the Battle of Rozgony, King Charles I of Hungary wins a decisive victory over the family of Palatine Amade Aba.
  • 1389 – Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
  • 1410 – In a decisive battle at Onon River, the Mongol forces of Oljei Temur were decimated by the Chinese armies of the Yongle Emperor.
  • 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Martinique on his fourth voyage.
  • 1520 – Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in Exsurge Domine.
  • 1648 – Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
  • 1667 – The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
  • 1670 – The first stone of Fort Ricasoli is laid down in Malta.
  • 1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).
  • 1776 – Delaware Separation Day: Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.
  • 1800 – The Provisional Army of the United States is dissolved.
  • 1804 – New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.
  • 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.
  • 1836 – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state.
  • 1844 – Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
  • 1846 – The Oregon Treaty extends the border between the United States and British North America, established by the Treaty of 1818, westward to the Pacific Ocean.
  • 1859 – Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the “Northwestern Boundary Dispute” between American and British/Canadian settlers.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: The Second Battle of Petersburg begins.
  • 1864 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.81 km2) of the Arlington estate (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
  • 1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.
  • 1878 – Eadweard Muybridge takes a series of photographs to prove that all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs; the study becomes the basis of motion pictures.
  • 1888 – Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II; he will be the last Emperor of the German Empire. Due to the death of his predecessors Wilhelm I and Frederick III, 1888 is the Year of the Three Emperors.
  • 1896 – The deadliest tsunami in Japan’s history kills more than 22,000 people.
  • 1904 – A fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City’s East River kills 1,000.
  • 1916 – United States President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
  • 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they reach Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
  • 1920 – Following the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, Northern Schleswig is transferred from Germany to Denmark.
  • 1921 – Bessie Coleman earns her pilot’s license, becoming the first female pilot of African-American descent.
  • 1934 – The United States Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded.
  • 1936 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.
  • 1937 – A German expedition led by Karl Wien loses sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. It is the worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.
  • 1940 – World War II: Operation Ariel begins: Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany’s takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
  • 1944 – World War II: The United States invades Saipan, capital of Japan’s South Seas Mandate.
  • 1944 – In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government in North America.
  • 1970 – Charles Manson goes on trial for the Sharon Tate murders.
  • 1972 – Red Army Faction co-founder Ulrike Meinhof is captured by police in Langenhagen.
  • 1977 – After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections took place in Spain.
  • 1978 – King Hussein of Jordan marries American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
  • 1985 – Rembrandt’s painting Danaë is attacked by a man (later judged insane) who throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.
  • 1991 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, killing over 800 people.
  • 1992 – The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries.
  • 1994 – Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.
  • 1996 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonates a powerful truck bomb in the middle of Manchester, England, devastating the city centre and injuring 200 people.
  • 2001 – Leaders of the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
  • 2012 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to successfully tightrope walk directly over Niagara Falls.
  • 2013 – A bomb explodes on a bus in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 25 people and wounding 22 others.

Births on June 15

  • 1330 – Edward, the Black Prince of England (d. 1376)
  • 1479 – Lisa del Giocondo, Italian model, subject of the Mona Lisa (d. 1542)
  • 1519 – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1536)
  • 1542 – Richard Grenville, English captain and explorer (d. 1591)
  • 1549 – Elizabeth Knollys, English noblewoman (d. 1605)
  • 1553 – Archduke Ernest of Austria (d. 1595)
  • 1605 – Thomas Randolph, English poet and playwright (d. 1635)
  • 1618 – François Blondel, French architect (d. 1686)
  • 1623 – Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (d. 1672)
  • 1624 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (d. 1704)
  • 1640 – Bernard Lamy, French mathematician and theologian (d. 1715)
  • 1645 – Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, English politician (d. 1712)
  • 1749 – Georg Joseph Vogler, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1814)
  • 1754 – Juan José Elhuyar, Spanish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1796)
  • 1755 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist and entomologist (d. 1809)
  • 1763 – Franz Danzi, German cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1826)
  • 1763 – Kobayashi Issa, Japanese priest and poet (d. 1827)
  • 1765 – Martin Baum, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Cincinnati (d. 1831)
  • 1765 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1831)
  • 1767 – Rachel Jackson, American wife of Andrew Jackson (d. 1828)
  • 1777 – David Daniel Davis, Welsh physician and academic (d. 1841)
  • 1789 – Josiah Henson, American minister, author, and activist (d. 1883)
  • 1792 – Thomas Mitchell, Scottish-Australian colonel and explorer (d. 1855)
  • 1801 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (d. 1883)
  • 1805 – William B. Ogden, American businessman and politician, 1st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1877)
  • 1809 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet and historian (d. 1866)
  • 1835 – Adah Isaacs Menken, American actress, painter, and poet (d. 1868)
  • 1843 – Edvard Grieg, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1907)
  • 1848 – Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala, Indian bishop and saint (d. 1902)
  • 1872 – Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (d. 1950)
  • 1875 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian-Canadian skier (d. 1987)
  • 1878 – Margaret Abbott, Indian-American golfer (d. 1955)
  • 1881 – Kesago Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army (d. 1945)
  • 1884 – Harry Langdon, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
  • 1886 – Frank Clement, British racing driver (d. 1970)
  • 1888 – Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet and author (d. 1921)
  • 1890 – Georg Wüst, German oceanographer and academic (d. 1977)
  • 1894 – Robert Russell Bennett, American composer and conductor (d. 1981)
  • 1894 – Nikolai Chebotaryov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1947)
  • 1898 – Hubertus Strughold, German-American physiologist and academic (d. 1986)
  • 1900 – Gotthard Günther, German philosopher and academic (d. 1984)
  • 1900 – Otto Luening, German-American composer and conductor (d. 1996)
  • 1901 – Elmar Lohk, Russian-Estonian architect (d. 1963)
  • 1902 – Erik Erikson, German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1994)
  • 1906 – Gordon Welchman, English-American mathematician and author (d. 1985)
  • 1906 – Léon Degrelle, Belgian SS officer (d. 1994)
  • 1907 – James Robertson Justice, English actor and educator (d. 1975)
  • 1909 – Elena Nikolaidi, Greek-American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
  • 1910 – David Rose, English-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
  • 1911 – Wilbert Awdry, English author, co-created Thomas the Tank Engine (d. 1997)
  • 1913 – Tom Adair, American songwriter, composer, and screenwriter (d. 1988)
  • 1914 – Yuri Andropov, Russian politician (d. 1984)
  • 1914 – Saul Steinberg, Romanian-American cartoonist (d. 1999)
  • 1914 – Hilda Terry, American cartoonist (d. 2006)
  • 1915 – Nini Theilade, Danish ballet dancer, choreographer, and educator (d. 2018)
  • 1915 – Thomas Huckle Weller, American biologist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
  • 1916 – Olga Erteszek, Polish-American fashion designer (d. 1989)
  • 1916 – Horacio Salgán, Argentinian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2016)
  • 1916 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
  • 1917 – John Fenn, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
  • 1917 – Michalis Genitsaris, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
  • 1917 – Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (d. 1996)
  • 1918 – François Tombalbaye, Chadian politician, 1st President of Chad (d. 1975)
  • 1920 – Keith Andrews, American race car driver (d. 1957)
  • 1920 – Alla Kazanskaya, Russian actress (d. 2008)
  • 1920 – Sam Sniderman, Canadian businessman, founded Sam the Record Man (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
  • 1921 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
  • 1922 – Jaki Byard, American pianist and composer (d. 1999)
  • 1923 – Erland Josephson, Swedish actor and director (d. 2012)
  • 1923 – Ninian Stephen, English-Australian lieutenant, judge, and politician, 20th Governor-General of Australia (d. 2017)
  • 1924 – Hédi Fried, Swedish author and psychologist
  • 1924 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (d. 2005)
  • 1925 – Richard Baker, English journalist and author (d. 2018)
  • 1925 – Attilâ İlhan, Turkish poet, author, and critic (d. 2005)
  • 1926 – Alfred Duraiappah, Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (d. 1975)
  • 1927 – Ross Andru, American illustrator (d. 1993)
  • 1927 – Ibn-e-Insha, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (d. 1978)
  • 1927 – Hugo Pratt, Italian author and illustrator (d. 1995)
  • 1930 – Miguel Méndez, American author and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Joseph Gilbert, English air marshal
  • 1931 – Brian Sewell, English art dealer and critic (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – David Alliance, Baron Alliance, Iranian-English businessman and politician
  • 1932 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – Zia Fariduddin Dagar, Indian singer (d. 2013)
  • 1932 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player and sportscaster (d. 1999)
  • 1933 – Mohammad-Ali Rajai, Iranian politician, 2nd President of Iran (d. 1981)
  • 1933 – Predrag Koraksić Corax, Serbian political caricaturist
  • 1934 – Ruby Nash Garnett, American R&B singer
  • 1936 – William Levada, American cardinal
  • 1937 – Pierre Billon, Swiss-Canadian author and screenwriter
  • 1937 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
  • 1938 – Billy Williams, American baseball player and coach
  • 1939 – Ward Connerly, American activist and businessman, founded the American Civil Rights Institute
  • 1941 – Neal Adams, American illustrator
  • 1941 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1994)
  • 1942 – Ian Greenberg, Canadian broadcaster, founded Astral Media
  • 1942 – John E. McLaughlin, American diplomat
  • 1942 – Peter Norman, Australian sprinter (d. 2006)
  • 1943 – Johnny Hallyday, French singer and actor (d. 2017)
  • 1943 – Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Danish politician, 38th Prime Minister of Denmark
  • 1944 – Robert D. Keppel, American police officer and academic
  • 1945 – Miriam Defensor Santiago, Filipino judge and politician (d. 2016)
  • 1945 – Robert Sarah, Guinean cardinal
  • 1945 – Lawrence Wilkerson, American colonel
  • 1946 – Noddy Holder, English rock singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
  • 1946 – John Horner, American paleontologist and academic
  • 1946 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015)
  • 1947 – John Hoagland, American photographer and journalist (d. 1984)
  • 1948 – Mike Holmgren, American football player and coach
  • 1948 – Alan Huckle, English politician and diplomat, Governor of Anguilla
  • 1948 – Henry McLeish, Scottish footballer, academic, and politician, 2nd First Minister of Scotland
  • 1949 – Dusty Baker, American baseball player and manager
  • 1949 – Simon Callow, English actor and director
  • 1949 – Russell Hitchcock, Australian singer-songwriter
  • 1949 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
  • 1950 – Uğur Erdener, Turkish ophthalmologist and professor
  • 1950 – Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Ghanaian nurse and politician
  • 1950 – Deney Terrio, American choreographer and host of the television musical variety series Dance Fever
  • 1950 – Lakshmi Mittal, Indian-English businessman
  • 1951 – Jane Amsterdam, American magazine and newspaper editor (Manhattan, inc.New York Post)
  • 1951 – Vance A. Larson, American painter (d. 2000)
  • 1951 – John Redwood, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
  • 1951 – Steve Walsh, American rock singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1952 – Satya Pal Jain, Indian lawyer and politician, Additional Solicitor General of India
  • 1953 – Vilma Bardauskienė, Lithuanian long jumper
  • 1953 – Marc Brickman, American lighting and production designer
  • 1953 – Eje Elgh, Swedish racing driver and sportscaster
  • 1953 – Xi Jinping, Chinese engineer and politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of China
  • 1953 – Raphael Wallfisch, English cellist and educator
  • 1954 – Jim Belushi, American actor
  • 1954 – Terri Gibbs, American country music singer and keyboard player
  • 1954 – Paul Rusesabagina, Rwandan humanitarian
  • 1954 – Zdeňka Šilhavá, Czech discus thrower and shot putter
  • 1954 – Beverley Whitfield, Australian swimmer (d. 1996)
  • 1955 – Polly Draper, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1955 – Julie Hagerty, American model and actress
  • 1956 – Yevgeny Kiselyov, Russian-Ukrainian journalist
  • 1956 – Lance Parrish, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1958 – Wade Boggs, American baseball player
  • 1958 – Riccardo Paletti, Italian racing driver (d. 1982)
  • 1959 – Alan Brazil, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
  • 1959 – Eileen Davidson, American model and actress
  • 1960 – Michèle Laroque, French actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1960 – Marieke van Doorn, Dutch field hockey player and coach
  • 1961 – Dave McAuley, Irish boxer and sportscaster
  • 1961 – Scott Norton, American wrestler
  • 1962 – Brad Armstrong, American wrestler (d. 2012)
  • 1962 – Chris Morris, English actor, satirist, director, and producer
  • 1962 – Andrea Rost, Hungarian soprano
  • 1963 – Marina Azyabina, Russian hurdler
  • 1963 – Mario Gosselin, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1963 – Helen Hunt, American actress, director, and producer
  • 1964 – Courteney Cox, American actress and producer
  • 1964 – Michael Laudrup, Danish footballer and manager
  • 1965 – Annelies Bredael, Belgian rower
  • 1965 – Karim Massimov, Kazakhstani politician, 7th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
  • 1965 – Adam Smith, American lawyer and politician
  • 1966 – Raimonds Vējonis, Latvian politician, 9th President of Latvia
  • 1968 – Károly Güttler, Hungarian swimmer
  • 1969 – Jesse Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1969 – Ice Cube, American rapper, producer, and actor
  • 1969 – Idalis DeLeón, American singer and actress
  • 1969 – Nasos Galakteros, Greek basketball player
  • 1969 – Oliver Kahn, German footballer and sportscaster
  • 1969 – Maurice Odumbe, Kenyan cricketer
  • 1969 – Cédric Pioline, French tennis player
  • 1970 – Christian Bauman, American soldier and author
  • 1970 – David Bayssari, Australian rugby league player
  • 1970 – Gaëlle Méchaly, French soprano
  • 1970 – Leah Remini, American actress and producer
  • 1970 – Žan Tabak, Croatian basketball player and coach
  • 1971 – Christos Myriounis, Greek basketball player
  • 1971 – Jake Busey, American actor, musician, and film producer
  • 1972 – Justin Leonard, American golfer
  • 1972 – Andy Pettitte, American baseball player
  • 1973 – Tore Andre Flo, Norwegian footballer and coach
  • 1973 – Neil Patrick Harris, American actor and singer
  • 1973 – Pia Miranda, Australian actress
  • 1976 – Jiří Ryba, Czech decathlete
  • 1977 – Michael Doleac, American basketball player and manager
  • 1978 – Wilfred Bouma, Dutch footballer
  • 1978 – Zach Day, American baseball player
  • 1979 – Yulia Nestsiarenka, Belarusian sprinter
  • 1979 – Christian Rahn, German footballer
  • 1979 – Charles Zwolsman, Jr., Dutch racing driver
  • 1980 – David Lyons, Australian rugby player
  • 1981 – John Paintsil, Ghanaian footballer
  • 1982 – Mike Delany, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1982 – Abdur Razzak, Bangladeshi cricketer
  • 1983 – Julia Fischer, German violinist and pianist[citation needed]
  • 1983 – Laura Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist[citation needed]
  • 1983 – Josh McGuire, Canadian fencer
  • 1984 – Luke Hodge, Australian footballer
  • 1984 – Eva Hrdinová, Czech tennis player
  • 1984 – Tim Lincecum, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Edison Toloza, Colombian footballer
  • 1985 – Ashley Nicole Black, American comedian, actress, and writer
  • 1986 – James Maloney, Australian rugby league player
  • 1986 – Trevor Plouffe, American baseball player
  • 1989 – Víctor Cabedo, Spanish cyclist (d. 2012)
  • 1989 – Bryan Clauson, American race car driver (d. 2016)
  • 1992 – Michał Kopczyński, Polish footballer
  • 1992 – Mohamed Salah, Egyptian footballer
  • 1992 – Dafne Schippers, Dutch heptathlete and sprinter
  • 1993 – Irfan Hadžić, Bosnian footballer
  • 1994 – Inaki Williams, Basque footballer
  • 1997 – Madison Kocian, American gymnast

Deaths on June 15

  • 923 – Robert I of France (b. 866)
  • 948 – Romanos I Lekapenos, Byzantine Emperor (b. c. 870)
  • 952 – Murong Yanchao, Chinese general
  • 960 – Eadburh of Winchester, English princess and saint
  • 970 – Adalbert, bishop of Passau
  • 991 – Theophanu, Byzantine wife of Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 960)
  • 1073 – Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (b. 1034)
  • 1184 – Magnus Erlingsson, King of Norway (b. 1156)
  • 1189 – Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (b. 1159)
  • 1246 – Frederick II, Duke of Austria (b. 1219)
  • 1337 – Angelo da Clareno, Italian Franciscan and leader of a group of Fraticelli (b. 1247)
  • 1341 – Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1297)
  • 1381 – John Cavendish, English lawyer and judge (b. 1346)
  • 1381 – Wat Tyler, English rebel leader (b. 1341)
  • 1383 – John VI Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1292)
  • 1383 – Matthew Kantakouzenos, Byzantine emperor
  • 1389 – Lazar of Serbia (b. 1329)
  • 1389 – Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1319)
  • 1389 – Miloš Obilić, Serbian knight.
  • 1416 – John, Duke of Berry (b. 1340)
  • 1467 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1396)
  • 1521 – Tamás Bakócz, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1442)
  • 1614 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English courtier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1540)
  • 1724 – Henry Sacheverell, English minister and politician (b. 1674)
  • 1768 – James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (b. 1710)
  • 1772 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (b. 1694)
  • 1844 – Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1777)
  • 1849 – James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (b. 1795)
  • 1858 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (b. 1795)
  • 1888 – Frederick III, German Emperor (b. 1831)
  • 1889 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1850)
  • 1890 – Unryū Kyūkichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 10th Yokozuna (b. 1822)
  • 1917 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and academic (b. 1867)
  • 1934 – Alfred Bruneau, French cellist and composer (b. 1857)
  • 1938 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
  • 1941 – Otfrid Foerster, German neurologist and physician (b. 1873)
  • 1941 – Evelyn Underhill, English mystic and author (b. 1875)
  • 1945 – Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, Austrian diplomat
  • 1961 – Giulio Cabianca, Italian racing driver (b. 1923)
  • 1961 – Peyami Safa, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1899)
  • 1962 – Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1877)
  • 1967 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1885)
  • 1968 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (b. 1880)
  • 1968 – Wes Montgomery, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1925)
  • 1971 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American biochemist and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
  • 1976 – Jimmy Dykes, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1896)
  • 1984 – Meredith Willson, American playwright, composer, and conductor (b. 1902)
  • 1985 – Andy Stanfield, American sprinter (b. 1927)
  • 1989 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1912)
  • 1989 – Ray McAnally, Irish actor (b. 1926)
  • 1991 – Happy Chandler, American businessman and politician, 49th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1898)
  • 1991 – Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
  • 1992 – Chuck Menville, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1940)
  • 1992 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (b. 1939)
  • 1993 – John Connally, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1917)
  • 1993 – James Hunt, English racing driver and sportscaster (b. 1947)
  • 1994 – Manos Hatzidakis, Greek composer and theorist (b. 1925)
  • 1995 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American physicist and inventor, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer (b. 1903)
  • 1996 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer and actress (b. 1917)
  • 1996 – Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish general and politician (b. 1911)
  • 1996 – Dick Murdoch, American wrestler (b. 1946)
  • 1999 – Omer Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1906)
  • 2000 – Jules Roy, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1907)
  • 2001 – Henri Alekan, French cinematographer (b. 1909)
  • 2002 – Choi Hong Hi, South Korean general and martial artist, founded Taekwondo (b. 1918)
  • 2003 – Hume Cronyn, Canadian-American actor (b. 1911)
  • 2004 – Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician and mayor of İzmir (b. 1952)
  • 2005 – Suzanne Flon, French actress (b. 1918)
  • 2006 – Raymond Devos, Belgian-French comedian and clown (b. 1922)
  • 2006 – Herb Pearson, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1910)
  • 2008 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
  • 2011 – Bill Haast, American herpetologist and academic (b. 1910)
  • 2012 – Phillip D. Cagan, American economist and author (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Capitola Dickerson, American pianist and educator (b. 1913)
  • 2012 – Barry MacKay, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1935)
  • 2012 – Israel Nogueda Otero, Mexican economist and politician, 10th Governor of Guerrero (b. 1935)
  • 2012 – Jerry Tubbs, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Heinz Flohe, German footballer and manager (b. 1948)
  • 2013 – José Froilán González, Argentinian racing driver (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Dennis O’Rourke, Australian director and producer (b. 1945)
  • 2013 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1936)
  • 2014 – Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – Casey Kasem, American radio host, producer, and voice actor, co-created American Top 40 (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Daniel Keyes, American short story writer and novelist (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – Moise Safra, Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Banco Safra (b. 1934)
  • 2015 – Kirk Kerkorian, American businessman, founded the Tracinda Corporation (b. 1917)
  • 2016 – Lois Duncan, American author (b. 1934)
  • 2018 – Matt “Guitar” Murphy, American Blues guitarist (The Blues Brothers) (b. 1929)
  • 2019 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian film director (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on June 15

  • Arbor Day (Costa Rica)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Abraham of Clermont (or of St Cyriacus)
    • Alice (or Adelaide) of Schaerbeek
    • Augustine of Hippo (Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock
    • Blessed Clement Vismara
    • Edburga of Winchester
    • Evelyn Underhill (Church of England and The Episcopal Church)
    • Germaine Cousin
    • Landelin (of Crespin or of Lobbes)
    • Trillo
    • Vitus (Guy), Modestus and Crescentia
    • June 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of Valdemar and Reunion Day (Flag Day) (Denmark)
  • Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while June 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Sunday in June. (United States, and most other countries.)
  • Engineer’s Day (Italy)
  • Global Wind Day (international)
  • National Beer Day (United Kingdom)
  • National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan)

June 15 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 11- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
  • 173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called “miracle of the rain”.
  • 631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang.
  • 786 – A Hasanid Alid uprising in Mecca is crushed by the Abbasids at the Battle of Fakhkh.
  • 980 – Vladimir the Great consolidates the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. He is proclaimed ruler (knyaz) of all Kievan Rus’.
  • 1011 – Lombard Revolt: Greek citizens of Bari rise up against the Lombard rebels led by Melus and deliver the city to Basil Mesardonites, Byzantine governor (catepan) of the Catepanate of Italy.
  • 1118 – Roger of Salerno, Prince of Antioch, captures Azaz from the Seljuk Turks.
  • 1157 – Albert I of Brandenburg, also called The Bear (Ger: Albrecht der Bär), becomes the founder of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, Germany and the first margrave.
  • 1345 – The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
  • 1429 – Hundred Years’ War: Start of the Battle of Jargeau.
  • 1488 – Battle of Sauchieburn: Fought between rebel Lords and James III of Scotland, resulting in the death of the king.
  • 1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
  • 1594 – Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paved way to the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
  • 1748 – Denmark adopts the characteristic Nordic Cross flag later taken up by all other Scandinavian countries.
  • 1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
  • 1775 – The American Revolutionary War’s first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
  • 1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
  • 1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
  • 1805 – A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
  • 1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
  • 1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.
  • 1865 – The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War.
  • 1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world’s first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
  • 1895 – Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the “first motor race”, takes place.
  • 1898 – The Hundred Days’ Reform, a planned movement to reform social, political, and educational institutions in China, is started by the Guangxu Emperor, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. (The failed reform led to the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905.)
  • 1901 – The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands.
  • 1903 – A group of Serbian officers stormed the royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga.
  • 1917 – King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father, Constantine I, abdicates under pressure from allied armies occupying Athens.
  • 1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
  • 1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase “smoke-filled room”.
  • 1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine, New Jersey.
  • 1936 – The London International Surrealist Exhibition opens.
  • 1937 – Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.
  • 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Wuhan starts.
  • 1940 – World War II: The Siege of Malta begins with a series of Italian air raids.
  • 1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
  • 1942 – Free French Forces retreat from Bir Hakeim after having successfully delayed the Axis advance.
  • 1944 – USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
  • 1955 – Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
  • 1956 – Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150.
  • 1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
  • 1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
  • 1963 – Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
  • 1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights.
  • 1964 – World War II veteran Walter Seifert attacks an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.
  • 1968 – Lloyd J. Old identified the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types.
  • 1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first women to do so.
  • 1971 – The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
  • 1978 – Altaf Hussain founds the student political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University.
  • 1981 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
  • 1987 – Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant are elected as the first black MPs in Great Britain.
  • 1998 – Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
  • 2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
  • 2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
  • 2004 – Cassini–Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe.
  • 2007 – Mudslides in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kill 130 people.
  • 2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada’s First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.
  • 2008 – The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched into orbit.
  • 2010 – The first African FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa.
  • 2012 – More than 80 people die in a landslide triggered by two earthquakes in Afghanistan; an entire village is buried.
  • 2013 – Greece’s public broadcaster ERT is shut down by then-prime minister Antonis Samaras. It reopened exactly two years later by then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
  • 2018 – 3 World Trade Center officially opens.

Births on June 11

  • 1403 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (d. 1427)
  • 1431 – Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (d. 1456)
  • 1456 – Anne Neville, Princess of Wales and Queen of England (d. 1485)
  • 1540 – Barnabe Googe, English poet and translator (d. 1594)
  • 1555 – Lodovico Zacconi, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1627)
  • 1572 – Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1637)
  • 1585 – Evert Horn, Swedish soldier (d. 1615)
  • 1588 – George Wither, English poet (d. 1667)
  • 1620 – John Moore, English businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1702)
  • 1655 – Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter (d. 1730)
  • 1662 – Tokugawa Ienobu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1712)
  • 1672 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
  • 1690 – Giovanni Antonio Giay, Italian composer (d. 1764)
  • 1696 – James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish-Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
  • 1697 – Francesco Antonio Vallotti, Italian organist and composer (d. 1780)
  • 1704 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese harpsichord player and composer (d. 1742)
  • 1709 – Joachim Martin Falbe, German painter (d. 1782)
  • 1712 – Benjamin Ingham, American missionary (d. 1772)
  • 1723 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (d. 1788)
  • 1726 – Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (d. 1746)
  • 1741 – Joseph Warren, American physician and general (d. 1775)
  • 1776 – John Constable, English painter and academic (d. 1837)
  • 1797 – José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran philosopher and theorist (d. 1855)
  • 1807 – James F. Schenck, American admiral (d. 1882)
  • 1815 – Julia Margaret Cameron, Indian-Sri Lankan photographer (d. 1879)
  • 1818 – Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1903)
  • 1829 – Edward Braddon, English-Australian politician, 18th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1904)
  • 1832 – Lucy Pickens, American wife of Francis Wilkinson Pickens (d. 1899)
  • 1842 – Carl von Linde, German engineer and academic (d. 1934)
  • 1846 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (d. 1920)
  • 1847 – Millicent Fawcett, English academic and activist (d. 1929)
  • 1861 – Alexander Peacock, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Victoria (d. 1933)
  • 1864 – Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
  • 1867 – Charles Fabry, French physicist and academic (d. 1945)
  • 1871 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian lawyer and politician (d. 1928)
  • 1876 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American-French anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 1960)
  • 1877 – Renée Vivien, English-French poet and author (d. 1909)
  • 1879 – Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
  • 1880 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (d. 1973)
  • 1881 – Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (d. 1963)
  • 1881 – Mordecai Kaplan, Lithuanian rabbi, founded Reconstructionist Judaism (d. 1983)
  • 1888 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-American anarchist and convicted criminal (d. 1927)
  • 1889 – Hugo Wieslander, Swedish decathlete (d. 1976)
  • 1894 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (d. 1952)
  • 1895 – Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet politician (d. 1975)
  • 1897 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian activist, founded the Hindustan Republican Association (d. 1927)
  • 1897 – Reg Latta, Australian rugby league player (d. 1970)
  • 1899 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
  • 1901 – Cap Fear, Canadian football player and rower (d. 1978)
  • 1901 – Benny Wearing, Australian rugby league player (d. 1968)
  • 1902 – Eric Fraser, British illustrator and graphic designer (d. 1983)
  • 1903 – Ernie Nevers, American football player and coach (d. 1976)
  • 1908 – Karl Hein, German hammer thrower (d. 1982)
  • 1908 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (d. 1919)
  • 1909 – Natascha Artin Brunswick, German-American mathematician and photographer (d. 2003)
  • 1910 – Carmine Coppola, American flute player and composer (d. 1991)
  • 1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997)
  • 1912 – James Algar, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
  • 1912 – William Baziotes, American painter and academic (d. 1963)
  • 1912 – Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Iranian meteorologist and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1913 – Vince Lombardi, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 1970)
  • 1913 – Risë Stevens, American soprano and actress (d. 2013)
  • 1914 – Jan Hendrik van den Berg, Dutch psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1915 – Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1997)
  • 1915 – Nicholas Metropolis, American mathematician and physicist (d. 1999)
  • 1917 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American businessman and religious leader (d. 2008)
  • 1918 – Ruth Aarons, American table tennis player and manager (d. 1980)
  • 1919 – Suleiman Mousa, Jordanian historian and author (d. 2008)
  • 1919 – Richard Todd, Irish-English actor (d. 2009)
  • 1920 – Shelly Manne, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984)
  • 1920 – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American singer, actress, and pianist (d. 1981)
  • 1920 – Keith Seaman, Australian lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Jean Sutherland Boggs, Peruvian-Canadian historian, academic, and civil servant (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Michael Cacoyannis, Greek Cypriot director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1925 – Johnny Esaw, Canadian sportscaster (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – William Styron, American novelist and essayist (d. 2006)
  • 1926 – Carlisle Floyd, American composer and educator
  • 1927 – Beryl Grey, English ballerina
  • 1927 – John W. O’Malley, American Catholic historian, academic and Jesuit priest
  • 1927 – Kit Pedler, English parapsychologist and author (d. 1981)
  • 1928 – Queen Fabiola of Belgium (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – Ayhan Şahenk, Turkish businessman (d. 2001)
  • 1930 – Charles Rangel, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
  • 1932 – Athol Fugard, South African-American actor, director, and playwright
  • 1932 – Tim Sainsbury, English businessman and politician, Minister of State for Trade
  • 1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1937 – Chad Everett, American actor and director (d. 2012)
  • 1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1939 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer and journalist (d. 2017)
  • 1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1942 – Parris Glendening, American politician, 59th Governor of Maryland
  • 1943 – Henry Hill, American mobster (d. 2012)
  • 1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress
  • 1947 – Richard Palmer-James, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1948 – Dave Cash, American baseball player and coach
  • 1948 – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian politician, 20th Chief Minister of Bihar
  • 1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter
  • 1950 – Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, cartoonist and actress (d. 2014)
  • 1950 – Graham Russell, English-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1951 – Matthew Engel, English journalist and author
  • 1951 – Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese painter and photographer
  • 1952 – Yekaterina Podkopayeva, Russian runner
  • 1952 – Donnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1953 – Steve Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, English politician
  • 1953 – José Bové, French farmer and politician
  • 1953 – Barbara Minty, American model
  • 1954 – John Dyson, Australian cricketer
  • 1954 – Johnny Neel, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
  • 1955 – Duncan Steel, English-Australian astronomer and author
  • 1956 – Joe Montana, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1956 – Simon Plouffe, Canadian mathematician and academic
  • 1956 – Arthur Porter, Canadian physician and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1956 – Jamaaladeen Tacuma, American bass player and bandleader
  • 1958 – Barry Adamson, English singer and bass player
  • 1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter
  • 1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host
  • 1962 – Mano Menezes, Brazilian footballer and coach
  • 1963 – Gioia Bruno, American singer-songwriter
  • 1963 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler and sportscaster (d. 2000)
  • 1964 – Jean Alesi, French race car driver
  • 1964 – Kim Gallagher, American runner (d. 2002)
  • 1965 – Georgios Bartzokas, Greek former professional basketball player
  • 1965 – Gavin Hill, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1966 – Bruce Robison, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1967 – Graeme Bachop, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1967 – João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer
  • 1968 – Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein
  • 1968 – Manoa Thompson, Fijian rugby player
  • 1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer
  • 1969 – Bryan Fogarty, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2002)
  • 1969 – Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer
  • 1971 – Vladimir Gaidamașciuc, Moldovan footballer
  • 1971 – Liz Kendall, British politician
  • 1971 – Mark Richardson, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1971 – Kenjiro Tsuda, Japanese voice actor
  • 1972 – Stephen Kearney, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
  • 1973 – José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer and coach
  • 1974 – Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player, coach, and manager
  • 1976 – Reiko Tosa, Japanese runner
  • 1977 – Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer
  • 1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian-American actor
  • 1978 – Daryl Tuffey, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1979 – Ali Boussaboun, Moroccan-Dutch footballer
  • 1979 – Amy Duggan, Australian footballer and sportscaster
  • 1980 – Yhency Brazoban, Dominican baseball player
  • 1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer
  • 1981 – Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee
  • 1982 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter
  • 1982 – Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper
  • 1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player
  • 1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian skier
  • 1982 – Diana Taurasi, American basketball player
  • 1983 – Chuck Hayes, American basketball player
  • 1983 – José Reyes, Dominican baseball player
  • 1984 – Andy Lee, Irish boxer
  • 1984 – Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer
  • 1985 – Tim Hoogland, German footballer
  • 1986 – Sebastian Bayer, German long jumper
  • 1986 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
  • 1987 – Marsel İlhan, Turkish tennis player
  • 1987 – Didrik Solli-Tangen, Norwegian singer
  • 1988 – Jesús Fernández Collado, Spanish footballer
  • 1988 – Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, model, radio host
  • 1989 – Maya Moore, American basketball player
  • 1990 – Christophe Lemaitre, French sprinter
  • 1991 – Daniel Howell, English internet celebrity
  • 1993 – Brittany Boyd, American basketball player
  • 1994 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress
  • 1996 – Ayaka Sasaki, Japanese singer
  • 1998 – Charlie Tahan, American actor
  • 1999 – Eartha Cumings, Scottish footballer

Deaths on June 11

  • 323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC)
  • 573 – Emilian of Cogolla, Iberic saint (b. 472)
  • 840 – Junna, emperor of Japan (b. 785)
  • 884 – Shi Jingsi, general of the Tang Dynasty
  • 888 – Rimbert, archbishop of Bremen (b. 830)
  • 1183 – Henry the Young King of England (b. 1155)
  • 1216 – Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174)
  • 1248 – Adachi Kagemori, Japanese samurai
  • 1253 – Amadeus IV, count of Savoy (b. 1197)
  • 1298 – Yolanda of Poland (b. 1235)
  • 1323 – Bérenger Fredoli, French lawyer and bishop (b. 1250)
  • 1345 – Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire
  • 1347 – Bartholomew of San Concordio, Italian Dominican canonist and man of letters (b. 1260)
  • 1446 – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (b. 1425)
  • 1479 – John of Sahagun, hermit and saint (b. 1419)
  • 1488 – James III of Scotland (b. 1451)
  • 1557 – John III of Portugal (b. 1502)
  • 1560 – Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1515)
  • 1683 – Nikita Pustosvyat, a leader of the Russian Old Believers, beheaded (b. unknown)
  • 1695 – André Félibien, French historian and author (b. 1619)
  • 1712 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme (b. 1654)
  • 1727 – George I of Great Britain (b. 1660)
  • 1748 – Felice Torelli, Italian painter (b. 1667)
  • 1796 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician, founded the Whitbread Company (b. 1720)
  • 1847 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician (b. 1786)
  • 1852 – Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (b. 1799)
  • 1859 – Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (b. 1773)
  • 1879 – William, Prince of Orange (b. 1840)
  • 1882 – Louis Désiré Maigret, French bishop (b. 1804)
  • 1885 – Matías Ramos Mejía, Argentinian colonel (b. 1810)
  • 1897 – Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (b. 1821)
  • 1903 – Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1837)
  • 1903 – Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1876)
  • 1903 – Draga Mašin, Serbian wife of Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1864)
  • 1911 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician and missionary (b. 1815)
  • 1913 – Mahmud Shevket Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 279th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1856)
  • 1914 – Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1848)
  • 1920 – William F. Halsey, Sr., American captain (b. 1853)
  • 1924 – Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (b. 1837)
  • 1927 – William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861)
  • 1934 – Lev Vygotsky, Belarusian-Russian psychologist and theorist (b. 1896)
  • 1936 – Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (b. 1906)
  • 1937 – R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire (b. 1895)
  • 1941 – Daniel Carter Beard, American author and illustrator, founded the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1850)
  • 1955 – Pierre Levegh, French race car driver (b. 1905)
  • 1962 – Chhabi Biswas, Indian actor and director (b. 1900)
  • 1963 – Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese monk and martyr (b. 1897)
  • 1965 – Paul B. Coremans, Belgian chemist and academic (b. 1908)
  • 1965 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (b. 1883)
  • 1970 – Frank Laubach, American missionary and mystic (b. 1884)
  • 1974 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian general and politician, 16th President of Brazil (b. 1883)
  • 1974 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and author (b. 1898)
  • 1976 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player (b. 1917)
  • 1979 – Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (b. 1893)
  • 1979 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
  • 1983 – Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian businessman and politician (b. 1894)
  • 1984 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (b. 1922)
  • 1986 – Chesley Bonestell, American painter and illustrator (b. 1888)
  • 1991 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (b. 1925)
  • 1993 – Ray Sharkey, American actor (b. 1952)
  • 1994 – A. Thurairajah, Sri Lankan engineer and academic (b. 1934)
  • 1995 – Rodel Naval, Filipino singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1953)
  • 1996 – George Hees, Canadian politician (b. 1910)
  • 1996 – Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (b. 1908)
  • 1998 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906)
  • 1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1920)
  • 2001 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
  • 2001 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1923)
  • 2003 – David Brinkley, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
  • 2004 – Egon von Fürstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b. 1946)
  • 2005 – Vasco Gonçalves, Portuguese general and politician, 103rd Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1922)
  • 2005 – Anne-Marie Alonzo, Canadian playwright, poet, novelist, critic and publisher (b. 1951)
  • 2006 – Neroli Fairhall, New Zealand archer (b. 1944)
  • 2006 – Bruce Shand, English soldier (b. 1917)
  • 2007 – Imre Friedmann, American biologist and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2007 – Mala Powers, American actress (b. 1931)
  • 2008 – Ove Andersson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1938)
  • 2008 – Võ Văn Kiệt, Vietnamese soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1922)
  • 2011 – Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1947)
  • 2011 – Seth Putnam, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1968)
  • 2012 – Ann Rutherford, Canadian-American actress (b. 1917)
  • 2012 – Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer and engineer (b. 1952)
  • 2013 – Miller Barber, American golfer (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Carl W. Bauer, American lawyer and politician (b. 1933)
  • 2013 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
  • 2013 – James Grimsley, Jr., American general (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – Rory Morrison, English journalist (b. 1964)
  • 2013 – Kristiāns Pelšs, Latvian ice hockey player (b. 1992)
  • 2013 – Vidya Charan Shukla, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – Ruby Dee, American actress (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor and composer (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Susan B. Horwitz, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1955)
  • 2014 – Mipham Chokyi Lodro, Tibetan lama and educator (b. 1952)
  • 2014 – Benjamin Mophatlane, South African businessman (b. 1973)
  • 2014 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (b. 1947)
  • 2015 – Jim Ed Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
  • 2015 – Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Ian McKechnie, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1941)
  • 2015 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (b. 1924)
  • 2015 – Dusty Rhodes, American wrestler (b. 1945)
  • 2016 – Rudi Altig, German track and road racing cyclist (b. 1937)
  • 2020 – Stella Pevsner, children’s author (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances on June 11

  • American Evacuation Day (Libya)
  • Brazilian Navy commemorative day (Brazil)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Barnabas the Apostle
    • Bartholomew the Apostle (Eastern Christianity)
    • Blessed Ignatius Maloyan (Armenian Catholic Church)
    • Paula Frassinetti
    • Riagail of Bangor
    • June 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Davis Day (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada)
  • Kamehameha Day (Hawaii, United States)
  • Student Day (Honduras)

June 11- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day

May 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
  • 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
  • 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
  • 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo.
  • 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
  • 1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV.
  • 1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty.
  • 1370 – Brussels massacre: Hundreds of Jews are murdered and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels, Belgium, for allegedly desecrating consecrated Host.
  • 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
  • 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
  • 1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish.
  • 1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck ending Danish intervention in the Thirty Years’ War.
  • 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
  • 1762 – Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome.
  • 1766 – A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region.
  • 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
  • 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
  • 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
  • 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, and the riots spread to Ely the next day.
  • 1819 – SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
  • 1840 – The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
  • 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
  • 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent.
  • 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson which lasts 48 days, the longest siege in U.S. military history.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army’s Red River Campaign ends in failure.
  • 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
  • 1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
  • 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”.
  • 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century.
  • 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246.
  • 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China.
  • 1927 – Near Xining, China, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes 200,000 deaths in one of the world’s most destructive earthquakes.
  • 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
  • 1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah.
  • 1942 – Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies.
  • 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern.
  • 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece.
  • 1957 – South Africa’s government approves of racial separation in universities.
  • 1958 – The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths is estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.
  • 1960 – The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
  • 1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
  • 1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot in an assassination attempt, and dies five days later.
  • 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society.
  • 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
  • 1967 – L’Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history.
  • 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
  • 1969 – Apollo 10’s lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon’s surface.
  • 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
  • 1972 – Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave.
  • 1987 – Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
  • 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
  • 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
  • 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.
  • 1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country’s ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
  • 1996 – The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting.
  • 1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.
  • 2000 – In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna.
  • 2002 – Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
  • 2010 – Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737.
  • 2010 – Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the Uefa Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League).
  • 2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
  • 2012 – Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).
  • 2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d’état, following six months of political turmoil.
  • 2014 – An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries.
  • 2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.
  • 2017 – Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
  • 2017 – United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.

Births on May 22

  • 626 – Itzam K’an Ahk I, Mayan king (d. 686)
  • 1009 – Su Xun, Chinese writer (d. 1066)
  • 1408 – Annamacharya, Hindu saint (d. 1503)
  • 1539 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d. 1621)
  • 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French soldier and governor (d. 1698)
  • 1644 – Gabriël Grupello, Flemish Baroque sculptor (d. 1730)
  • 1650 – Richard Brakenburgh, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1702)
  • 1694 – Daniel Gran, Austrian painter (d. 1757)
  • 1715 – François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and diplomat (d. 1794)
  • 1733 – Hubert Robert, French painter (d. 1808)
  • 1752 – Louis Legendre, French butcher and politician (d. 1797)
  • 1762 – Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, English politician (d. 1834)
  • 1770 – Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. 1840)
  • 1772 – Ram Mohan Roy, Indian philosopher and reformer (d. 1833)
  • 1782 – Hirose Tansō, Japanese neo-Confucian scholar, teacher, writer (d. 1856)
  • 1783 – William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor, invented the electromagnet and electric motor (d. 1850)
  • 1808 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (d. 1855)
  • 1811 – Giulia Grisi, Italian soprano (d. 1869)
  • 1811 – Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle, English politician (d. 1864)
  • 1813 – Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
  • 1814 – Amalia Lindegren, Swedish painter (d. 1891)
  • 1820 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter (d. 1910)
  • 1828 – Albrecht von Graefe, German ophthalmologist and academic (d. 1870)
  • 1831 – Henry Vandyke Carter, English anatomist and surgeon (d. 1897)
  • 1833 – Félix Bracquemond, French painter and etcher (d. 1914)
  • 1833 – Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1895)
  • 1841 – Catulle Mendès, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1909)
  • 1844 – Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (d. 1926)
  • 1846 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican poet, educator, and activist (d. 1908)
  • 1848 – Fritz von Uhde, German painter and educator (d. 1911)
  • 1849 – Aston Webb, English architect and academic (d. 1930)
  • 1858 – Belmiro de Almeida, Brazilian painter, illustrator, sculptor (d. 1935)
  • 1859 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (d. 1930)
  • 1859 – Tsubouchi Shōyō, Japanese author, playwright, and educator (d. 1935)
  • 1864 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (d. 1931)
  • 1868 – Augusto Pestana, Brazilian engineer and politician (d. 1934)
  • 1874 – Daniel François Malan, South African clergyman and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)
  • 1876 – Julius Klinger, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1942)
  • 1879 – Warwick Armstrong, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 1947)
  • 1879 – Jean Cras, French admiral and composer (d. 1932)
  • 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian statesman and independence leader (d. 1926)
  • 1880 – Francis de Miomandre, French author and translator (d. 1959)
  • 1885 – Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
  • 1885 – Soemu Toyoda, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)
  • 1887 – A. W. Sandberg, Danish film director and screenwriter (d. 1938)
  • 1891 – Johannes R. Becher, German politician, novelist, and poet (d. 1958)
  • 1894 – Friedrich Pollock, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1970)
  • 1897 – Robert Neumann, German and English-speaking author (d. 1975)
  • 1900 – Juan Arvizu, Mexican lyric opera tenor and bolero vocalist (d.1985)
  • 1901 – Maurice J. Tobin, American politician, 6th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1953)
  • 1902 – Jack Lambert, English footballer and manager (d. 1940)
  • 1902 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (d. 1956)
  • 1904 – Uno Lamm, Swedish electrical engineer and inventor (d. 1989)
  • 1905 – Bodo von Borries, German physicist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (d. 1956)
  • 1905 – Tom Driberg, British politician (d. 1976)
  • 1907 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1983)
  • 1907 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (d. 1989)
  • 1908 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (d. 1963)
  • 1909 – Margaret Mee, English illustrator and educator (d. 1988)
  • 1912 – Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
  • 1913 – Rafael Gil, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
  • 1913 – Dominique Rolin, Belgian author (d. 2012)
  • 1914 – Max Kohnstamm, Dutch historian and diplomat (d. 2010)
  • 1914 – Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, bandleader, poet (d. 1993)
  • 1917 – George Aratani, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
  • 1917 – Jean-Louis Curtis, French author (d. 1995)
  • 1919 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian businessman and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2001)
  • 1920 – Thomas Gold, Austrian-American astrophysicist and academic (d. 2004)
  • 1921 – George S. Hammond, American scientist (d. 2005)
  • 1922 – Quinn Martin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1987)
  • 1924 – Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2018)
  • 1925 – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1991)
  • 1927 – Michael Constantine, American actor
  • 1927 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (d. 2014)
  • 1927 – George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
  • 1928 – Serge Doubrovsky, French theorist and author (d. 2017)
  • 1928 – John Mackenzie, Scottish director and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1928 – T. Boone Pickens, American businessman (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Hiroshi Sano, Japanese novelist (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Ahmed Fouad Negm, Egyptian poet (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Kenny Ball, English jazz trumpet player, vocalist, and bandleader (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Marisol Escobar, French-American sculptor (d. 2016)
  • 1930 – Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1978)
  • 1932 – Robert Spitzer, American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1933 – Chen Jingrun, Chinese mathematician and academic (d. 1996)
  • 1934 – Peter Nero, American pianist and conductor
  • 1936 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (d. 2014)
  • 1937 – Facundo Cabral, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1938 – Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
  • 1938 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)
  • 1939 – Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)
  • 1940 – Kieth Merrill, American filmmaker
  • 1940 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (d. 2011)
  • 1940 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist
  • 1940 – Mick Tingelhoff, American Pro Football Hall of Famer
  • 1941 – Menzies Campbell, Scottish sprinter and politician
  • 1942 – Roger Brown, American basketball player (d. 1997)
  • 1942 – Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber)
  • 1942 – Barbara Parkins, Canadian actress
  • 1942 – Richard Oakes, Native American civil rights activist (d. 1972)
  • 1943 – Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2020)
  • 1943 – Tommy John, American baseball player
  • 1944 – John Flanagan, Australian fantasy author
  • 1945 – Bob Katter, Australian politician
  • 1946 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer and manager (d. 2005)
  • 1946 – Michael Green, English physicist and academic
  • 1946 – Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
  • 1946 – Andrei Marga, Romanian philosopher, political scientist, politician
  • 1946 – Lyudmila Zhuravleva, Russian-Ukrainian astronomer
  • 1948 – Tomás Sánchez, Cuban painter and engraver
  • 1948 – Nedumudi Venu, Indian actor and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Cheryl Campbell, English actress
  • 1949 – Valentin Inzko, Austrian diplomat
  • 1950 – Bernie Taupin, English singer-songwriter and poet
  • 1953 – François Bon, French writer
  • 1953 – Cha Bum-kun, South Korean footballer and manager
  • 1953 – Paul Mariner, English footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1954 – Barbara May Cameron, Native American human rights activist (d. 2002)
  • 1954 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1956 – Lucie Brock-Broido, American poet (d. 2018)
  • 1957 – Lisa Murkowski, American lawyer and politician
  • 1959 – David Blatt, Israeli-American basketball player and coach
  • 1959 – Morrissey, English singer-songwriter and performer
  • 1959 – Kwak Jae-yong, South Korean director and screenwriter
  • 1959 – Mehbooba Mufti, Indian politician
  • 1960 – Hideaki Anno, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
  • 1962 – Brian Pillman, American football player and wrestler (d. 1997)
  • 1963 – Claude Closky, French contemporary artist
  • 1965 – Jay Carney, American journalist, 29th White House Press Secretary
  • 1966 – Johnny Gill, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1966 – Wang Xiaoshuai, Chinese director and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Graham Linehan, Irish comedian, actor, and author
  • 1969 – Cathy McMorris Rodgers, American lawyer and politician
  • 1970 – Naomi Campbell, English model
  • 1970 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (d. 2019)
  • 1972 – Max Brooks, American author and screenwriter
  • 1973 – Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Danish actor
  • 1974 – Garba Lawal, Nigerian footballer
  • 1974 – Henrietta Ónodi, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
  • 1974 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian politician
  • 1975 – Salva Ballesta, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Christian Vande Velde, American cyclist
  • 1978 – Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress
  • 1978 – Katie Price, English television personality and glamour model
  • 1979 – Maggie Q, American actress
  • 1979 – Nazanin Boniadi, Iranian-American actress
  • 1980 – Sharice Davids, American politician
  • 1980 – Lucy Gordon, British actress and model (d. 2009)
  • 1981 – Daniel Bryan, American wrestler
  • 1981 – Bassel Khartabil, Syrian computer programmer and engineer (d. 2015)
  • 1981 – Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
  • 1982 – Erin McNaught, Australian model and actress
  • 1982 – Apolo Ohno, American speed skater
  • 1982 – Hong Yong-jo, North Korean footballer
  • 1983 – Natasha Kai, American soccer player and Olympic medalist
  • 1984 – Karoline Herfurth, German actress
  • 1984 – Didier Ya Konan, Ivorian footballer
  • 1984 – Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook
  • 1985 – Tranquillo Barnetta, Swiss footballer
  • 1985 – Tao Okamoto, Japanese model and actress
  • 1986 – Julian Edelman, American football player
  • 1986 – Matt Jarvis, English footballer
  • 1986 – Tatiana Volosozhar, Russian figure skater
  • 1987 – Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
  • 1987 – Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer
  • 1988 – Heida Reed, Icelandic-British actress
  • 1989 – Corey Dickerson, American baseball player
  • 1990 – Wyatt Roy, Australian politician
  • 1991 – Joel Obi, Nigerian footballer
  • 1991 – Suho, South Korean singer and actor
  • 1992 – Anna Baryshnikov, American actress
  • 1994 – Florian Luger, Austrian male model
  • 1998 – Samile Bermannelli, Brazilian fashion model
  • 1999 – Camren Bicondova, American actress
  • 1999 – Femke Huijzer, Dutch model

Deaths on May 22

  • 192 – Dong Zhuo, Chinese warlord and politician (b. 138)
  • 337 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (b. 272)
  • 748 – Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 683)
  • 1067 – Constantine X, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1006)
  • 1068 – Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (b. 1025)
  • 1310 – Saint Humility, founder of the Vallumbrosan religious order of nuns (b. c.1226)
  • 1409 – Blanche of England, sister of King Henry V (b. 1392)
  • 1455 – Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1406)
  • 1455 – Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, Lancastrian commander (b. 1414)
  • 1455 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English commander (b. 1393)
  • 1457 – Rita of Cascia, Italian nun and saint (b. 1381)
  • 1490 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, English administrator, nobleman and magnate (b. 1416)
  • 1538 – John Forest, English friar and martyr (b. 1471)
  • 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (b. 1483)
  • 1545 – Sher Shah Suri, Indian ruler (b. 1486)
  • 1553 – Giovanni Bernardi, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1495)
  • 1602 – Renata of Lorraine (b. 1544)
  • 1609 – Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff, Dutch captain (b. 1573)
  • 1666 – Gaspar Schott, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
  • 1667 – Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
  • 1745 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general (b. 1671)
  • 1760 – Baal Shem Tov, Polish rabbi and author (b. 1700)
  • 1772 – Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian and academic (b. 1687)
  • 1795 – Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg, Prussian politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (b. 1725)
  • 1802 – Martha Washington, First, First Lady of the United States (b. 1731)
  • 1851 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American journalist and diplomat (b. 1755)
  • 1859 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (b. 1810)
  • 1861 – Thornsbury Bailey Brown, American soldier (b. 1829)
  • 1868 – Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
  • 1885 – Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1802)
  • 1901 – Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist, assassin of Umberto I of Italy (b. 1869)
  • 1910 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (b. 1864)
  • 1932 – Augusta, Lady Gregory, Anglo-Irish activist, landlord, and playwright, co-founded the Abbey Theatre (b. 1852)
  • 1933 – Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav, Mongolian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1894)
  • 1938 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
  • 1939 – Ernst Toller, German playwright and author (b. 1893)
  • 1939 – Jiří Mahen, Czech author and playwright (b. 1882)
  • 1954 – Chief Bender, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1884)
  • 1965 – Christopher Stone, English radio host (b. 1882)
  • 1966 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)
  • 1967 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (b. 1902)
  • 1967 – Charlotte Serber, American Librarian of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos site (b. 1911)
  • 1972 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (b. 1904)
  • 1972 – Margaret Rutherford, English actress (b. 1892)
  • 1974 – Irmgard Flügge-Lotz, German-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (b. 1903)
  • 1975 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (b. 1900)
  • 1982 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (b. 1899)
  • 1983 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
  • 1985 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (b. 1909)
  • 1988 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (b. 1914)
  • 1989 – Steven De Groote, South African pianist and educator (b. 1953)
  • 1990 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1922)
  • 1991 – Shripad Amrit Dange, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1899)
  • 1991 – Stan Mortensen, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
  • 1992 – Zellig Harris, American linguist and academic (b. 1909)
  • 1993 – Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
  • 1997 – Alziro Bergonzo, Italian architect and painter (b. 1906)
  • 1997 – Alfred Hershey, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
  • 1998 – John Derek, American actor, director, and photographer (b. 1926)
  • 1998 – José Enrique Moyal, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1910)
  • 2000 – Davie Fulton, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1916)
  • 2004 – Richard Biggs, American actor (b. 1960)
  • 2004 – Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)
  • 2005 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (b. 1914)
  • 2005 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (b. 1914)
  • 2006 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (b. 1945)
  • 2007 – Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1970)
  • 2008 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (b. 1946)
  • 2010 – Martin Gardner, American mathematician, cryptographer, and author (b. 1914)
  • 2011 – Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (b. 1938)
  • 2012 – Muzafar Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1970)
  • 2012 – Wesley A. Brown, American lieutenant and engineer (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – Marques Haynes, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Vladimir Katriuk, Ukrainian-Canadian SS officer (b. 1921)
  • 2016 – Velimir “Bata” Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (b. 1981)
  • 2019 – Judith Kerr, German-born British writer and illustrator (b. 1923)
  • 2020 – Denise Cronenberg, Canadian costume designer (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on May 22

  • Abolition Day (Martinique)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Castus and Emilius
    • Fulk
    • Humilita
    • Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
    • Quiteria
    • Rita of Cascia
    • Romanus of Subiaco
    • May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Harvey Milk Day (California)
  • International Day for Biological Diversity (International)
  • United States National Maritime Day
  • National Sovereignty Day (Haiti)
  • Republic Day (Sri Lanka)
  • Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari (Ukraine)
  • Unity Day (Yemen), celebrates the unification of North and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990.
  • World Goth Day

May 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

May 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army.
  • 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason.
  • 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s marriage is annulled.
  • 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland.
  • 1642 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
  • 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.
  • 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement.
  • 1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt.
  • 1809 – Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
  • 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian.
  • 1814 – The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly.
  • 1859 – Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football.
  • 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language.
  • 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris.
  • 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis (2:37.75)
  • 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.
  • 1900 – The children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author’s sister.
  • 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
  • 1914 – The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty.
  • 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by H. H. Asquith) falls.
  • 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway.
  • 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States’ first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City.
  • 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium.
  • 1943 – World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF.
  • 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools.
  • 1967 – Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt.
  • 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
  • 1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.
  • 1974 – The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland.
  • 1974 – Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army’s headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall.
  • 1977 – Nolan Bushnell opened the first Chuck E. Cheese’s in San Jose, California.
  • 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
  • 1980 – On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
  • 1983 – The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world’s largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds , in response to the Appalachian Observer’s Freedom of Information Act request.
  • 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
  • 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”, sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture.
  • 1987 – Iran–Iraq War: An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
  • 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.
  • 1992 – Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests.
  • 1994 – Malawi holds its first multi-party elections.
  • 1995 – Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage.
  • 1997 – Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • 2000 – Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clash in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final riots in Copenhagen
  • 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts.
  • 2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.
  • 2007 – Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.
  • 2014 – A plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people.

Births on May 17

  • 1155 – Jien, Japanese monk, poet, and historian (d. 1225)
  • 1443 – Edmund, Earl of Rutland (d. 1460)
  • 1451 – Engelbert II of Nassau, Count of Nassau-Vianden and Lord of Breda (1475–1504) (d. 1504)
  • 1490 – Albert, Duke of Prussia, last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1568)
  • 1500 – Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (d. 1540)
  • 1551 – Martin Delrio, Belgian occultist and theologian (d. 1601)
  • 1568 – Anna Vasa of Sweden, Swedish princess (d. 1625)
  • 1610 – Stefano della Bella, Italian engraver and etcher (d. 1664)
  • 1628 – Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria (d. 1662)
  • 1636 – Edward Colman, English Catholic courtier under Charles II (d. 1678)
  • 1682 – Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (d. 1722)
  • 1698 – Gio Nicola Buhagiar, Maltese painter (d. 1752)
  • 1706 – Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian (d. 1780)
  • 1718 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1778)
  • 1732 – Francesco Pasquale Ricci, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1817)
  • 1743 – Seth Warner, American colonel (d. 1784)
  • 1749 – Edward Jenner, English physician and microbiologist (d. 1823)
  • 1758 – Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, English politician (d. 1839)
  • 1768 – Caroline of Brunswick (d. 1821)
  • 1768 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1854)
  • 1794 – Anna Brownell Jameson, Irish-English author (d. 1860)
  • 1818 – Ezra Otis Kendall, American professor, astronomer and mathematician (d. 1899)
  • 1821 – Sebastian Kneipp, German priest and therapist (d. 1897)
  • 1835 – Thomas McIlwraith, Scottish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Queensland (d. 1900)
  • 1836 – Virginie Loveling, Belgian author and poet (d. 1923)
  • 1836 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-American chess player (d. 1900)
  • 1845 – Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan priest and poet (d. 1902)
  • 1860 – Martin Kukučín, Slovak author and playwright (d. 1928)
  • 1860 – Charlotte Barnum, American mathematician and social activist (d. 1934)
  • 1863 – Léon Gérin, Canadian lawyer, sociologist, and civil servant (d. 1951)
  • 1864 – Louis Richardet, Swiss target shooter (d. 1923)
  • 1864 – Ante Trumbić, Croatian lawyer and politician, 27th Mayor of Split (d. 1938)
  • 1866 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (d. 1925)
  • 1868 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American businessman, co-founded Dodge (d. 1920)
  • 1868 – Panagis Tsaldaris, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1936)
  • 1870 – Newton Moore, Australian politician, 8th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1936)
  • 1873 – Henri Barbusse, French author and journalist (d. 1935)
  • 1873 – Dorothy Richardson, English author and journalist (d. 1957)
  • 1874 – George Sheldon, American diver (d. 1907)
  • 1882 – Karl Burman, Estonian architect and painter (d. 1965)
  • 1886 – Alfonso XIII of Spain, Spanish monarch (d. 1941)
  • 1888 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (d. 1965)
  • 1889 – Dorothy Gibson, American actress and singer (d. 1946)
  • 1889 – Alfonso Reyes, Mexican author (d. 1959)
  • 1891 – Napoleon Zervas, Greek general and politician (d. 1957)
  • 1893 – Frederick McKinley Jones, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1961)
  • 1895 – Saul Adler, Belarusian-English captain and parasitologist (d. 1966)
  • 1895 – Reinhold Saulmann, Estonian sprinter and bandy player (d. 1936)
  • 1897 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
  • 1898 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (d. 1992)
  • 1899 – Carmen de Icaza, Spanish writer (d. 1979)
  • 1901 – Werner Egk, German pianist and composer (d. 1983)
  • 1903 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
  • 1904 – Marie-Anne Desmarest, French author (d. 1973)
  • 1906 – Zinka Milanov, Croatian-American soprano and educator (d. 1989)
  • 1909 – Julius Sumner Miller, American physicist and academic (d. 1987)
  • 1911 – Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish-American model (d. 1992)
  • 1911 – Maureen O’Sullivan, Irish-American actress (d. 1998)
  • 1912 – Archibald Cox, American lawyer and politician, 31st United States Solicitor General (d. 2004)
  • 1912 – Ace Parker, American baseball and football player (d. 2013)
  • 1912 – Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, American inventor (d. 2006)
  • 1913 – Hans Ruesch, Swiss racing driver and author (d. 2007)
  • 1914 – Robert N. Thompson, American-Canadian chiropractor and politician (d. 1997)
  • 1918 – Joan Benham, English actress (d. 1981)
  • 1918 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish operatic soprano (d. 2005)
  • 1919 – Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1919 – Merle Miller, American author and screenwriter (d. 1986)
  • 1919 – Gustav Naan, Russian-Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1994)
  • 1920 – Harry Männil, Estonian-Venezuelan businessman, co-founded ACO Group (d. 2010)
  • 1921 – Dennis Brain, English composer (d. 1957)
  • 1921 – Bob Merrill, American composer and screenwriter (d. 1998)
  • 1922 – Jean Rédélé, French racing driver, founded Alpine (d. 2007)
  • 1923 – Michael Beetham, English commander and pilot (d. 2015)
  • 1924 – Roy Bentley, English footballer (d. 2018)
  • 1924 – Francis Tombs, Baron Tombs, English engineer and politician (d. 2020)
  • 1926 – David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie, English-Scottish soldier and politician
  • 1926 – Dietmar Schönherr, Austrian-Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Franz Sondheimer, German-English chemist and academic (d. 1981)
  • 1929 – Branko Zebec, Yugoslav football player and coach (d. 1988)
  • 1931 – Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader, founded Heaven’s Gate (d. 1997)
  • 1931 – Dewey Redman, American saxophonist (d. 2006)
  • 1932 – Rodric Braithwaite, English soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia
  • 1932 – Peter Burge, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
  • 1933 – Yelena Gorchakova, Russian javelin thrower (d. 2002)
  • 1934 – Friedrich-Wilhelm Kiel, German educator and politician
  • 1934 – Earl Morrall, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1934 – Ronald Wayne, American computer scientist, co-founded Apple Inc.
  • 1935 – Dennis Potter, English voice actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
  • 1936 – Dennis Hopper, American actor and director (d. 2010)
  • 1937 – Hazel R. O’Leary, American lawyer and politician, 7th United States Secretary of Energy
  • 1938 – Jason Bernard, American actor (d. 1996)
  • 1938 – Marcia Freedman, Israeli activist
  • 1938 – Pervis Jackson, American R&B bass singer (d. 2008)
  • 1939 – Hugh Dykes, Baron Dykes, English politician
  • 1939 – Gary Paulsen, American author
  • 1940 – Alan Kay, American computer scientist and academic
  • 1940 – Reynato Puno, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 22nd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
  • 1941 – David Cope, American composer and author
  • 1941 – Ben Nelson, American lawyer and politician, 37th Governor of Nebraska
  • 1942 – Taj Mahal, American blues singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1943 – Sirajuddin of Perlis, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
  • 1943 – Johnny Warren, Australian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2004)
  • 1944 – Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2014)
  • 1945 – B.S. Chandrasekhar, Indian cricketer
  • 1945 – Tony Roche, Australian tennis player and coach
  • 1946 – Udo Lindenberg, German singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1947 – Stephen Platten, English bishop
  • 1948 – Dick Gaughan, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1949 – Bill Bruford, English drummer, songwriter, and producer
  • 1949 – Keith, American pop singer
  • 1950 – Howard Ashman, American playwright and composer (d. 1991)
  • 1950 – Keith Bradley, Baron Bradley, English accountant and politician
  • 1950 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (d. 2008)
  • 1950 – Alan Johnson, English politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • 1950 – Valeriya Novodvorskaya, Russian journalist and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1951 – Simon Hughes, English lawyer and politician
  • 1952 – Howard Hampton, Canadian lawyer and politician
  • 1954 – Michael Roberts, South African-English jockey
  • 1955 – Bill Paxton, American actor and director (d. 2017)
  • 1955 – David Townsend, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
  • 1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer
  • 1956 – Annise Parker, American politician
  • 1956 – Bob Saget, American comedian, actor, and television host
  • 1956 – Dave Sim, Canadian cartoonist and author
  • 1957 – Pascual Pérez, Dominican baseball player (d. 2012)
  • 1958 – Paul Di’Anno, English rock singer-songwriter
  • 1959 – Marcelo Loffreda, Argentine rugby player and coach
  • 1960 – Lou DiBella, American boxing promoter, actor, and producer
  • 1960 – Simon Fuller, English talent manager and producer, created the Idols series
  • 1961 – Enya, Irish singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1961 – Jamil Azzaoui, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1961 – Justin King, English businessman
  • 1962 – Lise Lyng Falkenberg, Danish journalist and author
  • 1962 – Andrew Farrar, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1962 – Craig Ferguson, Scottish-American comedian, actor, and talk show host
  • 1962 – Jane Moore, English journalist and author
  • 1962 – Rosalind Picard, American computer scientist and engineer, co-founded Affectiva
  • 1963 – Jon Koncak, American basketball player
  • 1963 – Page McConnell, American keyboard player and songwriter
  • 1964 – Stratos Apostolakis, Greek footballer and coach
  • 1964 – Mauro Martini, Italian race car driver
  • 1964 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (d. 1999)
  • 1965 – Trent Reznor, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer
  • 1965 – Jeremy Vine, English journalist and author
  • 1966 – Qusay Hussein, Iraqi soldier and politician (d. 2003)
  • 1966 – Mark Kratzmann, Australian tennis player and coach
  • 1966 – Danny Manning, American basketball player and coach
  • 1966 – Gilles Quénéhervé, French sprinter
  • 1967 – Nancy Benoit, American professional wrestling valet and model (d. 2007)
  • 1967 – Mohamed Nasheed, Maldivian lawyer and politician 4th President of the Maldives
  • 1967 – Patrick Ortlieb, Austrian skier
  • 1968 – Dave Abbruzzese, American rock drummer and songwriter
  • 1969 – Keith Hill, English footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Hubert Davis, American basketball player and coach
  • 1970 – Jordan Knight, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1970 – Matt Lindland, American mixed martial artist, wrestler, and politician
  • 1970 – Jodie Rogers, Australian diver
  • 1970 – René Vilbre, Estonian director and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Mark Connors, Australian rugby player
  • 1971 – Shaun Hart, Australian footballer, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Stella Jongmans, Dutch athlete
  • 1971 – Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Dutch royal
  • 1971 – Gina Raimondo, Governor of Rhode Island
  • 1972 – Barry Hayles, English born Jamaican international footballer
  • 1973 – Josh Homme, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1974 – Andrea Corr, Irish singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress
  • 1974 – Wiki González, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1974 – Eddie Lewis, American international soccer player
  • 1975 – Marcelinho Paraíba, Brazilian footballer
  • 1975 – Alex Wright, German wrestler
  • 1976 – Kandi Burruss, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1976 – Shayne Dunley, Australian rugby league player
  • 1976 – José Guillén, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1976 – Daniel Komen, Kenyan runner
  • 1976 – Wang Leehom, American-Taiwanese singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and director
  • 1976 – Mayte Martínez, Spanish runner
  • 1976 – Kirsten Vlieghuis, Dutch freestyle swimmer
  • 1978 – John Foster, American baseball player and coach
  • 1978 – Paddy Kenny, English footballer
  • 1978 – Carlos Peña, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1978 – Magdalena Zděnovcová, Czech tennis player
  • 1979 – David Jarolím, Czech footballer
  • 1979 – Wayne Thomas, English footballer
  • 1980 – Davor Džalto, Bosnian historian and philosopher
  • 1980 – Fredrik Kessiakoff, Swedish cyclist
  • 1980 – Alistair Overeem, Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer
  • 1980 – Ariën van Weesenbeek, Dutch drummer
  • 1981 – Beñat Albizuri, Spanish cyclist
  • 1981 – Leon Osman, English footballer
  • 1981 – Lim Jeong-hee, South Korean singer
  • 1981 – Chris Skidmore, English historian and politician
  • 1981 – Giannis Taralidis, Greek footballer
  • 1982 – Matt Cassel, American football player
  • 1982 – Dan Hardy, English mixed martial artist
  • 1982 – Reiko Nakamura, Japanese swimmer
  • 1982 – Tony Parker, French-American basketball player
  • 1982 – Chloe Smith, English politician
  • 1983 – Channing Frye, American basketball player
  • 1983 – Chris Henry, American football player (d. 2009)
  • 1983 – Nicky Hofs, Dutch footballer
  • 1983 – Kevin Kingston, Australian rugby league player
  • 1983 – Jeremy Sowers, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Christian Bolaños, Costa Rican footballer
  • 1984 – Christine Ohuruogu, English runner
  • 1984 – Christine Robinson, Canadian water polo player
  • 1984 – Passenger, English singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1985 – Teófilo Gutiérrez, Colombian footballer
  • 1985 – Derek Hough, American actor, singer, and dancer
  • 1985 – Christine Nesbitt, Canadian speed skater
  • 1985 – Todd Redmond, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Matt Ryan, American football player
  • 1986 – Marius Činikas, Lithuanian footballer
  • 1986 – Timo Simonlatser, Estonian skier
  • 1986 – Jodie Taylor, English footballer
  • 1987 – Edvald Boasson Hagen, Norwegian cyclist
  • 1987 – Aleandro Rosi, Italian footballer
  • 1988 – Nikki Reed, American actress, singer, and screenwriter
  • 1988 – Jennison Myrie-Williams, English footballer
  • 1989 – Mose Masoe, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1989 – Rain Raadik, Estonian basketball player
  • 1989 – Tessa Virtue, Canadian ice dancer
  • 1990 – Fabian Giefer, German footballer
  • 1990 – Charlie Gubb, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1990 – Katrina Hart, English runner
  • 1990 – Guido Pella, Argentine tennis player
  • 1991 – Johanna Konta, Australian-English tennis player
  • 1991 – Adil Omar, Pakistani rapper and music producer
  • 1991 – Abigail Raye, Canadian field hockey player

Deaths on May 17

  • 528 – Empress Dowager Hu of Northern Wei
  • 528 – Yuan Yong, imperial prince of Northern Wei
  • 528 – Yuan Zhao, emperor of Northern Wei (b. 526)
  • 896 – Liu Jianfeng, Chinese warlord
  • 924 – Li Maozhen, Chinese warlord and king (b. 856)
  • 946 – Al-Qa’im bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (b. 893)
  • 1299 – Daumantas of Pskov, Lithuanian prince (b. c. 1240)
  • 1336 – Go-Fushimi, emperor of Japan (b. 1288)
  • 1365 – Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1328)
  • 1395 – Konstantin Dejanović/Constantine Dragaš, Serbian ruler (b. 1355)
  • 1464 – Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1427)
  • 1510 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (b. 1445)
  • 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, Welsh politician, Lord High Constable of England (b. 1478)
  • 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, English courtier and diplomat, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1504)
  • 1536 – William Brereton, English courtier (b. 1487)
  • 1536 – Henry Norris, English courtier (b. 1482)
  • 1546 – Philipp von Hutten, German explorer (b. 1511)
  • 1551 – Shin Saimdang, South Korean poet and calligraphist (b. 1504)
  • 1558 – Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Portuguese poet (b. 1485)
  • 1575 – Matthew Parker, English archbishop and academic (b. 1504)
  • 1606 – False Dmitriy I, pretender to the Russian throne (b. 1582)
  • 1607 – Anna d’Este, French princess (b. 1531)
  • 1626 – Joan Pau Pujol, Catalan organist and composer (b. 1570)
  • 1643 – Giovanni Picchi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1571)
  • 1727 – Catherine I of Russia (b. 1684)
  • 1729 – Samuel Clarke, English clergyman and philosopher (b. 1675)
  • 1765 – Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (b. 1713)
  • 1797 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French playwright and composer (b. 1719)
  • 1801 – William Heberden, English physician and scholar (b. 1710)
  • 1807 – John Gunby, American general (b. 1745)
  • 1809 – Leopold Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (b. 1722)
  • 1822 – Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, French general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1766)
  • 1829 – John Jay, American politician and diplomat, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1745)
  • 1838 – René Caillié, French explorer and author (b. 1799)
  • 1838 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French bishop and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1754)
  • 1839 – Archibald Alison, Scottish priest and author (b. 1757)
  • 1868 – Kondō Isami, Japanese commander (b. 1834)
  • 1875 – John C. Breckinridge, American lawyer and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States, Confederate States general (b. 1821)
  • 1879 – Asa Packer, American businessman, founded Lehigh University (b. 1805)
  • 1880 – Ziya Pasha, Greek author and translator (b. 1826)
  • 1886 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded the Deere & Company (b. 1804)
  • 1888 – Giacomo Zanella, Italian priest and poet (b. 1820)
  • 1911 – Frederick August Otto Schwarz, German-American businessman, founded FAO Schwarz (b. 1836)
  • 1916 – Boris Borisovich Golitsyn, Russian physicist and seismologist (b. 1862)
  • 1917 – Clara Ayres, American nurse (b. 1880)
  • 1917 – Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (b. 1829)
  • 1919 – Guido von List, Austrian-German journalist, author, and poet (b. 1848)
  • 1921 – Karl Mantzius, Danish actor and director (b. 1860)
  • 1922 – Dorothy Levitt, English racing driver and journalist (b. 1882)
  • 1927 – Harold Geiger, American pilot and lieutenant (b. 1884)
  • 1934 – Cass Gilbert, American architect (b. 1859)
  • 1935 – Paul Dukas, French composer, critic, and educator (b. 1865)
  • 1936 – Panagis Tsaldaris, Greek lawyer and politician, 124th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1868)
  • 1938 – Jakob Ehrlich, Czech-Austrian academic and politician (b. 1877)
  • 1943 – Johanna Elberskirchen, German author and activist (b. 1864)
  • 1947 – George Forbes, New Zealand farmer and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869)
  • 1951 – William Birdwood, Anglo-Indian field marshal (b. 1865)
  • 1960 – Jules Supervielle, Uruguayan-French poet and author (b. 1884)
  • 1963 – John Wilce, American football player, coach, and physician (b. 1888)
  • 1964 – Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-American psychologist and parapsychologist (b. 1895)
  • 1974 – Ernest Nash, German-American photographer and scholar (b. 1898)
  • 1977 – Charles E. Rosendahl, American admiral and pilot (b. 1892)
  • 1980 – Gündüz Kılıç, Turkish football player and coach (b. 1918)
  • 1985 – Abe Burrows, American director, composer, and author (b. 1910)
  • 1987 – Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, sociologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
  • 1992 – Lawrence Welk, American accordion player and bandleader (b. 1903)
  • 1995 – Toe Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1912)
  • 1996 – Kevin Gilbert, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1966)
  • 1999 – Bruce Fairbairn, Canadian trumpet player and producer (b. 1949)
  • 1999 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (b. 1966)
  • 2000 – Donald Coggan, English archbishop (b. 1909)
  • 2001 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (b. 1928)
  • 2001 – Frank G. Slaughter, American physician and author (b. 1908)
  • 2002 – László Kubala, Hungarian-Spanish footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1927)
  • 2002 – Aşık Mahzuni Şerif, Turkish poet and composer (b. 1940)
  • 2004 – Jørgen Nash, Danish poet and painter (b. 1920)
  • 2004 – Tony Randall, American actor (b. 1920)
  • 2004 – Ezzedine Salim, Iraqi politician (b. 1943)
  • 2005 – Frank Gorshin, American actor (b. 1934)
  • 2006 – Cy Feuer, American director, producer, and composer (b. 1911)
  • 2007 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (b. 1924)
  • 2007 – T. K. Doraiswamy, Indian poet and author (b. 1921)
  • 2009 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan journalist, author, and poet (b. 1920)
  • 2009 – Jung Seung-hye, South Korean journalist and producer (b. 1965)
  • 2010 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1924)
  • 2010 – Walasse Ting, Chinese-American painter and poet (b. 1929)
  • 2011 – Harmon Killebrew, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Gideon Ezra, Israeli geographer and politician, Israeli Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (b. 1937)
  • 2012 – Patrick Mafisango, Congolese-Rwandan footballer (b. 1980)
  • 2012 – Donna Summer, American singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
  • 2013 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (b. 1973)
  • 2013 – Peter Schulz, German politician, Mayor of Hamburg (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Ken Venturi, American golfer and sportscaster (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentine general and politician, 42nd President of Argentina (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Douangchay Phichit, Laotian politician (b. 1944)
  • 2014 – Thongbanh Sengaphone, Laotian politician (b. 1953)
  • 2017 – Todor Veselinović, Serbian football player and manager (b. 1930)
  • 2019 – Herman Wouk, American author (b. 1915)
  • 2020 – Lucky Peterson, American blues singer, keyboardist and guitarist (b. 1964)

Holidays and observances on May 17

  • Birthday of the Raja (Perlis)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Giulia Salzano
    • Paschal Baylon
    • William Hobart Hare (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Restituta
    • May 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Children’s Day (Norway)
  • Constitution Day (Nauru)
  • Norwegian Constitution Day
  • The earliest date on which Trinity Sunday can fall, while June 20 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. (Western Christianity)
  • Feast of ‘Aẓamat (Bahá’í Faith, day shifts with March Equinox, see List of observances set by the Baháʼí calendar)
  • Galician Literature Day or Día das Letras Galegas (Galicia)
  • National Day Against Homophobia (Canada)
  • International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia also known as IDAHOT
  • Liberation Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • Navy Day (Argentina)
  • World Hypertension Day
  • World Information Society Day (International)

May 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

  • 1009 – Lombard Revolt: Lombard forces led by Melus revolt in Bari against the Byzantine Catepanate of Italy.
  • 1271 – Ninth Crusade, Edward I of England disembarks at Acre.
  • 1386 – England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force.
  • 1450 – ‘Abd al-Latif (Timurid monarch) is assassinated.
  • 1540 – Hernando de Alarcón sets sail on an expedition to the Gulf of California.
  • 1662 – The figure who later became Mr. Punch makes his first recorded appearance in England.
  • 1671 – Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England’s Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.
  • 1726 – Five men arrested during a raid on Mother Clap’s molly house in London are executed at Tyburn.
  • 1763 – The Siege of Fort Detroit begins during Pontiac’s War against British forces.
  • 1864 – Second Schleswig War: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest surrenders his forces at Gainesville, Alabama.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation ending belligerent rights of the rebels and enjoining foreign nations to intern or expel Confederate ships.
  • 1873 – Der Krach: Vienna stock market crash heralds the Long Depression.
  • 1874 – The first horsebus makes its début in the city of Mumbai, traveling two routes.
  • 1877 – Mihail Kogălniceanu reads, in the Chamber of Deputies, the Declaration of Independence of Romania. This day became the Independence Day of Romania.
  • 1877 – A magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Peru kills 2,541, including some as far away as Hawaii and Japan.
  • 1887 – Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show opens in London.
  • 1901 – Australia opens its first national parliament in Melbourne.
  • 1904 – The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h).
  • 1911 – The works of Gabriele D’Annunzio are placed in the Index of Forbidden Books by the Vatican.
  • 1915 – World War I: Second Battle of Artois between German and French forces.
  • 1918 – World War I: Germany repels Britain’s second attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium.
  • 1920 – Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły celebrates its capture of Kiev with a victory parade on Khreshchatyk.
  • 1926 – Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd’s diary appears to cast some doubt on the claim.)
  • 1927 – Old Parliament House, Canberra officially opens.
  • 1936 – Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.
  • 1940 – World War II: The German submarine U-9 sinks the French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
  • 1941 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
  • 1942 – Holocaust: The SS executes 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast, Ukraine). The Zoludek Ghetto (in Belarus) is destroyed and all its inhabitants executed or deported.
  • 1945 – World War II: The final German Instrument of Surrender is signed at the Soviet headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst.
  • 1945 – World War II: The German occupation of the Channel Islands comes to an end.
  • 1946 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Umberto II.
  • 1948 – Czechoslovakia’s Ninth-of-May Constitution comes into effect.
  • 1949 – Rainier III becomes Prince of Monaco.
  • 1950 – Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, which according to him was indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations. This proposal, known as the “Schuman Declaration”, is considered by some people to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
  • 1955 – Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.
  • 1958 – Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo has world premiere in San Francisco.
  • 1960 – The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle’s Enovid, making Enovid the world’s first approved oral contraceptive pill.
  • 1961 – FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow gives his Wasteland Speech.
  • 1964 – Ngô Đình Cẩn, de facto ruler of central Vietnam under his brother President Ngô Đình Diệm before the family’s toppling, is executed.
  • 1969 – Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks.
  • 1970 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protesters demonstrate in front of the White House.
  • 1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.
  • 1977 – Hotel Polen fire: A disastrous fire burns down the Hotel Polen in Amsterdam causing 33 deaths and 21 severe injuries.
  • 1979 – Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000-strong Jewish community of Iran.
  • 1980 – In Florida, Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, making a 1,400-ft. section of the southbound span collapse. Thirty-five people in six cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water and die.
  • 1980 – In Norco, California, five masked gunmen hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.
  • 1987 – LOT Flight 5055 Tadeusz Kościuszko crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing all 183 people on board.
  • 1988 – New Parliament House, Canberra officially opens.
  • 1992 – Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
  • 1992 – Westray Mine disaster kills 26 workers in Nova Scotia, Canada.
  • 1994 – Disappearance of Cleashindra Hall in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
  • 2001 – In Ghana, 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of tear gas by police personnel at the stadium) that followed a controversial decision by the referee.
  • 2002 – The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.
  • 2012 – A Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft crashes into Mount Salak in West Java, Indonesia, killing 45 people.
  • 2015 – An Airbus A400M Atlas military transport aircraft crashes near the Spanish city of Seville with three people on board killed.
  • 2015 – Russia stages its biggest ever military parade in Moscow’s Red Square to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Victory Day.
  • 2018 – The historic defeat for Barisan Nasional, the governing coalition of Malaysia since the country’s independence in 1957 in 2018 Malaysian general election.
  • 2018 – At the height of the 2018 East Africa floods, the Patel dam breaks in Solai, Kenya, killing 48 people and displacing another 2000.

Births on May 9

  • 1147 – Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shōgun (d. 1199)
  • 1170 – Valdemar II of Denmark (d. 1241)
  • 1540 – Maharana Pratap, Indian ruler (d. 1597)
  • 1555 – Jerónima de la Asunción, Spanish Catholic nun and founder of the first monastery in Manila (d. 1630)
  • 1594 – Louis Henry, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg, military leader in the Thirty Years’ War (d. 1662)
  • 1617 – Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege (d. 1655)
  • 1740 – Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer and educator (probable; d. 1816)
  • 1746 – Gaspard Monge, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1818)
  • 1763 – János Batsányi, Hungarian-Austrian poet and author (d. 1845)
  • 1800 – John Brown, American activist (d. 1859)
  • 1801 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English politician, founded the town of Fleetwood (d. 1866)
  • 1814 – John Brougham, Irish-American actor and playwright (d. 1880)
  • 1823 – Frederick Weld, English-New Zealand politician, 6th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
  • 1824 – Jacob ben Moses Bachrach, Polish apologist and author (d. 1896)
  • 1825 – James Collinson, Victorian painter (d. 1881)
  • 1836 – Ferdinand Monoyer, French ophthalmologist, invented the Monoyer chart (d. 1912)
  • 1837 – Adam Opel, German engineer, founded the Opel Company (d. 1895)
  • 1845 – Gustaf de Laval, Swedish engineer and businessman (d. 1913)
  • 1850 – Edward Weston, English-American chemist (d. 1936)
  • 1855 – Julius Röntgen, German-Dutch composer (d. 1932)
  • 1860 – J. M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and playwright (d. 1937)
  • 1866 – Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Indian economist and politician (d. 1915)
  • 1870 – Harry Vardon, British golfer (d. 1937)
  • 1873 – Anton Cermak, Czech-American captain and politician, 44th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1933)
  • 1874 – Howard Carter, English archaeologist and historian (d. 1939)
  • 1882 – George Barker, American painter (d. 1965)
  • 1882 – Henry J. Kaiser, American shipbuilder and businessman, founded Kaiser Shipyards (d. 1967)
  • 1883 – José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher, author, and critic (d. 1955)
  • 1884 – Valdemar Psilander, Danish actor (d. 1917)
  • 1885 – Gianni Vella, Maltese artist (d. 1977)
  • 1888 – Francesco Baracca, Italian fighter pilot (d. 1918)
  • 1888 – Rolf de Maré, Swedish art collector (d. 1964)
  • 1892 – Zita of Bourbon-Parma, last Empress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1989)
  • 1893 – William Moulton Marston, American psychologist and author (d. 1947)
  • 1895 – Richard Barthelmess, American actor (d. 1963)
  • 1895 – Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (d. 1961)
  • 1895 – Frank Foss, American pole vaulter (d. 1989)
  • 1896 – Richard Day, Canadian-American art director and set decorator (d. 1972)
  • 1900 – Maria Malicka, Polish stage and film actress (d. 1992)
  • 1904 – Conrad Bernier, Canadian-American organist, composer, and educator (d. 1988)
  • 1905 – Lilí Álvarez, Spanish tennis player, author, and feminist (d. 1998)
  • 1906 – Eleanor Estes, American librarian, author, and illustrator (d. 1988)
  • 1907 – Jackie Grant, Trinidadian cricketer (d. 1978)
  • 1907 – Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist and author (d. 1976)
  • 1907 – Baldur von Schirach, German politician (d. 1974)
  • 1909 – Don Messer, Canadian violinist (d. 1973)
  • 1909 – Gordon Bunshaft, American architect, designed the Solow Building (d. 1990)
  • 1911 – Harry Simeone, American music arranger, conductor, and composer (d. 2005)
  • 1912 – Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican-American actor (d. 1963)
  • 1912 – Per Imerslund, Norwegian-German soldier and author (d. 1943)
  • 1912 – Géza Ottlik, Hungarian mathematician and theorist (d. 1990)
  • 1914 – Patricia Swift Blalock, American librarian (d.2011)
  • 1914 – Denham Fouts, American prostitute (d. 1948)
  • 1914 – Thanat Khoman, Thai politician and diplomat (d. 2016)
  • 1914 – Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian conductor and director (d. 2005)
  • 1914 – Hank Snow, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
  • 1916 – William Pène du Bois, American author and illustrator (d. 1993)
  • 1917 – Fay Kanin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
  • 1918 – Moisis Michail Bourlas, Greek soldier and educator (d. 2011)
  • 1918 – Orville Freeman, American soldier and politician, 16th United States Secretary of Agriculture (d. 2003)
  • 1918 – Mike Wallace, American journalist, media personality and one-time game show host (d. 2012)
  • 1919 – Clifford Chadderton, Canadian soldier and journalist (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – William Tenn, English-American author and academic (d. 2010)
  • 1920 – Richard Adams, English novelist (d. 2016)
  • 1921 – Daniel Berrigan, American priest, poet, and activist (d. 2016)
  • 1921 – Sophie Scholl, German activist (d. 1943)
  • 1921 – Mona Van Duyn, American poet and academic (d. 2004)
  • 1923 – Johnny Grant, American radio host and producer (d. 2008)
  • 1924 – Bulat Okudzhava, Russian singer, poet, and author (d. 1997)
  • 1926 – John Middleton Murry, Jr., English soldier, pilot, and author (d. 2002)
  • 1927 – Manfred Eigen, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Ralph Goings, American painter (d. 2016)
  • 1928 – Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (d. 1995)
  • 1928 – Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Joan Sims, English actress (d. 2001)
  • 1930 – Kalifa Tillisi, Libyan historian and linguist (d. 2010)
  • 1931 – Vance D. Brand, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut
  • 1932 – Conrad Hunte, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1999)
  • 1934 – Alan Bennett, English screenwriter, playwright, and novelist
  • 1935 – Nokie Edwards, American guitarist (d. 2018)
  • 1935 – Roger Hargreaves, English author and illustrator (d. 1988)
  • 1936 – Terry Downes, British boxer and former world middle-weight champion (d. 2017)
  • 1936 – Albert Finney, English actor (d. 2019)
  • 1936 – Glenda Jackson, English actress and politician
  • 1937 – Sonny Curtis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1937 – Rafael Moneo, Spanish architect, designed the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and Valladolid Science Museum
  • 1937 – Dave Prater, American singer (d. 1988)
  • 1938 – Charles Simić, Serbian-American poet and editor
  • 1939 – Ralph Boston, American long jumper
  • 1939 – Ion Țiriac, Romanian tennis player and manager
  • 1939 – Ken Warby, Australian motorboat racer
  • 1939 – Giorgio Zancanaro, Italian baritone
  • 1939 – John Ogbu, Nigerian-American anthropologist and professor (d. 2003)
  • 1940 – James L. Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1941 – Dorothy Hyman, English sprinter
  • 1941 – Danny Rapp, American musician (d. 1983)
  • 1942 – John Ashcroft, American lawyer and politician, 79th United States Attorney General
  • 1942 – Tommy Roe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1943 – Vince Cable, English economist and politician, former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
  • 1943 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish historian and journalist (d. 2009)
  • 1943 – Colin Pillinger, English astronomer, chemist, and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Richie Furay, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1945 – Gamal El-Ghitani, Egyptian journalist and author (d. 2015)
  • 1945 – Jupp Heynckes, German footballer and manager
  • 1945 – Steve Katz, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1946 – Candice Bergen, American actress and producer
  • 1946 – Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, Turkish author and activist (d. 2002)
  • 1947 – Yukiya Amano, Japanese diplomat (d. 2019)
  • 1948 – Hans Georg Bock, German mathematician, computer scientist, and academic
  • 1948 – John Mahaffey, American golfer
  • 1948 – Steven W. Mosher, American social scientist and author
  • 1948 – Calvin Murphy, American basketball player and radio host
  • 1949 – Billy Joel, American singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1949 – Richard S. Williamson, American lawyer and diplomat, 17th Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (d. 2013)
  • 1951 – Alley Mills, American actress
  • 1953 – Bruno Brokken, Belgian high jumper
  • 1955 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (d. 2012)
  • 1955 – Anne Sofie von Otter, Swedish soprano and actress
  • 1956 – Wendy Crewson, Canadian actress and producer
  • 1956 – Jana Wendt, Australian television host
  • 1958 – Graham Smith, Canadian swimmer
  • 1959 – Andrew Jones, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1960 – Tony Gwynn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1961 – Sean Altman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1961 – John Corbett, American actor
  • 1962 – Dave Gahan, English singer-songwriter
  • 1962 – Paul Heaton, English singer-songwriter
  • 1963 – Joe Cirella, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1965 – Ken Nomura, Japanese race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1965 – Steve Yzerman, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
  • 1966 – Mark Tinordi, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1968 – Masahiko Harada, Japanese ski jumper
  • 1968 – Graham Harman, American philosopher and academic
  • 1968 – Ruth Kelly, British economist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
  • 1968 – Marie-José Pérec, French sprinter
  • 1968 – Neil Ruddock, English international footballer and television personality
  • 1970 – Doug Christie, American basketball player
  • 1970 – Hao Haidong, Chinese footballer & all time top scorer for Chinese national team
  • 1970 – Ghostface Killah, American rapper and actor
  • 1971 – Jason Lee, English footballer and manager
  • 1971 – Dan Chiasson, American poet and critic
  • 1972 – Megumi Odaka, Japanese actress and singer
  • 1973 – Tegla Loroupe, Kenyan runner
  • 1973 – Leonard Myles-Mills, Ghanaian sprinter
  • 1975 – Tamia, Canadian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1975 – Brian Deegan, American motocross rider
  • 1977 – Averno, Mexican wrestler
  • 1977 – Marek Jankulovski, Czech footballer
  • 1977 – Svein Tuft, Canadian cyclist
  • 1978 – Leandro Cufré, Argentinian footballer
  • 1978 – Santiago Dellapè, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
  • 1978 – Aaron Harang, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Marwan al-Shehhi, Emirati terrorist (d. 2001)
  • 1979 – Pierre Bouvier, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1979 – Rosario Dawson, American actress
  • 1979 – Andrew W.K., American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, motivational speaker, and music producer
  • 1980 – Grant Hackett, Australian swimmer
  • 1980 – Angela Nikodinov, American figure skater
  • 1980 – Tony Schmidt, German race car driver
  • 1980 – Jo Hyun-jae, South Korean actor
  • 1981 – Bill Murphy, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Evangelos Tsiolis, Greek footballer
  • 1983 – Giacomo Brichetto, Italian footballer
  • 1983 – Alan Campbell, British sculler
  • 1983 – Christos Marangos, Cypriot footballer
  • 1983 – Ryuhei Matsuda, Japanese actor
  • 1983 – Gilles Müller, Luxembourgian tennis player
  • 1983 – Tyler Lumsden, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Leandro Rinaudo, Italian footballer
  • 1984 – Prince Fielder, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Chase Headley, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Jake Long, American football player
  • 1985 – Henrique Andrade Silva, Brazilian footballer
  • 1987 – Scott Bolton, Australian rugby league player
  • 1987 – Kevin Gameiro, French footballer
  • 1987 – Vitaliy Pushkar, Ukrainian race car driver
  • 1988 – J. R. Fitzpatrick, Canadian race car driver
  • 1989 – Ellen White, English footballer
  • 1991 – Majlinda Kelmendi, Kosovar judoka
  • 1992 – Dan Burn, English footballer
  • 1996 – Saron Läänmäe, Estonian footballer
  • 1996 – Grace Reid, Scottish diver

Deaths on May 9

  • 729 – Osric, king of Northumbria
  • 893 – Shi Pu, warlord of the Tang Dynasty
  • 909 – Adalgar, archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen
  • 934 – Wang Sitong, Chinese general and governor (b. 892)
  • 1280 – Magnus VI of Norway
  • 1315 – Hugh V, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1282)
  • 1329 – John Drokensford, Bishop of Bath and Wells
  • 1443 – Niccolò Albergati, Italian Cardinal and diplomat (b. 1373)
  • 1446 – Mary of Enghien (b. 1368)
  • 1590 – Charles de Bourbon French cardinal and pretender to the throne (b. 1523)
  • 1657 – William Bradford, English-American politician, 2nd Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1590)
  • 1707 – Dieterich Buxtehude, German-Danish organist and composer (b. 1637)
  • 1736 – Diogo de Mendonça Corte-Real, Portuguese judge and politician (b. 1658)
  • 1745 – Tomaso Antonio Vitali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1663)
  • 1747 – John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish field marshal and diplomat, British Ambassador to France (b. 1673)
  • 1760 – Nicolaus Zinzendorf, German bishop and saint (b. 1700)
  • 1789 – Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French general and engineer (b. 1715)
  • 1790 – William Clingan, American politician (b. 1721)
  • 1791 – Francis Hopkinson, American judge and politician (b. 1737)
  • 1805 – Friedrich Schiller, German poet, playwright, and historian (b. 1759)
  • 1850 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (b. 1778)
  • 1850 – Garlieb Merkel, Estonian author and activist (b. 1769)
  • 1861 – Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philologist and politician (b. 1805)
  • 1864 – John Sedgwick, American general and educator (b. 1813)
  • 1889 – William S. Harney, American general (b. 1800)
  • 1906 – Oscar von Gebhardt, German theologian and academic (b. 1844)
  • 1914 – C. W. Post, American businessman, founded Post Foods (b. 1854)
  • 1915 – François Faber, Luxembourgian-French cyclist and soldier (b. 1887)
  • 1915 – Anthony Wilding, New Zealand tennis player and cricketer (b. 1883)
  • 1918 – George Coșbuc, Romanian journalist and poet (b. 1866)
  • 1931 – Albert Abraham Michelson, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
  • 1933 – John Arthur Jarvis, English swimmer (b. 1872)
  • 1935 – Ernst Bresslau, German zoologist (b. 1877)
  • 1938 – Thomas B. Thrige, Danish businessman (b. 1866)
  • 1942 – Józef Cebula, Polish priest and saint (b. 1902)
  • 1944 – Han Yong-un, Korean poet and social reformer (b. 1879)
  • 1949 – Louis II, Prince of Monaco (b. 1870)
  • 1950 – Esteban Terradas i Illa, Spanish mathematician and engineer (b. 1883)
  • 1957 – Ernest de Silva, Sri Lankan banker and businessman (b. 1887)
  • 1957 – Ezio Pinza, Italian actor and singer (b. 1892)
  • 1959 – Bhaurao Patil, Indian activist and educator (b. 1887)
  • 1965 – Leopold Figl, Austrian engineer and politician, 18th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1902)
  • 1968 – Mercedes de Acosta, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1893)
  • 1968 – Harold Gray, American cartoonist, created Little Orphan Annie (b. 1894)
  • 1968 – Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1883)
  • 1968 – Finlay Currie, British actor (b. 1878)
  • 1970 – Walter Reuther, American union leader (b. 1907)
  • 1976 – Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1920)
  • 1976 – Ulrike Meinhof, German militant, co-founded the Red Army Faction (b. 1934)
  • 1977 – James Jones, American novelist (b. 1921)
  • 1978 – Giuseppe Impastato, Italian journalist and activist (b. 1948)
  • 1978 – Aldo Moro, Italian lawyer and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
  • 1979 – Cyrus S. Eaton, Canadian-American banker, businessman, and philanthropist (b. 1883)
  • 1979 – Eddie Jefferson, American singer and lyricist (b. 1918)
  • 1980 – Kate Molale, South African activist (b. 1928)
  • 1981 – Nelson Algren, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1909)
  • 1983 – Henry Bachtold, Australian soldier and railway engineer (b. 1891)
  • 1985 – Edmond O’Brien, American actor and director (b. 1915)
  • 1986 – Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1914)
  • 1987 – Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
  • 1993 – Penelope Gilliatt, English novelist, short story writer, and critic (b. 1932)
  • 1994 – Elias Motsoaledi, South African activist (b. 1924)
  • 1997 – Rawya Ateya, Egyptian captain and politician (b. 1926)
  • 1997 – Marco Ferreri, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
  • 1998 – Alice Faye, American actress and singer (b. 1915)
  • 1998 – Talat Mahmood, Indian singer and actor (b. 1924)
  • 2003 – Russell B. Long, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1918)
  • 2004 – Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen cleric and politician, 1st President of the Chechen Republic (b. 1951)
  • 2004 – Alan King, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
  • 2004 – Brenda Fassie, South African singer (b. 1964)
  • 2007 – Dwight Wilson, Canadian soldier (b. 1901)
  • 2008 – Jack Gibson, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1929)
  • 2008 – Baptiste Manzini, American football player (b. 1920)
  • 2008 – Nuala O’Faolain, Irish journalist and producer (b. 1942)
  • 2008 – Pascal Sevran, French singer, television host, and author (b. 1945)
  • 2009 – Chuck Daly, American basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2010 – Lena Horne, American singer, actress, and activist (b. 1917)
  • 2010 – Otakar Motejl, Czech lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2011 – Wouter Weylandt, Belgian cyclist (b. 1984)
  • 2012 – Bertram Cohler, American psychologist, psychoanalyst, and academic (b. 1938)
  • 2012 – Geoffrey Henry, Cook Islander lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Cook Islands (b. 1940)
  • 2012 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser and businessman (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Ramón Blanco Rodríguez, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1952)
  • 2013 – George M. Leader, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Humberto Lugo Gil, Mexican lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Hidalgo (b. 1933)
  • 2013 – Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer, founded Missoni (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Giacomo Bini, Italian priest and missionary (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – Nedurumalli Janardhana Reddy, Indian politician, 12th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Mary Stewart, English-Scottish author and poet (b. 1916)
  • 2015 – Edward W. Estlow, American football player and journalist (b. 1920)
  • 2015 – Kenan Evren, Turkish general and politician, 7th President of Turkey (b. 1917)
  • 2015 – Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (b. 1921)
  • 2017 – Robert Miles, a Swiss-born Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ (b. 1969)
  • 2018 – Per Kirkeby, Danish painter, poet, film maker and sculptor (b. 1938)
  • 2019 – Freddie Starr, English comedian, impressionist, singer and actor (1943)
  • 2020 – Little Richard, American singer, songwriter, and pianist (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances on May 9

  • Anniversary of Dianetics (Church of Scientology)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Beatus of Lungern
    • Beatus of Vendome
    • Christopher (Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • George Preca
    • Gerontius of Cervia
    • Gregory of Nazianzen (The Episcopal Church (US) and traditional Roman Catholic calendar)
    • Nicolaus Zinzendorf (Lutheran)
    • Pachomius the Great
    • Tudy of Landevennec
    • May 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Commemoration of the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands related observances:
    • Liberation Day, commemorating the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. (Guernsey and Jersey)
    • National Day (Alderney)
  • Europe Day, commemorating the Schuman Declaration. (European Union)
  • Victory Day observances, celebration of the Soviet Union victory over Nazi Germany (Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan)
    • Victory and Peace Day, marks the capture of Shusha (1992) in the Nagorno-Karabakh War, and the end of World War II. (Armenia)
    • Victory Day over Nazism in World War II (Ukraine)

May 9 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

  • 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance.
  • 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish.
  • 1536 – King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose.
  • 1542 – Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
  • 1659 – English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.
  • 1682 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.
  • 1757 – Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years’ War.
  • 1757 – The end of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, and the end of Burmese Civil War (1740–1757).
  • 1757 – English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.
  • 1782 – Construction begins on the Grand Palace, the royal residence of the King of Siam in Bangkok, at the command of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
  • 1801 – Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
  • 1835 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
  • 1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • 1857 – The East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British in the lead up to the War of Indian Independence.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by the Army of Northern Virginia.
  • 1877 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
  • 1882 – Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed to death by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park, Dublin.
  • 1882 – The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
  • 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
  • 1906 – The Russian Constitution of 1906 is adopted (on April 23 by the Julian calendar).
  • 1910 – George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII.
  • 1915 – Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.
  • 1916 – Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs’ Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha.
  • 1916 – Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tân is captured while calling upon the people to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Réunion island.
  • 1933 – The Deutsche Studentenschaft attacked Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books.
  • 1935 – New Deal: Under the authority of the newly-enacted Federal Emergency Relief Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 7034 to create the Works Progress Administration.
  • 1937 – Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
  • 1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
  • 1941 – At California’s March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
  • 1941 – The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
  • 1942 – World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
  • 1945 – World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
  • 1949 – EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.
  • 1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
  • 1960 – More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
  • 1966 – Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England.
  • 1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
  • 1975 – During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian Genocide.
  • 1976 – The 6.5 Mw  Friuli earthquake affected Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900–978 dead and 1,700–2,400 injured.
  • 1983 – The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.
  • 1984 – One hundred three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.
  • 1988 – All thirty-six passengers and crew were killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashed into Mt. Torghatten in Brønnøy.
  • 1994 – Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
  • 1996 – The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
  • 1997 – The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank’s 300-year history.
  • 1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.
  • 1998 – Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac.
  • 1999 – The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.
  • 2001 – During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
  • 2002 – Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio-interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum.
  • 2010 – In just 36 minutes, the Dow-Jones average plunged nearly 1000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.
  • 2013 – Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

Births on May 6

  • 973 – Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1024)
  • 1464 – Sophia Jagiellon, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Polish princess (d. 1512)
  • 1493 – Girolamo Seripando, Italian theologian and cardinal (d. 1563)
  • 1501 – Marcellus II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1555)
  • 1574 – Innocent X, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1655)
  • 1580 – Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, French noble (d. 1637)
  • 1635 – Johann Joachim Becher, German physician and alchemist (d. 1682)
  • 1668 – Alain-René Lesage, French author and playwright (d. 1747)
  • 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Stuck, Italian-French cellist and composer (d. 1755)
  • 1713 – Charles Batteux, French philosopher and academic (d. 1780)
  • 1714 – Anton Raaff, German tenor (d. 1797)
  • 1742 – Jean Senebier, Swiss pastor and physiologist (d. 1809)
  • 1758 – André Masséna, French general (d. 1817)
  • 1758 – Maximilien Robespierre, French lawyer and politician (d. 1794)
  • 1769 – Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
  • 1769 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
  • 1781 – Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher and author (d. 1832)
  • 1797 – Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
  • 1800 – Roman Sanguszko, Polish general (d. 1881)
  • 1827 – Hermann Raster, German-American journalist and politician (d. 1891)
  • 1836 – Max Eyth, German engineer and author (d. 1906)
  • 1843 – Grove Karl Gilbert, American geologist and academic (d. 1918)
  • 1848 – Henry Edward Armstrong, English chemist and academic (d. 1937)
  • 1851 – Aristide Bruant, French singer and actor (d. 1925)
  • 1856 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1939)
  • 1856 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (d. 1920)
  • 1861 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (d. 1931)
  • 1868 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (d. 1927)
  • 1869 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and central banker, 8th and 11th Governor of the Bank of Japan (d. 1932)
  • 1870 – Walter Rutherford, Scottish golfer (d. 1936)
  • 1871 – Victor Grignard, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
  • 1871 – Christian Morgenstern, German author and poet (d. 1914)
  • 1872 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1934)
  • 1872 – Djemal Pasha, Ottoman general (d. 1922)
  • 1879 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
  • 1879 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (d. 1929)
  • 1880 – Winifred Brunton, English-South African painter and illustrator (d. 1959)
  • 1880 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German-Swiss painter (d. 1938)
  • 1883 – Alberto Collo, Italian actor (d. 1955)
  • 1895 – Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian mathematician and author (d. 1974)
  • 1895 – Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian soldier and politician, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture (d. 1946)
  • 1895 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
  • 1896 – Rolf Maximilian Sievert, Swedish physicist and academic (d. 1966)
  • 1897 – Paul Alverdes, German author and poet (d. 1979)
  • 1898 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1945)
  • 1902 – Harry Golden, Ukrainian-American journalist and author (d. 1981)
  • 1902 – Max Ophüls, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1957)
  • 1903 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (d. 1977)
  • 1904 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (d. 1984)
  • 1904 – Catherine Lacey, English actress (d. 1979)
  • 1904 – Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
  • 1905 – Philip N. Krasne, American lawyer and producer (d. 1999)
  • 1906 – André Weil, French mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1907 – Weeb Ewbank, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
  • 1911 – Guy des Cars, French journalist and author (d. 1993)
  • 1913 – Carmen Cavallaro, American pianist (d. 1989)
  • 1913 – Stewart Granger, English-American actor (d. 1993)
  • 1915 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1985)
  • 1915 – Theodore H. White, American historian, journalist, and author (d. 1986)
  • 1916 – Robert H. Dicke, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1997)
  • 1917 – Kal Mann, American songwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1918 – Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi and first president of the United Arab Emirates (d. 2004)
  • 1919 – André Guelfi, French race car driver (d. 2016)
  • 1920 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Fiji (d. 2004)
  • 1920 – Marguerite Piazza, American soprano and actress (d. 2012)
  • 1921 – Erich Fried, Austrian-German author, poet, and translator (d. 1988)
  • 1922 – Camille Laurin, Canadian psychiatrist and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1999)
  • 1923 – Harry Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2002)
  • 1924 – Nestor Basterretxea, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 2014)
  • 1924 – Patricia Helen Kennedy, American socialite, activist, and author (d. 2006)
  • 1924 – Denny Wright, English guitarist, composer, and producer (d. 1992)
  • 1926 – Gilles Grégoire, Canadian politician, co-founded the Parti Québécois (d. 2006)
  • 1929 – Rosemary Cramp, English archaeologist and academic
  • 1929 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
  • 1929 – John Taylor, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
  • 1931 – Willie Mays, American baseball player and coach
  • 1931 – Louis Gambaccini, American government official (d. 2018)
  • 1932 – Ahmet Haxhiu, Kosovan activist (d. 1994)
  • 1932 – Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2020)
  • 1934 – Richard Shelby, American lawyer and politician
  • 1937 – Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (d. 2014)
  • 1938 – Jean Garon, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1939 – Eddie C. Campbell, American singer and guitarist (d. 2018)
  • 1939 – Chet Allen, American child actor (d. 1984)
  • 1942 – Ariel Dorfman, Argentinian author, playwright, and academic
  • 1943 – Andreas Baader, German terrorist, co-founded the Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
  • 1943 – Milton William Cooper, American theorist and author (d. 2001)
  • 1943 – Wolfgang Reinhardt, German pole vaulter (d. 2011)
  • 1943 – James Turrell, American sculptor and illustrator
  • 1944 – Anton Furst, English-American production designer and art director (d. 1991)
  • 1944 – Masanori Murakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
  • 1945 – Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American country singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and producer
  • 1945 – Bob Seger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1947 – Alan Dale, New Zealand actor
  • 1947 – Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher and author
  • 1947 – Ljubomir Vračarević, Serbian martial artist, founded Real Aikido (d. 2013)
  • 1948 – Frankie Librán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2013)
  • 1950 – Jeffery Deaver, American journalist and author
  • 1951 – Samuel Doe, Liberian sergeant and politician, 21st President of Liberia (d. 1990)
  • 1952 – Gerrit Zalm, Dutch economist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
  • 1953 – Alexander Akimov, Ukrainian Chernobyl worker (d. 1986)
  • 1953 – Tony Blair, British politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • 1953 – Michelle Courchesne, Canadian urban planner and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
  • 1953 – Ülle Rajasalu, Estonian politician
  • 1953 – Graeme Souness, Scottish international footballer and manager
  • 1953 – Lynn Whitfield, American actress and producer
  • 1954 – Tom Abernethy, American basketball player
  • 1954 – Dora Bakoyannis, Greek politician, 120th Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs
  • 1954 – Angela Hernández Nuñez, Dominican author and poet
  • 1954 – Ain Lutsepp, Estonian actor and politician
  • 1955 – Nicholas Alexander, 7th Earl of Caledon, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Armagh
  • 1955 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
  • 1955 – John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness, English academic and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
  • 1956 – Lakis Lazopoulos, Greek actor and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Cindy Lovell, American educator and writer
  • 1956 – Roland Wieser, German race walker and coach
  • 1958 – Randall Stout, American architect, designed the Taubman Museum of Art (d. 2014)
  • 1959 – Andreas Busse, German runner
  • 1959 – Charles Hendry, English politician
  • 1960 – Lyudmila Andonova, Bulgarian high jumper
  • 1960 – Keith Dowding, English political scientist, philosopher, and academic
  • 1960 – Roma Downey, Irish-American actress and producer
  • 1960 – John Flansburgh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1960 – Aleksei Lotman, Estonian biologist and politician
  • 1960 – Anne Parillaud, French actress
  • 1961 – Oleksandr Apaychev, Ukrainian decathlete and coach
  • 1961 – George Clooney, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1961 – Tom Hunter, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
  • 1961 – Gina Riley, Australian actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1961 – Frans Timmermans, Dutch politician and diplomat, First Vice President of the European Commission
  • 1962 – Tom Brake, English politician
  • 1962 – Brad Izzard, Australian rugby league player
  • 1963 – Alessandra Ferri, Italian ballerina
  • 1965 – Leslie Hope, Canadian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Worku Bikila, Ethiopian runner
  • 1968 – Lætitia Sadier, French singer and keyboard player
  • 1969 – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Roland Kun, Nauruan politician
  • 1970 – Kavan Smith, Canadian actor
  • 1971 – Chris Shiflett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1972 – Martin Brodeur, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1972 – Naoko Takahashi, Japanese runner
  • 1974 – Bernard Barmasai, Kenyan runner
  • 1974 – Daniela Bártová, Czech pole vaulter and gymnast
  • 1975 – Alan Richardson, English cricketer and coach
  • 1976 – Dean Chandler, English footballer
  • 1976 – Iván de la Peña, Spanish footballer
  • 1977 – Christophe Brandt, Belgian cyclist
  • 1977 – Marc Chouinard, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1977 – Mark Eaton, American ice hockey player and coach
  • 1977 – Chantelle Newbery, Australian diver
  • 1978 – John Abraham, American football player
  • 1978 – Tony Estanguet, French slalom canoeist
  • 1978 – Fredrick Federley, Swedish journalist and politician
  • 1978 – Alexandr Fedorov, Russian bodybuilder
  • 1979 – Gerd Kanter, Estonian discus thrower
  • 1979 – Jan Erik Mikalsen, Norwegian composer
  • 1979 – Jon Montgomery, Canadian skeleton racer and television host
  • 1980 – Brooke Bennett, American swimmer
  • 1980 – Dimitris Diamantidis, Greek professional basketball player
  • 1980 – Ricardo Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
  • 1980 – Matthew Whiley, English cricketer
  • 1982 – Jason Witten, American football player
  • 1983 – Dani Alves, Brazilian footballer
  • 1983 – Ingrid Jonach, Australian author
  • 1983 – Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
  • 1983 – Trinley Thaye Dorje, Tibetan religious leader, the 17th Karmapa Lama
  • 1983 – Fredrik Sjöström, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Anton Babchuk, Ukrainian ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Juan Pablo Carrizo, Argentinian footballer
  • 1985 – Chris Paul, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Goran Dragic, Slovenian basketball player
  • 1987 – Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer
  • 1987 – Meek Mill, American rapper
  • 1987 – Adrienne Warren, American actress
  • 1988 – Ryan Anderson, American basketball player
  • 1988 – Dakota Kai, New Zealander profesional wrestler
  • 1989 – Dominika Cibulková, Slovak tennis player
  • 1989 – Jesse Hughes, Canadian DJ and producer
  • 1990 – José Altuve, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1992 – Brendan Gallagher, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Byun Baekhyun, South Korean musician and actor
  • 1992 – Jonas Valančiūnas, Lithuanian professional basketball player
  • 1993 – Gustavo Gómez, Paraguayan footballer
  • 1994 – Mateo Kovačić, Austrian-Croatian footballer
  • 1997 – Duncan Scott, Scottish swimmer
  • 2019 – Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, British royal

Deaths on May 6

  • 698 – Eadberht, bishop of Lindisfarne
  • 850 – Ninmyō, Japanese emperor (b. 808)
  • 932 – Qian Liu, Chinese warlord and king (b. 852)
  • 988 – Dirk II, count of Frisia and Holland
  • 1002 – Ealdwulf, Archbishop of York, Abbot of Peterborough and Bishop of Worcester
  • 1187 – Ruben III, Prince of Armenia (b. 1145)
  • 1236 – Roger of Wendover, Benedictine monk and chronicler
  • 1471 – Edmund Beaufort, English commander (b. 1438)
  • 1471 – Thomas Tresham, Speaker of the House of Commons
  • 1475 – Dieric Bouts, Flemish painter (b. 1415)
  • 1483 – Queen Jeonghui, Korean regent (b. 1418)
  • 1502 – James Tyrrell, English knight (b. 1450)
  • 1527 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, Count of Montpensier and Dauphin of Auvergne (b.1490)
  • 1540 – Juan Luís Vives, Spanish scholar (b. 1492)
  • 1596 – Giaches de Wert, Flemish-Italian composer (b. 1535)
  • 1631 – Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, English historian and politician, founded the Cotton library (b. 1570)
  • 1638 – Cornelius Jansen, Dutch-French bishop and theologian (b. 1585)
  • 1708 – François de Laval, French-Canadian bishop (b. 1623)
  • 1757 – Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1683)
  • 1757 – Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)
  • 1782 – Christine Kirch, German astronomer and academic (b. 1696)
  • 1840 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (b. 1792)
  • 1859 – Alexander von Humboldt, German geographer and explorer (b. 1769)
  • 1862 – Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1817)
  • 1877 – Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Swedish-Finnish poet and hymn-writer (b. 1804)
  • 1882 – Thomas Henry Burke, Irish civil servant (b. 1829)
  • 1882 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, British politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1836)
  • 1902 – Bret Harte, American author and poet (b. 1836)
  • 1905 – Robert Herbert, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Queensland (b. 1831)
  • 1907 – Emanuele Luigi Galizia, Maltese architect and civil engineer (b. 1830)
  • 1910 – Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
  • 1919 – L. Frank Baum, American novelist (b. 1856)
  • 1939 – Konstantin Somov, Russian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1869)
  • 1949 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian-French poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
  • 1951 – Élie Cartan, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1869)
  • 1952 – Maria Montessori, Italian-Dutch physician and educator (b. 1870)
  • 1959 – Maria Dulęba, Polish actress (b. 1881)
  • 1959 – Ragnar Nurkse, Estonian-American economist and academic (b. 1907)
  • 1961 – Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
  • 1963 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (b. 1881)
  • 1963 – Ted Weems, American violinist, trombonist, and bandleader (b. 1901)
  • 1963 – Monty Woolley, American raconteur, actor, and director (b. 1888)
  • 1967 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (b. 1885)
  • 1970 – Alexander Rodzyanko, Russian general (b. 1879)
  • 1973 – Ernest MacMillan, Canadian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
  • 1975 – József Mindszenty, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1892)
  • 1980 – María Luisa Bombal, Chilean writer (b. 1910)
  • 1983 – Ezra Jack Keats, American author and illustrator (b. 1916)
  • 1983 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (b. 1922)
  • 1984 – Mary Cain, American journalist and politician (b. 1904)
  • 1984 – Bonner Pink, English politician (b. 1912)
  • 1987 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1913)
  • 1989 – Earl Blaik, American football player and coach (b. 1897)
  • 1990 – Charles Farrell, American actor (b. 1901)
  • 1991 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (b. 1903)
  • 1992 – Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress and singer (b. 1901)
  • 1993 – Ann Todd, English actress and producer (b. 1909)
  • 1995 – Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1956)
  • 2000 – Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and academic (b. 1920)
  • 2002 – Murray Adaskin, Canadian violinist, composer, conductor, and educator (b. 1906)
  • 2002 – Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1932)
  • 2002 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician (b. 1948)
  • 2002 – Bjørn Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist (b. 1940)
  • 2003 – Art Houtteman, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1927)
  • 2004 – Virginia Capers, American actress and singer (b. 1925)
  • 2004 – Philip Kapleau, American monk and educator (b. 1912)
  • 2004 – Barney Kessel, American guitarist and composer (b. 1923)
  • 2006 – Grant McLennan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958)
  • 2006 – Lorne Saxberg, Canadian journalist (b. 1958)
  • 2007 – Enéas Carneiro, Brazilian physician and politician (b. 1938)
  • 2007 – Curtis Harrington, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
  • 2009 – Kevin Grubb, American race car driver (b. 1978)
  • 2010 – Robin Roberts, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – James R. Browning, American lieutenant, lawyer, and judge (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – James Isaac, American director and producer (b. 1960)
  • 2012 – Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst and author (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Giulio Andreotti, Italian journalist and politician, 41st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1919)
  • 2013 – Severo Aparicio Quispe, Peruvian bishop (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Michelangelo Spensieri, Italian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
  • 2014 – Wil Albeda, Dutch economist and politician, Dutch Minister of Social Affairs (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – William H. Dana, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Jimmy Ellis, American boxer (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – Billy Harrell, American baseball player and scout (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – Antony Hopkins, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Maria Lassnig, Austrian painter and academic (b. 1919)
  • 2014 – Farley Mowat, Canadian environmentalist and author (b. 1921)
  • 2015 – Novera Ahmed, Bangladeshi sculptor (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Denise McCluggage, American race car driver and journalist (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – Jim Wright, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1922)
  • 2016 – Patrick Ekeng, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1990)
  • 2016 – Reg Grundy, Australian businessman (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on May 6

  • Christian Feast Day:
    • Dominic Savio
    • Evodius of Antioch (Roman Catholic Church)
    • François de Laval
    • Gerard of Lunel
    • Lucius of Cyrene
    • Petronax of Monte Cassino
    • St George’s Day related observances (Eastern Orthodox Church):
      • Day of Bravery, also known as Gergyovden (Bulgaria)
      • Đurđevdan (Gorani, Roma)
      • Police Day (Georgia)
      • Yuri’s Day in the Spring (Russian Orthodox Church)
    • St John before the Latin Gate
    • May 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Military Spouse Day can fall, while May 12 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Mother’s Day (United States)
  • International No Diet Day
  • Martyrs’ Day (Gabon)
  • Martyrs’ Day (Lebanon and Syria)
  • Teachers’ Day (Jamaica)
  • The first day of Hıdırellez (Turkey)

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

On This Day

April 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar’s assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Aulus Hirtius.
  • AD 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.
  • AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital with four Roman legions.
  • 193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
  • 966 – After his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
  • 972 – Co-Emperor Otto II, a son of Otto I (the Great), marries the Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII at Rome.
  • 1028 – Henry III, son of Conrad, is elected King of Germany.
  • 1205 – Battle of Adrianople between Bulgarians and Crusaders.
  • 1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong.
  • 1341 – Sack of Saluzzo (Italy) by Italian-Angevine troops under Manfred V, Marquess of Saluzzo.
  • 1434 – The foundation stone of Nantes Cathedral, France is laid.
  • 1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.
  • 1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
  • 1639 – Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Years’ War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.
  • 1699 – Khalsa: The Sikh religion was formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints – by Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.
  • 1775 – The first abolition society in North America is established. The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
  • 1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion and is killed. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.
  • 1828 – Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.
  • 1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
  • 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln died the next day.
  • 1865 – U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell.
  • 1881 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight is fought in El Paso, Texas.
  • 1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C.
  • 1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films.
  • 1900 – The Exposition Universelle begins.
  • 1902 – James Cash Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
  • 1906 – The Azusa Street Revival opens and will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
  • 1908 – Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, U.S., fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream.
  • 1909 – A massacre is organized by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population of Cilicia.
  • 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th).
  • 1927 – The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
  • 1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, Canada – the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
  • 1931 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic.
  • 1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.
  • 1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press.
  • 1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.
  • 1941 – World War II: German general Erwin Rommel attacks Tobruk.
  • 1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
  • 1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroyed the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.
  • 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
  • 1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows President of Togo Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new president, a title he would hold for the next 38 years.
  • 1978 – Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
  • 1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
  • 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (1 kilogram (2.2 lb)) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
  • 1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
  • 1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
  • 1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
  • 1994 – In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
  • 1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
  • 1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
  • 2002 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country’s military.
  • 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
  • 2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.
  • 2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
  • 2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in Jama Masjid, Delhi injure 13 people.
  • 2010 – Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
  • 2014 – Twin bomb blasts in Abuja, Nigeria, kill at least 75 people and injures 141 others.
  • 2014 – Two hundred seventy-six schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria.
  • 2016 – In Japan, the foreshock of Kumamoto earthquakes occurs.

Births on April 14

  • 1126 – Averroes, Spanish physician and philosopher (d. 1198)
  • 1204 – Henry I, king of Castile (d. 1217)
  • 1331 – Jeanne-Marie de Maille, French Roman Catholic saint (d. 1414)
  • 1527 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (d. 1598)
  • 1572 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1632)
  • 1578 – Philip III of Spain (d. 1621)
  • 1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1695)
  • 1668 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (d. 1741)
  • 1678 – Abraham Darby I, English iron master (d. 1717)
  • 1709 – Charles Collé, French playwright and songwriter (d. 1783)
  • 1714 – Adam Gib, Scottish minister and author (d. 1788)
  • 1738 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1809)
  • 1741 – Emperor Momozono of Japan (d. 1762)
  • 1769 – Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general (d. 1799)
  • 1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (d. 1854)
  • 1788 – David G. Burnet, American politician, 2nd Vice-President of Texas (d. 1870)
  • 1800 – John Appold, English engineer (d. 1865)
  • 1812 – George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1898)
  • 1814 – Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author (d. 1887)
  • 1819 – Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher (d. 1901)
  • 1827 – Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (d. 1900)
  • 1852 – Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (d. 1941)
  • 1854 – Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet (d. 1923)
  • 1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (d. 1944)
  • 1865 – Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery (d. 1960)
  • 1866 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (d. 1936)
  • 1868 – Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (d. 1940)
  • 1870 – Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1905)
  • 1870 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1929)
  • 1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator (d. 1953)
  • 1876 – Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge (d. 1934)
  • 1881 – Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar (d. 1948)
  • 1882 – Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1936)
  • 1886 – Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar (d. 1956)
  • 1886 – Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator (d. 1928)
  • 1889 – Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (d. 1975)
  • 1891 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice (d. 1956)
  • 1891 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (d. 1958)
  • 1892 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1962)
  • 1892 – V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist (d. 1957)
  • 1892 – Claire Windsor, American actress (d. 1972)
  • 1902 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
  • 1903 – Henry Corbin, French philosopher and academic (d. 1978)
  • 1903 – Ruth Svedberg, Swedish discus thrower and triathlete (d. 2002)
  • 1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2000)
  • 1905 – Elizabeth Huckaby, American author and educator (d. 1999)
  • 1905 – Georg Lammers, German sprinter (d. 1987)
  • 1905 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French author and activist (d. 1999)
  • 1906 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (d. 1975)
  • 1907 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (d. 1971)
  • 1912 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer and journalist (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (d. 1978)
  • 1913 – Jean Fournet, French conductor (d. 2008)
  • 1916 – Don Willesee, Australian telegraphist and politician, 29th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 2003)
  • 1917 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (d. 1998)
  • 1917 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (d. 2012)
  • 1918 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
  • 1919 – Shamshad Begum, Pakistani-Indian singer (d. 2013)
  • 1919 – K. Saraswathi Amma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1975)
  • 1920 – Ivor Forbes Guest, English lawyer, historian, and author (d. 2018)
  • 1921 – Thomas Schelling, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
  • 1922 – Audrey Long, American actress (d. 2014)
  • 1923 – Roberto De Vicenzo, Argentinian golfer (d. 2017)
  • 1924 – Shorty Rogers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1994)
  • 1924 – Joseph Ruskin, American actor and producer (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, English philosopher, and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1925 – Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (d. 2010)
  • 1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
  • 1926 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – Frank Daniel, Czech director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
  • 1926 – Gloria Jean, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
  • 1926 – Liz Renay, American actress and author (d. 2007)
  • 1927 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
  • 1927 – Dany Robin, French actress and singer (d. 1995)
  • 1929 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
  • 1929 – Inez Andrews, African-American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Martin Adolf Bormann, German priest and theologian (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Arnold Burns, American lawyer and politician, 21st United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (d. 2007)
  • 1930 – Bradford Dillman, American actor and author (d. 2018)
  • 1931 – Geoffrey Dalton, English admiral
  • 1931 – Paul Masnick, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1932 – Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2014)
  • 1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1932 – Cameron Parker, Scottish businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire
  • 1933 – Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver
  • 1933 – Boris Strugatsky, Russian author (d. 2012)
  • 1933 – Yuri Oganessian, Armenian-Russian nuclear physicist
  • 1934 – Fredric Jameson, American philosopher and theorist
  • 1935 – Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton, English table tennis player, swimmer, and politician
  • 1935 – John Oliver, English bishop
  • 1935 – Erich von Däniken, Swiss historian and author
  • 1936 – Arlene Martel, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
  • 1936 – Bobby Nichols, American golfer
  • 1936 – Frank Serpico, American-Italian soldier, police officer and lecturer
  • 1937 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 2012)
  • 1938 – Mahmud Esad Coşan, Turkish author and academic (d. 2001)
  • 1940 – Julie Christie, English actress and activist
  • 1940 – David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes, English archbishop and academic
  • 1940 – Richard Thompson, English physician and academic
  • 1941 – Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager
  • 1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet high jumper (d. 2003)
  • 1942 – Valentin Lebedev, Russian engineer and astronaut
  • 1942 – Björn Rosengren, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister of Enterprise and Innovation
  • 1944 – John Sergeant, English journalist
  • 1945 – Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, Samoan economist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Samoa
  • 1945 – Ritchie Blackmore, English guitarist and songwriter
  • 1945 – Roger Frappier, Canadian producer, director and screenwriter
  • 1946 – Mireille Guiliano, French-American author
  • 1946 – Michael Sarris, Cypriot economist and politician, Cypriot Minister of Finance
  • 1946 – Knut Kristiansen, Norwegian pianist and orchestra leader
  • 1947 – Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1947 – Bob Massie, Australian cricketer
  • 1948 – Berry Berenson, American model, actress, and photographer (d. 2001)
  • 1948 – Anastasios Papaligouras, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice
  • 1949 – Dave Gibbons, English author and illustrator
  • 1949 – DeAnne Julius, American-British economist and academic
  • 1949 – Chris Langham, English actor and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Chas Mortimer, English motorcycle racer
  • 1949 – John Shea, American actor and director
  • 1950 – Francis Collins, American physician and geneticist
  • 1950 – Péter Esterházy, Hungarian author (d. 2016)
  • 1951 – Milija Aleksic, English footballer (d. 2012)
  • 1951 – José Eduardo González Navas, Spanish politician
  • 1951 – Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist, conductor, and educator
  • 1951 – Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, English politician
  • 1952 – Kenny Aaronson, American bass player
  • 1952 – Mickey O’Sullivan, Irish footballer and manager
  • 1952 – David Urquhart, Scottish bishop
  • 1954 – Sue Hill, English pathologist and civil servant
  • 1954 – Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese director, screenwriter, and illustrator
  • 1956 – Boris Šprem, Croatian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Croatian Parliament (d. 2012)
  • 1957 – Lothaire Bluteau, Canadian actor
  • 1957 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor
  • 1958 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor
  • 1959 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (d. 2015)
  • 1959 – Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Canadian actress
  • 1960 – Brad Garrett, American actor and comedian
  • 1960 – Myoma Myint Kywe, Burmese historian and journalist
  • 1960 – Osamu Sato, Japanese graphic artist, programmer, and composer
  • 1960 – Tina Rosenberg, American journalist and author
  • 1960 – Pat Symcox, South African cricketer
  • 1961 – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor and director
  • 1961 – Daniel Clowes, American cartoonist and screenwriter
  • 1962 – Guillaume Leblanc, Canadian athlete
  • 1964 – Brian Adams, American wrestler (d. 2007)
  • 1964 – Jeff Andretti, American race car driver
  • 1964 – Greg Battle, American-Canadian football player
  • 1964 – Stuart Duncan, American bluegrass musician
  • 1964 – Jeff Hopkins, Welsh international footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Gina McKee, English actress
  • 1965 – Tom Dey, American director and producer
  • 1965 – Alexandre Jardin, French author
  • 1965 – Craig McDermott, Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1966 – André Boisclair, Canadian lawyer and politician
  • 1966 – Jan Boklöv, Swedish ski jumper
  • 1966 – David Justice, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1966 – Greg Maddux, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1967 – Nicola Berti, Italian international footballer
  • 1967 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
  • 1967 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1967 – Barrett Martin, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
  • 1967 – Julia Zemiro, French-Australian actress, comedian, singer and writer
  • 1968 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor
  • 1969 – Brad Ausmus, American baseball player and manager
  • 1969 – Martyn LeNoble, Dutch-American bass player
  • 1969 – Vebjørn Selbekk, Norwegian journalist
  • 1970 – Steve Avery, American baseball player
  • 1970 – Shizuka Kudō, Japanese singer and actress
  • 1971 – Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1971 – Carlos Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1971 – Gregg Zaun, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1972 – Paul Devlin, English-Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Roberto Mejía, Dominican baseball player
  • 1972 – Dean Potter, American rock climber and BASE jumper (d. 2015)
  • 1973 – Roberto Ayala, Argentinian footballer
  • 1973 – Adrien Brody, American actor
  • 1973 – Hidetaka Suehiro, Japanese video game director and writer
  • 1973 – David Miller, American tenor
  • 1974 – Da Brat, American rapper
  • 1975 – Lita, American wrestler
  • 1975 – Luciano Almeida, Brazilian footballer
  • 1975 – Avner Dorman, Israeli-American composer and academic
  • 1975 – Anderson Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer
  • 1976 – Christian Älvestam, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1976 – Georgina Chapman, English model, actress, and fashion designer, co-founded Marchesa
  • 1976 – Anna DeForge, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Kyle Farnsworth, American baseball player
  • 1976 – Nadine Faustin-Parker, Hatian hurdler
  • 1976 – Jason Wiemer, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1977 – Nate Fox, American basketball player (d. 2014)
  • 1977 – Martin Kaalma, Estonian footballer
  • 1977 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress and producer
  • 1977 – Rob McElhenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1978 – Roland Lessing, Estonian biathlete
  • 1979 – Iain Balshaw, English rugby player
  • 1979 – Rebecca DiPietro, American wrestler and model
  • 1979 – Marios Elia, Cypriot footballer
  • 1979 – Ross Filipo, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1979 – Noé Pamarot, French footballer
  • 1979 – Patrick Somerville, American novelist and short story writer
  • 1979 – Kerem Tunçeri, Turkish basketball player
  • 1980 – Win Butler, American-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1980 – Jeremy Smith, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1981 – Mustafa Güngör, German rugby player
  • 1981 – Amy Leach, English director and producer
  • 1982 – Uğur Boral, Turkish footballer
  • 1982 – Larissa França, Brazilian volleyball player
  • 1983 – Simona La Mantia, Italian triple jumper
  • 1983 – James McFadden, Scottish footballer
  • 1983 – William Obeng, Ghanaian-American football player
  • 1983 – Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Georgian basketball player
  • 1984 – Blake Costanzo, American football player
  • 1984 – Charles Hamelin, Canadian speed skater
  • 1984 – Harumafuji Kōhei, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 70th Yokozuna
  • 1984 – Adán Sánchez, American-Mexican musician (d. 2004)
  • 1984 – Tyler Thigpen, American football player
  • 1985 – Grant Clitsome, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Matt Derbyshire, English footballer
  • 1986 – Goran Gogić, Serbian footballer (d. 2015)
  • 1987 – Michael Baze, American jockey (d. 2011)
  • 1987 – Erwin Hoffer, Austrian footballer
  • 1987 – Wilson Kiprop, Kenyan runner
  • 1987 – Korina Perkovic, German tennis player
  • 1988 – Roberto Bautista Agut, Spanish tennis player
  • 1988 – Eric Gryba, Canadian ice hockey defenseman
  • 1988 – Eliška Klučinová, Czech heptathlete
  • 1988 – Vasileios Pliatsikas, Greek footballer
  • 1988 – Brad Sinopoli, Canadian football player
  • 1989 – Joe Haden, American football player
  • 1990 – Markus Smarzoch, German footballer
  • 1992 – Frederik Sørensen, Danish footballer
  • 1996 – Abigail Breslin, American actress

Deaths on April 14

  • 911 – Pope Sergius III, pope of the Roman Catholic Church
  • 1070 – Gerard, Duke of Lorraine (b. c. 1030)
  • 1099 – Conrad, Bishop of Utrecht (b. before 1040)
  • 1132 – Mstislav I of Kiev (b. 1076)
  • 1279 – Bolesław the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland (b. 1224)
  • 1322 – Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere, English soldier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1275)
  • 1345 – Richard de Bury, English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of The United Kingdom (b. 1287)
  • 1424 – Lucia Visconti, English countess (b. 1372)
  • 1433 – Lidwina, Dutch saint (b. 1380)
  • 1471 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, English commander and politician (b. 1428)
  • 1471 – John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (b. 1431)
  • 1480 – Thomas de Spens, Scottish statesman and prelate (b. c. 1415)
  • 1488 – Girolamo Riario, Lord of Imola and Forli (b. 1443)
  • 1574 – Louis of Nassau (b. 1538)
  • 1578 – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1534)
  • 1587 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1548)
  • 1599 – Henry Wallop, English politician (b. 1540)
  • 1609 – Gasparo da Salò, Italian violin maker (b. 1540)
  • 1662 – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English politician (b. 1582)
  • 1682 – Avvakum, Russian priest and saint (b. 1620)
  • 1721 – Michel Chamillart, French politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1652)
  • 1740 – Lady Catherine Jones, English philanthropist (b.1672)
  • 1759 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (b. 1685)
  • 1785 – William Whitehead, English poet and playwright (b. 1715)
  • 1792 – Maximilian Hell, Slovak-Hungarian astronomer and priest (b. 1720)
  • 1843 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1801)
  • 1864 – Charles Lot Church, American-Canadian politician (b. 1777)
  • 1888 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (b. 1824)
  • 1910 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1856)
  • 1911 – Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1880)
  • 1911 – Henri Elzéar Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 4th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1836)
  • 1912 – Henri Brisson, French politician, 50th Prime Minister of France (b. 1835)
  • 1914 – Hubert Bland, English activist, co-founded the Fabian Society (b. 1855)
  • 1916 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women’s rights activist (b. 1847)
  • 1917 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish physician and linguist, created Esperanto (b. 1859)
  • 1919 – Auguste-Réal Angers, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1837)
  • 1925 – John Singer Sargent, American painter (b. 1856)
  • 1930 – Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian-Russian actor, playwright, and poet (b. 1893)
  • 1931 – Richard Armstedt, German philologist, historian, and educator (b. 1851)
  • 1935 – Emmy Noether, German-American mathematician and academic (b. 1882)
  • 1938 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (b. 1893)
  • 1943 – Yakov Dzhugashvili, Georgian-Russian lieutenant (b. 1907)
  • 1950 – Ramana Maharshi, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1879)
  • 1951 – Al Christie, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1881)
  • 1962 – M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer and scholar (b. 1860)
  • 1963 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian monk and historian (b. 1893)
  • 1964 – Tatyana Afanasyeva, Russian-Dutch mathematician and theorist (b. 1876)
  • 1964 – Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (b. 1907)
  • 1968 – Al Benton, American baseball player (b. 1911)
  • 1969 – Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, Spanish actress (b. 1900)
  • 1975 – Günter Dyhrenfurth, German-Swiss mountaineer, geologist, and explorer (b. 1886)
  • 1975 – Fredric March, American actor (b. 1897)
  • 1976 – José Revueltas, Mexican author and activist (b. 1914)
  • 1978 – Joe Gordon, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915)
  • 1978 – F. R. Leavis, English educator and critic (b. 1895)
  • 1983 – Pete Farndon, English bassist (The Pretenders) (b. 1952)
  • 1983 – Gianni Rodari, Italian journalist and author (b. 1920)
  • 1986 – Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and philosopher (b. 1908)
  • 1990 – Thurston Harris, American singer (b. 1931)
  • 1990 – Olabisi Onabanjo, Nigerian politician, 3rd Governor of Ogun State (b. 1927)
  • 1992 – Irene Greenwood, Australian radio broadcaster and feminist and peace activist (b. 1898)
  • 1994 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani chemist and scholar (b. 1897)
  • 1995 – Burl Ives, American actor, folk singer, and writer (b. 1909)
  • 1999 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1911)
  • 1999 – Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
  • 1999 – Bill Wendell, American television announcer (b. 1924)
  • 2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer, co-created the zip file format (b. 1962)
  • 2000 – August R. Lindt, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
  • 2000 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer (b. 1918)
  • 2001 – Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer (b. 1939)
  • 2001 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
  • 2003 – Jyrki Otila, Finnish politician (b. 1941)
  • 2004 – Micheline Charest, English-Canadian television producer, co-founded the Cookie Jar Group (b. 1953)
  • 2006 – Mahmut Bakalli, Kosovo politician (b. 1936)
  • 2007 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1924)
  • 2007 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (b. 1930)
  • 2007 – René Rémond, French historian and economist (b. 1918)
  • 2008 – Tommy Holmes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
  • 2008 – Ollie Johnston, American animator and voice actor (b. 1912)
  • 2009 – Maurice Druon, French author (b. 1918)
  • 2010 – Israr Ahmed, Pakistani theologian and scholar (b. 1932)
  • 2010 – Alice Miller, Polish-French psychologist and author (b. 1923)
  • 2010 – Peter Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1962)
  • 2011 – Jean Gratton, Canadian Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Émile Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – Jonathan Frid, Canadian actor (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (b. 1986)
  • 2013 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (b. 1937)
  • 2013 – Colin Davis, English conductor and educator (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – R. P. Goenka, Indian businessman, founded RPG Group (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – George Jackson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
  • 2013 – Armando Villanueva, Peruvian politician, 121st Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1915)
  • 2013 – Charlie Wilson, American politician (b. 1943)
  • 2014 – Nina Cassian, Romanian poet and critic (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Crad Kilodney, American-Canadian author (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Wally Olins, English businessman and academic (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (b. 1940)
  • 2015 – Klaus Bednarz, German journalist and author (b. 1942)
  • 2015 – Mark Reeds, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1960)
  • 2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (b. 1940)
  • 2015 – Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal and theologian (b. 1921)
  • 2019 – Bibi Andersson, Swedish actress (b.1935)

Holidays and observances on April 14

  • Ambedkar Jayanti (India)
  • Black Day (South Korea)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Anthony, John, and Eustathius
    • Bénézet
    • Henry Beard Delany (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Domnina of Terni
    • Lidwina
    • Peter González
    • Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus
    • April 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Commemoration of Anfal Genocide Against the Kurds (Iraqi Kurdistan)
  • Day of Mologa (Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia)
  • Day of the Georgian language (Georgia)
  • Dhivehi Language Day (Maldives)
  • N’Ko Alphabet Day (Mande speakers)
  • Pan American Day (several countries in The Americas)
  • South and Southeast Asian New Year, celebrated on the sidereal vernal equinox. (see April 13):
    • Assamese New Year, or Bohag Bihu (India’s Assam Valley)
    • Bengali New Year, or Pohela Boishakh (Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state)
    • Burmese New Year, or Thingyan (Myanmar)
    • Hindu and Sikh New Year, or Vaisakhi (Punjab region)
    • Khmer New Year, or Chol Chnam Thmey (Cambodia)
    • Lao New Year, or Pi Mai Lao (Laos)
    • Mahl New Year, or Alathu Aharudhuvas (Maldives and India’s Lakshadweep and Kerala state)
    • Maithili New Year, or Jude Sheetal (Mithila region)
    • Malayali New Year, or Vishu (India’s Kerala state)
    • Nepali New Year, or Navabarsha / Vaishak Ek (Nepal)
    • Oriya/Odia New Year, or Pana Sankranti (India’s Odisha state)
    • Sinhalese New Year, or Aluth Avurudhu (Sri Lanka)
    • Tamil New Year, or Puthandu (India’s Tamil Nadu state)
    • Thai New Year, or Songkran, celebrated from 13 to 15 April (Thailand)
    • Tuluva New Year, or Bisu (India’s Karnataka state)
  • The first day of Takayama Spring Festival (Takayama, Gifu, Japan)
  • Youth Day (Angola)

April 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

  • 686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ assumes the crown of Calakmul.
  • 801 – King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months.
  • 1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.
  • 1077 – The first Parliament of Friuli is created.
  • 1559 – The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis treaty is signed, ending the Italian Wars.
  • 1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.
  • 1882 – American Old West: Robert Ford kills Jesse James.
  • 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for his engine design.
  • 1888 – The first of eleven unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs.
  • 1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
  • 1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
  • 1933 – First flight over Mount Everest, by the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale, and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.
  • 1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the baby son of pilot Charles Lindbergh.
  • 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.
  • 1946 – Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.
  • 1948 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
  • 1948 – In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses begins, known as the Jeju uprising.
  • 1955 – The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg’s book Howl against obscenity charges.
  • 1956 – Hudsonville–Standale tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.
  • 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. He was assassinated the next day.
  • 1969 – Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to “Vietnamize” the war effort.
  • 1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.
  • 1974 – The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.
  • 1975 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.
  • 1980 – US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shvwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah.
  • 1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
  • 1989 – The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield.
  • 1996 – Suspected “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States.
  • 1997 – The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
  • 2000 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping “an oppressive thumb” on its competitors.
  • 2004 – Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.
  • 2007 – Conventional-Train World Speed Record: A French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record.
  • 2008 – ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.
  • 2008 – Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS’s YFZ Ranch. Eventually, 533 women and children will be taken into state custody.
  • 2009 – Jiverly Antares Wong opens fire at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide.
  • 2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.
  • 2013 – More than 50 people die in floods resulting from record-breaking rainfall in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • 2016 – The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies.
  • 2017 – A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people.
  • 2018 – YouTube headquarters shooting.

Births on April 3

  • 1016 – Xing Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1055)
  • 1151 – Igor Svyatoslavich, Russian prince (d. 1202)
  • 1438 – John III of Egmont, Dutch nobleman (d. 1516)
  • 1529 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1581)
  • 1540 – Maria de’ Medici, Italian noblewoman, the eldest daughter of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. (d. 1557)
  • 1593 – George Herbert, English poet (d. 1633)
  • 1639 – Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (d. 1682)
  • 1643 – Charles V, duke of Lorraine (d. 1690)
  • 1682 – Valentin Rathgeber, German organist and composer (d. 1750)
  • 1693 – George Edwards, English ornithologist and entomologist (d. 1773)
  • 1715 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (d. 1787)
  • 1764 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1831)
  • 1769 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (d. 1835)
  • 1770 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (d. 1843)
  • 1778 – Pierre Bretonneau, French doctor who performed the first successful tracheotomy (d. 1862)
  • 1781 – Swaminarayan, Indian religious leader (d. 1830)
  • 1782 – Alexander Macomb, American general (d. 1841)
  • 1783 – Washington Irving, American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian (d. 1859)
  • 1791 – Anne Lister, English diarist, mountaineer, and traveller (d.1840)
  • 1798 – Charles Wilkes, American admiral, geographer, and explorer (d.1877)
  • 1807 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (d. 1877)
  • 1814 – Lorenzo Snow, American religious leader, 5th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1901)
  • 1822 – Edward Everett Hale, American minister, historian, and author (d. 1909)
  • 1823 – George Derby, American lieutenant and journalist (d. 1861)
  • 1823 – William M. Tweed, American politician (d. 1878)
  • 1826 – Cyrus K. Holliday, American businessman (d. 1900)
  • 1837 – John Burroughs, American botanist and author (d. 1921)
  • 1842 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (d. 1864)
  • 1848 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and captain (d. 1879)
  • 1858 – Jacob Gaudaur, Canadian rower (d. 1937)
  • 1860 – Frederik van Eeden, Dutch psychiatrist and author (d. 1932)
  • 1864 – Emil Kellenberger, Swiss target shooter (d. 1943)
  • 1875 – Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956)
  • 1876 – Margaret Anglin, Canadian actress, director, and producer (d. 1958)
  • 1876 – Tomáš Baťa, Czech businessman, founded Bata Shoes (d. 1932)
  • 1880 – Otto Weininger, Jewish-Austrian philosopher and author (d. 1903)
  • 1881 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1954)
  • 1882 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (d. 1952)
  • 1883 – Ikki Kita, Japanese philosopher and author (d. 1937)
  • 1885 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
  • 1885 – Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1954)
  • 1885 – Marie-Victorin Kirouac, Canadian botanist and academic (d. 1944)
  • 1885 – St John Philby, English colonial and explorer (d. 1960)
  • 1886 – Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (d. 1953)
  • 1887 – Ōtori Tanigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 24th Yokozuna (d. 1956)
  • 1887 – Nishizō Tsukahara, Japanese admiral (d. 1966)
  • 1888 – Neville Cardus, English author and critic (d. 1975)
  • 1888 – Thomas C. Kinkaid, American admiral (d. 1972)
  • 1889 – Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1949)
  • 1893 – Leslie Howard, English actor (d. 1943)
  • 1895 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian-American composer and educator (d. 1968)
  • 1895 – Zez Confrey, American pianist and composer (d. 1971)
  • 1897 – Joe Kirkwood Sr., Australian golfer (d. 1970)
  • 1897 – Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general (d. 1989)
  • 1898 – David Jack, English footballer and manager (d. 1958)
  • 1898 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1981)
  • 1898 – Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time Magazine (d. 1967)
  • 1900 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (d. 1987)
  • 1900 – Albert Walsh, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1958)
  • 1903 – Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian social reformer and freedom fighter (d. 1988)
  • 1904 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor and stuntman (d. 1999)
  • 1904 – Sally Rand, American dancer (d. 1979)
  • 1904 – Russel Wright, American furniture designer (d. 1976)
  • 1905 – Robert Sink, American general (d. 1965)
  • 1909 – Stanislaw Ulam, Polish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1984)
  • 1910 – Ted Hook, Australian public servant (d. 1990)
  • 1911 – Nanette Bordeaux, Canadian-American actress (d. 1956)
  • 1911 – Michael Woodruff, English-Scottish surgeon and academic (d. 2001)
  • 1911 – Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American runner (d. 1980)
  • 1912 – Dorothy Eden, New Zealand-English author (d. 1982)
  • 1912 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (d. 1963)
  • 1913 – Per Borten, Norwegian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (d. 2005)
  • 1914 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
  • 1914 – Sam Manekshaw, Indian field marshal (d. 2008)
  • 1915 – Piet de Jong, Dutch politician and naval officer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2016)
  • 1915 – İhsan Doğramacı, Turkish physician and academic (d. 2010)
  • 1916 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (d. 1997)
  • 1916 – Cliff Gladwin, English cricketer (d. 1988)
  • 1916 – Louis Guglielmi, Catalan composer (d. 1991)
  • 1918 – Mary Anderson, American actress (d. 2014)
  • 1918 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (d. 2000)
  • 1919 – Ervin Drake, American songwriter and composer (d. 2015)
  • 1919 – Clairette Oddera, French-Canadian actress and singer (d. 2008)
  • 1920 – Stan Freeman, American composer and conductor (d. 2001)
  • 1920 – Yoshibayama Junnosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 43rd Yokozuna (d. 1977)
  • 1921 – Robert Karvelas, American actor (d. 1991)
  • 1921 – Jan Sterling, American actress (d. 2004)
  • 1922 – Yevhen Bulanchyk, Ukrainian hurdler (d. 1996)
  • 1922 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (d. 2004)
  • 1924 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (d. 1945)
  • 1925 – Tony Benn, English pilot and politician, Secretary of State for Industry (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager, and coach (d. 2019)
  • 1926 – Gus Grissom, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1967)
  • 1927 – Wesley A. Brown, American general and engineer (d. 2012)
  • 1928 – Don Gibson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
  • 1928 – Emmett Johns, Canadian priest, founded Dans la Rue (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1928 – Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television personality (d. 1999)
  • 1929 – Fazlur Rahman Khan, Bangladeshi engineer and architect, co-designed the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center (d. 1982)
  • 1929 – Poul Schlüter, Danish lawyer and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Denmark
  • 1930 – Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (d. 1998)
  • 1930 – Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 2017)
  • 1930 – Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Argentinian general and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – Wally Moon, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
  • 1931 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (d. 2015)
  • 1933 – Bob Dornan, American politician
  • 1933 – Rod Funseth, American golfer (d. 1985)
  • 1934 – Pamela Allen, New Zealand children’s writer and illustrator
  • 1934 – Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist
  • 1934 – Jim Parker, American football player (d. 2005)
  • 1936 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (d. 2008)
  • 1936 – Harold Vick, American saxophonist and flute player (d. 1987)
  • 1938 – Jeff Barry, American singer-songwriter, and producer
  • 1938 – Phil Rodgers, American golfer (d. 2018)
  • 1939 – François de Roubaix, French composer (d. 1975)
  • 1939 – Hawk Taylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012)
  • 1939 – Paul Craig Roberts, American economist and politician
  • 1941 – Jan Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
  • 1941 – Philippé Wynne, American soul singer (d. 1984)
  • 1942 – Marsha Mason, American actress
  • 1942 – Wayne Newton, American singer
  • 1942 – Billy Joe Royal, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
  • 1943 – Mario Lavista, Mexican composer
  • 1943 – Jonathan Lynn, English actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1943 – Richard Manuel, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1986)
  • 1943 – Hikaru Saeki, Japanese admiral, the first female star officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
  • 1944 – Peter Colman, Australian biologist and academic
  • 1944 – Tony Orlando, American singer
  • 1945 – Doon Arbus, American author and journalist
  • 1945 – Bernie Parent, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1945 – Catherine Spaak, French actress
  • 1946 – Nicholas Jones, English actor
  • 1946 – Dee Murray, English bass player (d. 1992)
  • 1946 – Hanna Suchocka, Polish lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Poland
  • 1947 – Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (d. 2013)
  • 1948 – Arlette Cousture, Canadian author and screenwriter
  • 1948 – Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO
  • 1948 – Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, German footballer
  • 1948 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico
  • 1949 – Lyle Alzado, American football player and actor (d. 1992)
  • 1949 – A. C. Grayling, English philosopher and academic
  • 1949 – Richard Thompson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1950 – Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan cricketer and economist
  • 1951 – Brendan Barber, English trade union leader
  • 1951 – Annette Dolphin, British academician and educator
  • 1951 – Mitch Woods, American singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1952 – Mike Moore, American lawyer and politician
  • 1953 – Sandra Boynton, American author and illustrator
  • 1953 – Wakanohana Kanji II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 56th Yokozuna
  • 1953 – James Smith, American boxer
  • 1953 – Craig Taubman, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1954 – Elisabetta Brusa, Italian composer
  • 1954 – K. Krishnasamy, Indian physician and politician
  • 1956 – Kalle Kulbok, Estonian politician
  • 1956 – Boris Miljković, Serbian director and producer
  • 1956 – Miguel Bosé, Spanish musician and actor
  • 1956 – Ray Combs, American game show host (d. 1996)
  • 1958 – Alec Baldwin, American actor, comedian, producer and television host
  • 1958 – Adam Gussow, American scholar, musician, and memoirist
  • 1958 – Francesca Woodman, Jewish-American photographer (d. 1981)
  • 1959 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor and activist
  • 1960 – Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1961 – Tim Crews, American baseball player (d. 1993)
  • 1961 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
  • 1962 – Dave Miley, American baseball player and manager
  • 1962 – Mike Ness, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1962 – Jaya Prada, Indian actress and politician
  • 1963 – Les Davidson, Australian rugby league player
  • 1963 – Ricky Nixon, Australian footballer and manager
  • 1963 – Criss Oliva, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993)
  • 1964 – Marco Ballotta, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Nigel Farage, English politician
  • 1964 – Claire Perry, English banker and politician
  • 1964 – Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist and manager
  • 1964 – Andy Robinson, English rugby player and coach
  • 1964 – Jay Weatherill, Australian politician, 45th Premier of South Australia
  • 1965 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist (d. 2000)
  • 1966 – John de Vries, Australian race car driver
  • 1967 – Cat Cora, American chef and author
  • 1967 – Pervis Ellison, American basketball player
  • 1967 – Brent Gilchrist, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1967 – Cristi Puiu, Romanian director and screenwriter
  • 1967 – Mark Skaife, Australian race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Sebastian Bach, Bahamian-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1968 – Charlotte Coleman, English actress (d. 2001)
  • 1968 – Jamie Hewlett, English director and performer
  • 1968 – Tomoaki Kanemoto, Japanese baseball player
  • 1969 – Rodney Hampton, American football player
  • 1969 – Peter Matera, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1969 – Ben Mendelsohn, Australian actor
  • 1969 – Lance Storm, Canadian wrestler and trainer
  • 1971 – Vitālijs Astafjevs, Latvian footballer and manager
  • 1971 – Emmanuel Collard, French race car driver
  • 1971 – Picabo Street, American skier
  • 1972 – Jennie Garth, American actress and director
  • 1972 – Catherine McCormack, English actress
  • 1972 – Sandrine Testud, French tennis player
  • 1973 – Nilesh Kulkarni, Indian cricketer
  • 1973 – Adam Scott, American actor
  • 1974 – Marcus Brown, American basketball player
  • 1974 – Drew Shirley, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1974 – Lee Williams, Welsh model and actor
  • 1975 – Shawn Bates, American ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-American basketball player
  • 1975 – Aries Spears, American comedian and actor
  • 1975 – Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese baseball player
  • 1975 – Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball player
  • 1976 – Nicolas Escudé, French tennis player
  • 1978 – Matthew Goode, English actor
  • 1978 – Tommy Haas, German-American tennis player
  • 1978 – John Smit, South African rugby player
  • 1979 – Simon Black, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1980 – Andrei Lodis, Belarusian footballer
  • 1980 – Megan Rohrer, American pastor and transgender activist
  • 1981 – Aaron Bertram, American trumpet player
  • 1981 – DeShawn Stevenson, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Jared Allen, American football player
  • 1982 – Iain Fyfe, Australian footballer
  • 1982 – Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress
  • 1983 – Ben Foster, English footballer
  • 1983 – Stephen Weiss, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Jonathan Blondel, Belgian footballer
  • 1984 – Maxi López, Argentinian footballer
  • 1985 – Jari-Matti Latvala, Finnish race car driver
  • 1985 – Leona Lewis, English singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1986 – Amanda Bynes, American actress
  • 1986 – Stephanie Cox, American soccer player
  • 1986 – Annalisa Cucinotta, Italian cyclist
  • 1986 – Sergio Sánchez Ortega, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Rachel Bloom, American actress, writer, and producer
  • 1987 – Jay Bruce, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Yileen Gordon, Australian rugby league player
  • 1987 – Jason Kipnis, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Martyn Rooney, English sprinter
  • 1987 – Julie Sokolow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1988 – Kam Chancellor, American football player
  • 1988 – Brandon Graham, American football player
  • 1988 – Peter Hartley, English footballer
  • 1988 – Tim Krul, Dutch footballer
  • 1989 – Romain Alessandrini, French footballer
  • 1989 – Israel Folau, Australian rugby player and footballer
  • 1989 – Joel Romelo, Australian rugby league player
  • 1989 – Thisara Perera, Sri Lankan cricketer
  • 1990 – Karim Ansarifard, Iranian footballer
  • 1990 – Madison Brengle, American tennis player
  • 1990 – Sotiris Ninis, Greek footballer
  • 1990 – Natasha Negovanlis, Canadian actress and singer
  • 1991 – Hayley Kiyoko, American actress and singer
  • 1992 – Simone Benedetti, Italian footballer
  • 1992 – Yuliya Yefimova, Russian swimmer
  • 1993 – Pape Moussa Konaté, Senegalese footballer
  • 1994 – Kodi Nikorima, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1996 – Mayo Hibi, Japanese tennis player
  • 1997 – Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer
  • 1998 – Paris Jackson, American actress, model and singer

Deaths on April 3

  • 963 – William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 915)
  • 1153 – al-Adil ibn al-Sallar, vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate
  • 1171 – Philip of Milly, seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1120)
  • 1203 – Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1187)
  • 1253 – Saint Richard of Chichester
  • 1287 – Pope Honorius IV (b. 1210)
  • 1325 – Nizamuddin Auliya, Sufi saint (b. 1238)
  • 1350 – Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1295)
  • 1538 – Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (b. 1480)
  • 1545 – Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (b. 1481)
  • 1606 – Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1563)
  • 1630 – Christopher Villiers, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English noble (b. c.  1593)
  • 1680 – Shivaji, Indian emperor, founded the Maratha Empire (b. 1630)
  • 1682 – Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1618)
  • 1691 – Jean Petitot, French-Swiss painter (b. 1608)
  • 1695 – Melchior d’Hondecoeter, Dutch painter (b. 1636)
  • 1717 – Jacques Ozanam, French mathematician and academic (b. 1640)
  • 1728 – James Anderson, Scottish lawyer and historian (b. 1662)
  • 1792 – George Pocock, English admiral (b. 1706)
  • 1804 – Jędrzej Kitowicz, Polish priest, historian, and author (b. 1727)
  • 1827 – Ernst Chladni, German physicist and academic (b. 1756)
  • 1838 – François Carlo Antommarchi, French physician and author (b. 1780)
  • 1844 – Edward Bigge, English cleric, 1st Archdeacon of Lindisfarne (b. 1807)
  • 1846 – William Braine, English soldier and explorer (b. 1814)
  • 1849 – Juliusz Słowacki, Polish-French poet and playwright (b. 1809)
  • 1868 – Franz Berwald, Swedish composer and surgeon (b. 1796)
  • 1882 – Jesse James, American criminal and outlaw (b. 1847)
  • 1897 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (b. 1833)
  • 1901 – Richard D’Oyly Carte, English composer and talent agent (b. 1844)
  • 1902 – Esther Hobart Morris, American lawyer and judge (b. 1814)
  • 1930 – Emma Albani, Canadian-English operatic soprano (b. 1847)
  • 1936 – Richard Hauptmann, German-American murderer (b. 1899)
  • 1941 – Tachiyama Mineemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 22nd Yokozuna (b. 1877)
  • 1941 – Pál Teleki, Hungarian academic and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1879)
  • 1943 – Conrad Veidt, German actor, director, and producer (b. 1893)
  • 1946 – Masaharu Homma, Japanese general (b. 1887)
  • 1950 – Kurt Weill, German-American composer and pianist (b. 1900)
  • 1950 – Carter G. Woodson, American historian, author, and journalist, founded Black History Month (b. 1875)
  • 1951 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and playwright (b. 1890)
  • 1952 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish minister and politician (b. 1866)
  • 1957 – Ned Sparks, Canadian-American actor (b. 1883)
  • 1958 – Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (b. 1891)
  • 1962 – Manolis Kalomiris, Greek composer and educator (b. 1883)
  • 1970 – Avigdor Hameiri, Israeli author (b. 1890)
  • 1971 – Joseph Valachi, American gangster (b. 1904)
  • 1972 – Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
  • 1975 – Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (b. 1933)
  • 1976 – David M. Dennison, American physicist and academic (b. 1900)
  • 1976 – Claude-Henri Grignon, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1894)
  • 1978 – Ray Noble, English bandleader, composer, and actor (b. 1903)
  • 1978 – Winston Sharples, American composer (b. 1909)
  • 1981 – Juan Trippe, American businessman, founded Pan American World Airways (b. 1899)
  • 1982 – Warren Oates, American actor (b. 1928)
  • 1983 – Jimmy Bloomfield, English footballer and manager (b. 1934)
  • 1986 – Peter Pears, English tenor and educator (b. 1910)
  • 1987 – Tom Sestak, American football player (b. 1936)
  • 1988 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (b. 1907)
  • 1990 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (b. 1924)
  • 1991 – Charles Goren, American bridge player and author (b. 1901)
  • 1991 – Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (b. 1904)
  • 1993 – Pinky Lee, American television host (b. 1907)
  • 1994 – Frank Wells, American businessman (b. 1932)
  • 1995 – Alfred J. Billes, Canadian businessman, co-founded Canadian Tire (b. 1902)
  • 1996 – Ron Brown, American captain and politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1941)
  • 1998 – Mary Cartwright, English mathematician and academic (b. 1900)
  • 1999 – Lionel Bart, English composer (b. 1930)
  • 1999 – Geoffrey Walsh, Canadian general (b. 1909)
  • 2000 – Terence McKenna, American botanist and philosopher (b. 1946)
  • 2000 – Dina Abramowicz, Librarian and YIVO and Yiddish language expert (b. 1909)
  • 2005 – François Gérin, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1944)
  • 2007 – Nina Wang, Chinese businesswoman (b. 1937)
  • 2008 – Hrvoje Ćustić, Croatian footballer (b. 1983)
  • 2012 – Mingote, Spanish cartoonist and journalist (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – Richard Descoings, French civil servant (b. 1958)
  • 2012 – Govind Narain, Indian politician, 8th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1917)
  • 2012 – Chief Jay Strongbow, American wrestler (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – José María Zárraga, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Mariví Bilbao, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – Régine Deforges, French author, playwright, and director (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Fred Kida, American illustrator (b. 1920)
  • 2014 – Prince Michael of Prussia (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – Jovan Pavlović, Serbian metropolitan (b. 1936)
  • 2014 – Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, American guitarist, fiddler, and composer (b. 1921)
  • 2015 – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (b. 1942)
  • 2015 – Bob Burns, American drummer and songwriter (b. 1950)
  • 2015 – Shmuel Wosner, Austrian-Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1913)
  • 2016 – Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1932)
  • 2016 – Joe Medicine Crow, American anthropologist, historian, and author (b. 1913)
  • 2016 – Koji Wada, Japanese singer and songwriter (b. 1974)
  • 2017 – Kishori Amonkar, Indian Classical Vocalist (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances on April 3

  • Christian feast day:
    • Agape, Chionia, and Irene
    • Burgundofara
    • Luigi Scrosoppi
    • Richard of Chichester
    • April 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

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

On This Day

March 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro-Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
  • 1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
  • 1296 – Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
  • 1699 – Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
  • 1815 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation which would later inspire Italian unification.
  • 1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is “depolarized” by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.
  • 1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
  • 1841 – The National Bank of Greece is founded in Athens.
  • 1842 – Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.
  • 1844 – One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
  • 1855 – Origins of the American Civil War: “Border Ruffians” from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
  • 1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
  • 1861 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
  • 1863 – Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
  • 1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2-cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
  • 1870 – Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction.
  • 1885 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the Russian and British Empire.
  • 1899 – German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
  • 1912 – Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
  • 1918 – Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
  • 1939 – The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745 km/h).
  • 1940 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
  • 1944 – World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
  • 1944 – Out of 795 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos sent to attack Nuremberg, 95 bombers do not return, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of the war.
  • 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces invade Austria and capture Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.
  • 1949 – Cold War: A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
  • 1959 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
  • 1961 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
  • 1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
  • 1976 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: in the first organized response against Israeli policies by a Palestinian collective since 1948, Palestinians create the first Land Day.
  • 1979 – Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
  • 1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.
  • 1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
  • 2002 – 2002 Lyon car attack takes place.
  • 2009 – Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.
  • 2017 – SpaceX conducts the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.

Births on March 30

  • 892 – Shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin Dynasty (d. 942)
  • 1135 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (April 6 also proposed, d. 1204)
  • 1326 – Ivan II of Moscow (d. 1359)
  • 1432 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (d. 1481)
  • 1510 – Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (d. 1566)
  • 1551 – Salomon Schweigger, German theologian (d. 1622)
  • 1606 – Vincentio Reinieri, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1647)
  • 1632 – John Proctor, farmer hanged for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
  • 1640 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1695)
  • 1727 – Tommaso Traetta, Italian composer and educator (d. 1779)
  • 1746 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and sculptor (d. 1828)
  • 1750 – John Stafford Smith, English organist and composer (d. 1836)
  • 1793 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (d. 1877)
  • 1805 – Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann, German-Swedish linguist and botanist (d. 1887)
  • 1811 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (d. 1899)
  • 1820 – Anna Sewell, English author (d. 1878)
  • 1820 – James Whyte, Scottish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
  • 1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
  • 1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch-French painter and illustrator (d. 1890)
  • 1853 – Arnoldo Sartorio, German composer, pianist, and teacher (d. 1936)
  • 1857 – Léon Charles Thévenin, French engineer (d. 1926)
  • 1858 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (d. 1941)
  • 1863 – Mary Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1930)
  • 1864 – Franz Oppenheimer, German-American sociologist and economist (d. 1943)
  • 1874 – Charles Lightoller, English 2nd officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)
  • 1874 – Josiah McCracken, American hammer thrower, shot putter, and football player (d. 1962)
  • 1874 – Nicolae Rădescu, Romanian general and politician, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
  • 1875 – Thomas Xenakis, Greek-American gymnast (d. 1942)
  • 1879 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954)
  • 1880 – Seán O’Casey, Irish dramatist, playwright, and memoirist (d. 1964)
  • 1882 – Melanie Klein, Jewish Austrian-English psychologist and author (d. 1960)
  • 1888 – J. R. Williams, Canadian-born cartoonist (d. 1957)
  • 1891 – Chunseong, Korean monk, writer and philosopher (d. 1977)
  • 1892 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1945)
  • 1892 – Fortunato Depero, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1960)
  • 1892 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
  • 1892 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (d. 1918)
  • 1892 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (d. 1968)
  • 1894 – Tommy Green, English race walker (d. 1975)
  • 1894 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer, founded Ilyushin Aircraft Company (d. 1977)
  • 1895 – Jean Giono, French author and poet (d. 1970)
  • 1895 – Carl Lutz, Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews (d. 1975)
  • 1895 – Charlie Wilson, English footballer (d. 1971)
  • 1899 – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Indian author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)
  • 1902 – Brooke Astor, American socialite and philanthropist (d. 2007)
  • 1902 – Ted Heath, English trombonist and composer (d. 1969)
  • 1903 – Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (d. 1984)
  • 1904 – Ripper Collins, American baseball player and coach (d. 1970)
  • 1905 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (d. 1927)
  • 1905 – Mikio Oda, Japanese triple jumper and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1905 – Albert Pierrepoint, English hangman (d. 1992)
  • 1907 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German general (d. 1994)
  • 1910 – Józef Marcinkiewicz, Polish soldier, mathematician, and academic (d. 1940)
  • 1911 – Ekrem Akurgal, Turkish archaeologist and academic (d. 2002)
  • 1912 – Jack Cowie, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Alvin Hamilton, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Agriculture (d. 2004)
  • 1913 – Marc Davis, American animator (d. 2000)
  • 1913 – Richard Helms, American soldier and diplomat, 8th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 2002)
  • 1913 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1913 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general, physician, and politician, 4th President of Malta (d. 2012)
  • 1914 – Sonny Boy Williamson I, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 1948)
  • 1915 – Pietro Ingrao, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1917 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1995)
  • 1919 – McGeorge Bundy, American intelligence officer and diplomat, 6th United States National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
  • 1919 – Robin M. Williams, New Zealand mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – André Fontaine, French historian and journalist (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Turhan Bey, American actor (d. 2012)
  • 1922 – Arthur Wightman, American physicist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet and playwright (d. 1986)
  • 1926 – Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish businessman, founded IKEA (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – Wally Grout, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
  • 1928 – Robert Badinter, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice
  • 1928 – Colin Egar, Australian cricket umpire (d. 2008)
  • 1928 – Tom Sharpe, English-Spanish author and educator (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Richard Dysart, American actor (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Ray Musto, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian runner (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – John Astin, American actor
  • 1930 – Rolf Harris, Australian singer-songwriter
  • 1933 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (d. 2007)
  • 1934 – Paul Crouch, American broadcaster, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect and academic, designed Haas House (d. 2014)
  • 1935 – Karl Berger, German pianist and composer
  • 1935 – Willie Galimore, American football player (d. 1964)
  • 1935 – Gordon Mumma, American composer
  • 1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1937 – Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, English businessman
  • 1938 – John Barnhill, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Klaus Schwab, German economist and engineer, founded the World Economic Forum
  • 1940 – Norman Gifford, English cricketer
  • 1940 – Jerry Lucas, American basketball player and educator
  • 1940 – Hans Ragnemalm, Swedish lawyer and judge (d. 2016)
  • 1941 – Graeme Edge, English singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1941 – Ron Johnston, English geographer and academic
  • 1941 – Wasim Sajjad, Pakistani lawyer and politician, President of Pakistan
  • 1941 – Bob Smith, American soldier and politician
  • 1942 – Ruben Kun, Nauruan lawyer and politician, 14th President of Nauru (d. 2014)
  • 1942 – Tane Norton, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1942 – Kenneth Welsh, Canadian actor
  • 1943 – Jay Traynor, American pop and doo-wop singer (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Mark Wylea Erwin, American businessman and diplomat
  • 1944 – Brian Wilshire, Australian radio host
  • 1945 – Eric Clapton, English guitarist and singer-songwriter
  • 1947 – Dick Roche, Irish politician, Minister of State for European Affairs
  • 1947 – Terje Venaas, Norwegian bassist
  • 1948 – Nigel Jones, Baron Jones of Cheltenham, English computer programmer and politician
  • 1948 – Eddie Jordan, Irish racing driver and team owner, founded Jordan Grand Prix
  • 1948 – Mervyn King, English economist and academic
  • 1948 – Jim “Dandy” Mangrum, American rock singer
  • 1949 – Liza Frulla, Canadian talk show host and politician, 3rd Minister of Canadian Heritage
  • 1949 – Dana Gillespie, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1949 – Naomi Sims, American model and author (d. 2009)
  • 1950 – Janet Browne, English-American historian and academic
  • 1950 – Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor
  • 1950 – Grady Little, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1950 – Warren Snowdon, Australian educator and politician, 39th Australian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
  • 1951 – Paul Da Vinci, English singer-songwriter
  • 1952 – Stuart Dryburgh, English-New Zealand cinematographer
  • 1952 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1955 – Randy VanWarmer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
  • 1956 – Bill Butler, Scottish educator and politician
  • 1956 – Juanito Oiarzabal, Spanish mountaineer
  • 1956 – Shahla Sherkat, Iranian journalist and author
  • 1957 – Marie-Christine Koundja, Chadian author and diplomat
  • 1957 – Paul Reiser, American actor and comedian
  • 1958 – Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor and stand-up comedian
  • 1958 – Joey Sindelar, American golfer
  • 1959 – Martina Cole, English television host and author
  • 1960 – Laurie Graham, Canadian skier
  • 1960 – Bill Johnson, American skier (d. 2016)
  • 1961 – Mike Thackwell, New Zealand racing driver
  • 1961 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 1999)
  • 1962 – Mark Begich, American politician
  • 1962 – MC Hammer, American rapper and actor
  • 1962 – Gary Stevens, English international footballer, defender and manager
  • 1963 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Mongolian journalist and politician, 4th President of Mongolia
  • 1963 – Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
  • 1963 – Panagiotis Tsalouchidis, Greek footballer
  • 1964 – Vlado Bozinovski, Macedonian-Australian footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Tracy Chapman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1965 – Piers Morgan, English journalist and talk show host
  • 1966 – Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess player and author
  • 1966 – Dmitry Volkov, Russian swimmer
  • 1966 – Leonid Voloshin, Russian triple jumper
  • 1967 – Christopher Bowman, American figure skater and coach (d. 2008)
  • 1967 – Richard Hutten, Dutch furniture designer
  • 1967 – Julie Richardson, New Zealand tennis player
  • 1968 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1969 – Troy Bayliss, Australian motorcycle racer
  • 1970 – Tobias Hill, English poet and author
  • 1970 – Sylvain Charlebois, Canadian food/agriculture researcher and author
  • 1971 – Mari Holden, American cyclist
  • 1971 – Mark Consuelos, American actor and television personality
  • 1972 – Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
  • 1972 – Emerson Thome, Brazilian footballer and scout
  • 1972 – Karel Poborský, Czech footballer
  • 1973 – Adam Goldstein, American keyboard player, DJ, and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1973 – Jan Koller, Czech footballer
  • 1973 – Kareem Streete-Thompson, Caymanian-American long jumper
  • 1974 – Martin Love, Australian cricketer
  • 1975 – Paul Griffen, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
  • 1976 – Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
  • 1976 – Obadele Thompson, Barbadian sprinter
  • 1976 – Troels Lund Poulsen, Danish politician, Minister for Education of Denmark
  • 1977 – Abhishek Chaubey, Indian director and screenwriter
  • 1978 – Paweł Czapiewski, Polish runner
  • 1978 – Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player and coach
  • 1978 – Bok van Blerk, South African singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1979 – Norah Jones, American singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1979 – Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1980 – Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
  • 1981 – Jammal Brown, American football player
  • 1981 – Andrea Masi, Italian rugby player
  • 1982 – Mark Hudson, English footballer
  • 1982 – Philippe Mexès, French footballer
  • 1982 – Javier Portillo, Spanish footballer
  • 1982 – Jason Dohring, American actor
  • 1983 – Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
  • 1984 – Mario Ančić, Croatian tennis player
  • 1984 – Samantha Stosur, Australian tennis player
  • 1985 – Giacomo Ricci, Italian racing driver
  • 1986 – Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Trent Barreta, American wrestler
  • 1987 – Calum Elliot, Scottish footballer
  • 1987 – Kwok Kin Pong, Hong Kong footballer
  • 1987 – Marc-Édouard Vlasic, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Will Matthews, Australian rugby league player
  • 1988 – Thanasis Papazoglou, Greek footballer
  • 1988 – Richard Sherman, American football player
  • 1988 – Larisa Yurkiw, Canadian alpine skier
  • 1989 – Chris Sale, American baseball player
  • 1989 – João Sousa, Portuguese tennis player
  • 1990 – Thomas Rhett, American country music singer and songwriter
  • 1990 – Michal Březina, Czech figure skater
  • 1992 – Palak Muchhal, Indian playback singer
  • 1993 – Anitta, Brazilian singer and entertainer
  • 1994 – Jetro Willems, Dutch footballer
  • 1997 – Cha Eun-woo, South Korean singer and actor, A member of the South Korean boy band, Astro
  • 1998 – Kalyn Ponga, Australian rugby league player
  • 2000 – Colton Herta, American race car driver

Deaths on March 30

  • 116 – Quirinus of Neuss, Roman martyr and saint
  • 365 – Ai of Jin, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 341)
  • 943 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (b. 889)
  • 987 – Arnulf II, Count of Flanders (b. 960)
  • 1180 – Al-Mustadi, Caliph (b. 1142)
  • 1202 – Joachim of Fiore, Italian mystic and theologian (b. 1135)
  • 1465 – Isabella of Clermont, queen consort of Naples (b. c. 1424)
  • 1472 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (b. 1435)
  • 1486 – Thomas Bourchier, English cardinal (b. 1404)
  • 1526 – Konrad Mutian, German humanist (b. 1471)
  • 1540 – Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, German cardinal (b. 1469)
  • 1559 – Adam Ries, German mathematician and academic (b. 1492)
  • 1587 – Ralph Sadler, English politician, Secretary of State for England (b. 1507)
  • 1662 – François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet and playwright (b. 1592)
  • 1689 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish atheist and philosopher (b. 1634)
  • 1707 – Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, French general and engineer (b. 1633)
  • 1764 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1695)
  • 1783 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist and physician (b. 1718)
  • 1804 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, French general and politician, French Secretary of State for War (b. 1718)
  • 1806 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (b. 1757)
  • 1830 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (b. 1763)
  • 1840 – Beau Brummell, English-French fashion designer (b. 1778)
  • 1842 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (b. 1755)
  • 1864 – Louis Schindelmeisser, German clarinet player, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
  • 1873 – Bénédict Morel, Austrian-French psychiatrist and physician (b. 1809)
  • 1879 – Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (b. 1815)
  • 1886 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Premier of Quebec (b. 1838)
  • 1896 – Charilaos Trikoupis, Greek politician, 55th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1832)
  • 1912 – Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
  • 1925 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher and author (b. 1861)
  • 1935 – Romanos Melikian, Armenian composer (b. 1883)
  • 1936 – Conchita Supervía, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1895)
  • 1940 – Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet Scottish soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1876)
  • 1943 – Jan Bytnar, Polish lieutenant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1921)
  • 1943 – Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski, Polish sergeant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1920)
  • 1945 – Béla Balogh, Hungarian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
  • 1949 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
  • 1949 – Dattaram Hindlekar, Indian cricketer (b. 1909)
  • 1950 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1872)
  • 1952 – Jigme Wangchuck, Bhutanese king (b. 1905)
  • 1955 – Harl McDonald, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1899)
  • 1956 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English author and poet (b. 1875)
  • 1959 – Daniil Andreyev, Russian mystic and poet (b. 1906)
  • 1959 – John Auden, English solicitor, deputy coroner and a territorial soldier (b. 1894)
  • 1959 – Riccardo Zanella, Italian politician (b. 1875)
  • 1960 – Joseph Haas, German composer and educator (b. 1879)
  • 1961 – Philibert Jacques Melotte, English astronomer (b. 1880)
  • 1963 – Aleksandr Gauk, Russian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
  • 1964 – Nella Larsen, American nurse and author (b. 1891)
  • 1965 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
  • 1966 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (b. 1902)
  • 1966 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
  • 1966 – Erwin Piscator, German director and producer (b. 1893)
  • 1967 – Frank Thorpe, Australian public servant (b. 1885)
  • 1967 – Jean Toomer, American poet and novelist (b. 1894)
  • 1969 – Lucien Bianchi, Belgian racing driver (b. 1934)
  • 1970 – Heinrich Brüning, German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
  • 1972 – Mahir Çayan, Turkish politician (b. 1946)
  • 1972 – Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
  • 1973 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish pilot and politician (b. 1903)
  • 1973 – Yves Giraud-Cabantous, French racing driver (b. 1904)
  • 1975 – Peter Bamm, German journalist and author (b. 1897)
  • 1977 – Levko Revutsky, Ukrainian composer and educator (b. 1889)
  • 1978 – George Paine, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
  • 1978 – Memduh Tağmaç, Turkish general (b. 1904)
  • 1979 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (b. 1916)
  • 1979 – Ray Ventura, French pianist and bandleader (b. 1908)
  • 1981 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader’s Digest (b. 1889)
  • 1984 – Karl Rahner, German-Austrian priest and theologian (b. 1904)
  • 1985 – Harold Peary, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
  • 1986 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)
  • 1986 – John Ciardi, American poet and etymologist (b. 1916)
  • 1988 – Edgar Faure, French historian and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1908)
  • 1990 – Harry Bridges, Australian-born American activist and trade union leader (b. 1901)
  • 1992 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist and academic (b. 1919)
  • 1993 – S. M. Pandit, Indian painter (b. 1916)
  • 1993 – Richard Diebenkorn, American painter (b. 1922)
  • 1995 – Rozelle Claxton, American pianist (b. 1913)
  • 1995 – Tony Lock, English-Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1929)
  • 1995 – Paul A. Rothchild, American record producer (b. 1935)
  • 1996 – Hugh Falkus, English pilot and author (b. 1917)
  • 1996 – Ryoei Saito, Japanese businessman (b. 1916)
  • 2000 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (b. 1915)
  • 2002 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
  • 2002 – Anand Bakshi, Indian poet and lyricist (b. 1930)
  • 2003 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
  • 2003 – Valentin Pavlov, Russian banker and politician, 11th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
  • 2004 – Alistair Cooke, English-American journalist and author (b. 1908)
  • 2004 – Hubert Gregg, English actor and director (b. 1914)
  • 2004 – Michael King, New Zealand historian and author (b. 1945)
  • 2004 – Timi Yuro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
  • 2005 – Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (b. 1926)
  • 2005 – Milton Green, American hurdler and soldier (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Fred Korematsu, American political activist (b. 1919)
  • 2005 – O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and illustrator (b. 1930)
  • 2005 – Mitch Hedberg, American stand-up comedian (b. 1968)
  • 2006 – Red Hickey, American football player and coach (b. 1917)
  • 2006 – John McGahern, Irish author and educator (b. 1934)
  • 2007 – John Roberts, Canadian political scientist, academic, and politician, 46th Secretary of State for Canada (b. 1933)
  • 2008 – Roland Fraïssé, French mathematical logician (b. 1920)
  • 2008 – David Leslie, Scottish racing driver (b. 1953)
  • 2008 – Richard Lloyd, English racing driver (b. 1945)
  • 2008 – Dith Pran, Cambodian-American photographer and journalist (b. 1942)
  • 2010 – Jaime Escalante, Bolivian-American educator (b. 1930)
  • 2010 – Morris R. Jeppson, American lieutenant and physicist (b. 1922)
  • 2010 – Martin Sandberger, German SS officer (b. 1911)
  • 2012 – Janet Anderson Perkin, Canadian baseball player and curler (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Aquila Berlas Kiani, Indian-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Francesco Mancini, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1968)
  • 2012 – Granville Semmes, American businessman, founded 1-800-Flowers (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Leonid Shebarshin, Russian KGB officer (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Bobby Parks, American basketball player and coach (b. 1962)
  • 2013 – Phil Ramone, South African-American songwriter and producer, co-founded A & R Recording (b. 1934)
  • 2013 – Edith Schaeffer, Chinese-Swiss religious leader and author, co-founded L’Abri (b. 1914)
  • 2013 – Bob Turley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Ray Hutchison, American lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Kate O’Mara, English actress (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Helmut Dietl, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
  • 2015 – Roger Slifer, American author, illustrator, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1954)
  • 2015 – Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2018 – Bill Maynard, English actor (b. 1928)
  • 2020 – Bill Withers, American musician (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on March 30

  • Christian feast day:
    • Blessed Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy
    • Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka
    • John Climacus
    • Mamertinus of Auxerre
    • Quirinus of Neuss
    • Thomas Son Chasuhn, Marie-Nicolas-Antoine Daveluy (part of The Korean Martyrs)
    • Tola of Clonard
    • March 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which the first day of Hocktide can fall, while April 3 is the latest; observed on the second Monday after Easter. (Hungerford, England; popular in medieval England)
  • Land Day (Palestine)
  • National Doctors’ Day (United States)
  • Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
  • School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)

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On This Day