1610

April 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

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  • AD 65 – The freedman Milichus betrays Piso’s plot to kill Emperor Nero and all the conspirators are arrested.
  • 531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).
  • 797 – Empress Irene organizes a conspiracy against her son, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI. He is deposed and blinded. Shortly after, Constantine dies of his wounds; Irene proclaims herself basileus.
  • 1506 – The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which accused Jews are being slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.
  • 1529 – Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.
  • 1539 – The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed.
  • 1608 – In Ireland: O’Doherty’s Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry.
  • 1677 – The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.
  • 1713 – With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa was not born until 1717.
  • 1770 – Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
  • 1770 – Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI of France in a proxy wedding.
  • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord.
  • 1782 – John Adams secures the Dutch Republic’s recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.
  • 1809 – An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
  • 1810 – Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.
  • 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary “Note on the Theory of Diffraction” (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.
  • 1839 – The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
  • 1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.
  • 1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
  • 1942 – World War II: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
  • 1943 – World War II: In Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
  • 1943 – Albert Hofmann deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16.
  • 1956 – Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
  • 1960 – Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
  • 1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
  • 1971 – Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
  • 1971 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.
  • 1973 – The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.
  • 1975 – India’s first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.
  • 1984 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
  • 1985 – Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
  • 1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with Good Night.
  • 1989 – A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
  • 1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. 76 Davidians, including eighteen children under the age of ten, died in the fire.
  • 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
  • 1999 – The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
  • 2000 – Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.
  • 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
  • 2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
  • 2013 – Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.
  • 2020 – A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country’s history.

Births on April 19

  • 1452 – Frederick IV, King of Naples (d. 1504)
  • 1593 – Sir John Hobart, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1647)
  • 1603 – Michel Le Tellier, French politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1685)
  • 1613 – Christoph Bach, German musician (d. 1661)
  • 1633 – Willem Drost, Dutch painter (d. 1659)
  • 1655 – George St Lo(e), Royal Navy officer and administrator (d. 1718)
  • 1658 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, German husband of Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (d. 1716)
  • 1665 – Jacques Lelong, French author (d. 1721)
  • 1686 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian ethnographer and politician (d. 1750)
  • 1715 – James Nares, English organist and composer (d. 1783)
  • 1721 – Roger Sherman, American lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
  • 1734 – Karl von Ordóñez, Austrian violinist and composer (d. 1786)
  • 1757 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (d. 1833)
  • 1758 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish admiral (d. 1831)
  • 1785 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French pianist and composer (d. 1858)
  • 1787 – Deaf Smith, American soldier (d. 1837)
  • 1793 – Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)
  • 1806 – Sarah Bagley, American labor organizer (d. 1889)
  • 1814 – Louis Amédée Achard, French journalist and author (d. 1875)
  • 1832 – José Echegaray, Spanish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
  • 1835 – Julius Krohn, Finnish poet and journalist (d. 1888)
  • 1863 – Hemmo Kallio, Finnish actor (d. 1940)
  • 1872 – Alice Salomon, German social reformer (d. 1948)
  • 1873 – Sydney Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1967)
  • 1874 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)
  • 1877 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American engineer, invented the outboard motor (d. 1934)
  • 1879 – Arthur Robertson, Scottish runner (d. 1957)
  • 1882 – Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (d. 1954)
  • 1883 – Henry Jameson, American soccer player (d. 1938)
  • 1883 – Richard von Mises, Austrian-American mathematician and physicist (d. 1953)
  • 1885 – Karl Tarvas, Estonian architect (d. 1975)
  • 1889 – Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (d. 1946)
  • 1891 – Françoise Rosay, French actress (d. 1974)
  • 1892 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer and educator (d. 1983)
  • 1894 – Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (d. 1966)
  • 1897 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)
  • 1897 – Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese super-centenarian, oldest verified man ever (d. 2013)
  • 1898 – Constance Talmadge, American actress and producer (d. 1973)
  • 1899 – George O’Brien, American actor (d. 1985)
  • 1899 – Cemal Tollu, Turkish lieutenant and painter (d. 1968)
  • 1900 – Iracema de Alencar, Brazilian film actress (d. 1978)
  • 1900 – Richard Hughes, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1976)
  • 1900 – Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (d. 1991)
  • 1900 – Rhea Silberta, Yiddish songwriter and singing teacher (d. 1959)
  • 1902 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author and screenwriter (d. 1989)
  • 1903 – Eliot Ness, American law enforcement agent (d. 1957)
  • 1907 – Alan Wheatley, English actor (d. 1991)
  • 1908 – Irena Eichlerówna, Polish actress (d. 1990)
  • 1912 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
  • 1913 – Ken Carpenter, American discus thrower and coach (d. 1984)
  • 1917 – Sven Hassel, Danish-German soldier and author (d. 2012)
  • 1919 – Sol Kaplan, American pianist and composer (d. 1990)
  • 1920 – Gene Leis, American guitarist, composer, and producer (d. 1993)
  • 1920 – Marvin Mandel, American lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (d. 2015)
  • 1920 – John O’Neil, American baseball player and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Marian Winters, American actress (d. 1978)
  • 1921 – Anna Lee Aldred, American jockey (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Leon Henkin, American logician (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Roberto Tucci, Italian Jesuit leader, cardinal, and theologian (d. 2015)
  • 1922 – Erich Hartmann, German colonel and pilot (d. 1993)
  • 1922 – David Smith, politician in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe (d. 1996)
  • 1925 – John Kraaijkamp, Sr., Dutch actor (d. 2011)
  • 1925 – Hugh O’Brian, American actor (d. 2016)
  • 1926 – Rawya Ateya, Egyptian captain and politician (d. 1997)
  • 1928 – John Horlock, English engineer and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1928 – Azlan Shah of Perak, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 2014)
  • 1931 – Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2004)
  • 1932 – Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor
  • 1933 – Dickie Bird, English cricketer and umpire
  • 1933 – Jayne Mansfield, American model and actress (d. 1967)
  • 1933 – Philip Lavallin Wroughton, English captain and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire
  • 1934 – Dickie Goodman, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1989)
  • 1935 – Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian, and pianist (d. 2002)
  • 1935 – Justin Francis Rigali, American cardinal
  • 1936 – Wilfried Martens, Belgian politician, 60th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2013)
  • 1936 – Jack Pardee, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – Antonio Carluccio, Italian-English chef and author (d. 2017)
  • 1937 – Elinor Donahue, American actress
  • 1937 – Joseph Estrada, Filipino politician, 13th President of the Philippines
  • 1938 – Stanley Fish, American theorist, author, and scholar
  • 1939 – E. Clay Shaw, Jr., American accountant, judge, and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Roberto Carlos, Brazilian singer-songwriter
  • 1941 – Clark Dimond, American musician and author
  • 1941 – Michel Roux, French-English chef and author (d. 2020)
  • 1941 – Bobby Russell, American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
  • 1942 – Bas Jan Ader, Dutch-American photographer and director (d. 1975)
  • 1942 – Alan Price, English keyboard player, singer, and composer
  • 1942 – Jack Roush, American businessman, founded Roush Fenway Racing
  • 1942 – Maarten van den Bergh, American-Dutch businessman
  • 1943 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (d. 2014)[28]
  • 1943 – Lorenzo Sanz, Spanish businessman
  • 1944 – Keith Erickson, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1944 – James Heckman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1944 – Bernie Worrell, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2016)[29]
  • 1946 – Duygu Asena, Turkish journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
  • 1946 – Tim Curry, English actor[30]
  • 1947 – Murray Perahia, American pianist and conductor
  • 1947 – Wilfrid Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Balmacara, English civil servant
  • 1947 – Yan Pascal Tortelier, French violinist and conductor
  • 1947 – Mark Volman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1948 – Stuart McLean, Canadian radio host and author (d. 2017)
  • 1948 – Rick Miller, American baseball player and manager
  • 1949 – Paloma Picasso, French-Spanish fashion designer
  • 1949 – Larry Walters, American truck driver and pilot (d. 1993)
  • 1950 – Julia Cleverdon, English businesswoman and philanthropist
  • 1951 – Barry Brown, American actor and playwright (d. 1978)
  • 1951 – Jóannes Eidesgaard, Faroese educator and politician, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
  • 1952 – Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (d. 2009)
  • 1952 – Tony Plana, Cuban-American actor and director
  • 1952 – Michael Trend, English journalist and politician
  • 1953 – Rod Morgenstein, American drummer
  • 1953 – Sara Simeoni, Italian high jumper
  • 1953 – Ruby Wax, British-based American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
  • 1954 – Trevor Francis, English footballer and manager
  • 1954 – Bob Rock, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1956 – Sue Barker, English tennis player and journalist
  • 1956 – Randy Carlyle, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1956 – Anne Glover, Scottish biologist and academic
  • 1957 – Tony Martin, English singer-songwriter
  • 1957 – Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman, chairman of Reliance Industries and currently the richest man in Asia[31][32]
  • 1958 – Steve Antin, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1958 – Stevie B, American singer-songwriter and record producer
  • 1958 – Denis O’Brien, Irish businessman, founded BT Ireland
  • 1958 – Vytautas Šapranauskas, Lithuanian actor (d. 2013)
  • 1958 – Keith Shine, British academic and educator
  • 1959 – Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, English activist
  • 1959 – Teofisto Guingona III, Filipino lawyer and politician
  • 1959 – Donald Markwell, Australian sociologist and academic
  • 1960 – Nicoletta Braschi, Italian actress and producer
  • 1960 – Ara Gevorgyan, Armenian pianist, composer, and producer
  • 1960 – Roger Merrett, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1960 – John Schweitz, American basketball player and coach
  • 1960 – Frank Viola, American baseball player and coach[33]
  • 1961 – Alan Kirschenbaum, American producer and writer (d. 2012)
  • 1961 – Albert Martinez, Filipino actor, director, and producer
  • 1961 – Spike Owen, American baseball player and coach
  • 1962 – Al Unser Jr., American race car driver
  • 1964 – Gordon Marshall, Scottish footballer and coach
  • 1964 – Kim Weaver, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
  • 1965 – Natalie Dessay, French soprano and actress
  • 1965 – Suge Knight, American record producer, co-founded Death Row Records
  • 1966 – Véronique Gens, French soprano and actress
  • 1966 – David La Haye, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Paul Reiffel, Australian cricketer and umpire
  • 1966 – El Samurai, Japanese wrestler
  • 1967 – Philippe Saint-André, French rugby player and coach
  • 1968 – Ashley Judd, American actress and activist
  • 1968 – Arshad Warsi, Indian film actor and producer
  • 1969 – Andrew Carnie, Canadian-American linguist, author, and academic
  • 1969 – Susan Polgar, Hungarian-American chess player
  • 1970 – Luis Miguel, Mexican singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1970 – Kelly Holmes, English runner
  • 1970 – Abelardo Fernández, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1971 – Brendon Burns, Australian comedian, podcaster, writer and author
  • 1971 – Scott McCord, Canadian voice actor
  • 1972 – Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer
  • 1972 – Jeff Wilkins, American football player
  • 1973 – George Gregan, Zambian-Australian rugby player and coach
  • 1973 – Alessio Scarpi, Italian footballer
  • 1975 – Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1975 – Jussi Jääskeläinen, Finnish footballer
  • 1976 – Ruud Jolie, Dutch guitarist
  • 1976 – Scott Padgett, American basketball player, coach, and radio host
  • 1976 – Kim Young-oh, South Korean author and illustrator
  • 1977 – Joe Beimel, American baseball player
  • 1977 – Anju Bobby George, Indian long jumper
  • 1977 – Lucien Mettomo, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1977 – Dennys Reyes, Mexican baseball player
  • 1977 – Jonny Storm, English wrestler and trainer
  • 1978 – James Franco, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1978 – Gabriel Heinze, Argentinian footballer
  • 1978 – Amanda Sage, American-Austrian painter and educator
  • 1979 – Rocky Bernard, American football player
  • 1979 – Kate Hudson, American actress
  • 1979 – Zhao Junzhe, Chinese footballer
  • 1980 – Jason Blaine, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1980 – Robyn Regehr, Brazilian-Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor and producer
  • 1981 – Ryuta Hara, Japanese footballer
  • 1981 – Martin Havlát, Czech ice hockey player
  • 1981 – James Hibberd, English cricketer
  • 1981 – Troy Polamalu, American football player
  • 1981 – Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
  • 1982 – Joseph Hagerty, American gymnast
  • 1982 – Filip Jícha, Czech handball player
  • 1982 – Samuel C. Morrison, Jr., Liberian-American journalist, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1982 – Rocco Sabato, Italian footballer
  • 1982 – Ignacio Serricchio, Argentinian-American actor
  • 1982 – Sitiveni Sivivatu, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1983 – Alberto Callaspo, Venezuelan-American baseball player
  • 1983 – Zach Duke, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Joe Mauer, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Patrick Platins, German footballer
  • 1983 – Curtis Thigpen, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Christopher Pearce, English cricketer
  • 1985 – Valon Behrami, Swiss footballer
  • 1985 – David Cavazos, Mexican singer-songwriter
  • 1985 – Sabrina Jalees, Canadian comedian, dancer, actress, presenter, and writer
  • 1985 – Jan Zimmermann, German footballer
  • 1986 – Pascal Angan, Beninese footballer
  • 1986 – Candace Parker, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Gabe Pruitt, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Will Thursfield, English-Australian footballer
  • 1987 – Luigi Giorgi, Italian footballer
  • 1987 – Joe Hart, English footballer
  • 1987 – Daniel Schuhmacher, German singer-songwriter
  • 1987 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
  • 1987 – Lauren Wilson, Canadian figure skater
  • 1988 – Enrique Esqueda, Mexican footballer
  • 1989 – Dominik Mader, German footballer
  • 1989 – Daisuke Watabe, Japanese footballer
  • 1989 – Genoveva Añonma, Equatoguinean footballer
  • 1990 – Jackie Bradley, Jr., American baseball player
  • 1990 – Kim Chiu, Filipino actress, singer, and dancer[34]
  • 1990 – Héctor Herrera, Mexican footballer
  • 1990 – Ayaka Takahashi, Japanese badminton player
  • 1991 – Steve Cook, English footballer

Deaths April 19

  • 843 – Judith of Bavaria, Frankish empress
  • 1012 – Ælfheah of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint (b. 954)
  • 1013 – Hisham II, Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (b. 966)
  • 1044 – Gothelo I, duke of Lorraine
  • 1054 – Leo IX, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1002)
  • 1321 – Gerasimus I, patriarch of Constantinople
  • 1390 – Robert II, king of Scotland (b. 1316)
  • 1405 – Thomas West, 1st Baron West, English nobleman (b. 1335)[35]
  • 1431 – Adolph III, count of Waldeck (b. 1362)
  • 1560 – Philip Melanchthon, German theologian and reformer (b. 1497)
  • 1567 – Michael Stifel, German monk and mathematician (b. 1487)
  • 1578 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530)
  • 1588 – Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (b. 1528)
  • 1608 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English poet, playwright, and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1536)
  • 1618 – Thomas Bastard, English priest and author (b. 1566)
  • 1619 – Jagat Gosain, Mughal empress (b. 1573)[36]
  • 1629 – Sigismondo d’India, Italian composer (b. 1582)
  • 1632 – Sigismund III Vasa, king of Sweden and Poland (b. 1566)
  • 1686 – Antonio de Solís y Ribadeneyra, Spanish historian and playwright (b. 1610)
  • 1689 – Christina, queen of Sweden (b. 1626)
  • 1733 – Elizabeth Hamilton, countess of Orkney (b. 1657)
  • 1739 – Nicholas Saunderson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1682)
  • 1768 – Canaletto, Italian painter and etcher (b. 1697)
  • 1776 – Jacob Emden, German rabbi and author (b. 1697)
  • 1791 – Richard Price, Welsh-English preacher and philosopher (b. 1723)
  • 1813 – Benjamin Rush, American physician and educator (b. 1745)
  • 1824 – Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1788)
  • 1831 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1765)
  • 1833 – James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, Bahamian-English admiral and politician, 36th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1756)
  • 1840 – Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (b. 1777)
  • 1854 – Robert Jameson, Scottish mineralogist and academic (b. 1774)
  • 1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, English journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
  • 1882 – Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (b. 1809)
  • 1893 – Martin Körber, Estonian-German pastor, composer, and conductor (b. 1817)
  • 1901 – Alfred Horatio Belo, American publisher, founded The Dallas Morning News (b. 1839)
  • 1906 – Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
  • 1906 – Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850)
  • 1909 – Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer and ethnologist (b. 1836)
  • 1914 – Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician and philosopher (b. 1839)
  • 1915 – Thomas Playford II, English-Australian politician, 17th Premier of South Australia (b. 1837)
  • 1916 – Ephraim Shay, American engineer, designed the Shay locomotive (b. 1839)
  • 1926 – Alexander Alexandrovich Chuprov, Russian-Swiss statistician and theorist (b. 1874)
  • 1930 – Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
  • 1937 – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English cartographer and politician (b. 1856)
  • 1937 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist and zoologist (b. 1865)
  • 1941 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer (b. 1878)
  • 1949 – Ulrich Salchow, Danish-Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
  • 1950 – Ernst Robert Curtius, French-German philologist and scholar (b. 1886)
  • 1955 – Jim Corbett, British-Indian colonel, hunter, and author (b. 1875)
  • 1960 – Beardsley Ruml, American economist and statistician (b. 1894)
  • 1961 – Max Hainle, German swimmer (b. 1882)
  • 1967 – Konrad Adenauer, German politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
  • 1971 – Luigi Piotti, Italian race car driver (b. 1913)
  • 1975 – Percy Lavon Julian, American chemist and academic (b. 1899)
  • 1987 – Hugh Brannum, American vocalist, arranger, and composer (b. 1910)
  • 1989 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (b. 1907)
  • 1991 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (b. 1905)
  • 1992 – Frankie Howerd, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1917)
  • 1993 – David Koresh, American religious leader (b. 1959)
  • 1993 – George S. Mickelson, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1941)
  • 1998 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, philosopher, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
  • 1999 – Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian-German SS officer (b. 1919)
  • 2000 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1918)
  • 2001 – Meldrim Thomson, Jr.. American publisher and politician, 73rd Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1912)
  • 2002 – Reginald Rose, American writer (b. 1920)
  • 2003 – Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Indian-English caliph (b. 1928)
  • 2004 – Norris McWhirter, English author and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (b. 1925)
  • 2004 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (b. 1920)
  • 2004 – Jenny Pike, Canadian WWII servicewoman and photographer (b. 1922)[37]
  • 2005 – George P. Cosmatos, Italian-Greek director and screenwriter (b. 1941)
  • 2005 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (b. 1911)
  • 2005 – Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor and author (b. 1929)
  • 2005 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish bassist and composer (b. 1946)
  • 2006 – Albert Scott Crossfield, American engineer, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1921)
  • 2007 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (b. 1932)
  • 2008 – John Marzano, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1963)
  • 2008 – Alfonso López Trujillo, Colombian cardinal (b. 1935)
  • 2009 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1930)
  • 2011 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (b. 1946)[38]
  • 2012 – Leopold David de Rothschild, English financier and philanthropist (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Greg Ham, Australian saxophonist, songwriter, and actor (b. 1953)
  • 2012 – Levon Helm, American singer-songwriter, drummer, guitarist, instrumentalist, and actor (b. 1940)
  • 2012 – Valeri Vasiliev, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1949)
  • 2013 – Sivanthi Adithan, Indian businessman (b. 1936)
  • 2013 – Allan Arbus, American actor and photographer (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Mike Denness, Scottish-English cricketer and referee (b. 1940)
  • 2013 – François Jacob, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
  • 2013 – E. L. Konigsburg, American author and illustrator (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Al Neuharth, American journalist, author, and publisher, founded USA Today (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Lindy Berry, American football player (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – Ian McIntyre, Scottish journalist and producer (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Frits Thors, Dutch journalist (b. 1909)
  • 2015 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (b. 1919)
  • 2015 – William Price Fox, American journalist and author (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (b. 1924)[39]
  • 2015 – Tom McCabe, Scottish social worker and politician (b. 1954)[40]
  • 2015 – Oktay Sinanoğlu, Italian-Turkish chemist and academic (b. 1935)
  • 2016 – Patricio Aylwin, Chilean politician (b. 1918)[41]
  • 2016 – Milt Pappas, American baseball player (b. 1939)[42]
  • 2017 – Aaron Hernandez, American football player (b. 1989)[43]

Holidays and observances on April 19

  • Christian feast day:
    • Ælfheah of Canterbury (Anglican, Catholic)
    • Conrad of Ascoli
    • Emma of Lesum
    • Expeditus
    • George of Antioch
    • Olaus and Laurentius Petri (Lutheran)
    • Pope Leo IX
    • Ursmar
    • April 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which First Day of Summer or Sumardagurinn fyrsti can fall, while April 25 is the latest; celebrated on the first Thursday after April 18. (Iceland)
  • Army Day (Brazil)
  • Beginning of the Independence Movement (Venezuela)
  • Bicycle Day[44]
  • Dutch-American Friendship Day (United States)
  • Holocaust Remembrance Day (Poland)
  • Indian Day (Brazil)
  • King Mswati III’s birthday (Eswatini)
  • Landing of the 33 Patriots Day (Uruguay)
  • Patriots’ Day (Massachusetts, Maine and Wisconsin, United States)

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

by
  • 769 – The Lateran Council condemned the Council of Hieria and anathematized its iconoclastic rulings.
  • 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.
  • 1395 – Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Battle of the Terek River. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the throne.
  • 1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years’ War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
  • 1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War.
  • 1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.
  • 1715 – The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
  • 1736 – Foundation of the Kingdom of Corsica.
  • 1738 – Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel receives its premiere performance in London, England.
  • 1755 – Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
  • 1783 – Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War (or American War of Independence) are ratified.
  • 1817 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf, the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.
  • 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.
  • 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President upon Lincoln’s death.
  • 1892 – The General Electric Company is formed.
  • 1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
  • 1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
  • 1907 – Triangle Fraternity is founded at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
  • 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
  • 1920 – Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.
  • 1922 – U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal.
  • 1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
  • 1924 – Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
  • 1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.
  • 1941 – In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing around one thousand people.
  • 1942 – The George Cross is awarded “to the island fortress of Malta” by King George VI.
  • 1945 – Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
  • 1947 – Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball’s color line.
  • 1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
  • 1955 – McDonald’s restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.
  • 1960 – At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
  • 1969 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 onboard.
  • 1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
  • 1986 – The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
  • 1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
  • 1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang’s death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China.
  • 1994 – Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.
  • 2013 – Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring 264 others.
  • 2013 – A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people.
  • 2014 – In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, at least 200 civilians were gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals.
  • 2019 – The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire.

Births on April 15

  • 68 BC – Gaius Maecenas, Roman politician (d. 8 BC)
  • 1282 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1329)
  • 1367 – Henry IV of England (d. 1413)
  • 1442 – John Paston, English noble (d. 1479)
  • 1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (d. 1519)
  • 1469 – Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru (d. 1539)
  • 1552 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1626)
  • 1563 – Guru Arjan Dev, fifth Sikh leader (d. 1606)
  • 1588 – Claudius Salmasius, French author and scholar (d. 1653)
  • 1592 – Francesco Maria Brancaccio, Catholic cardinal (d. 1675)
  • 1641 – Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and geographer (d. 1722)
  • 1642 – Suleiman II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1691)
  • 1646 – Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
  • 1684 – Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
  • 1688 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German violinist and composer (d. 1758)
  • 1707 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1783)
  • 1710 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
  • 1741 – Charles Willson Peale, American painter and soldier (d. 1827)
  • 1771 – Nicolas Chopin, French-Polish educator (d. 1844)
  • 1772 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French biologist and zoologist (d. 1844)
  • 1793 – Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer and academic (d. 1864)
  • 1795 – Maria Schicklgruber, mother of Alois Hitler and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler (d.1847)
  • 1800 – James Clark Ross, English captain and explorer (d. 1862)
  • 1808 – William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1892)
  • 1809 – Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician (d. 1877)
  • 1817 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1885)
  • 1828 – Jean Danjou, French captain (d. 1863)
  • 1832 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet, painter, and illustrator (d. 1908)
  • 1841 – Mary Grant Roberts, Australian zoo owner (d. 1921)
  • 1841 – Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company Ltd (d. 1919)
  • 1843 – Henry James, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 1916)
  • 1856 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (d. 1910)
  • 1858 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (d. 1917)
  • 1861 – Bliss Carman, Canadian-British poet and playwright (d. 1929)
  • 1863 – Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (d. 1914)
  • 1874 – George Harrison Shull, American botanist and geneticist (d. 1954)
  • 1874 – Johannes Stark, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
  • 1875 – James J. Jeffries, American boxer and promoter (d. 1953)
  • 1877 – Georg Kolbe, German sculptor (d. 1947)
  • 1878 – Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (d. 1956)
  • 1879 – Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (d. 1980)
  • 1883 – Stanley Bruce, Australian captain and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
  • 1885 – Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
  • 1886 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (d. 1921)
  • 1887 – William Forgan Smith, Scottish-Australian politician, 24th Premier of Queensland (d. 1953)
  • 1888 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (d. 1904)
  • 1889 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (d. 1975)
  • 1889 – A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
  • 1890 – Percy Shaw, English businessman, invented the cat’s eye (d. 1976)
  • 1892 – Theo Osterkamp, German general and pilot (d. 1975)
  • 1892 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch-American clocksmith, Nazi resister, and author (d. 1983)
  • 1894 – Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1971)
  • 1894 – Bessie Smith, African-American singer and actress (d. 1937)
  • 1895 – Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker player (d. 1980)
  • 1895 – Abigail Mejia, Dominican feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator (d. 1941)
  • 1896 – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
  • 1898 – Harry Edward, Guyanese-English sprinter (d. 1973)
  • 1901 – Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
  • 1901 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1986)
  • 1901 – René Pleven, French businessman and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1993)
  • 1902 – Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
  • 1903 – John Williams, English-American actor (d. 1983)
  • 1904 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1948)
  • 1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
  • 1908 – eden ahbez, Scottish-American songwriter and recording artist (d. 1995)
  • 1908 – Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
  • 1910 – Sulo Bärlund, Finnish shot putter (d. 1986)
  • 1910 – Miguel Najdorf, Polish-Argentinian chess player and theoretician (d. 1997)
  • 1912 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1998)
  • 1912 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 1994)
  • 1915 – Elizabeth Catlett, African-American sculptor and illustrator (d. 2012)
  • 1916 – Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
  • 1916 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (d. 1997)
  • 1917 – Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
  • 1917 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and bomber pilot (d. 1944)
  • 1917 – James Kee, American lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
  • 1918 – Hans Billian, German film director, screenwriter, and actor (d. 2007)
  • 1919 – Alberto Breccia, Uruguayan-Argentinian author and illustrator (d. 1993)
  • 1920 – Godfrey Stafford, English-South African physicist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German soldier and politician, 6th President of Germany (d. 2015)
  • 1921 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1995)
  • 1921 – Angelo DiGeorge, American physician and endocrinologist (d. 2009)
  • 1922 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Hasrat Jaipuri, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1999)
  • 1922 – Harold Washington, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
  • 1922 – Graham Whitehead, English racing driver (d. 1981)
  • 1923 – Artur Alliksaar, Estonian poet and author (d. 1966)
  • 1923 – Robert DePugh, American activist, founded the Minutemen (an anti-Communist organization) (d. 2009)
  • 1924 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (d. 1980)
  • 1924 – Rikki Fulton, Scottish comedian (d. 2004)
  • 1924 – Neville Marriner, English violinist and conductor (d. 2016)
  • 1927 – Robert Mills, American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
  • 1929 – Gérald Beaudoin, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2008)
  • 1929 – Adrian Cadbury, English rower and businessman (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – Georges Descrières, French actor (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Icelandic educator and politician, 4th President of Iceland
  • 1931 – Kenneth Bloomfield, Northern Irish civil servant
  • 1931 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and psychologist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
  • 1933 – Roy Clark, American musician and television personality (d. 2018)
  • 1933 – David Hamilton, English-French photographer and director (d. 2016)
  • 1933 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress and producer (d. 1995)
  • 1935 – Stavros Paravas, Greek actor and producer (d. 2008)
  • 1936 – Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
  • 1937 – Bob Luman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1978)
  • 1938 – Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress
  • 1938 – Hso Khan Pha, Burmese-Canadian geologist and politician (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – Marty Wilde, English singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1939 – Desiré Ecaré, Ivorian filmmaker (d. 2009)
  • 1940 – Jeffrey Archer, English author, playwright, and politician
  • 1940 – Penelope Coelen, South African actress, model, beauty queen and 1958 Miss World
  • 1940 – Willie Davis, American baseball player and actor (d. 2010)
  • 1940 – Robert Lacroix, Canadian economist and academic
  • 1941 – Howard Berman, American lawyer and politician
  • 1942 – Francis X. DiLorenzo, American bishop (d. 2017)
  • 1942 – Walt Hazzard, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
  • 1942 – Kenneth Lay, American businessman (d. 2006)
  • 1942 – Tim Lankester, English economist and academic
  • 1943 – Pınar Kür, Turkish author, playwright, and academic
  • 1943 – Robert Lefkowitz, American physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1943 – Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater, English politician
  • 1943 – Hugh Thompson, Jr., American soldier and pilot (d. 2006)
  • 1944 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, Russian-Chechen general and politician, 1st President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (d. 1996)
  • 1944 – Dave Edmunds, Welsh singer, guitarist, and producer
  • 1946 – John Lloyd, Scottish journalist and author
  • 1946 – Pete Rouse, American politician, White House Chief of Staff
  • 1947 – Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American screenwriter and producer
  • 1947 – Martin Broughton, English businessman
  • 1947 – Lois Chiles, American model and actress
  • 1947 – David Omand, English civil servant and academic
  • 1947 – Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish nurse and politician, Swedish Minister for Social Security
  • 1947 – Woolly Wolstenholme, English singer and keyboard player (d. 2010)
  • 1948 – Christopher Brown, English historian, curator, and academic
  • 1948 – Michael Kamen, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
  • 1948 – Phil Mogg, English singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1949 – Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1949 – Craig Zadan, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
  • 1950 – Josiane Balasko, French actress, director, and screenwriter
  • 1950 – Amy Wright, American actress
  • 1950 – Karel Kroupa, Czech football player
  • 1951 – Heloise, American journalist and author
  • 1951 – John L. Phillips, American captain and astronaut
  • 1951 – Stuart Prebble, English journalist and producer
  • 1951 – Marsha Ivins, American engineer and astronaut
  • 1952 – Kym Gyngell, Australian actor, comedian, and screenwriter
  • 1952 – Brian Muir, English sculptor and set designer
  • 1952 – Avital Ronell, Czech-American philosopher and academic
  • 1955 – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (d. 1997)
  • 1955 – Joice Mujuru, Zimbabwean politician
  • 1956 – Michael Cooper, American basketball player and coach
  • 1957 – Evelyn Ashford, American runner and coach
  • 1958 – Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1958 – John Bracewell, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1958 – Memos Ioannou, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1958 – Benjamin Zephaniah, English actor, author, poet, and playwright
  • 1959 – Fruit Chan, Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1959 – Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
  • 1959 – Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, author, activist and screenwriter
  • 1960 – Pierre Aubry, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1960 – Susanne Bier, Danish director and screenwriter
  • 1960 – Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Tony Jones, English snooker player
  • 1961 – Neil Carmichael, English academic and politician
  • 1961 – Carol W. Greider, American molecular biologist
  • 1961 – Dawn Wright, American geographer and oceanographer
  • 1962 – Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan athlete and politician
  • 1962 – Tom Kane, American voice actor
  • 1963 – Alex Crawford, Nigerian-South African journalist
  • 1963 – Manzoor Elahi, Pakistani cricketer
  • 1963 – Manoj Prabhakar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
  • 1964 – Andre Joubert, South African rugby player
  • 1964 – Lee Kernaghan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1965 – Linda Perry, American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer
  • 1965 – Kevin Stevens, American ice hockey player
  • 1966 – Samantha Fox, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1966 – Mott Green, American businessman (d. 2013)
  • 1967 – Frankie Poullain, Scottish bass player and songwriter
  • 1967 – Dara Torres, American swimmer and journalist
  • 1968 – Ben Clarke, English rugby player and coach
  • 1968 – Brahim Lahlafi, Moroccan-French runner
  • 1968 – Ed O’Brien, English guitarist
  • 1969 – Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
  • 1969 – Kaisa Roose, Estonian pianist and conductor
  • 1969 – Jimmy Waite, Canadian-German ice hockey player and coach
  • 1970 – Chris Huffins, American decathlete and coach
  • 1971 – Philippe Carbonneau, French rugby player
  • 1971 – Finidi George, Nigerian footballer
  • 1971 – Jason Sehorn, American football player
  • 1971 – Josia Thugwane, South African runner
  • 1971 – Karl Turner, English lawyer and politician
  • 1972 – Arturo Gatti, Italian-Canadian boxer (d. 2009)
  • 1972 – Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor
  • 1974 – Kim Min-kyo, South Korean actor and director
  • 1974 – Danny Pino, American actor and screenwriter
  • 1974 – Mike Quinn, American football player
  • 1974 – Douglas Spain, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1974 – Tim Thomas, American ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Sarah Teichmann, German-American biophysicist and immunologist
  • 1976 – Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1976 – Darius Regelskis, Lithuanian footballer
  • 1976 – Kęstutis Šeštokas, Lithuanian basketball player
  • 1976 – Steve Williams, English rower
  • 1977 – Sudarsan Pattnaik, Indian sculptor
  • 1977 – Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Milton Bradley, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Tim Corcoran, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Luis Fonsi, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and dancer
  • 1978 – Chris Stapleton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1980 – Patrick Carney, American drummer, musician, and producer
  • 1980 – James Foster, English cricketer
  • 1980 – Raül López, Spanish basketball player
  • 1980 – Willie Mason, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
  • 1980 – Aida Mollenkamp, American chef and author
  • 1980 – Billy Yates, American football player
  • 1981 – Andrés D’Alessandro, Argentinian footballer
  • 1982 – Michael Aubrey, American baseball player
  • 1982 – Anthony Green, American singer-songwriter
  • 1982 – Seth Rogen, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1983 – Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
  • 1983 – Matt Cardle, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1983 – Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
  • 1983 – Andreas Fransson, Swedish skier (d. 2014)
  • 1983 – Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Martin Pedersen, Danish cyclist
  • 1984 – Antonio Cromartie, American football player
  • 1984 – Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Daniel Paille, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Ryan Hamilton, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Tom Heaton, English footballer
  • 1986 – Sylvain Marveaux, French footballer
  • 1988 – Blake Ayshford, Australian rugby league player
  • 1988 – Steven Defour, Belgian footballer
  • 1988 – Chris Tillman, American baseball pitcher
  • 1989 – Darren Nicholls, Australian rugby league player
  • 1990 – Emma Watson, English actress
  • 1991 – Daiki Arioka, Japanese idol, singer, and actor
  • 1991 – Javier Fernández López, Spanish figure skater
  • 1992 – Jeremy McGovern, Australian rules football player
  • 1994 – Brodie Grundy, Australian rules football player
  • 1994 – Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamian sprinter
  • 1995 – Leander Dendoncker, Belgian footballer
  • 1999 – Denis Shapovalov, Canadian tennis player
  • 2001 – Shanti Dope, Filipino rapper

Deaths on April 15

  • 628 – Suiko, emperor of Japan (b. 554)
  • 943 – Liu Bin, emperor of Southern Han (b. 920)
  • 956 – Lin Yanyu, Chinese court official and eunuch
  • 1053 – Godwin, Earl of Wessex (b. 1001)
  • 1136 – Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare (b. 1094)
  • 1220 – Adolf of Altena, German archbishop (b. 1157)
  • 1237 – Richard Poore, English ecclesiastic
  • 1415 – Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek philosopher and translator (b. 1355)
  • 1446 – Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian sculptor and architect (b. 1377)
  • 1502 – John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange (b. 1443)
  • 1558 – Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (b. c. 1500)
  • 1610 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (b. 1546)
  • 1632 – George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician, English Secretary of State (b. 1580)
  • 1652 – Patriarch Joseph of Moscow, Russian patriarch
  • 1659 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymnwriter (b. 1605)
  • 1719 – Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, French wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
  • 1754 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1676)
  • 1761 – Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Court of Session (b. 1682)
  • 1761 – William Oldys, English historian and author (b. 1696)
  • 1764 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (b. 1679)
  • 1765 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian chemist and physicist (b. 1711)
  • 1788 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
  • 1793 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian priest, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1718)
  • 1854 – Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (b. 1773)
  • 1861 – Sylvester Jordan, Austrian-German lawyer and politician (b. 1792)
  • 1865 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
  • 1888 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (b. 1822)
  • 1889 – Father Damien, Belgian priest and saint (b. 1840)
  • 1898 – Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, New Zealand commander and politician
  • 1912 – Victims of the Titanic disaster:
    • Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder (b. 1873)
    • John Jacob Astor IV, American colonel, businessman, and author (b. 1864)
    • Archibald Butt, American general and journalist (b. 1865)
    • Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (b. 1875)
    • Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
    • Henry B. Harris, American producer and manager (b. 1866)
    • Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (b. 1878)
    • James Paul Moody, English Sixth Officer (b. 1887)
    • William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish First Officer (b. 1873)
    • Jack Phillips, English telegraphist (b. 1887)
    • Edward Smith, English Captain (b. 1850)
    • William Thomas Stead, English journalist (b. 1849)
    • Ida Straus, German-American businesswoman (b. 1849)
    • Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (b. 1845)
    • John B. Thayer, American business and sportsman (b. 1862)
    • Henry Tingle Wilde, English chief officer (b. 1872)
  • 1917 – János Murkovics, Slovene author, poet, and educator (b. 1839)
  • 1927 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (b. 1868)
  • 1938 – César Vallejo, Peruvian journalist, poet, and playwright (b. 1892)
  • 1942 – Robert Musil, Austrian-Swiss author and playwright (b. 1880)
  • 1943 – Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian painter and set designer (b. 1882)
  • 1944 – Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Russian general (b. 1901)
  • 1945 – Hermann Florstedt, German SS officer (b. 1895)
  • 1948 – Radola Gajda, Montenegrin-Czech general and politician (b. 1892)
  • 1949 – Wallace Beery, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
  • 1962 – Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1880)
  • 1962 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (b. 1912)
  • 1963 – Edward Greeves, Jr., Australian footballer (b. 1903)
  • 1966 – Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury, Bengali politician, writer, journalist, first health minister of East Pakistan
  • 1967 – Totò, Italian comedian (b. 1898)
  • 1971 – Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (b. 1915)
  • 1971 – Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian author and critic (b. 1886)
  • 1979 – David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1912)
  • 1980 – Raymond Bailey, American actor and soldier (b. 1904)
  • 1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
  • 1982 – Arthur Lowe, English actor (b. 1915)
  • 1984 – Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (b. 1921)
  • 1986 – Jean Genet, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1910)
  • 1988 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1926)
  • 1989 – Hu Yaobang, Chinese soldier and politician, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1915)
  • 1990 – Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress (b. 1905)
  • 1993 – Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • 1993 – John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geophysicist and geologist (b. 1908)
  • 1998 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1912)
  • 1998 – Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1925)
  • 1999 – Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (b. 1944)
  • 2000 – Edward Gorey, American poet and illustrator (b. 1925)
  • 2001 – Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
  • 2002 – Damon Knight, American author and critic (b. 1922)
  • 2002 – Byron White, American football player, lawyer, and jurist, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (b. 1917)
  • 2004 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese illustrator (b. 1934)
  • 2007 – Brant Parker, American illustrator (b. 1920)
  • 2008 – Krister Stendahl, Swedish bishop, theologian, and scholar (b. 1921)
  • 2009 – Clement Freud, German-English journalist, academic, and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2009 – László Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
  • 2009 – Salih Neftçi, Turkish economist and author (b. 1947)
  • 2010 – Jack Herer, American author and activist (b. 1939)
  • 2010 – Michael Pataki, American actor and director (b. 1938)
  • 2011 – Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1975)
  • 2012 – Paul Bogart, American director and producer (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – Dwayne Schintzius, American basketball player (b. 1968)
  • 2013 – Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1946)
  • 2013 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (b. 1919)
  • 2014 – Eliseo Verón, Argentinian sociologist and academic (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Jonathan Crombie, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1966)
  • 2015 – Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1928)
  • 2017 – Clifton James, American actor (b. 1920)
  • 2017 – Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, last person verified born in the 1800s (b. 1899)
  • 2018 – R. Lee Ermey, American actor (b. 1944)
  • 2018 – Vittorio Taviani, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances on April 15

  • Christian feast day:
    • Abbo II of Metz
    • Father Damien (The Episcopal Church)
    • Hunna
    • Paternus of Avranches
    • April 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of the Sun (North Korea)
  • Earliest day on which Sechseläuten can fall, while April 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in April. (Zürich)
  • Father Damien Day (Hawaii)
  • Hillsborough Disaster Memorial (Liverpool, England)
  • Jackie Robinson Day (United States)
  • National American Sign Language Day (United States)
  • One Boston Day (United States)
  • Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year)
  • Tax Day, the official deadline for filing an individual tax return (or requesting an extension). (United States, Philippines)
  • Universal Day of Culture
  • World Art Day

April 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by

It is the first day of the second quarter of the year, and the midway point of the first half of the year.

  • 33 – According to one historian’s account, Jesus Christ’s Last Supper is held.
  • 286 – Emperor Diocletian elevates his general Maximian to co-emperor with the rank of Augustus and gives him control over the Western regions of the Roman Empire.
  • 325 – Crown Prince Jin Chengdi, age four, succeeds his father Jin Mingdi as emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
  • 457 – Majorian is acclaimed emperor by the Roman army after defeating 900 Alemanni near Lake Maggiore (Italy).
  • 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
  • 528 – The daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei was made the “Emperor” as a male heir of the late emperor by Empress Dowager Hu. Deposed and replaced by Yuan Zhao the next day, she was the first female monarch in the History of China, but is not widely recognised.
  • 988 – Robert II of France is married to Rozala of Italy. The marriage is arranged by his father, King Hugh Capet.
  • 1234 – Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, is defeated by knights loyal to King Henry III of England in the Battle of the Curragh in Ireland.
  • 1293 – Robert Winchelsey leaves England for Rome, to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 1318 – Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured by Scotland from England.
  • 1340 – Niels Ebbesen kills Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg in his bedroom, ending the 1332-1340 interregnum in Denmark.
  • 1545 – Potosí, Bolivia, is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area.
  • 1572 – In the Eighty Years’ War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
  • 1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War.
  • 1789 – In New York City, the United States House of Representatives achieves its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.
  • 1826 – Samuel Morey received a patent for a compressionless “Gas or Vapor Engine”.
  • 1833 – The Convention of 1833, a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas to help draft a series of petitions to the Mexican government, begins in San Felipe de Austin.
  • 1854 – Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times begins serialisation in his magazine Household Words.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia’s last supply line.
  • 1867 – Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
  • 1871 – The 3rd Duke of Buckingham opened the Brill Tramway, a short railway line to transport goods between his lands and the national rail network.
  • 1873 – The White Star steamer RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.
  • 1889 – The University of Northern Colorado was established, as the Colorado State Normal School.
  • 1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
  • 1893 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is established.
  • 1908 – The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
  • 1918 – The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
  • 1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years imprisonment for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch” but spends only nine months in jail.
  • 1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
  • 1933 – The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.
  • 1933 – English cricketer Wally Hammond set a record for the highest individual Test innings of 336 not out, during a Test match against New Zealand.
  • 1935 – India’s central banking institution, The Reserve Bank of India, is formed.
  • 1937 – Aden becomes a British crown colony.
  • 1937 – The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.
  • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Jaén, Spain is bombed by German fascist forces, supporting Francoist Nationalists.
  • 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
  • 1941 – Fântâna Albă massacre: Between 200 and 2,000 Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.
  • 1941 – A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of ‘Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.
  • 1944 – Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.
  • 1946 – The 8.6 Mw  Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.
  • 1947 – The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.
  • 1948 – Cold War: Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.
  • 1948 – Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.
  • 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
  • 1949 – The Government of Canada repeals Japanese-Canadian internment after seven years.
  • 1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
  • 1955 – The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of unifying with Greece.
  • 1960 – The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.
  • 1969 – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force.
  • 1970 – President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General’s warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertising on television and radio in the United States, effective 1 January 1971.
  • 1970 – The first of over 670,000 AMC Gremlins are released into North America to compete with foreign imported cars.
  • 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre over 1,000 people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
  • 1973 – Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.
  • 1974 – The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.
  • 1976 – Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in Cupertino, California, USA.
  • 1978 – The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
  • 1979 – Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
  • 1979 – Nickelodeon was launched in United States.
  • 1986 – Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
  • 1989 – Margaret Thatcher’s new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the “poll tax”), is introduced in Scotland.
  • 1993 – Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is founded in Los Angeles, California, USA.
  • 1996 – The government of Nova Scotia amalgamated the City of Halifax and the over 200 communities around the area to create the Halifax Regional Municipality.
  • 1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.
  • 1999 – Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
  • 2001 – An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.
  • 2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
  • 2001 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
  • 2004 – Google announces Gmail to the public.
  • 2006 – Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on 7 October 2013.
  • 2011 – After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
  • 2016 – Nagorno-Karabakh clashes: The Four Day War or April War begins along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact on April 1.

Births on April 1

  • 1220 – Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)
  • 1282 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1347)
  • 1328 – Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1382)
  • 1543 – François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières (d. 1626)
  • 1578 – William Harvey, English physician and academic (d. 1657)
  • 1610 – Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier and critic (d. 1703)
  • 1629 – Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, French organist and composer (d. 1691)
  • 1640 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1697)
  • 1647 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet and courtier (d. 1680)
  • 1697 – Antoine François Prévost, French novelist and translator (d. 1763)
  • 1721 – Pieter Hellendaal, Dutch-English organist, violinist, and composer (d. 1799)
  • 1741 – George Dance the Younger, English architect and surveyor (d. 1825)
  • 1753 – Joseph de Maistre, French philosopher, lawyer, and diplomat (d. 1821)
  • 1755 – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French lawyer and politician (d. 1826)
  • 1765 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver and etcher (d. 1810)
  • 1776 – Sophie Germain, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (d. 1831)
  • 1786 – William Mulready, Irish genre painter (d. 1863)
  • 1815 – Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (d. 1898)
  • 1815 – Edward Clark, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Texas (d. 1880)
  • 1823 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1891)
  • 1824 – Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, Canadian bishop (d. 1901)
  • 1834 – James Fisk, American businessman (d. 1872)
  • 1852 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter and illustrator (d. 1911)
  • 1865 – Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
  • 1866 – William Blomfield, New Zealand cartoonist and politician (d. 1938)
  • 1866 – Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924)
  • 1866 – Ève Lavallière, French actress (d. 1929)
  • 1868 – Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (d. 1918)
  • 1868 – Walter Mead, English cricketer (d. 1954)
  • 1871 – F. Melius Christiansen, Norwegian-American violinist and conductor (d. 1955)
  • 1873 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1943)
  • 1874 – Ernest Barnes, English mathematician and theologian (d. 1953)
  • 1874 – Prince Karl of Bavaria (d. 1927)
  • 1875 – Edgar Wallace, English journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1932)
  • 1878 – C. Ganesha Iyer, Ceylon Tamil philologist (d. 1958)
  • 1879 – Stanislaus Zbyszko, Polish wrestler and strongman (d. 1967)
  • 1881 – Octavian Goga, Romanian Prime Minister (d. 1938)
  • 1883 – Lon Chaney, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1930)
  • 1883 – Edvard Drabløs, Norwegian actor and director (d. 1976)
  • 1883 – Laurette Taylor, Irish-American actress (d. 1946)
  • 1885 – Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
  • 1885 – Clementine Churchill, English wife of Winston Churchill (d. 1977)
  • 1889 – K. B. Hedgewar, Indian physician and activist (d. 1940)
  • 1893 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-English actress (d. 1980)
  • 1895 – Alberta Hunter, African-American singer-songwriter and nurse (d. 1984)
  • 1898 – William James Sidis, Ukrainian-Russian Jewish American mathematician, anthropologist, and historian (d. 1944)
  • 1899 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian academic and politician (d. 1968)
  • 1900 – Stefanie Clausen, Danish Olympic diver (d. 1981)
  • 1901 – Whittaker Chambers, American journalist and spy (d. 1961)
  • 1905 – Gaston Eyskens, Belgian economist and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1988)
  • 1905 – Paul Hasluck, Australian historian, poet, and politician, 17th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1993)
  • 1906 – Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer, founded the Yakovlev Design Bureau (d. 1989)
  • 1907 – Shivakumara Swami, Indian religious leader and philanthropist (d. 2019)
  • 1908 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (d. 1970)
  • 1908 – Harlow Rothert, American shot putter, lawyer, and academic (d. 1997)
  • 1909 – Abner Biberman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
  • 1909 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist and bandleader (d. 1951)
  • 1910 – Harry Carney, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1974)
  • 1910 – Bob Van Osdel, American high jumper and soldier (d. 1987)
  • 1911 – Augusta Braxton Baker, African American librarian (d. 1998)
  • 1913 – Memos Makris, Greek sculptor (d. 1993)
  • 1915 – O. W. Fischer, Austrian-Swiss actor and director (d. 2004)
  • 1916 – Sheila May Edmonds, British mathematician (d. 2002)
  • 1917 – Sydney Newman, Canadian screenwriter and producer, co-created Doctor Who (d. 1997)
  • 1917 – Melville Shavelson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1919 – Joseph Murray, American surgeon and soldier, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
  • 1921 – William Bergsma, American composer and educator (d. 1994)
  • 1921 – Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, American guitarist, fiddler, and composer (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Duke Jordan, American pianist and composer (d. 2006)
  • 1922 – William Manchester, American historian and author (d. 2004)
  • 1924 – Brendan Byrne, American lieutenant, judge, and politician, 47th Governor of New Jersey (d. 2018)
  • 1926 – Anne McCaffrey, American-Irish author (d. 2011)
  • 1927 – Walter Bahr, American soccer player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – Amos Milburn, American R&B singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1980)
  • 1927 – Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2006)
  • 1929 – Jonathan Haze, American actor, producer, screenwriter, and production manager
  • 1929 – Milan Kundera, Czech-born novelist, poet, and playwright
  • 1929 – Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator and director (d. 2010)
  • 1929 – Jane Powell, American actress, singer, and dancer
  • 1930 – Grace Lee Whitney, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – George Baker, Bulgarian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1931 – Rolf Hochhuth, German author and playwright (d. 2020)
  • 1932 – Debbie Reynolds, Scottish-Irish American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2016)
  • 1933 – Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Algerian-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1933 – Dan Flavin, American sculptor and educator (d. 1996)
  • 1934 – Vladimir Posner, French-American journalist and radio host
  • 1935 – Larry McDonald, American physician and politician (d. 1983)
  • 1936 – Peter Collinson, English-American director and producer (d. 1980)
  • 1936 – Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, Swiss politician, 80th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1998)
  • 1936 – Tarun Gogoi, Indian politician, 14th Chief Minister of Assam
  • 1936 – Abdul Qadeer Khan, Indian-Pakistani physicist, chemist, and engineer
  • 1937 – Jordan Charney, American actor
  • 1939 – Ali MacGraw, American model and actress
  • 1939 – Phil Niekro, American baseball player and manager
  • 1940 – Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
  • 1941 – Gideon Gadot, Israeli journalist and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1941 – Ajit Wadekar, Indian cricketer, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
  • 1942 – Samuel R. Delany, American author and critic
  • 1942 – Richard D. Wolff, American economist and academic
  • 1943 – Dafydd Wigley, Welsh academic and politician
  • 1946 – Nikitas Kaklamanis, Greek academic and politician, Greek Minister of Health and Social Security
  • 1946 – Ronnie Lane, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (d. 1997)
  • 1946 – Arrigo Sacchi, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1947 – Alain Connes, French mathematician and academic
  • 1947 – Philippe Kirsch, Canadian lawyer and judge
  • 1947 – Francine Prose, American novelist, short story writer, and critic
  • 1947 – Norm Van Lier, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2009)
  • 1948 – Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican singer and musician
  • 1948 – Javier Irureta, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1948 – Peter Law, Welsh politician and independent Member of parliament(d. 2006)
  • 1949 – Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
  • 1949 – Paul Manafort, American lobbyist, political consultant, and convicted felon
  • 1949 – Sammy Nelson, Northern Irish footballer and coach
  • 1949 – Gil Scott-Heron, American singer-songwriter and author (d. 2011)
  • 1950 – Samuel Alito, American lawyer and jurist
  • 1950 – Loris Kessel, Swiss racing driver (d. 2010)
  • 1950 – Daniel Paillé, Canadian academic and politician
  • 1951 – John Abizaid, American general
  • 1951 – Frederic Schwartz, American architect, co-designed Empty Sky (d. 2014)
  • 1952 – Annette O’Toole, American actress
  • 1952 – Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher and academic
  • 1953 – Barry Sonnenfeld, American cinematographer, director, and producer
  • 1953 – Alberto Zaccheroni, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1954 – Jeff Porcaro, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 1992)
  • 1955 – Don Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1955 – Humayun Akhtar Khan, Pakistani politician, 5th Commerce Minister of Pakistan
  • 1955 – Terry Nichols, American criminal
  • 1957 – David Gower, English cricketer and sportscaster
  • 1957 – Denise Nickerson, American actress (d. 2019)
  • 1958 – D. Boon, American singer and musician (d. 1985)
  • 1959 – Helmuth Duckadam, Romanian footballer
  • 1961 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer
  • 1961 – Sergio Scariolo, Italian professional basketball head coach
  • 1961 – Mark White, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1962 – Mark Shulman, American author
  • 1962 – Chris Grayling, English journalist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
  • 1962 – Samboy Lim, Filipino basketball player and manager
  • 1962 – Phillip Schofield, English television host
  • 1963 – Teodoro de Villa Diaz, Filipino guitarist and songwriter (d. 1988)
  • 1963 – Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, American aerospace engineer
  • 1964 – Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager
  • 1964 – Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (d. 2008)
  • 1964 – John Morris, English cricketer
  • 1964 – José Rodrigues dos Santos, Portuguese journalist, author, and educator
  • 1965 – Jane Adams, American film, television, and stage actress
  • 1965 – Mark Jackson, American basketball player and coach
  • 1966 – Chris Evans, English radio and television host
  • 1966 – Mehmet Özdilek, Turkish footballer and manager
  • 1967 – Nicola Roxon, Australian lawyer and politician, 34th Attorney-General for Australia
  • 1968 – Mike Baird, Australian politician, 44th Premier of New South Wales
  • 1968 – Andreas Schnaas, German actor and director
  • 1968 – Alexander Stubb, Finnish academic and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Finland
  • 1969 – Lev Lobodin, Ukrainian-Russian decathlete
  • 1969 – Andrew Vlahov, Australian basketball player
  • 1969 – Dean Windass, English footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Brad Meltzer, American author, screenwriter, and producer
  • 1971 – Sonia Bisset, Cuban javelin thrower
  • 1971 – Shinji Nakano, Japanese racing driver
  • 1972 – Darren McCarty, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1972 – Jesse Tobias, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1973 – Christian Finnegan, American comedian and actor
  • 1973 – Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer and coach
  • 1973 – Rachel Maddow, American journalist and author
  • 1974 – Hugo Ibarra, Argentinian footballer and manager
  • 1975 – John Butler, American-Australian singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1975 – Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
  • 1976 – Hazem El Masri, Lebanese-Australian rugby league player and educator
  • 1976 – David Gilliland, American race car driver
  • 1976 – David Oyelowo, English actor
  • 1976 – Clarence Seedorf, Dutch-Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Yuka Yoshida, Japanese tennis player
  • 1977 – Vitor Belfort, Brazilian-American boxer and mixed martial artist
  • 1977 – Haimar Zubeldia, Spanish cyclist
  • 1978 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (d. 2009)
  • 1978 – Mirka Federer, Slovak-Swiss tennis player
  • 1978 – Anamaria Marinca, Romanian-English actress
  • 1978 – Etan Thomas, American basketball player
  • 1979 – Ruth Beitia, Spanish high jumper
  • 1980 – Dennis Kruppke, German footballer
  • 1980 – Randy Orton, American wrestler
  • 1980 – Bijou Phillips, American actress and model
  • 1981 – Antonis Fotsis, Greek basketball player
  • 1981 – Bjørn Einar Romøren, Norwegian ski jumper
  • 1982 – Taran Killam, American actor, voice artist, comedian, and writer
  • 1982 – Andreas Thorkildsen, Norwegian javelin thrower
  • 1983 – Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer
  • 1983 – Sean Taylor, American football player (d. 2007)
  • 1984 – Gilberto Macena, Brazilian footballer
  • 1985 – Daniel Murphy, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Beth Tweddle, English gymnast
  • 1986 – Hillary Scott, American country singer-songwriter
  • 1987 – Ding Junhui, Chinese professional snooker player
  • 1987 – Gianluca Musacci, Italian footballer
  • 1987 – Oliver Turvey, English racing driver
  • 1988 – Brook Lopez, American basketball player
  • 1988 – Robin Lopez, American basketball player
  • 1989 – Jan Blokhuijsen, Dutch speed skater
  • 1989 – David N’Gog, French footballer
  • 1989 – Christian Vietoris, German racing driver
  • 1990 – Julia Fischer, German discus thrower
  • 1992 – Deng Linlin, Chinese gymnast
  • 1995 – Logan Paul, American Youtuber and actor
  • 1997 – Álex Palou, Spanish racing driver

Deaths on April 1

  • 996 – John XV, pope of the Catholic Church
  • 1085 – Shen Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1048)
  • 1132 – Hugh of Châteauneuf, French bishop (b. 1053)
  • 1204 – Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England (b. 1122)
  • 1205 – Amalric II, king of Cyprus and Jerusalem
  • 1282 – Abaqa Khan, ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanate (b. 1234)
  • 1431 – Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general (b. 1360)
  • 1441 – Blanche I, queen of Navarre and Sicily (b. 1387)
  • 1455 – Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Polish cardinal and statesman (b. 1389)
  • 1528 – Francisco de Peñalosa, Spanish composer (b. 1470)
  • 1548 – Sigismund I, king of Poland (b. 1467)
  • 1580 – Alonso Mudarra, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1510)
  • 1601 – Françoise d’Orléans-Longueville, French princess (b. 1549)
  • 1621 – Cristofano Allori, Italian painter and educator (b. 1577)
  • 1682 – Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, Bavarian bishop (b. 1625)
  • 1787 – Floyer Sydenham, English scholar and academic (b. 1710)
  • 1839 – Benjamin Pierce, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1757)
  • 1865 – Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (b. 1797)
  • 1872 – Frederick Denison Maurice, English theologian and academic (b. 1805)
  • 1878 – John C.W. Daly, English-Canadian soldier and politician (b. 1796)
  • 1890 – David Wilber, American politician (b. 1820)
  • 1890 – Alexander Mozhaysky, Russian soldier, pilot, and engineer (b. 1825)
  • 1914 – Rube Waddell, American baseball player (b. 1876)
  • 1914 – Charles Wells, English founder of Charles Wells Ltd (b. 1842)
  • 1917 – Scott Joplin, American pianist and composer (b. 1868)
  • 1920 – Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (b. 1857)
  • 1922 – Charles I, emperor of Austria (b. 1887)
  • 1922 – Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychologist and author (b. 1884)
  • 1924 – Jacob Bolotin, American physician (b. 1888)
  • 1924 – Lloyd Hildebrand, English cyclist (b. 1870)
  • 1924 – Stan Rowley, Australian sprinter (b. 1876)
  • 1946 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (b. 1882)
  • 1947 – George II, king of Greece (b. 1890)
  • 1950 – Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (b. 1904)
  • 1950 – Recep Peker, Turkish soldier and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1889)
  • 1962 – Jussi Kekkonen, Finnish captain and businessman (b. 1910)
  • 1965 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American businesswoman (b. 1870)
  • 1966 – Brian O’Nolan, Irish author (b. 1911)
  • 1968 – Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
  • 1976 – Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor (b. 1891)
  • 1981 – Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai singer-songwriter and bandleader (b. 1910)
  • 1984 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
  • 1984 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author (b. 1900)
  • 1986 – Erik Bruhn, Danish actor, director, and choreographer (b. 1928)
  • 1987 – Henri Cochet, French tennis player (b. 1901)
  • 1991 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1894)
  • 1991 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
  • 1992 – Michael Havers, Baron Havers, English lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1923)
  • 1993 – Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (b. 1954)
  • 1994 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer (b. 1912)
  • 1995 – H. Adams Carter, American mountaineer, journalist, and educator (b. 1914)
  • 1995 – Francisco Moncion, Dominican American ballet dancer, choreographer, charter member of the New York City Ballet (b. 1918)
  • 1995 – Lucie Rie, Austrian-English potter (b. 1902)
  • 1997 – Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1912)
  • 1998 – Rozz Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1963)
  • 1999 – Jesse Stone, American pianist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1901)
  • 2001 – Trịnh Công Sơn, Vietnamese guitarist and composer (b. 1939)
  • 2002 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier and sniper (b. 1905)
  • 2003 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1956)
  • 2004 – Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1952)
  • 2004 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1945)
  • 2005 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b 1925)
  • 2005 – Robert Coldwell Wood, American political scientist and academic (b. 1923)
  • 2006 – In Tam, Cambodian general and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1916)
  • 2010 – John Forsythe, American actor (b. 1918)
  • 2010 – Tzannis Tzannetakis, Greek soldier and politician, 175th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Lionel Bowen, Australian soldier, lawyer, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1922)
  • 2012 – Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian-American soccer player and radio host (b. 1947)
  • 2012 – Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican banker, academic, and politician, 52nd President of Mexico (b. 1934)
  • 2013 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (b. 1947)
  • 2013 – Karen Muir, South African swimmer and physician (b. 1952)
  • 2014 – King Fleming, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Jacques Le Goff, French historian and author (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Rolf Rendtorff, German theologian and academic (b. 1925)
  • 2015 – Nicolae Rainea, Romanian footballer and referee (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Lonnie Brooks, American blues singer and guitarist (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Soviet and Russian poet and writer (b. 1932)
  • 2018 – Steven Bochco, American television writer and producer (b. 1943)
  • 2019 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction author (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances on April 1

  • Christian feast day:
    • Cellach of Armagh
    • Hugh of Grenoble
    • Frederick Denison Maurice (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Mary of Egypt
    • Melito of Sardis
    • Nuno Álvares Pereira
    • Tewdrig
    • Theodora
    • Walric, abbot of Leuconay
    • April 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Sizdah Be-dar can fall, while April 2 is the latest; celebrated on the 13th day after vernal equinox. (Iran)
  • Iranian Islamic Republic Day (Iran) falls on this day if the Vernal Equinox falls on March 21.
  • Veneralia was held on April 1 during Ancient Rome, however this date does not lock into the modern Gregorian calendar.
  • April Fools’ Day
  • Odisha Day (Odisha, India)
  • Arbor Day (Tanzania)
  • Civil Service Day (Thailand)
  • Cyprus National Day (Cyprus)
  • Edible Book Day
  • Fossil Fools Day
  • Kha b-Nisan, the Assyrian New Year (Assyrian people)
  • National Civil Service Day (Thailand)

March 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by
  • 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, leaves up to 20,000 dead.
  • 1229 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares himself King of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade.
  • 1241 – First Mongol invasion of Poland: Mongols overwhelm Polish armies in Kraków in the Battle of Chmielnik and plunder the city.
  • 1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.
  • 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
  • 1608 – Susenyos is formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia.
  • 1644 – The Third Anglo-Powhatan War begins in the Colony of Virginia.
  • 1741 – New York governor George Clarke’s complex at Fort George is burned in an arson attack, starting the New York Conspiracy of 1741.
  • 1766 – American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.
  • 1793 – The first modern republic in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann.
  • 1793 – Flanders Campaign of the French Revolution, Battle of Neerwinden.
  • 1834 – Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.
  • 1848 – March Revolution: In Berlin there is a struggle between citizens and military, costing about 300 lives.
  • 1850 – American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time.
  • 1871 – Declaration of the Paris Commune; President of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, orders the evacuation of Paris.
  • 1874 – Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights.
  • 1892 – Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver challenge cup as an award for the best hockey team in Canada; it was later named after him as the Stanley Cup.
  • 1900 – AFC Ajax Amsterdam, The Netherlands’s biggest and most successful football club, was founded.
  • 1902 – Macario Sakay issues Presidential Order No. 1 of his Tagalog Republic.
  • 1913 – King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.
  • 1915 – World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.
  • 1921 – The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union.
  • 1921 – The Kronstadt rebellion is suppressed by the Red Army.
  • 1922 – In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience, of which he serves only two.
  • 1925 – The Tri-State Tornado hits the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people.
  • 1937 – The New London School explosion in New London, Texas, kills 300 people, mostly children.
  • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara.
  • 1938 – Mexico creates Pemex by expropriating all foreign-owned oil reserves and facilities.
  • 1940 – World War II: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
  • 1942 – The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody.
  • 1944 – Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts, killing 26 people, causing thousands to flee their homes, and destroying dozens of Allied bombers.
  • 1948 – Soviet consultants leave Yugoslavia in the first sign of the Tito–Stalin Split.
  • 1953 – An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing 265 people.
  • 1959 – The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law.
  • 1962 – The Évian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had begun in 1954.
  • 1965 – Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
  • 1967 – The supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground off the Cornish coast.
  • 1968 – Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
  • 1969 – The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam.
  • 1970 – Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
  • 1971 – Peru: a landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar.
  • 1980 – A Vostok-2M rocket at Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 explodes during a fueling operation, killing 48 people.
  • 1990 – Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship.
  • 1990 – In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $500 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
  • 1994 – Bosnia’s Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • 1996 – A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162 people.
  • 1997 – The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en route to Turkey causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 people on board.
  • 2014 – The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.
  • 2015 – The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia is attacked by gunmen. 23 people, almost all tourists, are killed, and at least 50 other people are wounded.

Births on March 18

  • 1075 – Al-Zamakhshari, Persian scholar and theologian (d. 1144)
  • 1395 – John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, English military commander (d. 1447)
  • 1495 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France (d. 1533)
  • 1548 – Cornelis Ketel, Dutch painter (d. 1616)
  • 1552 – Polykarp Leyser the Elder, German theologian (d. 1610)
  • 1555 – Francis, Duke of Anjou (d. 1584)
  • 1578 – Adam Elsheimer, German painter (d. 1610)
  • 1590 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (d. 1649)
  • 1597 – Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, French religious leader, founded the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal (d. 1659)
  • 1603 – Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (d. 1697)
  • 1609 – Frederick III of Denmark (d. 1670)
  • 1634 – Madame de La Fayette, French author (d. 1693)
  • 1640 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1719)
  • 1657 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (d. 1743)
  • 1690 – Christian Goldbach, Prussian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1764)
  • 1701 – Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish businessman and philanthropist, co-founded the Swedish East India Company (d. 1776)
  • 1733 – Christoph Friedrich Nicolai, German author and bookseller (d. 1811)
  • 1780 – Miloš Obrenović, Serbian prince (d. 1860)
  • 1782 – John C. Calhoun, American lawyer and politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (d. 1850)
  • 1789 – Charlotte Elliott, English poet, hymn writer, editor (d. 1871)
  • 1798 – Francis Lieber, German-American jurist and philosopher (d. 1872)
  • 1800 – Harriet Smithson, Irish actress, the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz (d. 1854)
  • 1813 – Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (d. 1864)
  • 1814 – Jacob Bunn, American businessman (d. 1897)
  • 1819 – James McCulloch, Scottish-Australian politician, 5th Premier of Victoria (d. 1893)
  • 1820 – John Plankinton, American businessman and industrialist, also noted for philanthropy (d. 1891)
  • 1823 – Antoine Chanzy, French general (d. 1883)
  • 1828 – Randal Cremer, English activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1908)
  • 1837 – Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (d. 1908)
  • 1840 – William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (d. 1901)
  • 1842 – Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet and critic (d. 1898)
  • 1844 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer and academic (d. 1908)
  • 1846 – Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (d. 1904)
  • 1848 – Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, American architect and engineer (d. 1938)
  • 1858 – Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the Diesel engine (d. 1913)
  • 1862 – Eugène Jansson, Swedish painter (d. 1915)
  • 1863 – William Sulzer, American lawyer and politician, 39th Governor of New York (d. 1941)
  • 1869 – Neville Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1940)
  • 1870 – Agnes Sime Baxter, Canadian mathematician (d. 1917)
  • 1874 – Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian-French philosopher and theologian (d. 1948)
  • 1877 – Edgar Cayce, American mystic and psychic (d. 1945)
  • 1877 – Clem Hill, Australian cricketer and engineer (d. 1945)
  • 1878 – Percival Perry, 1st Baron Perry, English businessman (d. 1956)
  • 1882 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (d. 1973)
  • 1884 – Bernard Cronin, English-Australian journalist and author (d. 1968)
  • 1886 – Edward Everett Horton, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1970)
  • 1890 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (d. 1969)
  • 1893 – Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist (d. 1978)
  • 1893 – Wilfred Owen, English soldier and poet (d. 1918)
  • 1901 – Manly Palmer Hall, Canadian mystic, author and philosopher (d. 1990)
  • 1901 – William Johnson, American painter (d. 1970)
  • 1903 – Galeazzo Ciano, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1944)
  • 1903 – E. O. Plauen, German cartoonist (d. 1944)
  • 1904 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet and author (d. 1926)
  • 1904 – Margaret Tucker, Australian author and activist (d. 1996)
  • 1905 – Thomas Townsend Brown, American physicist and engineer (d. 1985)
  • 1905 – Robert Donat, English actor (d. 1958)
  • 1907 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (d. 1997)
  • 1908 – Loulou Gasté, French composer (d. 1995)
  • 1909 – Ernest Gallo, American businessman, co-founded the E & J Gallo Winery (d. 2007)
  • 1909 – C. Walter Hodges, English author and illustrator (d. 2004)
  • 1911 – Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1967)
  • 1912 – Art Gilmore, American voice actor and announcer (d. 2010)
  • 1913 – René Clément, French director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
  • 1913 – Werner Mölders, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
  • 1915 – Richard Condon, American author and screenwriter (d. 1996)
  • 1922 – Egon Bahr, German journalist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (d. 2015)
  • 1922 – Seymour Martin Lipset, American sociologist and academic (d. 2006)
  • 1922 – Fred Shuttlesworth, American activist, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (d. 2011)
  • 1923 – Andy Granatelli, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Alessandro Alessandroni, Italian musician (d. 2017)
  • 1925 – James Pickles, English journalist, lawyer, and judge (d. 2010)
  • 1926 – Peter Graves, American actor and director (d. 2010)
  • 1927 – John Kander, American pianist and composer
  • 1927 – George Plimpton, American journalist and actor (d. 2003)
  • 1927 – Lillian Vernon, German-American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Lillian Vernon Company (d. 2015)
  • 1928 – Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and politician, 12th President of the Philippines
  • 1929 – Samuel Pisar, Polish-American lawyer and author (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – James J. Andrews, American mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1931 – John Fraser, Scottish actor
  • 1932 – John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 2009)
  • 1933 – Unita Blackwell, American civil rights activist and politician (d. 2019)
  • 1934 – Roy Chapman, English footballer and manager (d. 1983)
  • 1934 – Charley Pride, American country music singer and musician
  • 1935 – Ole Barndorff-Nielsen, Danish mathematician and statistician
  • 1935 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (d. 2016)
  • 1936 – F. W. de Klerk, South African lawyer and politician, 2nd State President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1937 – Rudi Altig, German cyclist and sportscaster (d. 2016)
  • 1937 – Mark Donohue, American race car driver (d. 1975)
  • 1938 – Carl Gottlieb, American actor and screenwriter
  • 1938 – Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor and producer (d. 2017)
  • 1938 – Kenny Lynch, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2019)
  • 1938 – Timo Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver (d. 2017)
  • 1938 – Machiko Soga, Japanese actress (d. 2006)
  • 1939 – Ron Atkinson, English footballer and manager
  • 1939 – Jean-Pierre Wallez, French violinist and conductor
  • 1941 – Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
  • 1942 – Kathleen Collins, African-American filmmaker and playwright (d. 1988)
  • 1943 – Dennis Linde, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
  • 1944 – Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli general and politician, 22nd Transportation Minister of Israel (d. 2012)
  • 1944 – Frank McRae, American football player and actor
  • 1944 – Dick Smith, Australian publisher and businessman, founded Dick Smith Electronics and Australian Geographic
  • 1945 – Hiroh Kikai, Japanese photographer
  • 1945 – Michael Reagan, American journalist and radio host
  • 1945 – Susan Tyrrell, American actress (d. 2012)
  • 1945 – Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1946 – Michel Leclère, French race car driver
  • 1947 – Patrick Barlow, English actor and playwright
  • 1947 – Patrick Chesnais, French actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1947 – David Lloyd, English cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster
  • 1947 – B. J. Wilson, English rock drummer (d. 1990)
  • 1948 – Guy Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1948 – Brian Lloyd, Welsh footballer
  • 1948 – Eknath Solkar, Indian cricketer (d. 2005)
  • 1949 – Åse Kleveland, Norwegian singer and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture
  • 1950 – James Conlon, American conductor and educator
  • 1950 – Brad Dourif, American actor
  • 1950 – Linda Partridge, English geneticist and academic
  • 1950 – Larry Perkins, Australian race car driver
  • 1951 – Paul Barber, English actor
  • 1951 – Ben Cohen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben and Jerry’s
  • 1951 – Bill Frisell, American guitarist and composer
  • 1951 – Timothy N. Philpot, American lawyer, author, and judge
  • 1952 – Will Durst, American journalist and actor
  • 1952 – Pat Eddery, Irish jockey and trainer (d. 2015)
  • 1952 – Bernie Tormé, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
  • 1952 – Mike Webster, American football player (d. 2002)
  • 1953 – Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (d. 2015)
  • 1953 – Takashi Yoshimatsu, Japanese composer
  • 1955 – Francis G. Slay, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of St. Louis
  • 1955 – Jeff Stelling, English journalist and game show host
  • 1956 – Rick Martel, Canadian wrestler
  • 1956 – Deborah Jeane Palfrey, American madam (d. 2008)
  • 1956 – Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish skier
  • 1957 – Christer Fuglesang, Swedish physicist and astronaut
  • 1958 – Richard de Zoysa, Sri Lankan journalist and author (d. 1990)
  • 1959 – Luc Besson, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded EuropaCorp
  • 1960 – Richard Biggs, American actor (d. 2004)
  • 1960 – Guy Carbonneau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1960 – James Plaskett, Cypriot-English chess player
  • 1961 – Grant Hart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
  • 1962 – Michael Andrews, Australian rugby league player
  • 1962 – Irene Cara, American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
  • 1962 – Brian Fisher, American baseball player
  • 1962 – Thomas Ian Griffith, American actor and martial artist
  • 1962 – James McMurtry, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
  • 1962 – Etsushi Toyokawa, Japanese actor and director
  • 1962 – Volker Weidler, German race car driver and engineer
  • 1963 – Jeff LaBar, American guitarist
  • 1963 – Vanessa L. Williams, American model, actress, and singer
  • 1964 – Bonnie Blair, American speed skater
  • 1964 – Alex Caffi, Italian race car driver
  • 1964 – Jo Churchill, British politician
  • 1964 – Courtney Pine, English saxophonist and clarinet player
  • 1964 – Isabel Noronha, Mozambican film director
  • 1966 – Jerry Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1966 – Peter Jones, English businessman
  • 1966 – Brian Watts, Canadian golfer
  • 1967 – Miki Berenyi, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1968 – Prince Eudes, Duke of Angoulême
  • 1968 – Miguel Herrera, Mexican footballer and manager
  • 1968 – Temur Ketsbaia, Georgian footballer and manager
  • 1968 – Paul Marsden, English businessman and politician
  • 1969 – Andy Cutting, English accordion player and composer
  • 1969 – Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player
  • 1969 – Shaun Udal, English cricketer
  • 1970 – Queen Latifah, American rapper, producer, and actress
  • 1971 – Wayne Arthurs, Australian tennis player
  • 1971 – Mike Bell, American wrestler (d. 2008)
  • 1971 – Mariaan de Swardt, South African-American tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Kitty Ussher, English economist and politician
  • 1972 – Dane Cook, American comedian, actor, director, and producer
  • 1972 – Reince Priebus, American lawyer and politician
  • 1973 – Luci Christian, American voice actress and screenwriter
  • 1974 – Laure Savasta, French basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1974 – Stuart Zender, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
  • 1975 – Sutton Foster, American actress, singer, and dancer
  • 1975 – Brian Griese, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1975 – Kimmo Timonen, Finnish ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Tomas Žvirgždauskas, Lithuanian footballer
  • 1976 – Giovanna Antonelli, Brazilian actress and producer
  • 1976 – Tomo Ohka, Japanese baseball player
  • 1976 – Scott Podsednik, American baseball player
  • 1976 – Mike Quackenbush, American wrestler, trainer, and author, founded Chikara wrestling promotion
  • 1977 – Zdeno Chára, Slovak ice hockey player
  • 1977 – Danny Murphy, English international footballer, midfielder and sportscaster
  • 1977 – Fernando Rodney, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1977 – Willy Sagnol, French footballer and manager
  • 1977 – Terrmel Sledge, American baseball player and coach
  • 1978 – Fernandão, Brazilian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1978 – Brooke Hanson, Australian swimmer
  • 1978 – Brian Scalabrine, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1978 – Jonas Wallerstedt, Swedish footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1979 – Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and television personality
  • 1980 – Sébastien Frey, French footballer
  • 1980 – Sophia Myles, English actress
  • 1980 – Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater
  • 1981 – Tora Berger, Norwegian biathlete
  • 1981 – Fabian Cancellara, Swiss cyclist
  • 1981 – Leslie Djhone, French sprinter
  • 1981 – Jang Na-ra, South Korean singer and actress
  • 1981 – Kasib Powell, American basketball player
  • 1981 – Tom Starke, German footballer
  • 1981 – Doug Warren, American soccer player
  • 1981 – Lovro Zovko, Croatian tennis player
  • 1982 – Mantorras, Angolan footballer
  • 1982 – Chad Cordero, American baseball player
  • 1982 – Timo Glock, German race car driver
  • 1982 – Adam Pally, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1983 – Ethan Carter III, American wrestler
  • 1983 – Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, French tennis player
  • 1983 – Andy Sonnanstine, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Tomasz Stolpa, Polish footballer
  • 1984 – Simone Padoin, Italian footballer
  • 1984 – Rajeev Ram, American tennis player
  • 1984 – Vonzell Solomon, American singer and actress
  • 1985 – Ana Beatriz, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1985 – Marvin Humes, English singer
  • 1985 – Vince Lia, Australian footballer
  • 1986 – Lykke Li, Swedish singer-songwriter
  • 1986 – Abdennour Chérif El-Ouazzani, Algerian footballer
  • 1987 – Rebecca Soni, American swimmer
  • 1989 – Francesco Checcucci, Italian footballer
  • 1989 – Lily Collins, English-American actress
  • 1989 – Shreevats Goswami, Indian cricketer
  • 1989 – Kana Nishino, Japanese singer-songwriter
  • 1989 – Paul Marc Rousseau, Canadian guitarist and producer
  • 1989 – Ming Xi, Chinese model
  • 1991 – Dylan Mattingly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1991 – Sam Williams, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Ryan Truex, American race car driver
  • 1992 – Takuya Terada, Japanese singer, actor, and model
  • 1997 – Ciara Bravo, American actress
  • 1997 – Rieko Ioane, New Zealand rugby union player

Deaths on March 18

  • 978 – Edward the Martyr, English king (b. 962)
  • 1076 – Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess of Burgundy (b. 1018)
  • 1086 – Anselm of Lucca, Italian bishop (b. 1036)
  • 1227 – Pope Honorius III (b. 1148)
  • 1272 – John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel (b. 1246)
  • 1308 – Yuri I of Galicia
  • 1314 – Jacques de Molay, Frankish knight (b. 1244)
  • 1314 – Geoffroy de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy for the Knights Templar
  • 1321 – Matthew III Csák, Hungarian oligarch (b. c.1260/5)
  • 1582 – Juan Jauregui, attempted assassin of William I of Orange (b. 1562)
  • 1675 – Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (b. 1606)
  • 1689 – John Dixwell, English soldier and politician (b. 1607)
  • 1745 – Robert Walpole, English scholar and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1676)
  • 1768 – Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist and clergyman (b. 1713)
  • 1781 – Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1727)
  • 1823 – Jean-Baptiste Bréval, French cellist and composer (b. 1753)
  • 1835 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (b. 1769)
  • 1845 – Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and missionary (b. 1774)
  • 1871 – Augustus De Morgan, Indian-English mathematician and academic (b. 1806)
  • 1898 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American author and activist (b. 1826)
  • 1900 – Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (b. 1835)
  • 1907 – Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1827)
  • 1913 – George I of Greece (b. 1845)
  • 1918 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (b. 1847)
  • 1930 – Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter (b. 1863)
  • 1936 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek journalist, lawyer, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1864)
  • 1939 – Henry Simpson Lunn, English businessman, founded Lunn Poly (b. 1859)
  • 1941 – Henri Cornet, French cyclist (b. 1884)
  • 1947 – William C. Durant, American businessman, co-founded General Motors and Chevrolet (b. 1861)
  • 1954 – Walter Mead, English cricketer (b. 1868)
  • 1956 – Louis Bromfield, American environmentalist and author (b. 1896)
  • 1962 – Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (b. 1880)
  • 1964 – Sigfrid Edström, Swedish businessman, 4th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1870)
  • 1965 – Farouk of Egypt (b. 1920)
  • 1973 – Johannes Aavik, Estonian philologist and poet (b. 1880)
  • 1977 – Marien Ngouabi, Congolese politician, President of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1938)
  • 1977 – Carlos Pace, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1944)
  • 1978 – Leigh Brackett, American author and screenwriter (b. 1915)
  • 1978 – Peggy Wood, American actress (b. 1892)
  • 1980 – Erich Fromm, German psychologist and philosopher (b. 1900)
  • 1982 – Patrick Smith, Irish farmer and politician, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (b. 1901)
  • 1983 – Umberto II of Italy (b. 1904)
  • 1984 – Charley Lau, American baseball player and coach (b. 1933)
  • 1986 – Bernard Malamud, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1914)
  • 1988 – Billy Butterfield, American trumpet player and cornet player (b. 1917)
  • 1990 – Robin Harris, American comedian (b. 1953)
  • 1993 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English-American economist and activist (b. 1910)
  • 1996 – Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
  • 2000 – Eberhard Bethge, German theologian and academic (b. 1909)
  • 2001 – John Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1935)
  • 2002 – R. A. Lafferty, American soldier and author (b. 1914)
  • 2003 – Karl Kling, German race car driver (b. 1910)
  • 2003 – Adam Osborne, Thai-English engineer and businessman, founded the Osborne Computer Corporation (b. 1939)
  • 2004 – Harrison McCain, Canadian businessman, co-founded McCain Foods (b. 1927)
  • 2006 – Dan Gibson, Canadian photographer and cinematographer (b. 1922)
  • 2007 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1948)
  • 2008 – Anthony Minghella, English director and screenwriter (b. 1954)
  • 2009 – Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian journalist and blogger (b. 1980)
  • 2009 – Natasha Richardson, English-American actress (b. 1963)
  • 2010 – Fess Parker, American actor and businessman (b. 1924)
  • 2011 – Warren Christopher, American lawyer and politician, 63rd United States Secretary of State (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Furman Bisher, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – William R. Charette, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1932)
  • 2012 – William G. Moore Jr., American general (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – George Tupou V of Tonga (b. 1948)
  • 2013 – Muhammad Mahmood Alam, Pakistani general and pilot (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Henry Bromell, American novelist, screenwriter, and director (b. 1947)
  • 2013 – Clay Ford, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Catherine Obianuju Acholonu, Nigerian author, playwright, and academic (b. 1951)
  • 2014 – Kaiser Kalambo, Zambian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1953)
  • 2014 – Lucius Shepard, American author and critic (b. 1943)
  • 2015 – Zhao Dayu, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1961)
  • 2015 – Thomas Hopko, American priest and theologian (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Grace Ogot, Kenyan nurse, journalist, and politician (b. 1930)
  • 2016 – Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (b. 1939)
  • 2016 – Jan Němec, Czech director and screenwriter (b. 1936)
  • 2016 – Tray Walker, American football player (b. 1992)
  • 2016 – Guido Westerwelle, German lawyer and politician, 15th Vice-Chancellor of Germany (b. 1961)
  • 2017 – Chuck Berry, American guitarist, singer and songwriter (b. 1926)
  • 2020 – Alfred Worden, Apollo 15 command module pilot (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances on March 18

  • Anniversary of the Oil Expropriation (Mexico)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Alexander of Jerusalem
    • Anselm of Lucca
    • Cyril of Jerusalem
    • Edward the Martyr
    • Fridianus
    • Salvator
    • March 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • The earliest date on which Holy Wednesday can fall, while April 21 is the latest; celebrated on the week before Easter. (Christianity)
  • Flag Day (Aruba)
  • Gallipoli Memorial Day (Turkey)
  • Men’s and Soldiers’ Day (Mongolia)
  • Ordnance Factories’ Day (India)
  • Sheelah’s Day (Ireland, Canada, Australia)
  • Teacher’s Day (Syria)

March 17- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by
  • 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
  • 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius.
  • 455 – Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him.
  • 1001 – The Raja of Butuan in what is now the Philippines sends a tributary mission to the Song dynasty.
  • 1337 – Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.
  • 1452 – The Battle of Los Alporchones is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and Murcia resulting in a Christian victory.
  • 1560 – Fort Coligny on Villegagnon Island in Rio de Janeiro is attacked and destroyed during the Portuguese campaign against France Antarctique.
  • 1677 – The Siege of Valenciennes, during the Franco-Dutch War, ends with France’s taking of the city.
  • 1776 – American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
  • 1780 – American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence”.
  • 1805 – The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King of Italy.
  • 1824 – The Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java and surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch.
  • 1842 – The Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed.
  • 1852 – Annibale De Gasparis discovers in Naples the asteroid Psyche from the north dome of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte
  • 1860 – The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand Wars.
  • 1861 – The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
  • 1891 – SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.
  • 1921 – The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.
  • 1939 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and Japan begins.
  • 1941 – In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • 1942 – Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.
  • 1945 – The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, ten days after its capture.
  • 1947 – First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.
  • 1948 – Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.
  • 1950 – Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name “californium”.
  • 1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
  • 1958 – The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite.
  • 1960 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
  • 1963 – Mount Agung erupted on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.
  • 1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
  • 1968 – As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
  • 1969 – Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
  • 1973 – The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
  • 1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
  • 1985 – Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the “Night Stalker”, commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.
  • 1988 – A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
  • 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
  • 1992 – Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.
  • 1992 – A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.
  • 2000 – Five hundred and thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead.
  • 2003 – Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
  • 2004 – Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.

Births on March 17

  • 763 – Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (d. 809)
  • 1231 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (d. 1242)
  • 1473 – James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
  • 1523 – Giovanni Francesco Commendone, Catholic cardinal (d. 1584)
  • 1537 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese daimyō (d. 1598)
  • 1611 – Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, Swedish field marshal (d. 1662)
  • 1665 – Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French harpsichord player and composer (d. 1729)
  • 1676 – Thomas Boston, Scottish philosopher and theologian (d. 1732)
  • 1686 – Jean-Baptiste Oudry, French painter and engraver (d. 1755)
  • 1725 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (d. 1806)
  • 1777 – Patrick Brontë, Irish-English priest and author (d. 1861)
  • 1777 – Roger B. Taney, American politician and jurist, 5th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1864)
  • 1780 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister, economist, and educator (d. 1847)
  • 1781 – Ebenezer Elliott, English poet and educator (d. 1849)
  • 1804 – Jim Bridger, American fur trader and explorer (d. 1881)
  • 1806 – Norbert Rillieux, African American inventor and chemical engineer (d. 1894)
  • 1820 – Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (d. 1897)
  • 1834 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (d. 1900)
  • 1839 – Josef Rheinberger, Liechtensteiner-German organist and composer (d. 1901)
  • 1846 – Kate Greenaway, English author and illustrator (d. 1901)
  • 1849 – Charles F. Brush, American businessman and philanthropist, co-invented the Arc lamp (d. 1929)
  • 1849 – Cornelia Clapp, American marine biologist (d. 1934)
  • 1856 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
  • 1862 – Silvio Gesell, Belgian merchant and economist (d. 1930)
  • 1864 – Joseph Baptista, Indian engineer, lawyer, and politician (d. 1930)
  • 1866 – Pierce Butler, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1939)
  • 1867 – Patrice Contamine de Latour, Spanish poet (d. 1926)
  • 1877 – Edith New, British militant suffragette (d. 1951)
  • 1877 – Otto Gross, Austrian-German psychoanalyst and philosopher (d. 1920)
  • 1880 – Patrick Hastings, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1952)
  • 1880 – Lawrence Oates, English lieutenant and explorer (d. 1912)
  • 1881 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
  • 1884 – Alcide Nunez, American clarinet player (d. 1934)
  • 1885 – Ralph Rose, American track and field athlete (d. 1913)
  • 1886 – Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)
  • 1888 – Paul Ramadier, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1961)
  • 1889 – Harry Clarke, Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator (d. 1931)
  • 1891 – Ross McLarty, Australian politician, 17th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1962)
  • 1892 – Sayed Darwish, Egyptian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1923)
  • 1894 – Paul Green, American playwright and academic (d. 1981)
  • 1895 – Lloyd Rees, Australian painter (d. 1988)
  • 1901 – Alfred Newman, American composer and conductor (d. 1970)
  • 1902 – Bobby Jones, American golfer and lawyer (d. 1971)
  • 1904 – Chaim Gross, Austrian-American sculptor and educator (d. 1991)
  • 1906 – Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (d. 1996)
  • 1907 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian academic and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1991)
  • 1907 – Takeo Miki, Japanese politician, 41st Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1988)
  • 1910 – Sonny Werblin, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1991)
  • 1912 – Bayard Rustin, American activist (d. 1987)
  • 1914 – Sammy Baugh, American football player and coach (d. 2008)
  • 1915 – Robert S. Arbib Jr., American ornithologist, writer and conservationist (d. 1987)
  • 1915 – Ray Ellington, English drummer and bandleader (d. 1985)
  • 1915 – Bill Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider (d. 2011)
  • 1919 – Nat King Cole, American singer, pianist, and television host (d. 1965)
  • 1920 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladeshi politician, 1st President of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
  • 1921 – Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician, 12th Israeli Minister of Communications (d. 2009)
  • 1922 – Patrick Suppes, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 2014)
  • 1924 – Stephen Dodgson, English composer and educator (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (d. 2015)
  • 1926 – Siegfried Lenz, Polish-German author and playwright (d. 2014)
  • 1927 – Betty Allen, American soprano and educator (d. 2009)
  • 1928 – William John McKeag, Canadian businessman and politician, 17th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 2007)
  • 1930 – Paul Horn, American-Canadian flute player and saxophonist (d. 2014)
  • 1930 – James Irwin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1991)
  • 1931 – Patricia Breslin, American actress (d. 2011)
  • 1931 – David Peakall, English-American chemist and toxicologist (d. 2001)
  • 1933 – Myrlie Evers-Williams, American journalist and activist
  • 1933 – Penelope Lively, English author
  • 1935 – Fred T. Mackenzie, American biologist and academic
  • 1935 – Adam Wade, American singer, drummer, and actor
  • 1936 – Ida Kleijnen, Dutch chef (d. 2019)
  • 1936 – Ladislav Kupkovič, Slovakian composer and conductor (d. 2016)
  • 1936 – Ken Mattingly, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1937 – Galina Samsova, Russian ballerina
  • 1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
  • 1938 – Keith O’Brien, Northern Ireland-born Scottish cleric, theologian, and cardinal (d. 2018)
  • 1938 – Zola Taylor, American singer (d. 2007)
  • 1939 – Jim Gary, American sculptor (d. 2006)
  • 1939 – Bill Graham, Canadian academic and politician, 4th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1939 – Robin Knox-Johnston, English sailor and first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe
  • 1939 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1940 – Mark White, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Texas (d. 2017)
  • 1941 – Wang Jin-pyng, Taiwanese soldier and politician
  • 1941 – Paul Kantner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
  • 1941 – Max Stafford-Clark, English director and academic
  • 1942 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer and rapist (d. 1994)
  • 1943 – Jeff Banks, Welsh fashion designer
  • 1943 – Andrew Brook, Canadian philosopher, author, and academic
  • 1944 – Pattie Boyd, English model, author, and photographer
  • 1944 – Cito Gaston, American baseball player and manager
  • 1944 – John Sebastian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1945 – Michael Hayden, American general, 20th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  • 1947 – Dennis Bond, English footballer, midfielder
  • 1947 – Yury Chernavsky, Russian-American songwriter and producer
  • 1948 – William Gibson, American-Canadian author and screenwriter
  • 1948 – Alex MacDonald, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1949 – Patrick Duffy, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1949 – Pat Rice, Irish footballer and coach
  • 1949 – Stuart Rose, English businessman
  • 1951 – Scott Gorham, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1951 – Craig Ramsay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1951 – Kurt Russell, American actor and producer
  • 1952 – Barry Horne, English activist (d. 2001)
  • 1953 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino activist (d. 2001)
  • 1953 – Chuck Muncie, American football player (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Lesley-Anne Down, English actress
  • 1955 – Cynthia McKinney, American activist and politician
  • 1955 – Paul Overstreet, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1955 – Gary Sinise, American actor, director, and bass player
  • 1956 – Patrick McDonnell, American author and illustrator
  • 1956 – Rory McGrath, British comedian, television personality, and writer
  • 1957 – Michael Kelly, American journalist and author (d. 2003)
  • 1958 – Christian Clemenson, American actor
  • 1959 – Danny Ainge, American baseball and basketball player
  • 1959 – Paul Black, American singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1960 – Arye Gross, American actor
  • 1960 – Vicki Lewis, American actress and singer
  • 1961 – Sam Bowie, American basketball player
  • 1961 – Dana Reeve, American actress, singer, and activist (d. 2006)
  • 1961 – Casey Siemaszko, American actor
  • 1962 – Carsten Almqvist, Swedish business executive
  • 1962 – Ank Bijleveld, Dutch politician
  • 1962 – Janet Gardner, American singer and guitarist
  • 1962 – Clare Grogan, Scottish singer and actress
  • 1962 – Rob Sitch, Australian actor, director, and producer
  • 1963 – Roger Harper, Guyanese cricketer and coach
  • 1964 – Stefano Borgonovo, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
  • 1964 – Lee Dixon, English footballer and journalist
  • 1964 – Rob Lowe, American actor and producer
  • 1964 – Jacques Songo’o, Cameroonian footballer and coach
  • 1965 – Andrew Hudson, South African cricketer
  • 1966 – Andrew Rosindell, English journalist and politician
  • 1967 – Jason Alchin, Australian rugby league player
  • 1967 – Billy Corgan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and producer
  • 1967 – Barry Minkow, American pastor and businessman
  • 1968 – Eri Nitta, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1968 – Mathew St. Patrick, American actor and producer
  • 1969 – Edgar Grospiron, French skier
  • 1969 – Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, founded own eponymous brand (d. 2010)
  • 1970 – Patrick Lebeau, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1970 – Gene Ween, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1971 – Bill Mueller, American baseball player and coach
  • 1972 – Melissa Auf der Maur, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1972 – Torquil Campbell, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1972 – Mia Hamm, American soccer player
  • 1973 – Rico Blanco, Filipino singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
  • 1973 – Caroline Corr, Irish singer and drummer
  • 1973 – Vance Wilson, American baseball player and manager
  • 1974 – Mark Dolan, English comedian and television host
  • 1975 – Justin Hawkins, English singer-songwriter
  • 1975 – Puneeth Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer, and producer
  • 1975 – Test, Canadian-American wrestler (d. 2009)
  • 1975 – Natalie Zea, American actress
  • 1976 – Scott Downs, American baseball player
  • 1976 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2009)
  • 1976 – Álvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1977 – Tamar Braxton, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1978 – Zachery Kouwe, American journalist
  • 1979 – Stormy Daniels, born Stephanie Gregory, American adult film actress
  • 1979 – Andrew Ference, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Stephen Kramer Glickman, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and fashion designer
  • 1979 – Samoa Joe, American professional wrestler
  • 1980 – Danny Califf, American soccer player
  • 1980 – Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistani tennis player
  • 1981 – Aaron Baddeley, American-Australian golfer
  • 1981 – Servet Çetin, Turkish footballer
  • 1981 – Kyle Korver, American basketball player
  • 1981 – Nicky Jam, American-Puerto-Rican singer and songwriter
  • 1982 – Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
  • 1983 – James Heath, English golfer
  • 1983 – Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
  • 1983 – Attila Vajda, Hungarian sprint canoeist
  • 1984 – Ryan Rottman, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1985 – Tuğba Karademir, Turkish-Canadian figure skater
  • 1986 – Chris Davis, American baseball player
  • 1986 – Edin Džeko, Bosnian footballer
  • 1986 – Miles Kane, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1986 – Silke Spiegelburg, German pole vaulter
  • 1987 – Federico Fazio, Argentinian international footballer, centre backland rugby league player
  • 1987 – Ryan Parent, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Emmanuel Sanders, American football player
  • 1988 – Rasmus Elm, Swedish footballer
  • 1988 – Fraser Forster, English footballer
  • 1988 – Grimes, Canadian artist, musician and music video director
  • 1988 – Ryan White, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1989 – Shinji Kagawa, Japanese footballer
  • 1990 – Hozier, Irish singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1990 – Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton player
  • 1991 – Jack De Belin, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Patrick Cantlay, American golfer
  • 1992 – John Boyega, English actor
  • 1993 – Matteo Bianchetti, Italian footballer
  • 1994 – Dean Britt, Australian rugby league player
  • 1995 – Ashley Taylor, Australian rugby league player
  • 1997 – Katie Ledecky, American swimmer

Deaths on March 17

  • 45 BC – Titus Labienus, Roman general (b. 100 BC)
  • 45 BC – Publius Attius Varus, Roman governor of Africa
  • 180 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (b. 121)
  • 624 – Amr ibn Hishām, Arab polytheist
  • 659 – Gertrude of Nivelles, Frankish abbess
  • 836 – Haito, bishop of Basel
  • 905 – Li Yu, Prince of De, prince and emperor of the Tang Dynasty
  • 1008 – Kazan, emperor of Japan (b. 968)
  • 1040 – Harold Harefoot, king of England
  • 1058 – Lulach, king of Scotland
  • 1199 – Jocelin of Glasgow, Scottish monk and bishop (b. 1130)
  • 1267 – Pierre de Montreuil, French architect
  • 1270 – Philip of Montfort, French knight and nobleman
  • 1272 – Go-Saga, emperor of Japan (b. 1220)
  • 1361 – An-Nasir Hasan, Mamluk sultan of Egypt
  • 1394 – Louis of Enghien, French nobleman
  • 1406 – Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian sociologist, historian, and scholar (b. 1332)
  • 1425 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1407)
  • 1516 – Giuliano de’ Medici, Italian nobleman (b. 1479)
  • 1527 – Rana Sanga, Indian ruler (b. 1482)
  • 1565 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (b. 1500)
  • 1611 – Sophia of Sweden, duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1547)
  • 1620 – John Sarkander, Polish-Moravian priest and saint (b. 1576)
  • 1640 – Philip Massinger, English playwright (b. 1583)
  • 1649 – Gabriel Lalemant, French missionary and saint (b. 1610)
  • 1663 – Jerome Weston, 2nd Earl of Portland, English diplomat (b. 1605)
  • 1680 – François de La Rochefoucauld, French author (b. 1613)
  • 1704 – Menno van Coehoorn, Dutch soldier and engineer (b. 1641)
  • 1715 – Gilbert Burnet, Scottish bishop and historian (b. 1643)
  • 1741 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (b. 1671)
  • 1764 – George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, English astronomer and politician (b. 1695)
  • 1782 – Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (b. 1700)
  • 1828 – James Edward Smith, English botanist and entomologist (b. 1759)
  • 1829 – Sophia Albertina, princess-abbess of Quedlinburg (b. 1753)
  • 1830 – Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French general and politician (b. 1764)
  • 1846 – Friedrich Bessel, German astronomer, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1784)
  • 1849 – William II, Dutch sovereign prince and king (b. 1792)
  • 1853 – Christian Doppler, Austrian physicist and mathematician (b. 1803)
  • 1871 – Robert Chambers, Scottish geologist and publisher, co-founded Chambers Harrap (b. 1802)
  • 1875 – Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1832)
  • 1893 – Jules Ferry, French lawyer and politician, 44th Prime Minister of France (b. 1832)
  • 1917 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
  • 1926 – Aleksei Brusilov, Georgian-Russian general (b. 1853)
  • 1937 – Austen Chamberlain, English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1863)
  • 1940 – Philomène Belliveau, Canadian artist (b. 1854)
  • 1946 – Dai Li, Chinese general (b. 1897)
  • 1949 – Aleksandra Ekster, Russian-French painter and set designer (b. 1882)
  • 1956 – Fred Allen, American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and author (b. 1894)
  • 1956 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
  • 1957 – Ramon Magsaysay, Filipino captain and politician, 7th President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
  • 1958 – John Pius Boland, Irish tennis player and politician (b. 1870)
  • 1958 – Bertha De Vriese, Belgian physician (b. 1877)
  • 1961 – Susanna M. Salter, American activist and politician (b. 1860)
  • 1965 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, American football player and coach (b. 1862)
  • 1974 – Louis Kahn, American architect and academic, designed Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban (b. 1901)
  • 1976 – Luchino Visconti, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
  • 1981 – Paul Dean, American baseball player (b. 1913)
  • 1983 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
  • 1983 – Louisa E. Rhine, American botanist and parapsychologist (b. 1891)
  • 1986 – Clarence D. Lester, African-American fighter pilot (b.1923)
  • 1990 – Capucine, French model and actress (b. 1928)
  • 1992 – Grace Stafford, American actress (b. 1903)
  • 1993 – Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
  • 1994 – Mai Zetterling, Swedish-English actress and director (b. 1925)
  • 1996 – René Clément, French director and screenwriter (b. 1913)
  • 1996 – Terry Stafford, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
  • 1997 – Jermaine Stewart, American singer-songwriter and dancer (b. 1957)
  • 1999 – Ernest Gold, Austrian-American composer (b. 1921)
  • 1999 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French activist (b. 1905)
  • 2002 – Rosetta LeNoire, American actress and producer (b. 1911)
  • 2002 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (b. 1917)
  • 2002 – Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, American television broadcaster and producer (b. 1908)
  • 2005 – Royce Frith, Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat, Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (b. 1923)
  • 2005 – George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (b. 1904)
  • 2005 – Andre Norton, American author (b. 1912)
  • 2006 – Oleg Cassini, French-American fashion designer (b. 1913)
  • 2006 – Ray Meyer, American basketball player and coach (b. 1913)
  • 2006 – İstemihan Taviloğlu, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1945)
  • 2007 – John Backus, American mathematician and computer scientist, designed Fortran (b. 1924)
  • 2007 – Roger Bennett, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1959)
  • 2008 – Roland Arnall, French-American businessman and diplomat, 63rd United States Ambassador to the Netherlands (b. 1939)
  • 2009 – Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian television host and politician (b. 1937)
  • 2010 – Alex Chilton, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1950)
  • 2010 – Sid Fleischman, American author and screenwriter (b. 1920)
  • 2011 – Michael Gough, English actor (b. 1916)
  • 2011 – Ferlin Husky, American country music singer (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Shenouda III, pope of Alexandria (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Margaret Whitlam, Australian swimmer and author (b. 1919)
  • 2013 – William B. Caldwell III, American general (b. 1925)
  • 2013 – Lawrence Fuchs, American scholar and academic (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – A.B.C. Whipple, American journalist and historian (b. 1918)
  • 2014 – Marek Galiński, Polish cyclist (b. 1974)
  • 2014 – Joseph Kerman, American musicologist and critic (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Rachel Lambert Mellon, American gardener, philanthropist, art collector and political patron (b. 1910)
  • 2015 – Frank Perris, Canadian motorcycle racer (b. 1931)
  • 2016 – Meir Dagan, Israeli general (b. 1945)
  • 2016 – Zoltán Kamondi, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1960)
  • 2018 – Mike MacDonald, Canadian comedian (b. 1954)
  • 2018 – Phan Văn Khải, the fifth Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances on March 17

  • Children’s Day (Bangladesh)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Alexius of Rome (Eastern Church)
    • Gertrude of Nivelles
    • John Sarkander
    • Joseph of Arimathea (Western Church)
    • Patrick of Ireland
    • March 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Evacuation Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)
  • Saint Patrick’s Day, a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, widely celebrated in the English-speaking world and to a lesser degree in other parts of the world.

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

by
  • 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of “Roman law”.
  • 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
  • 962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
  • 1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
  • 1141 – The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
  • 1207 – Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.
  • 1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.
  • 1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
  • 1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • 1645 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.
  • 1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
  • 1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe’s adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
  • 1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
  • 1850 – Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
  • 1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
  • 1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
  • 1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
  • 1899 – The Australian Premiers’ Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia’s capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
  • 1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria.
  • 1909 – The Paris Film Congress opens. An attempt by European producers to form an equivalent to the MPCC cartel in the United States.
  • 1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.
  • 1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
  • 1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
  • 1925 – Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
  • 1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
  • 1935 – Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.
  • 1942 – The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.
  • 1959 – Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.
  • 1966 – Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
  • 1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
  • 1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
  • 1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
  • 1982 – Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
  • 1987 – After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
  • 1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
  • 1990 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
  • 2000 – First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
  • 2002 – Wedding of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti
  • 2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men’s singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
  • 2005 – The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.
  • 2007 – Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.
  • 2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.

Births on February 2

  • 1208 – James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
  • 1282 – Maud Chaworth, Countess of Leicester (d. 1322).
  • 1425 (or 1426) – Eleanor of Navarre, Queen regnant of Navarre (d. 1479)
  • 1443 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony (d. 1486)
  • 1455 – John, King of Denmark (d. 1513)
  • 1457 – Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, Italian-Spanish historian and author (d. 1526)
  • 1467 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican sister (d. 1501)
  • 1494 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
  • 1502 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher and historian (d. 1574)
  • 1506 – René de Birague, Italian-French cardinal and politician (d. 1583)
  • 1509 – John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader (d. 1536)
  • 1522 – Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1565)
  • 1536 – Piotr Skarga, Polish writer (d. 1612)
  • 1551 – Nicolaus Reimers, German astronomer (d. 1600)
  • 1576 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (d. 1622)
  • 1585 – Judith Quiney, William Shakespeare’s youngest daughter (d. 1662)
  • 1585 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s only son (baptised; d. 1596)
  • 1588 – Georg II of Fleckenstein-Dagstuhl, German nobleman (d. 1644)
  • 1600 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)
  • 1611 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (d. 1633)
  • 1613 – Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (d. 1649)
  • 1621 – Johannes Schefferus, Swedish author and hymn-writer (d. 1679)
  • 1650 – Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
  • 1650 – Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II of England (d. 1687)
  • 1651 – William Phips, Royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (d. 1695)
  • 1669 – Louis Marchand, French organist and composer (d. 1732)
  • 1677 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French composer (d. 1745)
  • 1695 – William Borlase, English geologist and archaeologist (d. 1772)
  • 1695 – François de Chevert, French general (d. 1769)
  • 1700 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German author and critic (d. 1766)
  • 1711 – Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (d. 1794)
  • 1714 – Gottfried August Homilius, German organist and composer (d. 1785)
  • 1717 – Ernst Gideon von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
  • 1754 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1838)
  • 1782 – Henri de Rigny, French admiral and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1835)
  • 1786 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1856)
  • 1802 – Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist and academic (d. 1887)
  • 1803 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (d. 1862)
  • 1829 – Alfred Brehm, German zoologist and illustrator (d. 1884)
  • 1829 – William Stanley, English engineer and philanthropist (d. 1909)
  • 1841 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and hydrologist (d. 1912)
  • 1842 – Julian Sochocki, Polish-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1927)
  • 1849 – Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet and playwright (d. 1921)
  • 1851 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican illustrator and engraver (d. 1913)
  • 1856 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)
  • 1856 – Makar Yekmalyan, Armenian composer (d. 1905)
  • 1857 – Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (d. 1918)
  • 1860 – Curtis Guild, Jr., American journalist and politician, 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
  • 1861 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)
  • 1862 – Émile Coste, French fencer (d. 1927)
  • 1862 – Cornelius McKane, American physician, educator, and hospital founder (d. 1912)
  • 1866 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and academic (d. 1927)
  • 1873 – Leo Fall, Austrian composer (d. 1925)
  • 1873 – Konstantin von Neurath, German politician and diplomat, 13th German Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1956)
  • 1875 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (d. 1962)
  • 1877 – Frank L. Packard, Canadian author (d. 1942)
  • 1878 – Joe Lydon, American boxer (d. 1937)
  • 1880 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
  • 1881 – Orval Overall, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
  • 1882 – Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (d. 1944)
  • 1882 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1941)
  • 1883 – Johnston McCulley, American author and screenwriter, created Zorro (d. 1958)
  • 1883 – Julia Nava de Ruisánchez, Mexican activist and writer (d. 1964)
  • 1886 – William Rose Benét, American poet and author (d. 1950)
  • 1887 – Ernst Hanfstaengl, German businessman (d. 1975)
  • 1889 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (d. 1952)
  • 1890 – Charles Correll, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1972)
  • 1892 – Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 27th Yokozuna (d. 1959)
  • 1893 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (d. 1974)
  • 1893 – Raoul Riganti, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1970)
  • 1893 – Damdin Sükhbaatar, Mongolian soldier and politician (d. 1924)
  • 1895 – George Halas, American football player and coach (d. 1983)
  • 1895 – Robert Philipp, American painter (d. 1981)
  • 1895 – George Sutcliffe, Australian public servant (d. 1964)
  • 1896 – Kazimierz Kuratowski, Polish mathematician and logician (d. 1980)
  • 1897 – Howard Deering Johnson, American businessman, founded Howard Johnson’s (d. 1972)
  • 1897 – Gertrude Blanch, Russian-American mathematician (d. 1996)
  • 1900 – Anni Frind, German lyric soprano (d. 1987)
  • 1900 – Willie Kamm, American baseball player and manager (d. 1988)
  • 1901 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-born American violinist and educator (d. 1987)
  • 1902 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
  • 1902 – John Tonkin, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1995)
  • 1904 – Bozorg Alavi, Iranian author and activist (d. 1997)
  • 1905 – Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist and philosopher (d. 1982)
  • 1908 – Wes Ferrell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
  • 1909 – Frank Albertson, American actor (d. 1964)
  • 1911 – Jack Pizzey, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Queensland (d. 1968)
  • 1912 – Millvina Dean, English civil servant and cartographer (d. 2009)
  • 1912 – Burton Lane, American songwriter and composer (d. 1997)
  • 1913 – Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor and singer (d. 1985)
  • 1914 – Eric Kierans, Canadian economist and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2004)
  • 1915 – Abba Eban, South African-Israeli politician and diplomat, 1st Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
  • 1915 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (d. 2005)
  • 1915 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (d. 2014)
  • 1916 – Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet and author (d. 1985)
  • 1917 – Mary Ellis, British World War II ferry pilot (d. 2018)
  • 1917 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2018)
  • 1918 – Hella Haasse, Indonesian-Dutch author (d. 2011)
  • 1919 – Lisa Della Casa, Swiss soprano and actress (d. 2012)
  • 1919 – Georg Gawliczek, German footballer and manager (d. 1999)
  • 1920 – George Hardwick, English footballer and coach (d. 2004)
  • 1920 – John Russell, American Olympic equestrian
  • 1920 – Arthur Willis, English footballer, full-back, player-manager (d. 1987)
  • 1922 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey player (d. 1978)
  • 1922 – Robert Chef d’Hôtel, French athlete (d. 2019)
  • 1922 – James L. Usry, American politician, first African-American mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2002)
  • 1922 – Stoyanka Mutafova, Bulgarian actress (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Jean Babilée, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
  • 1923 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (d. 1997)
  • 1923 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster (d.2012)
  • 1923 – Bonita Granville, American actress and producer (d. 1988)
  • 1923 – Red Schoendienst, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
  • 1923 – Liz Smith, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
  • 1923 – Clem Windsor, Australian rugby player and surgeon (d. 2007)
  • 1924 – Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American singer, pianist, producer (d. 2007)
  • 1924 – Sonny Stitt, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1982)
  • 1925 – Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, French academic and politician, 20th President of France
  • 1927 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (d. 1991)
  • 1927 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (d. 2012)
  • 1928 – Ciriaco De Mita, 47th Prime minister of Italy
  • 1928 – Jay Handlan, American basketball player and engineer (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Tommy Harmer, English footballer, inside forward, youth team coach (d. 2007)
  • 1929 – Sheila Matthews Allen, American actress and producer (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – George Band, English engineer and mountaineer (d. 2011)
  • 1929 – Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Waldemar Kmentt, Austrian operatic tenor (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Dries van Agt, Dutch politician, diplomat and jurist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
  • 1931 – Les Dawson, English comedian and author (d. 1993)
  • 1931 – Glynn Edwards, Malaysian-English actor (d. 2018)
  • 1931 – John Paul Harney, Canadian educator and politician
  • 1931 – Judith Viorst, American journalist and author
  • 1932 – Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (d. 2002)
  • 1932 – Robert Mandan, American actor (d. 2018)
  • 1933 – M’el Dowd, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
  • 1933 – Tony Jay, English-American actor (d. 2006)
  • 1933 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (d. 2009)
  • 1933 – Than Shwe, Burmese general and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma
  • 1935 – Pete Brown, American golfer (d. 2015)
  • 1935 – Evgeny Velikhov, Russian physicist and academic
  • 1936 – Duane Jones, American actor (d. 1988)
  • 1936 – Metin Oktay, Turkish footballer and manager (d. 1991)
  • 1937 – Don Buford, American baseball player and coach
  • 1937 – Eric Arturo Delvalle, Panamanian lawyer and politician, President of Panama (d. 2015)
  • 1937 – Anthony Haden-Guest, British journalist, poet, and critic
  • 1937 – Remak Ramsay, American actor
  • 1937 – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist
  • 1937 – Alexandra Strelchenko, Russian Singer (d. 2019)
  • 1938 – Norman Fowler, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
  • 1938 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
  • 1939 – Jackie Burroughs, English-born Canadian actress (d. 2010)
  • 1939 – Mary-Dell Chilton, American chemist and inventor and one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology
  • 1939 – Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
  • 1940 – Alan Caddy, English guitarist and producer (d. 2000)
  • 1940 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (d. 2008)
  • 1940 – Wayne Fontes, American football player and coach
  • 1940 – David Jason, English actor, director, and producer
  • 1941 – Terry Biddlecombe, English jockey (d. 2014)
  • 1942 – Bo Hopkins, American actor
  • 1942 – Graham Nash, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1944 – Andrew Davis, English organist and conductor
  • 1944 – Geoffrey Hughes, English actor (d. 2012)
  • 1944 – Ursula Oppens, American pianist and educator
  • 1945 – John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, English economist and academic
  • 1946 – John Armitt, English engineer and businessman
  • 1946 – Alpha Oumar Konaré, Malian academic and politician, 3rd President of Mali
  • 1946 – Constantine Papadakis, Greek-American businessman and academic (d. 2009)
  • 1947 – Greg Antonacci, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
  • 1947 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1948 – Ina Garten, American chef and author
  • 1948 – Al McKay, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1948 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (d. 1973)
  • 1949 – Duncan Bannatyne, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
  • 1949 – Yasuko Namba, Japanese mountaineer (d. 1996)
  • 1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor and singer
  • 1949 – Ross Valory, American rock bass player and songwriter
  • 1950 – Osamu Kido, Japanese wrestler
  • 1950 – Libby Purves, British journalist and author
  • 1950 – Barbara Sukowa, German actress
  • 1950 – Genichiro Tenryu, Japanese wrestler
  • 1951 – Vangelis Alexandris, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1951 – Ken Bruce, Scottish radio host
  • 1952 – John Cornyn, American lawyer and politician, 49th Attorney General of Texas
  • 1952 – Rick Dufay, French-American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1952 – Park Geun-hye, South Korean politician, 11th President of South Korea
  • 1952 – Ralph Merkle, American computer scientist and academic
  • 1952 – Carol Ann Susi, American actress (d. 2014)
  • 1953 – Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
  • 1953 – Jerry Sisk, Jr., American gemologist, co-founded Jewelry Television (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Christie Brinkley, American actress, model, and businesswoman
  • 1954 – Hansi Hinterseer, Austrian skier and actor
  • 1954 – Nelson Ne’e, Solomon Islander politician (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – John Tudor, American baseball player
  • 1955 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet and author
  • 1955 – Bob Schreck, American author
  • 1955 – Michael Talbott, American actor
  • 1955 – Kim Zimmer, American actress
  • 1956 – Adnan Oktar, Turkish theorist and author
  • 1957 – Phil Barney, Algerian-French singer-songwriter
  • 1958 – Michel Marc Bouchard, Canadian playwright
  • 1961 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (d. 2013)
  • 1961 – Lauren Lane, American actress and academic
  • 1962 – Philippe Claudel, French author, director, and screenwriter
  • 1962 – Andy Fordham, English darts player
  • 1962 – Paul Kilgus, American baseball player
  • 1962 – Kate Raison, Australian actress
  • 1962 – Michael T. Weiss, American actor
  • 1963 – Eva Cassidy, American singer and guitarist (d. 1996)
  • 1963 – Kjell Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1963 – Andrej Kiska, Slovak entrepreneur and philanthropist, President of Slovakia
  • 1963 – Philip Laats, Belgian martial artist
  • 1963 – Vigleik Storaas, Norwegian pianist
  • 1965 – Carl Airey, English footballer
  • 1965 – Naoki Sano, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
  • 1966 – Andrei Chesnokov, Russian tennis player and coach
  • 1966 – Robert DeLeo, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
  • 1966 – Adam Ferrara, American actor and comedian
  • 1966 – Michael Misick, Caicos Islander politician, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands
  • 1967 – Artūrs Irbe, Latvian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1967 – Laurent Nkunda, Congolese general
  • 1968 – Sean Elliott, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Scott Erickson, American baseball player and coach
  • 1969 – Dana International, Israeli singer-songwriter
  • 1969 – Valeri Karpin, Estonian-Russian footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Roar Strand, Norwegian footballer
  • 1970 – Jennifer Westfeldt, American actress and singer
  • 1971 – Michelle Gayle, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1971 – Arly Jover, Spanish actress
  • 1971 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer and sportscaster (d. 2014)
  • 1971 – Jason Taylor, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1971 – Hwang Seok-jeong, South Korean actress
  • 1972 – Melvin Mora, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1972 – Aleksey Naumov, Russian footballer
  • 1973 – Andrei Luzgin, Estonian tennis player and coach
  • 1973 – Aleksander Tammert, Estonian discus thrower
  • 1973 – Marissa Jaret Winokur, American actress and singer
  • 1975 – Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Donald Driver, American football player
  • 1975 – Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
  • 1976 – Ryan Farquhar, Northern Irish motorcycle racer
  • 1976 – James Hickman, English swimmer
  • 1976 – Ana Roces, Filipino actress
  • 1977 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1977 – Libor Sionko, Czech footballer
  • 1978 – Adam Christopher, New Zealand writer
  • 1978 – Eden Espinosa, American actress and singer
  • 1978 – Annabel Ellwood, Australian tennis player
  • 1978 – Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1978 – Rich Sommer, American actor
  • 1978 – Faye White, English footballer
  • 1979 – Urmo Aava, Estonian race car driver
  • 1979 – Fani Chalkia, Greek hurdler and sprinter
  • 1979 – Christine Lampard, Irish television host
  • 1979 – Klaus Mainzer, German rugby player
  • 1979 – Shamita Shetty, Indian actress
  • 1979 – Irini Terzoglou, Greek shot putter
  • 1980 – Angela Finger-Erben, German journalist
  • 1980 – Teddy Hart, Canadian wrestler
  • 1980 – Oleguer Presas, Spanish footballer
  • 1981 – Emre Aydın, Turkish singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Michelle Bass, English model and singer
  • 1981 – Salem al-Hazmi, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 77 (d. 2001)
  • 1982 – Sergio Castaño Ortega, Spanish footballer
  • 1982 – Kelly Mazzante, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Kan Mi-youn, South Korean singer, model, and host
  • 1983 – Ronny Cedeño, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1983 – Carolina Klüft, Swedish heptathlete and jumper
  • 1983 – Jordin Tootoo, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Vladimir Voskoboinikov, Estonian footballer
  • 1983 – Alex Westaway, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1984 – Brian Cage, American wrestler
  • 1984 – Mao Miyaji, Japanese actress
  • 1984 – Rudi Wulf, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1985 – Masoud Azizi, Afghan sprinter
  • 1985 – Renn Kiriyama, Japanese actor
  • 1985 – Kristo Saage, Estonian basketball player
  • 1985 – Silvestre Varela, Portuguese footballer
  • 1986 – Gemma Arterton, English actress and singer
  • 1986 – Miwa Asao, Japanese volleyball player
  • 1987 – Anthony Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
  • 1987 – Saia Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
  • 1987 – Faydee, Australian singer
  • 1987 – Athena Imperial, Filipino journalist, Miss Earth-Water 2011
  • 1987 – Mimi Page, American singer-songwriter and composer
  • 1987 – Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Javon Ringer, American football player
  • 1987 – Jill Scott, English footballer
  • 1987 – Victoria Song, Chinese singer and actress
  • 1987 – Martin Spanjers, American actor and producer
  • 1988 – Zosia Mamet, American actress
  • 1989 – Harrison Smith, American football player
  • 1989 – Southside, American record producer
  • 1991 – Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer
  • 1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
  • 1991 – Shohei Nanba, Japanese actor
  • 1992 – Lammtarra, American race horse (d. 2014)
  • 1992 – Joonas Tamm, Estonian footballer
  • 1993 – Ravel Morrison, English footballer
  • 1993 – Bobby Decordova-Reid, English born Jamaican international footballer, forward
  • 1995 – Paul Digby, English footballer
  • 1995 – Aleksander Jagiełło, Polish footballer
  • 1995 – Arfa Karim, Pakstani student and computer prodigy (d. 2012)
  • 1996 – Harry Winks, English international footballer, midfielder

Deaths on February 2

  • 619 – Laurence of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint
  • 880 – Bruno, duke of Saxony
  • 1124 – Bořivoj II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1064)
  • 1218 – Konstantin of Rostov (b. 1186)
  • 1237 – Joan, Lady of Wales
  • 1250 – Eric XI of Sweden (b. 1216)
  • 1294 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1229)
  • 1347 – Thomas Bek, Bishop of Lincoln, was the bishop of Lincoln (b. 1282)
  • 1348 – Narymunt, Prince of Pinsk
  • 1435 – Joan II of Naples, Queen of Naples (b. 1371)
  • 1446 – Vittorino da Feltre, Italian humanist (b. 1378)
  • 1448 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (b. 1372)
  • 1461 – Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty (b. c. 1400)
  • 1512 – Hatuey, Caribbean tribal chief
  • 1529 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian soldier and diplomat (b. 1478)
  • 1580 – Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1558)
  • 1594 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer and educator (b. 1525)
  • 1648 – George Abbot, English author and politician (b. 1603)
  • 1660 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans (b. 1608)
  • 1660 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
  • 1661 – Lucas Holstenius, German geographer and historian (b. 1596)
  • 1675 – Ivan Belostenec, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (b. 1594)
  • 1688 – Abraham Duquesne, French admiral (b. 1610)
  • 1704 – Guillaume de l’Hôpital, French mathematician and academic (b. 1661)
  • 1712 – Martin Lister, English physician and geologist (b. 1639)
  • 1714 – John Sharp, English archbishop (b. 1643)
  • 1723 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (b. 1666)
  • 1768 – Robert Smith, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1689)
  • 1769 – Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
  • 1802 – Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, English politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1713)
  • 1804 – George Walton, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Georgia (b. 1749)
  • 1831 – Vincenzo Dimech, Maltese sculptor (b. 1768)
  • 1836 – Letizia Ramolino, Italian noblewoman (b. 1750)
  • 1861 – Théophane Vénard, French Catholic missionary (b. 1829)
  • 1881 – Henry Parker, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1808)
  • 1904 – Ernest Cashel, American-Canadian criminal (b. 1882)
  • 1904 – William Collins Whitney, American financier and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1841)
  • 1905 – Henri Germain, French banker and politician, founded Le Crédit Lyonnais (b. 1824)
  • 1907 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (b. 1834)
  • 1909 – Carlo Acton, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
  • 1913 – Gustaf de Laval, Swedish engineer (b. 1845)
  • 1918 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer (b. 1858)
  • 1919 – Julius Kuperjanov, Estonian lieutenant (b. 1894)
  • 1925 – Antti Aarne, Finnish historian and academic (b. 1867)
  • 1925 – Jaap Eden, Dutch speed skater and cyclist (b. 1873)
  • 1926 – Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general and politician (b. 1848)
  • 1932 – Agha Petros, Assyrian general and politician (b. 1880)
  • 1939 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (b. 1879)
  • 1942 – Ado Birk, Estonian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1883)
  • 1942 – Daniil Kharms, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1905)
  • 1942 – Hugh D. McIntosh, Australian businessman (b. 1876)
  • 1945 – Alfred Delp, German priest and philosopher (b. 1907)
  • 1945 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German economist and politician (b. 1884)
  • 1945 – Johannes Popitz, German lawyer and politician (b. 1884)
  • 1948 – Thomas W. Lamont, American banker and philanthropist (b. 1870)
  • 1948 – Bevil Rudd, South African runner and journalist (b. 1894)
  • 1950 – Constantin Carathéodory, Greek mathematician and academic (b. 1873)
  • 1952 – Callistratus of Georgia, Georgian patriarch (b. 1866)
  • 1954 – Hella Wuolijoki, Estonian-Finnish author and politician (b. 1886)
  • 1956 – Charley Grapewin, American actor (b. 1869)
  • 1956 – Truxtun Hare, American football player and hammer thrower (b. 1878)
  • 1956 – Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (b. 1876)
  • 1957 – Grigory Landsberg, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1890)
  • 1962 – Shlomo Hestrin, Canadian-Israeli biochemist and academic (b. 1914)
  • 1966 – Hacı Ömer Sabancı, Turkish businessman (b. 1906)
  • 1968 – Tullio Serafin, Italian conductor and director (b. 1878)
  • 1969 – Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
  • 1970 – Lawrence Gray, American actor (b. 1898)
  • 1970 – Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1872)
  • 1972 – Natalie Clifford Barney, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1876)
  • 1973 – Hendrik Elias, Belgian academic and politician, 9th Mayor of Ghent (b. 1902)
  • 1974 – Imre Lakatos, Hungarian-English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1922)
  • 1975 – Gustave Lanctot, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1883)
  • 1979 – Jim Burke, Australian cricketer (b. 1930)
  • 1979 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (b. 1957)
  • 1980 – William Howard Stein, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
  • 1982 – Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
  • 1983 – Sam Chatmon, American singer and guitarist (b. 1897)
  • 1986 – Anita Cobby, Australian murder victim (b. 1959)
  • 1986 – Gino Hernandez, American wrestler (b. 1957)
  • 1987 – Carlos José Castilho, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1927)
  • 1987 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
  • 1988 – Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
  • 1989 – Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater and coach (b. 1951)
  • 1989 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (b. 1901)
  • 1990 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (b. 1905)
  • 1990 – Joe Erskine, Welsh boxer (b. 1934)
  • 1992 – Bert Parks, American actor, singer, television personality; Miss America telecast presenter (b. 1914)
  • 1993 – François Reichenbach, French director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 1994 – Marija Gimbutas, Lithuanian-American archeologist (b. 1921)
  • 1995 – Thomas Hayward, American tenor and actor (b. 1917)
  • 1995 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player (b. 1909)
  • 1995 – Donald Pleasence, English-French actor (b. 1919)
  • 1996 – Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, dancer, and director (b. 1912)
  • 1997 – Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (b. 1913)
  • 1997 – Sanford Meisner, American actor and coach (b. 1904)
  • 1998 – Haroun Tazieff, German-French geologist and cinematographer (b. 1914)
  • 1999 – David McComb, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
  • 2002 – Paul Baloff, American singer-songwriter (b. 1960)
  • 2002 – Claude Brown, American author (b. 1937)
  • 2003 – Lou Harrison, American composer and educator (b. 1917)
  • 2004 – Bernard McEveety, American director and producer (b. 1924)
  • 2005 – Birgitte Federspiel, Danish actress (b. 1925)
  • 2005 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (b. 1905)
  • 2007 – Vijay Arora, Indian actor (b. 1944)
  • 2007 – Billy Henderson, American singer (b. 1939)
  • 2007 – Joe Hunter, American pianist (b. 1927)
  • 2007 – Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (b. 1967)
  • 2007 – Eric Von Schmidt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
  • 2007 – Masao Takemoto, Japanese gymnast (b. 1919)
  • 2008 – Barry Morse, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1918)
  • 2008 – Katoucha Niane, Guinean model and author (b. 1960)
  • 2011 – Edward Amy, Canadian general (b. 1918)
  • 2011 – Defne Joy Foster, Turkish actress (b. 1975)
  • 2011 – Margaret John, Welsh actress (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Joyce Barkhouse, Canadian author (b. 1913)
  • 2012 – Frederick William Danker, American lexicographer and scholar (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – George Esper, American journalist and academic (b. 1932)
  • 2012 – Dorothy Gilman, American author (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – James F. Lloyd, American pilot and politician (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (b. 1961)
  • 2013 – John Kerr, American actor and lawyer (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Chris Kyle, American soldier and sniper (b. 1974)
  • 2013 – Lino Oviedo, Paraguayan general and politician (b. 1943)
  • 2013 – Pepper Paire, American baseball player (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – P. Shanmugam, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Puducherry (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Walt Sweeney, American football player (b. 1941)
  • 2013 – Guy F. Tozzoli, American architect (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Gerd Albrecht, German conductor (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Tommy Aquino, American motorcycle racer (b. 1992)
  • 2014 – Nicholas Brooks, English historian (b. 1941)
  • 2014 – Eduardo Coutinho, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1967)
  • 2014 – Luis Raúl, Puerto Rican comedian and actor (b. 1962)
  • 2014 – Bunny Rugs, Jamaican singer (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Nigel Walker, English footballer (b. 1959)
  • 2015 – Joseph Alfidi, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1949)
  • 2015 – Dave Bergman, American baseball player (b. 1953)
  • 2015 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1968)
  • 2015 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – The Jacka, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
  • 2016 – Bob Elliott, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on February 2

  • Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu (Estonia)
  • Christian Feast Day:
    • Adalbard
    • Cornelius the Centurion
    • Martyrs of Ebsdorf
    • February 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constitution Day (Philippines)
  • Day of Youth (Azerbaijan)
  • Earliest day on which Shrove Monday can fall, while March 8 is the latest; celebrated on Monday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity), and its related observances:
    • Bun Day (Iceland)
    • Fastelavn (Denmark/Norway)
    • Nickanan Night (Cornwall)
    • Rosenmontag (Germany)
  • Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances:
    • A quarter day in the Christian calendar (due to Candlemas). (Scotland)
    • Celebration of Yemanja or Our Lady of Navigators (Candomblé)
    • Le Jour des Crêpes (France)
    • Our Lady of the Candles (Filipino Catholics)
    • Virgin of Candelaria (Tenerife, Spain)
  • Groundhog Day (United States and Canada), and its related observances:
    • Marmot Day (Alaska)
  • Inventor’s Day (Thailand)
  • Trader’s Day (Poland)
  • Victory of the Battle of Stalingrad (Russia)
  • World Wetlands Day

February 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by
  • 1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
  • 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).
  • 1662 – The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
  • 1713 – The Kalabalik or Skirmish at Bender results from the Ottoman sultan’s order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
  • 1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
  • 1796 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
  • 1814 – Mayon in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
  • 1835 – Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
  • 1864 – Second Schleswig War: Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, starting the war.
  • 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
  • 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
  • 1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.
  • 1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.
  • 1896 – La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.
  • 1897 – Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
  • 1908 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
  • 1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.
  • 1924 – Russia–United Kingdom relations are restored, over six years after the Communist revolution.
  • 1942 – World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government.
  • 1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.
  • 1942 – Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
  • 1942 – Mao Zedong makes a speech on “Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature”, which puts into motion the Yan’an Rectification Movement.
  • 1946 – Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.
  • 1946 – The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.
  • 1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
  • 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
  • 1968 – Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is recorded on motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams.
  • 1968 – Canada’s three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.
  • 1968 – The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation.
  • 1972 – Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
  • 1974 – A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
  • 1979 – Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.
  • 1989 – The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder.
  • 1991 – A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others.
  • 1992 – The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case.
  • 1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
  • 1998 – Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
  • 2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
  • 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
  • 2004 – Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured.
  • 2005 – King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d’état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
  • 2009 – The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government.
  • 2012 – Seventy-four people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al Masry and Al Ahly in the city of Port Said.
  • 2013 – The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, is opened to the public.

Births on February 1

  • 1261 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop and politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1326)
  • 1435 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (d. 1472)
  • 1447 – Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1504)
  • 1459 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (d. 1508)
  • 1462 – Johannes Trithemius, German lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer (d. 1516)
  • 1552 – Edward Coke, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1634)
  • 1561 – Henry Briggs, British mathematician (d. 1630)
  • 1635 – Marquard Gude, German archaeologist and scholar (d. 1689)
  • 1648 – Elkanah Settle, English poet and playwright (d. 1724)
  • 1659 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (d. 1729)
  • 1663 – Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, Filipino nun, founded the Religious of the Virgin Mary (d. 1748)
  • 1666 – Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and titular queen of Poland (d.1732)
  • 1687 – Johann Adam Birkenstock, German violinist and composer (d. 1733)
  • 1690 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1768)
  • 1701 – Johan Agrell, Swedish-German pianist and composer (d. 1765)
  • 1761 – Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, South African-French mycologist and academic (d. 1836)
  • 1763 – Thomas Campbell, Irish minister and theologian (d. 1854)
  • 1796 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss minister, poet, and educator (d. 1865)
  • 1801 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (d. 1881)
  • 1820 – George Hendric Houghton, American clergyman and theologian (d. 1897)
  • 1836 – Emil Hartmann, Danish organist and composer (d. 1898)
  • 1844 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (d. 1924)
  • 1851 – Durham Stevens, American lawyer and diplomat (d. 1908)
  • 1858 – Ignacio Bonillas, Mexican diplomat (d. 1942)
  • 1859 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924)
  • 1866 – Agda Meyerson, Swedish nurse and healthcare activist (d. 1924)
  • 1868 – Ștefan Luchian, Romanian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
  • 1870 – Erik Adolf von Willebrand, Finnish physician (d. 1949)
  • 1872 – Clara Butt, English opera singer (d. 1936)
  • 1872 – Jerome F. Donovan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1949)
  • 1873 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1901)
  • 1874 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1929)
  • 1878 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect, designed the Grand Hotel Aranybika (d. 1955)
  • 1878 – Milan Hodža, Slovak journalist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (d. 1944)
  • 1881 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (d. 1966)
  • 1882 – Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973)
  • 1884 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player and physician (d. 1949)
  • 1884 – Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (d. 1937)
  • 1887 – Charles Nordhoff, English-American lieutenant, pilot, and author (d. 1947)
  • 1890 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian general and politician, 11th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1942)
  • 1894 – John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973)
  • 1894 – James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (d. 1955)
  • 1895 – Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman (d. 1980)
  • 1897 – Denise Robins, English journalist and author (d. 1985)
  • 1898 – Leila Denmark, American pediatrician and author (d. 2012)
  • 1901 – Frank Buckles, American soldier (d. 2011)
  • 1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
  • 1902 – Therese Brandl, German concentration camp guard (d. 1947)
  • 1902 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (d. 1967)
  • 1904 – S.J. Perelman, American humorist and screenwriter (d. 1979)
  • 1905 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
  • 1906 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (d. 1993)
  • 1907 – Günter Eich, German author and songwriter (d. 1972)
  • 1907 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian pianist and composer (d. 1993)
  • 1908 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (d. 1980)
  • 1908 – Louis Rasminsky, Canadian economist and banker (d. 1998)
  • 1909 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1910 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Chinese general and politician (d. 2009)
  • 1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
  • 1917 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1917 – Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player and soldier (d. 1944)
  • 1918 – Muriel Spark, Scottish playwright and poet (d. 2006)
  • 1918 – Ignacy Tokarczuk, Polish archbishop (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Mike Scarry, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Zao Wou-Ki, Chinese-French painter (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – Teresa Mattei, Italian feminist partisan and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – Peter Sallis, English actor (d. 2017)
  • 1921 – Patricia Robins, British writer and WAAF officer (d. 2016).
  • 1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano and actress (d. 2004)
  • 1923 – Ben Weider, Canadian businessman, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (d. 2008)
  • 1924 – Richard Hooker, American novelist (d. 1997)
  • 1924 – Emmanuel Scheffer, German-Israeli footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1927 – Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1928 – Sam Edwards, Welsh physicist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1928 – Tom Lantos, Hungarian-American academic and politician (d. 2008)
  • 1930 – Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi judge and politician, 12th President of Bangladesh
  • 1930 – Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Indian-Bangladeshi general and politician, 10th President of Bangladesh (d. 2019)
  • 1931 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Hassan Al-Turabi, Sudanese activist and politician (d. 2016)
  • 1934 – Nicolae Breban, Romanian author, poet, and playwright
  • 1936 – Tuncel Kurtiz, Turkish actor, playwright, and director (d. 2013)
  • 1936 – Azie Taylor Morton, American educator and politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003)
  • 1937 – Don Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1937 – Garrett Morris, American actor and comedian
  • 1938 – Jimmy Carl Black, American drummer and singer (d. 2008)
  • 1938 – Jacky Cupit, American golfer
  • 1938 – Sherman Hemsley, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
  • 1939 – Fritjof Capra, Austrian physicist, author, and academic
  • 1939 – Claude François, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 1978)
  • 1939 – Paul Gillmor, American lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
  • 1939 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
  • 1939 – Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (d. 2014)
  • 1941 – Jerry Spinelli, American author
  • 1942 – Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
  • 1942 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
  • 1942 – David Sincock, Australian cricketer
  • 1944 – Petru Popescu, Romanian-American director, producer, and author
  • 1944 – Burkhard Ziese, German footballer and manager (d. 2010)
  • 1945 – Serge Joyal, Canadian lawyer and politician, 50th Secretary of State for Canada
  • 1945 – Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
  • 1945 – Mary Jane Reoch, American cyclist (d. 1993)
  • 1946 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (d. 2011)
  • 1946 – Karen Krantzcke, Australian tennis player (d. 1977)
  • 1947 – Adam Ingram, Scottish computer programmer and politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
  • 1947 – Normie Rowe, Australian singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1947 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
  • 1948 – Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
  • 1950 – Mike Campbell, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1950 – Ali Haydar Konca, Turkish politician, 4th Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs
  • 1950 – Rich Williams, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1951 – Sonny Landreth, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1952 – Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (d. 2012)
  • 1954 – Chuck Dukowski, American singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1956 – Exene Cervenka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1957 – Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Saudi Arabian businessman (d. 2007)
  • 1957 – Gilbert Hernandez, American author and illustrator
  • 1958 – Luther Blissett, Jamaican-English footballer and manager
  • 1958 – Eleanor Laing, Scottish lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
  • 1961 – Volker Fried, German field hockey player and coach
  • 1961 – Daniel M. Tani, American engineer and astronaut
  • 1961 – Kaduvetti Guru, Indian politician (d. 2018)
  • 1962 – José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2004)
  • 1962 – Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1962 – Takashi Murakami, Japanese painter and sculptor
  • 1964 – Jani Lane, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
  • 1964 – Mario Pelchat, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1964 – Linus Roache, English actor
  • 1965 – Stéphanie of Monaco, designer, singer and princess
  • 1965 – Brandon Lee, American actor and martial artist (d. 1993)
  • 1965 – Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
  • 1966 – Michelle Akers, American soccer player
  • 1967 – Meg Cabot, American author and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Lisa Marie Presley, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1968 – Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1969 – Gabriel Batistuta, Argentinian footballer
  • 1969 – Andrew Breitbart, American journalist, author, and publisher (d. 2012)
  • 1969 – Brian Krause, American actor and screenwriter
  • 1969 – Franklyn Rose, Jamaican cricketer
  • 1969 – Patrick Wilson, American drummer
  • 1970 – Yasuyuki Kazama, Japanese racing driver
  • 1970 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (d. 2000)
  • 1971 – Harald Brattbakk, Norwegian footballer and pilot
  • 1971 – Michael C. Hall, American actor and producer
  • 1972 – Christian Ziege, German footballer
  • 1973 – Andrew DeClercq, American basketball player and coach
  • 1973 – Óscar Pérez Rojas, Mexican footballer
  • 1974 – Walter McCarty, American basketball player and coach
  • 1975 – Martijn Reuser, Dutch footballer
  • 1976 – Phil Ivey, American poker player
  • 1976 – Mat Rogers, Australian rugby player
  • 1977 – Lari Ketner, American basketball player (d. 2014)
  • 1977 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (d. 2011)
  • 1978 – Tim Harding, Australian singer and actor
  • 1978 – K’naan, Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist
  • 1979 – Valentín Elizalde, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
  • 1979 – Jason Isbell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1979 – Juan Silveira dos Santos, Brazilian footballer
  • 1980 – Héctor Luna, Dominican baseball player
  • 1980 – Moisés Muñoz, Mexican footballer
  • 1980 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (d. 2005)
  • 1981 – Hins Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Christian Giménez, Argentinian footballer
  • 1981 – Graeme Smith, South African cricketer
  • 1982 – Gavin Henson, Welsh rugby player
  • 1982 – Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer
  • 1983 – Heather DeLoach, American actress
  • 1983 – Kevin Martin, American basketball player
  • 1983 – Jurgen Van den Broeck, Belgian cyclist
  • 1984 – Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer
  • 1985 – Dean Shiels, Irish footballer
  • 1986 – Jorrit Bergsma, Dutch speed skater
  • 1986 – Lauren Conrad, American fashion designer and author
  • 1987 – Sebastian Boenisch, Polish footballer
  • 1987 – Moises Henriques, Portuguese-Australian cricketer
  • 1987 – Austin Jackson, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Ronda Rousey, American mixed martial artist and actress
  • 1987 – Giuseppe Rossi, Italian footballer
  • 1988 – Brett Anderson, American baseball player
  • 1989 – Ricky Pinheiro, Portuguese footballer
  • 1991 – Kyle Palmieri, American hockey player
  • 1993 – Diego Mella, Italian footballer
  • 1994 – Joe Boyce, Australian rugby league player
  • 1994 – Harry Styles, English singer-songwriter

Deaths on February 1

  • 583 – Kan B’alam I, ruler of Palenque (b. 524)
  • 772 – Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
  • 850 – Ramiro I, king of Asturias
  • 992 – Jawhar as-Siqilli, Fatimid statesman
  • 1222 – Alexios Megas Komnenos, first Emperor of Trebizond
  • 1248 – Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207)
  • 1328 – Charles IV of France (b. 1294)
  • 1501 – Sigismund of Bavaria (b. 1439)
  • 1542 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (b. 1480)
  • 1563 – Menas of Ethiopia
  • 1590 – Lawrence Humphrey, English theologian and academic (b. 1527)
  • 1691 – Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610)
  • 1718 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1660)
  • 1733 – Augustus II the Strong, Polish king (b. 1670)
  • 1734 – John Floyer, English physician and author (b. 1649)
  • 1743 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (b. 1657)
  • 1750 – Bakar of Georgia (b. 1699)
  • 1761 – Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French priest and historian (b. 1682)
  • 1768 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (b. 1685)
  • 1793 – William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1717)
  • 1832 – Archibald Murphey, American judge and politician (b. 1777)
  • 1851 – Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1797)
  • 1871 – Alexander Serov, Russian composer and critic (b. 1820)
  • 1893 – George Henry Sanderson, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824)
  • 1897 – Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (b. 1826)
  • 1903 – Sir George Stokes, Anglo-Irish physicist, mathematician, and politician (b. 1819)
  • 1907 – Léon Serpollet, French businessman (b. 1858)
  • 1908 – Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
  • 1922 – William Desmond Taylor, American actor and director (b. 1872)
  • 1924 – Maurice Prendergast, American painter (b. 1858)
  • 1928 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
  • 1936 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and politician, 128th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1878)
  • 1940 – Philip Francis Nowlan, American author, created Buck Rogers (b. 1888)
  • 1940 – Zacharias Papantoniou, Greek journalist and critic (b. 1877)
  • 1944 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (b. 1872)
  • 1949 – Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, Romanian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1880)
  • 1949 – Herbert Stothart, American conductor and composer (b. 1885)
  • 1957 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890)
  • 1958 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
  • 1959 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (b. 1873)
  • 1966 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and journalist (b. 1885)
  • 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1895)
  • 1968 – Echol Cole and Robert Walker – sparking the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
  • 1970 – Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1921)
  • 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
  • 1976 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1878)
  • 1979 – Abdi İpekçi, Turkish journalist and activist (b. 1929)
  • 1981 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American engineer and businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (b. 1892)
  • 1981 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian pianist and composer (b. 1908)
  • 1986 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
  • 1987 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
  • 1989 – Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (b. 1918)
  • 1992 – Jean Hamburger, French physician and surgeon (b. 1909)
  • 1996 – Ray Crawford, American race car driver, pilot, and businessman (b. 1915)
  • 1997 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (b. 1916)
  • 1999 – Paul Mellon, American art collector and philanthropist (b. 1907)
  • 2001 – André D’Allemagne, Canadian political scientist and academic (b. 1929)
  • 2002 – Aykut Barka, Turkish geologist and academic (b. 1951)
  • 2002 – Hildegard Knef, German actress and singer (b. 1925)
  • 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia crew
    • Michael P. Anderson, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1959)
    • David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1956)
    • Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American engineer and astronaut (b. 1961)
    • Laurel Clark, American captain, surgeon, and astronaut (b. 1961)
    • Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1957)
    • William C. McCool, American commander, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961)
    • Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1954)
  • 2003 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer and bandleader (b. 1922)
  • 2004 – Suha Arın, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
  • 2005 – John Vernon, Canadian-American actor (b. 1932)
  • 2007 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-American playwright and composer (b. 1911)
  • 2008 – Beto Carrero, Brazilian actor and businessman (b. 1937)
  • 2012 – Don Cornelius, American television host and producer (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Helene Hale, American politician (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Ed Koch, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Shanu Lahiri, Indian painter and educator (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Cecil Womack, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
  • 2014 – Luis Aragonés, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Vasily Petrov, Russian marshal (b. 1917)
  • 2014 – Rene Ricard, American poet, painter, and critic (b. 1946)
  • 2014 – Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist (b. 1925)
  • 2015 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Monty Oum, American animator, director, and screenwriter (b. 1981)
  • 2016 – Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores, Guatemalan general and politician, 27th President of Guatemala (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Desmond Carrington, British actor and broadcaster (b. 1926)
  • 2018 – Barys Kit, Belarusian rocket scientist (b. 1910)
  • 2018 – Mowzey Radio, Ugandan singer and songwriter (b. 1985)
  • 2019 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian, radio host and panelist (b. 1961)
  • 2019 – Clive Swift, English actor (b. 1936)
  • 2019 – Wade Wilson, American football player and coach (b. 1959)

Holidays and observances on February 1

  • Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius)
  • Air Force Day (Nicaragua)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Astina (Syrian Church)
    • Blessed Candelaria of San José
    • Brigid, patron saint of Ireland (Saint Brigid’s Day)
    • Verdiana
    • February 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while February 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in February. (Mexico)
  • Federal Territory Day (Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Malaysia)
  • Heroes Day (Rwanda)
  • Imbolc (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and some Neopagan groups in the Northern hemisphere)
  • Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)
  • National Freedom Day (United States)
  • The start of Black History Month (United States and Canada)

January 28 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by
  • 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire.
  • 1069 – Robert de Comines, appointed Earl of Northumbria by William the Conqueror, rides into Durham, England, where he is defeated and killed by rebels. This incident leads to the Harrying of the North.
  • 1077 – Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, is lifted after he humbles himself before Pope Gregory VII at Canossa in Italy.
  • 1521 – The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.
  • 1547 – Edward VI, the nine-year-old son of Henry VIII, becomes King of England on his father’s death.
  • 1568 – The Edict of Torda prohibited the persecution of individuals on the religious ground in John Sigismund Zápolya’s Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.
  • 1573 – Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
  • 1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on the island of Saint Kitts.
  • 1671 – Original city of Panama (founded in 1519) was destroyed by a fire when privateer Henry Morgan sacked and set fire to it. The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins (see Panama Viejo).
  • 1724 – The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented by Senate decree. It is called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
  • 1754 – Sir Horace Walpole coins the word serendipity in a letter to a friend.
  • 1813 – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.
  • 1846 – The Battle of Aliwal, India, is won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.
  • 1851 – Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.
  • 1855 – A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
  • 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.
  • 1878 – Yale Daily News becomes the first independent daily college newspaper in the United States.
  • 1896 – Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h).
  • 1902 – The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
  • 1908 – Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d’état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.
  • 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.
  • 1915 – An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces.
  • 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
  • 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
  • 1922 – Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.’s biggest snowfall, causes the city’s greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses.
  • 1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
  • 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
  • 1935 – Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.
  • 1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph).
  • 1941 – Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
  • 1945 – World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
  • 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.
  • 1958 – The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
  • 1960 – The National Football League announced expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for 1961 NFL season.
  • 1964 – An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.
  • 1965 – The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.
  • 1977 – The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 which dumps 10 feet (3.0 m) of snow in one day in Upstate New York, with Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected.
  • 1980 – USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
  • 1981 – Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
  • 1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
  • 1984 – Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region.
  • 1985 – Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
  • 1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.
  • 1988 – In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws.
  • 2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 94.
  • 2006 – The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.

Births on January 28

  • 1312 – Joan II, queen of Navarre (d. 1349)
  • 1368 – Razadarit, king of Hanthawaddy (d. 1421)
  • 1457 – Henry VII, king of England (d. 1509)
  • 1533 – Paul Luther, German scientist (d. 1593)
  • 1540 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German-Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1610)
  • 1582 – John Barclay, French-Scottish poet and author (d. 1621)
  • 1600 – Clement IX, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1669)
  • 1608 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)
  • 1611 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (d. 1687)
  • 1622 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (d. 1691)
  • 1693 – Gregor Werner, Austrian composer (d. 1766)
  • 1701 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (d. 1774)
  • 1706 – John Baskerville, English printer and typographer (d. 1775)
  • 1712 – Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shōgun (d. 1761)
  • 1717 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1774)
  • 1719 – Johann Elias Schlegel, German poet and critic (d. 1749)
  • 1726 – Christian Felix Weiße, German poet and playwright (d. 1802)
  • 1755 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, Polish-German physician, anthropologist, and paleontologist (d. 1830)
  • 1784 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860)
  • 1797 – Charles Gray Round, English lawyer and politician (d. 1867)
  • 1818 – George S. Boutwell, American lawyer and politician, 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1905)
  • 1822 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian soldier, journalist, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1892)
  • 1833 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (d. 1885)
  • 1841 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh-American explorer and journalist (d. 1904)
  • 1843 – Mihkel Veske, Estonian poet and linguist (d. 1890)
  • 1853 – José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and theorist (d. 1895)
  • 1853 – Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet, and critic (d. 1900)
  • 1855 – William Seward Burroughs I, American businessman, founded the Burroughs Corporation (d. 1898)
  • 1858 – Tannatt William Edgeworth David, Welsh-Australian geologist and explorer (d. 1934)
  • 1861 – Julián Felipe, Filipino composer and educator (d. 1944)
  • 1863 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (d. 1918)
  • 1864 – Charles Williams Nash, American businessman, founded Nash Motors (d. 1948)
  • 1865 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian author and politician (d. 1928)
  • 1865 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finnish lawyer, judge, and politician, 1st President of Finland (d. 1952)
  • 1873 – Colette, French novelist and journalist (d. 1954)
  • 1873 – Monty Noble, Australian cricketer (d. 1940)
  • 1874 – Alex Smith, Scottish golfer (d. 1930)
  • 1875 – Julián Carrillo, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1965)
  • 1878 – Walter Kollo, German composer and conductor (d. 1940)
  • 1880 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (d. 1970)
  • 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (d. 1962)
  • 1885 – Vahan Terian, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1920)
  • 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian-French author and poet (d. 1973)
  • 1886 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (d. 1976)
  • 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and educator (d. 1982)
  • 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (d. 1986)
  • 1900 – Alice Neel, American painter (d. 1984)
  • 1903 – Aleksander Kamiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1978)
  • 1903 – Kathleen Lonsdale, Irish crystallographer and 1st female FRS (d. 1971)
  • 1906 – Pat O’Callaghan, Irish athlete (d. 1991)
  • 1906 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (d. 1992)
  • 1908 – Paul Misraki, Turkish-French composer and historian (d. 1998)
  • 1909 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (d. 1931)
  • 1910 – John Banner, Austrian actor (d. 1973)
  • 1911 – Johan van Hulst, Dutch politician, academic and author, Yad Vashem recipient (d. 2018)
  • 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
  • 1918 – Harry Corbett, English puppeteer, actor, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
  • 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (d. 2004)
  • 1919 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Vytautas Norkus, Lithuanian–American basketball player (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
  • 1924 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (d. 1976)
  • 1925 – Raja Ramanna, Indian physicist and politician (d. 2004)
  • 1926 – Jimmy Bryan, American race car driver (d. 1960)
  • 1927 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1927 – Ronnie Scott, English saxophonist (d. 1996)
  • 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1927 – Vera Williams, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – Nikolai Parshin, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator
  • 1929 – Edith M. Flanigen, American chemist
  • 1930 – Kurt Biedenkopf, German academic and politician, 54th President of the German Bundesrat
  • 1930 – Roy Clarke, English screenwriter, comedian and soldier
  • 1933 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter
  • 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990)
  • 1935 – David Lodge, English author and critic
  • 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and writer
  • 1937 – Karel Čáslavský, Czech historian and television host (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Tomas Lindahl, Swedish-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1938 – Leonid Zhabotinsky, Ukrainian weightlifter and coach (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman and philanthropist, founded Grupo Carso
  • 1942 – Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater
  • 1942 – Erkki Pohjanheimo, Finnish director and producer
  • 1943 – Dick Taylor, English guitarist and songwriter
  • 1944 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – John Tavener, English composer (d. 2013)
  • 1945 – Frank Doubleday, American actor (d. 2018)
  • 1945 – Maxwell Fuller, Australian chess player (d. 2013)
  • 1945 – Marthe Keller, Swiss actress and director
  • 1945 – John Perkins, American author and activist
  • 1947 – Jeanne Shaheen, American educator and politician, 78th Governor of New Hampshire
  • 1948 – Bob Moses, American drummer
  • 1948 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia
  • 1949 – Mike Moore, New Zealand union leader and politician, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand
  • 1949 – Gregg Popovich, American basketball player and coach
  • 1950 – Barbi Benton, American actress, singer and model
  • 1950 – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahraini king
  • 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut
  • 1950 – Naila Kabeer, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic
  • 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician
  • 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1951 – Billy Bass Nelson, American R&B/funk bass player
  • 1952 – Richard Glatzer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1954 – Peter Lampe, German theologian and historian
  • 1954 – Bruno Metsu, French footballer and manager (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author
  • 1955 – Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman, co-founded Sun Microsystems
  • 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and politician, 23rd President of France
  • 1956 – Richard Danielpour, American composer and educator
  • 1956 – Peter Schilling, German singer-songwriter
  • 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1957 – Nick Price, Zimbabwean-South African golfer
  • 1957 – Frank Skinner, English comedian, actor, and author
  • 1959 – Frank Darabont, American director and producer
  • 1960 – Loren Legarda, Filipino journalist and politician
  • 1961 – Normand Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1964 – David Lawrence, English cricketer
  • 1966 – Seiji Mizushima, Japanese director and producer
  • 1967 – Billy Brownless, Australian footballer and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
  • 1968 – Rakim, American rapper
  • 1969 – Giorgio Lamberti, Italian swimmer
  • 1969 – Mo Rocca, American comedian and television journalist
  • 1969 – Linda Sánchez, American lawyer and politician
  • 1972 – Mark Regan, English rugby player
  • 1972 – Nicky Southall, English footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Léon van Bon, Dutch cyclist
  • 1974 – Tony Delk, American basketball player and coach
  • 1974 – Jermaine Dye, American baseball player
  • 1974 – Ramsey Nasr, Dutch author and poet
  • 1974 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player and politician
  • 1975 – Pedro Pinto, Portuguese-American journalist
  • 1975 – Junior Spivey, American baseball player and coach
  • 1976 – Sireli Bobo, Fijian rugby player
  • 1976 – Mark Madsen, American basketball player and coach
  • 1976 – Rick Ross, American rapper and producer
  • 1976 – Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer
  • 1977 – Sandis Buškevics, Latvian basketball player and coach
  • 1977 – Daunte Culpepper, American football player
  • 1977 – Joey Fatone, American singer, dancer, and television personality
  • 1977 – Takuma Sato, Japanese race car driver
  • 1978 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
  • 1978 – Jamie Carragher, English footballer and sportscaster
  • 1978 – Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer
  • 1978 – Stephen Farrelly, Irish professional wrestler
  • 1978 – Big Freedia, New Orleans musician, “Queen of Bounce”
  • 1980 – Nick Carter, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1980 – Yasuhito Endō, Japanese footballer
  • 1980 – Michael Hastings, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1980 – Brian Fallon, American singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Elijah Wood, American actor and producer
  • 1984 – Ben Clucas, English race car driver
  • 1984 – Stephen Gostkowski, American football player
  • 1984 – Andre Iguodala, American basketball player
  • 1984 – Anne Panter, English field hockey player
  • 1985 – J. Cole, American singer
  • 1985 – Daniel Carcillo, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Lauris Dārziņš, Latvian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Arnold Mvuemba, French footballer
  • 1985 – Libby Trickett, Australian swimmer
  • 1986 – Jessica Ennis-Hill, English heptathlete and hurdler
  • 1986 – Nathan Outteridge, Australian sailor
  • 1986 – Asad Shafiq, Pakistani cricketer
  • 1988 – Paul Henry, English footballer
  • 1988 – Seiya Sanada, Japanese wrestler
  • 1989 – Siem de Jong, Dutch footballer
  • 1991 – Carl Klingberg, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Sergio Araujo, Argentinian footballer
  • 1998 – Ariel Winter, American actress

Deaths on January 28

  • 592 – Guntram, French king (b. 532)
  • 814 – Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor (pleurisy; b. 742)
  • 919 – Zhou Dewei, Chinese general
  • 929 – Gao Jixing, founder of Chinese Jingnan (b. 858)
  • 947 – Jing Yanguang, Chinese general (b. 892)
  • 1061 – Spytihněv II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1031)
  • 1142 – Yue Fei, Chinese general (b. 1103)
  • 1256 – William II, Count of Holland, King of Germany (b. 1227)
  • 1271 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France (b. 1247)
  • 1290 – Dervorguilla of Galloway, Scottish noble, mother of king John Balliol of Scotland (b. c. 1210)
  • 1443 – Robert le Maçon, French diplomat (b. 1365)
  • 1501 – John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham, English baron and Lord High Treasurer (b. 1433)
  • 1547 – Henry VIII, king of England (b. 1491)
  • 1613 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (b. 1545)
  • 1621 – Pope Paul V (b. 1550)
  • 1666 – Tommaso Dingli, Maltese architect and sculptor (b. 1591)
  • 1672 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (b. 1588)
  • 1681 – Richard Allestree, English priest and academic (b. 1619)
  • 1687 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (b. 1611)
  • 1688 – Ferdinand Verbiest, Flemish Jesuit missionary in China (b. 1623)
  • 1697 – Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet, English general and politician (b. 1645)
  • 1754 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian-Danish historian and philosopher (b. 1684)
  • 1782 – Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, French geographer and cartographer (b. 1697)
  • 1832 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769)
  • 1859 – F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1782)
  • 1864 – Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (b. 1799)
  • 1873 – John Hart, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of South Australia (b. 1809)
  • 1903 – Augusta Holmès, French pianist and composer (b. 1847)
  • 1912 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist and theorist (b. 1819)
  • 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier, physician, and author (b. 1872)
  • 1921 – Mustafa Suphi, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1883)
  • 1930 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano and poet (b. 1878)
  • 1935 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and conductor (b. 1859)
  • 1937 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and target shooter (b. 1862)
  • 1938 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German race car driver (b. 1909)
  • 1939 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
  • 1942 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast and triathlete (b. 1881)
  • 1945 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1924)
  • 1947 – Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-French composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1875)
  • 1948 – Hans Aumeier, German SS officer (b. 1906)
  • 1949 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
  • 1950 – Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1883)
  • 1953 – James Scullin, Australian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
  • 1953 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher and poet (b. 1879)
  • 1959 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
  • 1960 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (b. 1891)
  • 1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (b. 1884)
  • 1965 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888)
  • 1965 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (b. 1867)
  • 1971 – Donald Winnicott, English paediatrician and psychoanalyst (b. 1896)
  • 1973 – John Banner, Austrian actor (b. 1910)
  • 1976 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (b. 1924)
  • 1978 – Ward Moore, American author (b. 1903)
  • 1983 – Billy Fury. English pop star (b. 1940)
  • 1983 – Frank Forde, Australian educator and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
  • 1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger crew
    • Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944)
    • Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut (b. 1948)
    • Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1950)
    • Ellison Onizuka, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1946)
    • Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949)
    • Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939)
    • Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1945)
  • 1988 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist and politician (b. 1911)
  • 1989 – Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (b. 1938)
  • 1993 – Helen Sawyer Hogg, Canadian astronomer and academic (b. 1905)
  • 1996 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1940)
  • 1996 – Burne Hogarth, American cartoonist and author (b. 1911)
  • 1996 – Jerry Siegel, American author and illustrator, co-created Superman (b. 1914)
  • 1998 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese author and illustrator (b. 1938)
  • 1999 – Valery Gavrilin, Russian composer (b. 1939)
  • 2001 – Ranko Marinković, Croatian author and playwright (b. 1913)
  • 2002 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (b. 1913)
  • 2002 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • 2002 – Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, Turkish author and activist (b. 1946)
  • 2003 – Mieke Pullen, Dutch runner (b. 1957)
  • 2004 – Lloyd M. Bucher, American captain (b. 1927)
  • 2004 – Mel Pritchard, English drummer (b. 1948)
  • 2005 – Jim Capaldi, English singer-songwriter and drummer (b. 1944)
  • 2007 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (b. 1929)
  • 2007 – Robert Drinan, American priest, lawyer, and politician (b. 1920)
  • 2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (b. 1963)
  • 2007 – Karel Svoboda, Czech composer (b. 1938)
  • 2009 – Billy Powell, American keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1952)
  • 2012 – Roman Juszkiewicz, Polish astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1952)
  • 2012 – Don Starkell, Canadian adventurer and author (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Florentino Fernández, Cuban-American boxer and coach (b. 1936)
  • 2013 – Hattie N. Harrison, American educator and politician (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Oldřich Kulhánek, Czech painter, illustrator, and stage designer (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – John Cacavas, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Harry Gamble, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Nigel Jenkins, Welsh poet, journalist, and geographer (b. 1949)
  • 2014 – Jorge Obeid, Argentinian engineer and politician, Governor of Santa Fe (b. 1947)
  • 2015 – Suraj Abdurrahman, Nigerian general, architect, and engineer (b. 1954)
  • 2015 – Yves Chauvin, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic (b. 1924)
  • 2016 – Signe Toly Anderson, American singer (b. 1941)
  • 2016 – Paul Kantner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
  • 2016 – Franklin Gene Bissell, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
  • 2016 – Buddy Cianci, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Mayor of Providence (b. 1941)
  • 2016 – Bob Tizard, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 6th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1924)
  • 2017 – Alexander Chancellor, British journalist (b. 1940)
  • 2017 – Geoff Nicholls, British musician (b. 1948)
  • 2019 – Pepe Smith, Filipino rock musician (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances on January 28

  • Christian feast day:
    • Joseph Freinademetz
    • Julian of Cuenca
    • Thomas Aquinas
    • January 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Army Day (Armenia)
  • Data Privacy Day

January 13 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by
  • 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I.
  • 1435 – Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV.
  • 1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death for treason, on the grounds of having quartered his arms to make them similar to those of the King, Henry VIII of England.
  • 1793 – Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, lynched by a mob in Rome
  • 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany ends with the French vessel running aground, resulting in over 900 deaths.
  • 1815 – War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state.
  • 1822 – The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
  • 1833 – United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina’s defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
  • 1840 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
  • 1842 – Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
  • 1847 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California.
  • 1849 – Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island.
  • 1849 – Second Anglo-Sikh War – Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs.
  • 1879 – In Mozart Gardens Brooklyn Ada Anderson completed a great feat of pedestrianism – 2700 quarter miles in 2700 quarter hours, earning her $8000.
  • 1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
  • 1893 – The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting.
  • 1893 – U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the USS Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
  • 1895 – First Italo-Ethiopian War: the war’s opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory.
  • 1898 – Émile Zola’s J’accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.
  • 1908 – The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people.
  • 1910 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance of the operas Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci are sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
  • 1915 – The 6.7 Mw  Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L’Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 29,978–32,610.
  • 1920 – The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history.
  • 1935 – A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to join Nazi Germany.
  • 1939 – The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometers of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.
  • 1942 – Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.
  • 1942 – World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
  • 1950 – British submarine HMS Truculent collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men.
  • 1950 – Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
  • 1951 – First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins.
  • 1953 – An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.
  • 1958 – The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
  • 1963 – Coup d’état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.
  • 1964 – Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, resulting in 100 deaths.
  • 1964 – In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971).
  • 1966 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
  • 1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.
  • 1972 – Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.
  • 1978 – United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled “paid” or “volunteer” donors.
  • 1982 – Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists.
  • 1985 – A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa.
  • 1986 – A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
  • 1988 – Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
  • 1990 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.
  • 1991 – Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1000 others.
  • 1993 – Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center.
  • 1993 – The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is signed.
  • 1998 – Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter’s Square, protesting against homophobia.
  • 2001 – An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800.
  • 2012 – The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy due to the captain Francesco Schettino’s negligence and irresponsibility. There are 32 confirmed deaths.
  • 2018 – A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii caused widespread panic in the state.
  • 2020 – Taal Volcano in the Philippines spews lava fountains while erupting in the crater.

Births on January 13

  • 5 BC – Guangwu of Han, Chinese emperor (d. 57)
  • 101 – Lucius Aelius, Roman adopted son of Hadrian (d. 138)
  • 915 – Al-Hakam II, Umayyad caliph (d. 976)
  • 1334 – Henry II, king of Castile and León (d. 1379)
  • 1338 – Jeong Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (d. 1392)
  • 1400 – Infante John, Constable of Portugal (d. 1442)
  • 1477 – Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1527)
  • 1505 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1571)
  • 1562 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet and soldier (d. 1601)
  • 1596 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (d. 1656)
  • 1610 – Maria Anna of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria (d. 1665)
  • 1616 – Antoinette Bourignon, French-Flemish mystic and author (d. 1680)
  • 1651 – Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English soldier and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1694)
  • 1683 – Christoph Graupner, German harpsichord player and composer (d. 1760)
  • 1720 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (d. 1808)
  • 1749 – Maler Müller, German poet, painter, and playwright (d. 1825)
  • 1787 – John Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1854)
  • 1804 – Paul Gavarni, French illustrator (d. 1866)
  • 1805 – Thomas Dyer, American lawyer and politician, 18th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1862)
  • 1808 – Salmon P. Chase, American jurist and politician, 6th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1873)
  • 1810 – Ernestine Rose, American suffragist, abolitionist, and freethinker (d. 1892)
  • 1812 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (d. 1883)
  • 1832 – Horatio Alger, Jr., American novelist and journalist (d. 1899)
  • 1845 – Félix Tisserand, French astronomer and academic (d. 1896)
  • 1858 – Oskar Minkowski, Lithuanian-German biologist and academic (d. 1931)
  • 1859 – Kostis Palamas, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1943)
  • 1861 – Max Nonne, German neurologist and academic (d. 1959)
  • 1864 – Wilhelm Wien, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
  • 1865 – Princess Marie of Orléans (d. 1908)
  • 1866 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian bassoon player and composer (d. 1901)
  • 1866 – George Gurdjieff, Russian-French mystic and philosopher (d. 1949)
  • 1869 – Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta (d. 1931)
  • 1870 – Ross Granville Harrison, American biologist and anatomist (d. 1959)
  • 1878 – Lionel Groulx, Canadian priest and historian (d. 1967)
  • 1881 – Essington Lewis, Australian engineer and businessman (d. 1961)
  • 1883 – Nathaniel Cartmell, American runner and coach (d. 1967)
  • 1885 – Alfred Fuller, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Fuller Brush Company (d. 1973)
  • 1886 – Art Ross, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1964)
  • 1887 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer and actress (d. 1966)
  • 1890 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1945)
  • 1892 – Ermanno Aebi, Italian-Swiss footballer (d. 1976)
  • 1893 – Charles Arnison, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 1974)
  • 1893 – Roy Cazaly, Australian footballer and coach (d. 1963)
  • 1893 – Clark Ashton Smith, American poet, sculptor, painter, and author (d. 1961)
  • 1893 – Chaim Soutine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1943)
  • 1900 – Shimizugawa Motokichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1967)
  • 1900 – Gertrude Mary Cox, American mathematician (d. 1978)
  • 1901 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist, screenwriter, historian (d. 1991)
  • 1901 – Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish priest and historian (d. 1978)
  • 1902 – Karl Menger, Austrian-American mathematician from the Vienna Circle (d. 1985)
  • 1904 – Richard Addinsell, English composer (d. 1977)
  • 1904 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian-American violinist and composer (d. 1992)
  • 1904 – Dick Rowley, Irish footballer, centre forward (d. 1984)
  • 1905 – Kay Francis, American actress (d. 1968)
  • 1905 – Jack London, English sprinter and pianist (d. 1966)
  • 1906 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist, sinologist, and academic (d. 2017)
  • 1909 – Helm Glöckler, German race car driver (d. 1993)
  • 1910 – Yannis Tsarouchis, Greek painter and illustrator (d. 1989)
  • 1911 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (d. 2005)
  • 1914 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (d. 2006)
  • 1914 – Ted Willis, Baron Willis, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
  • 1919 – Robert Stack, American actor (d. 2003)
  • 1921 – Necati Cumalı, Greek-Turkish author and poet (d. 2001)
  • 1921 – Dachine Rainer, American-English author and poet (d. 2000)
  • 1921 – Arthur Stevens, English footballer, outside right (d. 2007}
  • 1922 – Albert Lamorisse, French director and producer (d. 1970)
  • 1923 – Daniil Shafran, Russian cellist (d. 1997)
  • 1923 – Willem Slijkhuis, Dutch runner (d. 2003)
  • 1924 – Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (d. 1994)
  • 1924 – Roland Petit, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2011)
  • 1925 – Rosemary Murphy, American actress (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Vanita Smythe, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
  • 1925 – Ron Tauranac, Australian engineer and businessman
  • 1925 – Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer (d. 2000)
  • 1926 – Michael Bond, English soldier and author, created Paddington Bear (d. 2017)
  • 1926 – Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, American author and academic (d. 2003)
  • 1926 – Melba Liston, American trombonist and composer (d. 1999)
  • 1927 – Brock Adams, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Transportation (d. 2004)
  • 1927 – Liz Anderson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1927 – Sydney Brenner, South African biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
  • 1929 – Joe Pass, American guitarist and composer (d. 1994)
  • 1930 – Frances Sternhagen, American actress
  • 1931 – Ian Hendry, English actor (d. 1984)
  • 1931 – Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor, comedian, director, game show panelist, and television personality (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Barry Bishop, American mountaineer, photographer, and scholar (d. 1994)
  • 1933 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, coach, and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1935 – Rip Taylor, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
  • 1936 – Renato Bruson, Italian opera singer
  • 1937 – Guy Dodson, New Zealand-English biochemist and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1938 – Cabu, French cartoonist (d. 2015)
  • 1938 – Daevid Allen, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
  • 1938 – Richard Anthony, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1938 – Dave Edwards, American captain and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Tord Grip, Swedish footballer and manager
  • 1938 – Anna Home, English screenwriter and producer
  • 1939 – Edgardo Cozarinsky, Argentinian author, screenwriter, and director
  • 1939 – Jacek Gmoch, Polish footballer and coach
  • 1939 – Cesare Maniago, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1940 – Edmund White, American novelist, memoirist, and essayist
  • 1941 – Pasqual Maragall, Spanish academic and politician, 127th President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
  • 1941 – Meinhard Nehmer, German bobsledder
  • 1943 – William Duckworth, American composer and author (d. 2012)
  • 1943 – Richard Moll, American actor
  • 1945 – Gordon McVie, English oncologist and author
  • 1945 – Peter Simpson, English footballer
  • 1946 – Ordal Demokan, Turkish physicist and academic (d. 2004)
  • 1946 – Eero Koivistoinen, Finnish saxophonist, composer, and conductor
  • 1947 – John Lees, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1947 – Jacek Majchrowski, Polish historian, lawyer, and politician
  • 1947 – Carles Rexach, Spanish footballer and coach
  • 1948 – Gaj Singh, Indian lawyer and politician
  • 1949 – Rakesh Sharma, Indian commander, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1949 – Brandon Tartikoff, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
  • 1950 – Clive Betts, English economist and politician
  • 1950 – Bob Forsch, American baseball player (d. 2011)
  • 1950 – Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Iranian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1952 – Stephen Glover, English journalist, co-founded The Independent
  • 1953 – Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer (d. 2012)
  • 1954 – Richard Blackford, English composer
  • 1954 – Trevor Rabin, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1955 – Paul Kelly, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1955 – Jay McInerney, American novelist and critic
  • 1955 – Anne Pringle, English diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia
  • 1957 – Claudia Emerson, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1957 – Mary Glindon, English lawyer and politician
  • 1957 – Mark O’Meara, American golfer
  • 1957 – Lorrie Moore, American short story writer
  • 1958 – Francisco Buyo, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1958 – Juan Pedro de Miguel, Spanish handball player (d. 2016)
  • 1959 – Winnie Byanyima, Ugandan engineer, politician, and diplomat
  • 1960 – Eric Betzig, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1960 – Matthew Bourne, English choreographer and director
  • 1961 – Wayne Coyne, American singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1961 – Kelly Hrudey, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1961 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress, comedian, and producer
  • 1962 – Trace Adkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1962 – Paul Higgins, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1964 – Penelope Ann Miller, American actress
  • 1966 – Patrick Dempsey, American actor and race car driver
  • 1966 – Leo Visser, Dutch speed skater and pilot
  • 1968 – Mike Whitlow, English footballer and coach
  • 1969 – Stefania Belmondo, Italian skier
  • 1969 – Stephen Hendry, Scottish snooker player and journalist
  • 1970 – Frank Kooiman, Dutch footballer
  • 1970 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d. 2004)
  • 1970 – Shonda Rhimes, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1972 – Mark Bosnich, Australian footballer and sportscaster
  • 1972 – Nicole Eggert, American actress
  • 1972 – Vitaly Scherbo, Belarusian gymnast
  • 1973 – Nikolai Khabibulin, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1973 – Gigi Galli, Italian race driver
  • 1974 – Sergei Brylin, Russian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1975 – Rune Eriksen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
  • 1975 – Mailis Reps, Estonian academic and politician, 31st Estonian Minister of Education and Research
  • 1975 – Andrew Yang, American entrepreneur, founder of Venture for America, and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate
  • 1976 – Mario Yepes, Colombian footballer
  • 1977 – Orlando Bloom, English actor and producer
  • 1977 – Mi-Hyun Kim, South Korean golfer
  • 1977 – Elliot Mason, English trombonist and keyboard player
  • 1977 – James Posey, American basketball player and coach
  • 1978 – Nate Silver, American journalist and statistician, developed PECOTA
  • 1979 – Katy Brand, English actress and screenwriter
  • 1980 – Krzysztof Czerwiński, Polish organist and conductor
  • 1980 – Nils-Eric Johansson, Swedish footballer
  • 1980 – Akira Kaji, Japanese footballer
  • 1980 – Wolfgang Loitzl, Austrian ski jumper
  • 1980 – Mirko Soltau, German footballer
  • 1981 – Reggie Brown, American football player
  • 1981 – Darrell Rasner, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Yujiro Takahashi, Japanese wrestler
  • 1982 – Kamran Akmal, Pakistan cricketer
  • 1982 – Guillermo Coria, Argentinian tennis player
  • 1982 – Constantinos Makrides, Cypriot footballer
  • 1982 – Ruth Wilson, English actress
  • 1983 – Ender Arslan, Turkish basketball player
  • 1983 – Sebastian Kneißl, German footballer
  • 1983 – Mauricio Martín Romero, Argentinian footballer
  • 1984 – Matteo Cavagna, Italian footballer
  • 1984 – Kamghe Gaba, German sprinter
  • 1984 – Nick Mangold, American football player
  • 1985 – Luke Robinson, American wrestler
  • 1986 – Joannie Rochette, Canadian figure skater
  • 1987 – Stefano Del Sante, Italian footballer
  • 1987 – Jack Johnson, American ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Florica Leonida, Romanian gymnast
  • 1987 – Steven Michaels, Australian rugby league player
  • 1987 – Daniel Oss, Italian cyclist
  • 1987 – Marc Staal, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Sven Wetzel, German rugby player
  • 1988 – Josh Freeman, American football player
  • 1989 – Morgan Burnett, American football player
  • 1989 – Doug Martin, American football player
  • 1990 – Vincenzo Fiorillo, Italian footballer
  • 1990 – Liam Hemsworth, Australian actor
  • 1991 – Rob Kiernan, English-Irish footballer
  • 1992 – Adam Matthews, Welsh footballer
  • 1992 – Dinah Pfizenmaier, German tennis player
  • 1993 – Max Whitlock, English artistic gymnast
  • 1997 – Micah Hart, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1997 – Connor McDavid, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1997 – Ivan Provorov, Russian ice hockey player

Deaths on January 13

  • 86 BC – Gaius Marius, Roman general and politician (b. 157 BC)
  • 533 – Remigius, French bishop and saint (b. 437)
  • 614 – Mungo, English-Scottish bishop and saint
  • 703 – Jitō, Japanese emperor (b. 645)
  • 858 – Æthelwulf, king of Wessex
  • 888 – Charles the Fat, Frankish king and emperor (b. 839)
  • 927 – Berno of Cluny, Frankish monk and abbot
  • 1001 – Fujiwara no Teishi, Japanese empress (b. 977)
  • 1147 – Robert de Craon, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
  • 1151 – Suger, French historian and politician (b. 1081)
  • 1177 – Henry II, count palatine and duke of Austria (b. 1107)
  • 1321 – Bonacossa Borri, Italian noblewoman (b. 1254)
  • 1330 – Frederick I, duke and king of Germany
  • 1363 – Meinhard III, German nobleman (b. 1344)
  • 1400 – Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester, English politician (b. 1373)
  • 1599 – Edmund Spenser, English poet, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1552)
  • 1612 – Jane Dormer, English lady-in-waiting (b. 1538)
  • 1625 – Jan Brueghel the Elder, Flemish painter (b. 1568)
  • 1684 – Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman (b. 1628)
  • 1691 – George Fox, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (b. 1624)
  • 1717 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German entomologist and illustrator (b. 1647)
  • 1775 – Johann Georg Walch, German theologian and author (b. 1693)
  • 1790 – Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, French admiral (b. 1712)
  • 1796 – John Anderson, Scottish philosopher and educator (b. 1726)
  • 1832 – Thomas Lord, English cricketer, founded Lord’s Cricket Ground (b. 1755)
  • 1838 – Ferdinand Ries, German pianist and composer (b. 1784)
  • 1860 – William Mason, American surgeon and politician (b. 1786)
  • 1864 – Stephen Foster, American composer and songwriter (b. 1826)
  • 1872 – William Scamp, English architect and engineer (b. 1801)
  • 1882 – Wilhelm Mauser, German engineer and businessman, co-founded the Mauser Company (b. 1834)
  • 1885 – Schuyler Colfax, American journalist and politician, 17th Vice President of the United States (b. 1823)
  • 1889 – Solomon Bundy, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
  • 1905 – George Thorn, Australian farmer and politician, 6th Premier of Queensland (b. 1838)
  • 1906 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1859)
  • 1907 – Jakob Hurt, Estonian theologist and linguist (b. 1839)
  • 1915 – Mary Slessor, Scottish-Nigerian missionary (b. 1848)
  • 1916 – Victoriano Huerta, Mexican military officer and president, 1913–1914 (b. 1850)
  • 1923 – Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1842)
  • 1924 – Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist and academic (b. 1834)
  • 1929 – Wyatt Earp, American police officer (b. 1848)
  • 1929 – H. B. Higgins, Irish-Australian judge and politician, 3rd Attorney-General for Australia (b. 1851)
  • 1934 – Paul Ulrich Villard, French physicist and chemist (b. 1860)
  • 1941 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1882)
  • 1943 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss painter and sculptor (b. 1889)
  • 1956 – Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and illustrator (b. 1871)
  • 1957 – A. E. Coppard English poet and short story writer (b. 1878)
  • 1958 – Jesse L. Lasky, American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (b. 1880)
  • 1962 – Ernie Kovacs, American actor and game show host (b. 1919)
  • 1963 – Sylvanus Olympio, Togolese businessman and politician, President of Togo (b. 1902)
  • 1967 – Anatole de Grunwald, Russian-English screenwriter and producer (b. 1910)
  • 1971 – Robert Still, English composer and educator (b. 1910)
  • 1973 – Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, Turkish screenwriter and producer (b. 1908)
  • 1974 – Raoul Jobin, Canadian tenor and educator (b. 1906)
  • 1974 – Salvador Novo, Mexican playwright and poet (b. 1904)
  • 1976 – Margaret Leighton, English actress (b. 1922)
  • 1977 – Henri Langlois, Turkish-French historian, co-founded the Cinémathèque Française (b. 1914)
  • 1978 – Hubert Humphrey, American pharmacist, academic, and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (b. 1911)
  • 1978 – Joe McCarthy, American baseball player and manager (b. 1887)
  • 1979 – Donny Hathaway, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1945)
  • 1979 – Marjorie Lawrence, Australian-American soprano (b. 1907)
  • 1980 – Andre Kostelanetz, Russian-American conductor (b. 1901)
  • 1982 – Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
  • 1983 – René Bonnet, French race car driver and engineer (b. 1904)
  • 1986 – Abdul Fattah Ismail, Yemeni educator and politician, 4th President of South Yemen (b. 1939)
  • 1986 – Kevin Longbottom, Australian rugby league player (b. 1940)
  • 1988 – Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)
  • 1993 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian composer and conductor (b. 1907)
  • 1995 – Max Harris, Australian journalist, poet, and author (b. 1921)
  • 2002 – Frank Shuster, Canadian actor, comedian, and screenwriter (b. 1916)
  • 2003 – Norman Panama, American director and screenwriter (b. 1914)
  • 2004 – Arne Næss, Jr., Norwegian businessman and mountaineer (b. 1937)
  • 2005 – Earl Cameron, Canadian journalist (b. 1915)
  • 2005 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and actress (b. 1924)
  • 2006 – Frank Fixaris, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1934)
  • 2006 – Marc Potvin, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1967)
  • 2007 – Michael Brecker, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1949)
  • 2007 – Danny Oakes, American race car driver (b. 1911)
  • 2008 – Johnny Podres, American baseball player and coach (b. 1932)
  • 2009 – Dai Llewellyn, Welsh humanitarian activist and politician (b. 1946)
  • 2009 – Patrick McGoohan, Irish-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1928)
  • 2009 – Mansour Rahbani, Lebanese poet, composer, and producer (b. 1925)
  • 2009 – W. D. Snodgrass, American poet (b. 1926)
  • 2009 – Nancy Bird Walton, Australian pilot (b. 1915)
  • 2010 – Teddy Pendergrass, American singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
  • 2011 – Albert Heijn, Dutch businessman (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Rauf Denktaş, Turkish-Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Guido Dessauer, German physicist and engineer (b. 1915)
  • 2012 – Miljan Miljanić, Serbian footballer and manager (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Diogenes Allen, American philosopher and theologian (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Rodney Mims Cook, Sr., American lieutenant and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Chia-Chiao Lin, Chinese-American mathematician and academic (b. 1916)
  • 2014 – Bobby Collins, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Randal Tye Thomas, American journalist and politician (b. 1978)
  • 2014 – Waldemar von Gazen, German general and lawyer (b. 1917)
  • 2015 – Mark Juddery, Australian journalist and author (b. 1971)
  • 2015 – Robert White, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Paraguay (b. 1926)
  • 2016 – Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director (b. 1935)
  • 2016 – Giorgio Gomelsky, Georgian-American director, producer, songwriter, and manager (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – Lawrence Phillips, American football player (b. 1975)
  • 2017 – Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, English photographer and sometime member of the British royal family (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Dick Gautier, American actor (b. 1931)
  • 2017 – Magic Alex, Greek electronics engineer (b. 1942)
  • 2019 – Phil Masinga, South African footballer (b. 1969)

Holidays and observances on January 13

  • Christian feast day:
    • Blessed Veronica of Milan
    • Elian
    • Hilary of Poitiers
    • Mungo
    • St. Knut’s Day or Tjugondag Knut, the last day of Christmas. (Sweden and Finland)
    • January 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constitution Day (Mongolia)
  • Democracy Day (Cape Verde)
  • Korean-American Day (Korean-American community, United States)
  • Liberation Day (Togo)
  • Old New Year’s Eve (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, North Macedonia), and its related observances:
    • Malanka (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus)
  • Sidereal winter solstice’s eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14):
    • Bhogi (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu)
    • Lohri (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh)
    • Uruka (Assam)
  • Stephen Foster Memorial Day (United States)
  • Yennayer (Berbers)

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

by
  • 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
  • 1558 – French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England.
  • 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
  • 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day.
  • 1738 – A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal.
  • 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
  • 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
  • 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.
  • 1894 – Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film.
  • 1904 – The distress signal “CQD” is established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS”.
  • 1919 – Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.
  • 1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
  • 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.
  • 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established from New York City to London.
  • 1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.
  • 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand’s west coast.
  • 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement.
  • 1940 – Winter War: Battle of Raate Road – The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
  • 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
  • 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM.
  • 1955 – Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.
  • 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
  • 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.
  • 1973 – In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson’s Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot to death by police officers.
  • 1979 – Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
  • 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
  • 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
  • 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan’s first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
  • 1991 – Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoute in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d’état, which ends in his arrest.
  • 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.
  • 1993 – Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.
  • 1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.
  • 2012 – A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board.
  • 2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others.
  • 2015 – A car bomb explodes outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sana’a with at least 38 people reported dead and more than 63 injured.
  • 2020 – The 6.4Mw  2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico.

Births on January 7

  • 889 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (d. 943)
  • 1355 – Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (d. 1397)
  • 1502 – Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)
  • 1634 – Adam Krieger, German organist and composer (d. 1666)
  • 1647 – William Louis, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677)
  • 1685 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish agronomist and businessman (d. 1761)
  • 1706 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751)
  • 1713 – Giovanni Battista Locatelli, Italian director and manager (d. 1785)
  • 1718 – Israel Putnam, American general (d. 1790)
  • 1746 – George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1823)
  • 1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, Italian king (d. 1844)
  • 1797 – Mariano Paredes, Mexican general and 16th president (1845-1846) (d. 1849)
  • 1800 – Millard Fillmore, American politician, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
  • 1814 – Robert Nicoll, Scottish poet (d.1837)
  • 1815 – Elizabeth Louisa Foster Mather, American writer (d.1882)
  • 1827 – Sandford Fleming, Scottish-Canadian engineer, created Universal Standard Time (d. 1915)
  • 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, American painter (d. 1902)
  • 1831 – Heinrich von Stephan, German postman, founded the Universal Postal Union (d. 1897)
  • 1832 – James Munro, Scottish-Australian publisher and politician, 15th Premier of Victoria (d. 1908)
  • 1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and academic, invented the Reis telephone (d. 1874)
  • 1837 – Thomas Henry Ismay, English businessman, founded the White Star Line Shipping Company (d. 1899)
  • 1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (d. 1879)
  • 1858 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Belarusian lexicographer and journalist (d. 1922)
  • 1863 – Anna Murray Vail, American botanist and first librarian of the New York Botanical Garden (d. 1955)
  • 1871 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956)
  • 1873 – Charles Péguy, French poet and journalist (d. 1914)
  • 1873 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (d. 1976)
  • 1875 – Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945)
  • 1876 – William Hurlstone, English pianist and composer (d. 1906)
  • 1877 – William Clarence Matthews, American baseball player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1928)
  • 1889 – Vera de Bosset, Russian-American ballerina (d. 1982)
  • 1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (d. 1960)
  • 1895 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (d. 1974)
  • 1899 – Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter (disputed; d. 1941)
  • 1899 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (d. 1963)
  • 1900 – John Brownlee, Australian actor and singer (d. 1969)
  • 1906 – Red Allen, American trumpet player (d. 1967)
  • 1910 – Orval Faubus, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist, created The Addams Family (d. 1988)
  • 1913 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1993)
  • 1916 – W. L. Jeyasingham, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (d. 1989)
  • 1916 – Babe Pratt, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1988)
  • 1920 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-American actor (d. 1992)
  • 1921 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (d. 1997)
  • 1921 – Chester Kallman, American poet and translator (d. 1975)
  • 1922 – Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (d. 2000)
  • 1923 – Hugh Kenner, Canadian scholar and critic (d. 2003)
  • 1925 – Gerald Durrell, Indian-English zookeeper, conservationist and author, founded Durrell Wildlife Park (d. 1995)
  • 1926 – Kim Jong-pil, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 11th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – William Peter Blatty, American author and screenwriter (d. 2017)
  • 1929 – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (d. 2012)
  • 1929 – Terry Moore, American actress
  • 1931 – Mirja Hietamies, Finnish skier (d. 2013)
  • 1933 – Elliott Kastner, American-English film producer (d. 2010)
  • 1934 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian lawyer and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2002)
  • 1934 – Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 5th President of Cyprus (d. 2008)
  • 1935 – Li Shengjiao, Chinese diplomat and international jurist (d. 2017)
  • 1935 – Kenny Davern, American clarinet player and saxophonist (d. 2006)
  • 1935 – Valeri Kubasov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2014)
  • 1941 – Iona Brown, English violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
  • 1941 – John E. Walker, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1942 – Vasily Alekseyev, Russian-German weightlifter and coach (d. 2011)
  • 1943 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, known for one thousand origami cranes (d. 1955)
  • 1944 – Mike McGear, British performing artist and rock photographer
  • 1944 – Kotaro Suzumura, Japanese economist and academic (d. 2020)
  • 1945 – Raila Odinga, Kenyan engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Kenya
  • 1946 – Jann Wenner, American publisher, co-founded Rolling Stone
  • 1947 – Tony Elliott, English publisher, founded Time Out
  • 1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer-songwriter
  • 1948 – Ichirou Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter
  • 1950 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1952 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
  • 1953 – Robert Longo, American painter and sculptor
  • 1954 – Alan Butcher, English cricketer and coach
  • 1955 – Mamata Shankar, Indian-Bengali actress
  • 1956 – David Caruso, American actor
  • 1957 – Katie Couric, American television journalist, anchor, and author
  • 1959 – Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon, English accountant and politician
  • 1959 – Kathy Valentine, American bass player and songwriter
  • 1960 – Loretta Sanchez, American politician
  • 1961 – John Thune, American lawyer and politician
  • 1962 – Aleksandr Dugin, Russian political analyst and strategist known for his fascist views
  • 1962 – Ron Rivera, American football player and coach
  • 1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
  • 1965 – Alessandro Lambruschini, Italian runner
  • 1967 – Nick Clegg, English academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • 1969 – Marco Simone, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Andy Burnham, English politician
  • 1971 – Jeremy Renner, American actor
  • 1972 – Donald Brashear, American-Canadian ice hockey player and mixed martial artist
  • 1974 – Alenka Bikar, Slovenian sprinter and politician
  • 1976 – Vic Darchinyan, Armenian-Australian boxer
  • 1976 – Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player
  • 1977 – Sofi Oksanen, Finnish author and playwright
  • 1979 – Aloe Blacc, American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, businessman and philanthropist.
  • 1982 – Francisco Rodríguez, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1982 – Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer
  • 1983 – Edwin Encarnación, Dominican baseball player
  • 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English racing driver
  • 1986 – Wayne Routledge, English footballer winger
  • 1987 – Stefan Babović, Serbian footballer
  • 1987 – Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress
  • 1987 – Davide Astori, Italian footballer (d. 2018)
  • 1990 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
  • 1991 – Eden Hazard, Belgian footballer
  • 1991 – Caster Semenya, South African sprinter

Deaths on January 7

  • 312 – Lucian of Antioch, Christian martyr, saint, and theologian (b. 240)
  • 838 – Babak Khorramdin, Iranian leader of the Khurramite uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate
  • 856 – Aldric, bishop of Le Mans
  • 1131 – Canute Lavard, Danish prince and saint (b. 1096)
  • 1285 – Charles I of Naples (b. 1226)
  • 1325 – Denis of Portugal (b. 1261)
  • 1355 – Inês de Castro, Castilian noblewoman (b. 1325)
  • 1400 – John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English Earl (b. 1350)
  • 1451 – Amadeus VIII of Savoy a.k.a. Antipope Felix V (b. 1383)
  • 1529 – Peter Vischer the Elder, German sculptor (b. 1455)
  • 1536 – Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
  • 1566 – Louis de Blois, Flemish monk and author (b. 1506)
  • 1619 – Nicholas Hilliard, English painter and goldsmith (b. 1547)
  • 1625 – Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer and author (b. 1560)
  • 1655 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
  • 1658 – Theophilus Eaton, American farmer and politician, 1st Governor of the New Haven Colony (b. 1590)
  • 1694 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (b. 1618)
  • 1700 – Raffaello Fabretti, Italian scholar and author (b. 1618)
  • 1715 – François Fénelon, French archbishop, theologian, and poet (b. 1651)
  • 1758 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1686)
  • 1767 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (b. 1703)
  • 1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician and diplomat (b. 1695)
  • 1812 – Joseph Dennie, American journalist and author (b. 1768)
  • 1830 – John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian public servant and politician (b. 1770)
  • 1830 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (b. 1769)
  • 1858 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1800)
  • 1864 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist and politician, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
  • 1892 – Tewfik Pasha, Egyptian ruler (b. 1852)
  • 1893 – Josef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (b. 1835)
  • 1919 – Henry Ware Eliot, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Washington University in St. Louis (b. 1843)
  • 1920 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
  • 1927 – Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Greek politician, 99th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1851)
  • 1931 – Edward Channing, American historian and author (b. 1856)
  • 1932 – André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (b. 1877)
  • 1936 – Guy d’Hardelot, French pianist and composer (b. 1858)
  • 1941 – Charles Finger, English journalist and author (b. 1869)
  • 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and engineer (b. 1856)
  • 1951 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian philosopher and author (b. 1886)
  • 1960 – Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, English tennis player and coach (b. 1878)
  • 1963 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
  • 1964 – Reg Parnell, English racing driver and manager (b. 1911)
  • 1967 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
  • 1967 – Carl Schuricht, German-Swiss conductor (b. 1880)
  • 1968 – J. L. B. Smith, South African chemist and academic (b. 1897)
  • 1972 – John Berryman, American poet and scholar (b. 1914)
  • 1981 – Alvar Lidell, English journalist and radio announcer(b. 1908)
  • 1981 – Eric Robinson, Australian businessman and politician, 2nd Australian Minister for Finance (b. 1926)
  • 1984 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
  • 1986 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican author, screenwriter, and photographer (b. 1917)
  • 1988 – Zara Cisco Brough, American Nipmuc Indian chief and fashion designer (b.1919)
  • 1988 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
  • 1989 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (b. 1901)
  • 1990 – Bronko Nagurski, Canadian-American football player and wrestler (b. 1908)
  • 1992 – Richard Hunt, American puppeteer and voice actor (b. 1951)
  • 1995 – Murray Rothbard, American economist, historian, and theorist (b. 1926)
  • 1996 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1930)
  • 1998 – Owen Bradley, American record producer (b. 1915)
  • 1998 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
  • 2000 – Gary Albright, American wrestler (b. 1963)
  • 2001 – James Carr, American singer (b. 1942)
  • 2002 – Avery Schreiber, American comedian and actor (b. 1935)
  • 2004 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)
  • 2005 – Pierre Daninos, French author (b. 1913)
  • 2006 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer, geographer, and author (b. 1912)
  • 2007 – Bobby Hamilton, American race car driver and businessman (b. 1957)
  • 2007 – Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist, author, and academic (b. 1929)
  • 2008 – Alwyn Schlebusch, South African academic and politician, Vice State President of South Africa (b. 1917)
  • 2012 – Tony Blankley, British-born American child actor, journalist and pundit (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Run Run Shaw, Chinese-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, founded Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB (b. 1907)
  • 2015 – Mompati Merafhe, Botswana general and politician, Vice-President of Botswana (b. 1936)
  • 2015 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French cartoonist (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – Bill Foster, American basketball player and coach (b. 1929)
  • 2016 – John Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1947)
  • 2016 – Kitty Kallen, American singer (b. 1921)
  • 2016 – Judith Kaye, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1938)
  • 2016 – Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (b. 1936)
  • 2017 – Mário Soares, Portuguese politician; 16th President of Portugal (b. 1924)
  • 2018 – Jim Anderton, Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister (b. 1938)
  • 2018 – France Gall, French singer (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances on January 7

  • Christian Feast Day:
    • André Bessette (Canada)
    • Canute Lavard
    • Charles of Sezze
    • Felix and Januarius
    • Lucian of Antioch
    • Raymond of Penyafort
    • Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Julian Calendar)
    • January 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar, Rastafari)
    • Christmas in Russia
    • Christmas in Ukraine
    • Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)
  • Distaff Day (medieval Europe)
  • Earliest day on which Plough Monday can fall, while January 13 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after Epiphany (Europe).
  • Nanakusa no sekku (Japan)
  • Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)
  • Tricolour day or Festa del Tricolore (Italy)
  • Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)