1663

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

    • 585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
    • 621 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty’s collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.
    • 1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.
    • 1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)
    • 1644 – English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.
    • 1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
    • 1802 – In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon’s troops.
    • 1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.
    • 1871 – The Paris Commune falls after two months.
    • 1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
    • 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
    • 1907 – The first Isle of Man TT race was held.
    • 1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.
    • 1926 – The 28 May 1926 coup d’état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.
    • 1932 – In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.
    • 1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
    • 1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
    • 1937 – Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer is founded.
    • 1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.
    • 1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.
    • 1948 – Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.
    • 1958 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
    • 1961 – Peter Benenson’s article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
    • 1974 – Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
    • 1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
    • 1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
    • 1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
    • 1987 – A West German pilot, Mathias Rust, who was 18 years old, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia.
    • 1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
    • 1995 – The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shook the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.
    • 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton’s former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
    • 1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
    • 1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.
    • 2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.
    • 2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.
    • 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq’s interim government.
    • 2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.
    • 2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.
    • 2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

    Births on May 28

    • 1140 – Xin Qiji, Chinese poet, general, and politician (d. 1207)
    • 1371 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1419)
    • 1524 – Selim II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1574)
    • 1588 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (d. 1672)
    • 1589 – Robert Arnauld d’Andilly, French writer (d. 1674)
    • 1663 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (d. 1736)
    • 1676 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1754)
    • 1692 – Geminiano Giacomelli, Italian composer (d. 1740)
    • 1738 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (d. 1814)
    • 1759 – William Pitt the Younger, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
    • 1763 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (d. 1811)
    • 1764 – Edward Livingston, American jurist and politician, 11th United States Secretary of State (d. 1836)
    • 1779 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet and composer (d. 1852)
    • 1807 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist (d. 1873)
    • 1818 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (d. 1893)
    • 1836 – Friedrich Baumfelder, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1916)
    • 1836 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist and academic (d. 1918)
    • 1837 – George Ashlin, Irish architect, co-designed St Colman’s Cathedral (d. 1921)
    • 1837 – Tony Pastor, American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner (d. 1908)
    • 1841 – Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14th Yokozuna (d. 1887)
    • 1853 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter and author (d. 1919)
    • 1858 – Carl Richard Nyberg, Swedish inventor and businessman, developed the blow torch (d. 1939)
    • 1872 – Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist and mountaineer (d. 1917)
    • 1878 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (d. 1945)
    • 1879 – Milutin Milanković, Serbian mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (d. 1958)
    • 1883 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (d. 1966)
    • 1883 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed the Portmeirion Village (d. 1978)
    • 1884 – Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1948)
    • 1886 – Santo Trafficante, Sr., Italian-American mobster (d. 1954)
    • 1888 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
    • 1888 – Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, English author and educator (d. 1947)
    • 1888 – Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach (d. 1953)
    • 1889 – Richard Réti, Slovak-Czech chess player and author (d. 1929)
    • 1892 – Minna Gombell, American actress (d. 1973)
    • 1900 – Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (d. 1939)
    • 1903 – S. L. Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded Kirloskar Group (d. 1994)
    • 1906 – Henry Thambiah, Sri Lankan lawyer, judge, and diplomat, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada (d. 1997)
    • 1908 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian journalist and politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2005)
    • 1908 – Ian Fleming, English journalist and author, created James Bond (d. 1964)
    • 1909 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
    • 1910 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 1987)
    • 1910 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (d. 2003)
    • 1910 – T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
    • 1911 – Bob Crisp, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
    • 1911 – Thora Hird, English actress (d. 2003)
    • 1911 – Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright (d. 1986)
    • 1912 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist, academic, and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (d. 1981)
    • 1912 – Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – W. G. G. Duncan Smith, English captain and pilot (d. 1996)
    • 1915 – Joseph Greenberg, American linguist and academic (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (d. 1990)
    • 1917 – Barry Commoner, American biologist, academic, and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1918 – Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (d. 1990)
    • 1921 – D. V. Paluskar, Indian Hindustani classical musician (d. 1955)
    • 1921 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier, boxer, and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Lou Duva, American boxer, trainer, and manager (d. 2017)
    • 1922 – Roger Fisher, American author and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – Tuomas Gerdt, Finnish soldier
    • 1923 – György Ligeti, Hungarian-Austrian composer and educator (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (d. 1996)
    • 1924 – Edward du Cann, English naval officer and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Paul Hébert, Canadian actor (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – Bülent Ecevit, Turkish journalist, scholar, and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (d. 2012)
    • 1928 – Sally Forrest, American actress and dancer (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Patrick McNair-Wilson, English politician
    • 1930 – Edward Seaga, American-Jamaican academic and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2019)
    • 1931 – Carroll Baker, American actress
    • 1931 – Gordon Willis, American cinematographer (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, English politician, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries
    • 1933 – John Karlen, American actor
    • 1933 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress and activist (d. 2010)
    • 1936 – Claude Forget, Canadian academic and politician
    • 1936 – Ole K. Sara, Norwegian politician (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (d. 1997)
    • 1938 – Jerry West, American basketball player, coach, and executive
    • 1939 – Maeve Binchy, Irish novelist (d. 2012)
    • 1940 – David William Brewer, English politician, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London
    • 1940 – Shlomo Riskin, American rabbi and academic, founded the Lincoln Square Synagogue
    • 1941 – Beth Howland, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Stanley B. Prusiner, American neurologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1943 – Terry Crisp, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1944 – Faith Brown, English actress and singer
    • 1944 – Rudy Giuliani, American lawyer and politician, 107th mayor of New York City
    • 1944 – Gladys Knight, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1944 – Rita MacNeil, Canadian singer and actress (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Gary Stewart, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1944 – Billy Vera, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1945 – Patch Adams, American physician and author, founded the Gesundheit! Institute
    • 1945 – John N. Bambacus, American military veteran (USMC) and politician
    • 1945 – John Fogerty, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1945 – Jean Perrault, Canadian politician, Mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec
    • 1945 – Helena Shovelton, English physician
    • 1946 – Bruce Alexander, English actor
    • 1946 – Skip Jutze, American baseball player
    • 1946 – Janet Paraskeva, Welsh politician
    • 1946 – K. Satchidanandan, Indian poet and critic
    • 1946 – William Shawcross, English journalist and author
    • 1947 – Zahi Hawass, Egyptian archaeologist and academic
    • 1947 – Lynn Johnston, Canadian author and illustrator
    • 1947 – Leland Sklar, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1948 – Michael Field, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Tasmania
    • 1948 – Pierre Rapsat, Belgian singer and songwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1949 – Martin Kelner, English journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and radio presenter
    • 1949 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (d. 1998)
    • 1952 – Roger Briggs, American pianist, composer, conductor, and educator
    • 1953 – Pierre Gauthier, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1954 – João Carlos de Oliveira, Brazilian jumper (d. 1999)
    • 1954 – Youri Egorov, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1988)
    • 1954 – Charles Saumarez Smith, English historian and academic
    • 1954 – Péter Szilágyi, Hungarian conductor and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1954 – John Tory, Canadian lawyer and politician, 65th Mayor of Toronto
    • 1955 – Laura Amy Schlitz, American author and librarian
    • 1955 – Mark Howe, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1956 – Jerry Douglas, American guitarist and producer
    • 1956 – Jeff Dujon, Jamaican cricketer
    • 1956 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1980)
    • 1956 – Peter Wilkinson, English admiral
    • 1957 – Colin Barnes, English footballer
    • 1957 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player and manager
    • 1957 – Ben Howland, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Risto Mannisenmäki, Finnish racing driver
    • 1960 – Mark Sanford, American military veteran (USAF) and politician, 115th Governor of South Carolina
    • 1960 – Mary Portas, English journalist and author
    • 1963 – Houman Younessi, Australian-American biologist and academic
    • 1964 – Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer and trainer
    • 1964 – Armen Gilliam, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
    • 1964 – Zsa Zsa Padilla, Filipino singer and actress
    • 1964 – Phil Vassar, American singer-songwriter
    • 1965 – Chris Ballew, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1965 – Mary Coughlan, Irish politician
    • 1966 – Roger Kumble, American director, screenwriter, and playwright
    • 1966 – Miljenko Jergović, Bosnian novelist and journalist
    • 1966 – Gavin Robertson, Australian cricketer
    • 1967 – Glen Rice, American basketball player
    • 1968 – Kylie Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1969 – Mike DiFelice, American baseball player and manager
    • 1969 – Rob Ford, Canadian politician, 64th Mayor of Toronto (d. 2016)
    • 1970 – Glenn Quinn, American actor (d. 2002)
    • 1971 – Isabelle Carré, French actress and singer
    • 1971 – Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Marco Rubio, American lawyer and politician
    • 1972 – Doriva, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist and manager
    • 1973 – Marco Paulo Faria Lemos, Portuguese footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Hans-Jörg Butt, German footballer
    • 1974 – Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1975 – Maura Johnston, American journalist, critic, and academic
    • 1976 – Steven Bell, Australian rugby league player
    • 1976 – Zaza Enden, Georgian-Turkish wrestler, basketball player, and coach
    • 1976 – Roberto Goretti, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Glenn Morrison, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1977 – Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American talk show host and author
    • 1978 – Jake Johnson, American actor
    • 1979 – Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001)
    • 1979 – Ronald Curry, American football player and coach
    • 1980 – Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer
    • 1980 – Lucy Shuker, English tennis player
    • 1981 – Daniel Cabrera, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1981 – Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player
    • 1981 – Adam Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1982 – Alexa Davalos, French-American actress
    • 1982 – Jhonny Peralta, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1983 – Steve Cronin, American soccer player
    • 1983 – Humberto Sánchez, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1983 – Roman Atwood, American YouTube star
    • 1985 – Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1985 – Pablo Andrés González, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Kostas Mendrinos, Greek footballer
    • 1985 – Carey Mulligan, English actress and singer
    • 1986 – Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player
    • 1986 – Seth Rollins, American wrestler
    • 1986 – Ingmar Vos, Dutch decathlete
    • 1987 – T.J. Yates, American football player
    • 1988 – NaVorro Bowman, American football player
    • 1988 – Percy Harvin, American football player
    • 1988 – Craig Kimbrel, American baseball player
    • 1990 – Kyle Walker, English international footballer, right-back
    • 1991 – Sharrif Floyd, American football player
    • 1991 – Alexandre Lacazette, French footballer
    • 1991 – Kail Piho, Estonian skier
    • 1992 – Tom Carroll, English footballer
    • 1993 – Daniel Alvaro, Australian rugby league player
    • 1993 – Bárbara Luz, Portuguese tennis player
    • 1994 – John Stones, English footballer
    • 1994 – Son Yeon-jae, South Korean gymnast
    • 1998 – Dahyun, Korean singer
    • 1999 – Cameron Boyce, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 2000 – Phil Foden, English footballer

    Deaths on May 28

    • 576 – Germain of Paris, French bishop and saint (b. 496)
    • 741 – Ucha’an K’in B’alam, Mayan king
    • 926 – Kong Qian, official of Later Tang
    • 926 – Li Jiji, prince of Later Tang
    • 1023 – Wulfstan, English archbishop
    • 1279 – William Wishart, English bishop
    • 1327 – Robert Baldock, Lord Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor of England
    • 1357 – Afonso IV of Portugal (b. 1291)
    • 1427 – Henry IV, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (b. 1397)
    • 1556 – Saitō Dōsan, Japanese samurai (b. 1494)
    • 1626 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (b. 1561)
    • 1651 – Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1594)
    • 1672 – John Trevor, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1626)
    • 1747 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author (b. 1715)
    • 1750 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1720)
    • 1787 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1719)
    • 1805 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (b. 1743)
    • 1808 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (b. 1720)
    • 1811 – Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for War (b. 1742)
    • 1831 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish-English admiral (b. 1756)
    • 1843 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (b. 1758)
    • 1849 – Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1820)
    • 1864 – Simion Bărnuțiu, Romanian historian and politician (b. 1808)
    • 1878 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
    • 1904 – Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (b. 1846)
    • 1916 – Ivan Franko, Ukrainian economist, journalist, and poet (b. 1856)
    • 1927 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1878)
    • 1937 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish ophthalmologist and psychologist (b. 1870)
    • 1946 – Carter Glass, American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1858)
    • 1947 – August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (b. 1907)
    • 1952 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (b. 1882)
    • 1953 – Tatsuo Hori, Japanese author and poet (b. 1904)
    • 1964 – Terry Dillon, American football player (b. 1941)
    • 1968 – Fyodor Okhlopkov, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1908)
    • 1971 – Audie Murphy, American soldier and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1925)
    • 1972 – Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
    • 1975 – Ezzard Charles, American boxer (b. 1921)
    • 1976 – Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter and sculptor (b. 1914)
    • 1980 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician and academic (b. 1895)
    • 1981 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
    • 1981 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (b. 1901)
    • 1982 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1940)
    • 1983 – Erastus Corning 2nd, American soldier and politician, 72nd Mayor of Albany (b. 1909)
    • 1984 – Eric Morecambe, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
    • 1986 – Edip Cansever, Turkish poet and author (b. 1928)
    • 1988 – Sy Oliver, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1910)
    • 1990 – Julius Eastman, American composer (b. 1940)
    • 1994 – Julius Boros, American golfer (b. 1920)
    • 1994 – Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American author and academic (b. 1916)
    • 1998 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor and comedian (b. 1948)
    • 1999 – Michael Barkai, Israeli commander (b. 1935)
    • 1999 – B. Vittalacharya, Indian director and producer (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist, and mountaineer (b. 1926)
    • 2001 – Joe Moakley, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
    • 2001 – Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
    • 2002 – Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (b. 1905)
    • 2003 – Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1933)
    • 2003 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)
    • 2004 – Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-Italian businessman and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2004 – Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (b. 1979)
    • 2004 – John Tolos, Greek-Canadian wrestler (b. 1930)
    • 2006 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (b. 1920)
    • 2007 – Jörg Immendorff, German painter, sculptor, and academic (b. 1945)
    • 2007 – Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Agriculture (b. 1945)
    • 2008 – Beryl Cook, English painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Gary Coleman, American actor (b. 1968)
    • 2011 – Gino Valenzano, Italian racing driver (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Bob Edwards, English journalist (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Yuri Susloparov, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Viktor Kulikov, Russian commander (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Eddie Romero, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Gerd Schmückle, German general (b. 1917)
    • 2014 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Stan Crowther, English footballer (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Oscar Dystel, American publisher (b. 1912)
    • 2014 – Malcolm Glazer, American businessman (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Bob Houbregs, Canadian-American basketball player and manager (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer (b. 1971)
    • 2015 – Steven Gerber, American pianist and composer (b. 1948)
    • 2015 – Johnny Keating, Scottish trombonist, composer, and producer (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Reynaldo Rey, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1940)
    • 2018 – Neale Cooper, Scottish footballer (b. 1963)
    • 2018 – Jens Christian Skou, Danish medical doctor and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
    • 2018 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (b. 1941)

    Holidays and observances on May 28

    • Armed Forces Day (Croatia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Bernard of Menthon
      • Germain of Paris
      • John Calvin (Episcopal Church)
      • Lanfranc
      • Margaret Pole
      • William of Gellone
      • May 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Downfall of the Derg Day (Ethiopia)
    • Flag Day (Philippines)
    • Menstrual Hygiene Day
    • Republic Day (Nepal)
    • TDFR Republic Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. (Azerbaijan and Armenia)
    • Youm-e-Takbir (Pakistan)

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

    • 1430 – Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to raise the Siege of Compiègne.
    • 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
    • 1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
    • 1568 – Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg, and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years’ War.
    • 1609 – Official ratification of the Second Virginia Charter takes place.
    • 1618 – The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years’ War.
    • 1701 – After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
    • 1706 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy at the Battle of Ramillies.
    • 1788 – South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution as the eighth American state.
    • 1793 – Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
    • 1829 – Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.
    • 1844 – Declaration of the Báb the evening before the 23rd: A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá’í Faith; Bahá’ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
    • 1846 – Mexican–American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
    • 1863 – The General German Workers’ Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, is founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony.
    • 1873 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
    • 1900 – American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
    • 1907 – The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
    • 1911 – The New York Public Library is dedicated.
    • 1915 – World War I: Italy joins the Allies, fulfilling its part of the Treaty of London.
    • 1932 – In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later.
    • 1934 – Infamous American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
    • 1934 – The Auto-Lite strike culminates in the “Battle of Toledo”, a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
    • 1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
    • 1945 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
    • 1945 – World War II: Germany’s Flensburg Government under Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces.
    • 1948 – Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.
    • 1949 – Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.
    • 1951 – Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China.
    • 1960 – A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii.
    • 1992 – Italy’s most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than two months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions.
    • 1995 – The first version of the Java programming language is released.
    • 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.
    • 2002 – The “55 parties” clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
    • 2006 – Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
    • 2008 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
    • 2013 – A freeway bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River collapses in Mount Vernon, Washington.
    • 2014 – Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed and another 14 injured in a killing spree near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.
    • 2015 – At least 46 people are killed as a result of floods caused by a tornado in Texas and Oklahoma.
    • 2016 – Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, killed at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen.
    • 2016 – Eight bombings were carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jableh and Tartus, coastline cities in Syria. One hundred eighty-four people were killed and at least 200 people injured.
    • 2017 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute’s attack in Marawi.

    Births on May 23

    • 635 – K’inich Kan Bahlam II, Mayan king (d. 702)
    • 675 – Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar II, King of Mutharaiyar dynasty, Tamil Nadu, India
    • 1052 – Philip I of France (d. 1108)
    • 1100 – Emperor Qinzong of Song (d. 1161)
    • 1127 – Uijong of Goryeo, Korean monarch of the Goryeo dynasty (d. 1173)
    • 1330 – Gongmin of Goryeo, Korean ruler (d. 1374)
    • 1586 – Paul Siefert, German composer and organist (d. 1666)
    • 1606 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish mathematician and philosopher (d. 1682)
    • 1614 – Bertholet Flemalle, Flemish Baroque painter (d. 1675)
    • 1617 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (d. 1692)
    • 1629 – William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, noble of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1663)
    • 1707 – Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (d. 1778)
    • 1718 – William Hunter, Scottish-English anatomist and physician (d. 1783)
    • 1729 – Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet and educator (d. 1799)
    • 1730 – Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, Prussian prince and general (d. 1813)
    • 1734 – Franz Mesmer, German physician and astrologer (d. 1815)
    • 1741 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1801)
    • 1789 – Franz Schlik, Austrian earl and general (d. 1862)
    • 1790 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French admiral and explorer (d. 1842)
    • 1790 – James Pradier, French neoclassical sculptor (d. 1852)
    • 1794 – Ignaz Moscheles, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1870)
    • 1795 – Charles Barry, English architect, designed the Upper Brook Street Chapel and Halifax Town Hall (d. 1860)
    • 1800 – Rómulo Díaz de la Vega, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1877)
    • 1810 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist and critic (d. 1850)
    • 1817 – Manuel Robles Pezuela, Unconstitutional Mexican interim president (d. 1862)
    • 1820 – James Buchanan Eads, American engineer, designed the Eads Bridge (d. 1887)
    • 1820 – Lorenzo Sawyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 1891)
    • 1824 – Ambrose Burnside, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1881)
    • 1834 – Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis, Latvian architect (d. 1891)
    • 1834 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (d. 1890)
    • 1837 – Anatole Mallet, Swiss mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1919)
    • 1837 – Józef Wieniawski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1912)
    • 1838 – Amaldus Nielsen, Norwegian painter (d. 1932)
    • 1840 – George Throssell, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Western Australia (d. 1910)
    • 1844 – `Abdu’l-Bahá, Iranian religious leader (d. 1921)
    • 1848 – Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (d. 1896)
    • 1855 – Isabella Ford, English author and activist (d. 1924)
    • 1861 – József Rippl-Rónai, Hungarian painter (d. 1927)
    • 1863 – Władysław Horodecki, Polish architect (d. 1930)
    • 1864 – William O’Connor, American fencer (d. 1939)
    • 1865 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian jurist and politician, 11th President of Brazil (d. 1942)
    • 1875 – Alfred P. Sloan, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1966)
    • 1882 – William Halpenny, Canadian pole vaulter (d. 1960)
    • 1883 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1939)
    • 1884 – Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist and demographer (d. 1965)
    • 1887 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (d. 1963)
    • 1887 – Nikolai Vekšin, Estonian-Russian sailor and captain (d. 1951)
    • 1888 – Adriaan Roland Holst, Dutch writer (d. 1976)
    • 1888 – Zack Wheat, American baseball player and police officer (d. 1972)
    • 1889 – Ernst Niekisch, German educator and politician (d. 1967)
    • 1890 – Herbert Marshall, English-American actor and singer (d. 1966)
    • 1891 – Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
    • 1892 – Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, British peer and grandfather of Diana Spencer (d. 1975)
    • 1896 – Felix Steiner, Russian-German SS officer (d. 1966)
    • 1897 – Jimmie Guthrie, Scottish motorcycle racer (d. 1937)
    • 1898 – Scott O’Dell, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1989)
    • 1898 – Josef Terboven, German soldier and politician (d. 1945)
    • 1899 – Jeralean Talley, American super-centenarian (d. 2015)
    • 1900 – Hans Frank, German lawyer and politician (d. 1946)
    • 1900 – Franz Leopold Neumann, German lawyer and theorist (d. 1954)
    • 1908 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
    • 1908 – Hélène Boucher, French pilot (d. 1934)
    • 1910 – Margaret Wise Brown, American author and educator (d. 1952)
    • 1910 – Hugh Casson, English architect and academic (d. 1999)
    • 1910 – Scatman Crothers, American actor and comedian (d. 1986)
    • 1910 – Franz Kline, American painter and academic (d. 1962)
    • 1910 – Artie Shaw, American clarinet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2004)
    • 1911 – Lou Brouillard, Canadian boxer (d. 1984)
    • 1911 – Paul Augustin Mayer, German cardinal (d. 2010)
    • 1911 – Betty Nuthall, English tennis player (d. 1983)
    • 1912 – Jean Françaix, French pianist and composer (d. 1997)
    • 1912 – John Payne, American actor (d. 1989)
    • 1914 – Harold Hitchcock, English visionary landscape artist (d. 2009)
    • 1914 – Celestine Sibley, American journalist and author (d. 1999)
    • 1914 – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist, journalist, and prominent Catholic layperson (d. 1981)
    • 1915 – S. Donald Stookey, American physicist and chemist, invented CorningWare (d. 2014)
    • 1917 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
    • 1918 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1997)
    • 1919 – Robert Bernstein, American author and playwright (d. 1988)
    • 1919 – Ruth Fernández, Puerto Rican contralto and a member of the Puerto Rican Senate (d. 2012)
    • 1919 – Betty Garrett, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2011)
    • 1920 – Helen O’Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
    • 1923 – Alicia de Larrocha, Catalan-Spanish pianist (d. 2009)
    • 1923 – Irving Millman, American virologist and microbiologist (d. 2012)
    • 1924 – Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Joshua Lederberg, American biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
    • 1926 – Basil Salvadore D’Souza, Indian bishop (d. 1996)
    • 1926 – Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African activist and politician (d. 1995)
    • 1928 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
    • 1928 – Nigel Davenport, English actor (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Nina Otkalenko, Russian runner (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish-Austrian actress (d. 1982)
    • 1930 – Friedrich Achleitner, German poet and critic (d. 2019)
    • 1931 – Barbara Barrie, American actress
    • 1932 – Kevork Ajemian, Syrian-French journalist and author (d. 1998)
    • 1933 – Joan Collins, English actress
    • 1933 – Ove Fundin, Swedish motorcycle racer
    • 1934 – Robert Moog, electronic engineer and inventor of the Moog synthesizer (d. 2005)
    • 1935 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author (d. 2009)
    • 1936 – Ingeborg Hallstein, German soprano and actress
    • 1936 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor
    • 1939 – Michel Colombier, French-American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
    • 1939 – Reinhard Hauff, German director and screenwriter
    • 1940 – Bjorn Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist (d. 2002)
    • 1940 – Gérard Larrousse, French race car driver
    • 1940 – Cora Sadosky, Argentinian mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
    • 1941 – Zalman King, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1941 – Rod Thorn, American basketball player, coach, and executive
    • 1942 – Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher, author, and academic
    • 1942 – Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao, Indian director, screenwriter, and choreographer
    • 1943 – Peter Kenilorea, Solomon Islands politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (d. 2016)
    • 1944 – John Newcombe, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1945 – Padmarajan, Indian director, screenwriter, and author (d. 1991)
    • 1946 – David Graham, Australian golfer
    • 1947 – Jane Kenyon, American poet and translator (d. 1995)
    • 1948 – Myriam Boyer, French actress, director, and producer
    • 1949 – Daniel DiNardo, American cardinal
    • 1949 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (d. 2019)
    • 1950 – Martin McGuinness, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2017)
    • 1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
    • 1951 – Antonis Samaras, Greek economist and politician, 185th Prime Minister of Greece
    • 1952 – Martin Parr, English photographer and journalist
    • 1954 – Gerry Armstrong, Northern Irish international footballer, striker
    • 1954 – Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American boxer and actor
    • 1955 – Luka Bloom, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1956 – Andrea Pazienza, Italian illustrator and painter (d. 1988)
    • 1956 – Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician and diplomat, Foreign Minister of Austria
    • 1956 – Buck Showalter, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1958 – Mitch Albom, American journalist, author, and screenwriter
    • 1958 – Drew Carey, American actor, game show host, and entrepreneur
    • 1958 – Lea DeLaria, American actress and singer
    • 1959 – Marcella Mesker, Dutch tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1960 – Linden Ashby, American actor
    • 1961 – Daniele Massaro, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Norrie May-Welby, Scottish Australian gender activist
    • 1962 – Karen Duffy, American actress
    • 1963 – Viviane Baladi, Swiss mathematician
    • 1964 – Ruth Metzler, Swiss lawyer and politician
    • 1965 – Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
    • 1965 – Tom Tykwer, German director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
    • 1965 – Melissa McBride, American actress
    • 1965 – Paul Sironen, Australian rugby league player
    • 1966 – Graeme Hick, Zimbabwean-English cricketer and coach
    • 1966 – Gary Roberts, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1967 – Luís Roberto Alves, Mexican footballer
    • 1967 – Anna Ibrisagic, Swedish politician
    • 1968 – Guinevere Turner, American actress and screenwriter
    • 1970 – Bryan Herta, American race car driver and businessman, co-founded Bryan Herta Autosport
    • 1971 – George Osborne, English journalist and politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
    • 1972 – Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1972 – Martin Saggers, English cricketer and umpire
    • 1973 – Maxwell, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1974 – Jewel, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet
    • 1974 – Manuela Schwesig, German politician, German Federal Minister of Family Affairs
    • 1976 – Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1977 – Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater
    • 1978 – Scott Raynor, American drummer
    • 1979 – Rasual Butler, American basketball player (d. 2018)
    • 1979 – Brian Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
    • 1980 – Ben Ross, Australian rugby league player
    • 1983 – Silvio Proto, Belgian-Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Hugo Almeida, Portuguese footballer
    • 1985 – Sebastián Fernández, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1985 – Teymuraz Gabashvili, Russian tennis player
    • 1985 – Wim Stroetinga, Dutch cyclist
    • 1985 – Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer
    • 1986 – Ryan Coogler, American film director and screenwriter
    • 1986 – Alexei Sitnikov, Russian-Azerbaijani figure skater
    • 1986 – Alice Tait, Australian swimmer
    • 1986 – Ruben Zadkovich, Australian footballer
    • 1987 – Gracie Otto, Australian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1987 – Bray Wyatt, American wrestler
    • 1988 – Rosanna Crawford, Canadian biathlete
    • 1988 – Angelo Ogbonna, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Morgan Pressel, American golfer
    • 1989 – Ezequiel Schelotto, Italian footballer
    • 1990 – Dan Evans, British tennis player
    • 1990 – Kristina Kucova, Slovakian tennis player
    • 1990 – Oliver Venno, Estonian volleyball player
    • 1991 – Aaron Donald, American football player
    • 1991 – Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer-songwriter
    • 1991 – César Pinares, Chilean footballer
    • 1996 – Katharina Althaus, German ski jumper
    • 1996 – Emmanuel Boateng, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1996 – Razvan Marin, Romanian footballer
    • 1997 – Pedro Chirivella, Spanish footballer
    • 1997 – Coy Craft, American footballer
    • 1997 – Joe Gomez, English footballer
    • 1997 – Gustaf Nilsson, Swedish footballer
    • 1997 – Sam Timmins, New Zealand basketball player
    • 1998 – Sérgio Sette Câmara, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1998 – Ross Cunningham, Scottish footballer
    • 1998 – Salwa Eid Naser, Bahraini track and field sprinter
    • 1998 – Luca De La Torre, American footballer
    • 1998 – Steve Lacy, American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer
    • 2000 – Felipe Drugovich, Brazilian race car driver
    • 2000 – Jaxson Hayes, American basketball player

    Deaths on May 23

    • 230 – Urban I, pope of the Catholic Church
    • 922 – Li Sizhao, Chinese general and governor
    • 962 – Guibert of Gembloux, Frankish abbot (b. 892)
    • 1125 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)
    • 1304 – Jehan de Lescurel, French poet and composer
    • 1338 – Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel, English noble (b. 1287)
    • 1370 – Toghon Temür, Mongol emperor (b. 1320)
    • 1423 – Antipope Benedict XIII (b. 1328)
    • 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian friar and preacher (b. 1452)
    • 1523 – Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shōgun (b. 1466)
    • 1524 – Ismail I, First Emperor of Safavid Empire (b. 1487)
    • 1591 – John Blitheman, English organist and composer (b. 1525)
    • 1662 – John Gauden, English bishop (b. 1605)
    • 1670 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
    • 1691 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (b. 1622)
    • 1701 – William Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)
    • 1749 – Abraham ben Abraham, Polish martyr (b. 1700)
    • 1752 – William Bradford, English-American printer (b. 1663)
    • 1754 – John Wood, the Elder, English architect, designed The Circus and Queen Square (b. 1704)
    • 1783 – James Otis, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1725)
    • 1813 – Géraud Duroc, French general and diplomat (b. 1772)
    • 1815 – Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, American clergyman and botanist (b. 1753)
    • 1841 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)
    • 1855 – Charles Robert Malden, English lieutenant and explorer (b. 1797)
    • 1857 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician and academic (b. 1789)
    • 1868 – Kit Carson, American general (b. 1809)
    • 1886 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian and academic (b. 1795)
    • 1893 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian politician (b. 1805)
    • 1895 – Franz Ernst Neumann, German mineralogist, physicist, and mathematician (b. 1798)
    • 1906 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian director, playwright, and poet (b. 1828)
    • 1908 – François Coppée, French poet and author (b. 1842)
    • 1920 – Svetozar Boroević, Croatian-Austrian field marshal (b. 1856)
    • 1921 – August Nilsson, Swedish shot putter and tug of war competitor (b. 1872)
    • 1934 – Clyde Barrow, American criminal (b. 1909)
    • 1934 – Mihkel Martna, Estonian journalist and politician (b. 1860)
    • 1934 – Bonnie Parker, American criminal (b. 1910)
    • 1937 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company and Rockefeller University (b. 1839)
    • 1938 – Frederick Ruple, Swiss-American painter (b. 1871)
    • 1942 – Panagiotis Toundas, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1886)
    • 1945 – Heinrich Himmler, German commander and politician, Reich Minister of the Interior (b. 1900)
    • 1947 – Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Swiss author and poet (b. 1878)
    • 1949 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (b. 1872)
    • 1956 – Gustav Suits, Latvian-Estonian poet and politician (b. 1883)
    • 1960 – Georges Claude, French engineer and inventor, created Neon lighting (b. 1870)
    • 1962 – Louis Coatalen, French engineer (b. 1879)
    • 1963 – August Jakobson, Estonian author and politician (b. 1904)
    • 1965 – David Smith, American sculptor (b. 1906)
    • 1975 – Moms Mabley, American comedian and actor (b. 1894)
    • 1979 – S. Selvanayagam, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (b. 1932)
    • 1981 – Gene Green, American baseball player (b. 1933)
    • 1981 – Rayner Heppenstall, English author and poet (b. 1911)
    • 1981 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1898)
    • 1981 – David Lewis, Belarusian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
    • 1986 – Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
    • 1989 – Georgy Tovstonogov, Russian director and producer (b. 1915)
    • 1989 – Karl Koch, German computer hacker (b. 1965)
    • 1991 – Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
    • 1991 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian academic and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1907)
    • 1991 – Fletcher Markle, Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1921)
    • 1992 – Kostas Davourlis, Greek footballer (b. 1948)
    • 1992 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (b. 1939)
    • 1994 – Olav Hauge, Norwegian poet (b. 1908)
    • 1996 – Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian journalist and activist (b. 1934)
    • 1998 – Telford Taylor, American general and lawyer (b. 1908)
    • 1999 – Owen Hart, Canadian-American wrestler (b. 1965)
    • 2002 – Sam Snead, American golfer and journalist (b. 1912)
    • 2006 – Lloyd Bentsen, American colonel and politician, 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1921)
    • 2006 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and manager (b. 1921)
    • 2008 – Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, Spanish mountaineer (b. 1967)
    • 2008 – Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1935)
    • 2009 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean soldier and politician, 9th President of South Korea (b. 1946)
    • 2010 – José Lima, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1972)
    • 2010 – Simon Monjack, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1970)
    • 2011 – Xavier Tondo, Spanish cyclist (b. 1978)
    • 2012 – Paul Fussell, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Epy Guerrero, Dominican baseball player, coach, and scout (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Hayri Kozakçıoğlu, Turkish police officer and politician, 15th Governor of Istanbul Province (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
    • 2013 – Flynn Robinson, American basketball player (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Mikhail Egorovich Alekseev, Russian linguist and academic (b. 1949)
    • 2014 – Madhav Mantri, Indian cricketer (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Anne Meara, American actress, comedian and playwright (b. 1929)
    • 2015 – Aleksey Mozgovoy, Ukrainian sergeant (b. 1975)
    • 2015 – Alicia Nash, Salvadoran-American physicist and engineer (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – John Forbes Nash, Jr., American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1928)
    • 2017 – Roger Moore, English actor (b. 1927)
    • 2020 – Hana Kimura, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1997)

    Holidays and observances on May 23

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
      • Desiderius of Vienne
      • Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi
      • Julia of Corsica
      • Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Quintian, Lucius and Julian
      • William of Perth
      • May 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Constitution Day (Germany)
    • Earliest day on which Declaration of the Báb can fall, while May 24 is the latest; observed on ‘Aẓamat 8 (Bahá’í Faith)
    • Earliest day on which National Heroes’ Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Monday of May. (Turks and Caicos Islands)
    • Labour Day (Jamaica)
    • Students’ Day (Mexico)
    • World Turtle Day

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

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

    Births on May 9

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

    Deaths on May 9

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

    Holidays and observances on May 9

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

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

    • 753 BC – Romulus founds Rome (traditional date).
    • 43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
    • 900 – The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (the earliest known written document found in what is now the Philippines): the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Tondo, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah, pardons from all debt the Honourable Namwaran and his relations.
    • 1092 – The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II
    • 1506 – The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900 suspected Jews by Portuguese Catholics.
    • 1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
    • 1526 – The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
    • 1615 – The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.
    • 1782 – The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
    • 1789 – George Washington’s reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.
    • 1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil’s independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
    • 1802 – Twelve thousand Wahhabis under Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad, invaded city of Karbala, killed over three thousand inhabitants, and sacked the city.
    • 1806 – Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.
    • 1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
    • 1821 – Benderli Ali Pasha arrives in Constantinople as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire; he remains in power for only nine days before being sent into exile.
    • 1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
    • 1856 – Australian labour movement: Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne march from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.
    • 1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
    • 1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
    • 1914 – Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
    • 1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
    • 1926 – Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi’a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.
    • 1934 – The “Surgeon’s Photograph”, the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).
    • 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
    • 1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict is adopted.
    • 1952 – Secretary’s Day (now Administrative Professionals’ Day) is first celebrated.
    • 1958 – United Airlines Flight 736 collides into a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.
    • 1960 – Brasília, Brazil’s capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
    • 1962 – The Seattle World’s Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World’s Fair in the United States since World War II.
    • 1963 – The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Bahá’í Faith.
    • 1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
    • 1965 – The 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair opens for its second and final season.
    • 1966 – Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
    • 1967 – A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d’état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
    • 1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lộc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
    • 1977 – Annie opens on Broadway.
    • 1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
    • 1985 – The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
    • 1987 – The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
    • 1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
    • 1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis García Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
    • 2004 – Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.
    • 2010 – The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.
    • 2012 – Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, injuring 116 people.
    • 2014 – The American city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis which has caused lead poisoning in up to 12,000 people, and 15 deaths from Legionnaires disease, ultimately leading to criminal indictments against 15 people, five of whom have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
    • 2019 – Eight bombs explode at churches, hotels, and other locations in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday; more than 200 people are killed.

    Births on April 21

    • 1132 – Sancho VI, king of Navarre (d. 1194)
    • 1488 – Ulrich von Hutten, German religious reformer (d. 1523)
    • 1523 – Marco Antonio Bragadin, Venetian lawyer and military officer (d. 1571)
    • 1555 – Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter and etcher (d. 1619)
    • 1619 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch founder of Cape Town (d. 1677)
    • 1630 – Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten, Dutch-English painter (d. 1700)
    • 1631 – Francesco Maidalchini, Catholic cardinal (d. 1700)
    • 1642 – Simon de la Loubère, French mathematician, poet, and diplomat (d. 1729)
    • 1651 – Joseph Vaz, Sri Lankan priest, missionary, and saint (d. 1711)
    • 1652 – Michel Rolle, French mathematician and academic (d. 1719)
    • 1671 – John Law, Scottish economist (d. 1729)
    • 1673 – Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1742)
    • 1713 – Louis de Noailles, French general (d. 1793)
    • 1730 – Antonín Kammel, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1788)
    • 1752 – Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, French engineer, hydrographer, and politician, French Minister of Marine and the Colonies (d. 1807)
    • 1752 – Humphry Repton, English gardener and author (d. 1818)
    • 1774 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1862)
    • 1775 – Alexander Anderson, Scottish-American illustrator and engraver (d. 1870)
    • 1790 – Manuel Blanco Encalada, Spanish-Chilean admiral and politician, 1st President of Chile (d. 1876)
    • 1810 – John Putnam Chapin, American politician, 10th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1864)
    • 1811 – Alson Sherman, American merchant and politician, 8th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1903)
    • 1814 – Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, English art collector and philanthropist (d. 1906)
    • 1816 – Charlotte Brontë, Cornish-English novelist and poet (d. 1855)
    • 1837 – Fredrik Bajer, Danish lieutenant and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1922)
    • 1838 – John Muir, Scottish-American environmentalist and author (d. 1914)
    • 1851 – Charles Barrois, French geologist and palaeontologist (d. 1939)
    • 1854 – William Stang, German-American bishop (d. 1907)
    • 1864 – Max Weber, German economist and sociologist (d. 1920)
    • 1868 – Alfred Henry Maurer, American painter (d. 1932)
    • 1870 – Edwin Stanton Porter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1941)
    • 1874 – Vincent Scotto, French actor and composer (d. 1952)
    • 1882 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
    • 1885 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (d. 1967)
    • 1887 – Joe McCarthy, American baseball manager (d. 1978)
    • 1889 – Marcel Boussac, French businessman (d. 1980)
    • 1889 – Paul Karrer, Russian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
    • 1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., Russian-American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1985)
    • 1892 – Freddie Dixon, English motorcycle racer and racing driver (d. 1956)
    • 1893 – Romeo Bertini, Italian runner (d. 1973)
    • 1898 – Maurice Wilson, English soldier, pilot, and mountaineer (d. 1934)
    • 1899 – Randall Thompson, American composer and academic (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Luis Saslavsky, Argentinian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
    • 1904 – Jean Hélion, French painter (d. 1987)
    • 1904 – Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (d. 1945)
    • 1905 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (d. 1996)
    • 1911 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, developed Clearasil (d. 2000)
    • 1911 – Kemal Satır, Turkish physician and politician (d. 1991)
    • 1912 – Eve Arnold, Russian-American photojournalist (d. 2012)
    • 1912 – Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter (d. 1982)
    • 1913 – Norman Parkinson, English photographer (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – Angelo Savoldi, Italian-American wrestler and promoter, co-founded International World Class Championship Wrestling (d. 2013)
    • 1915 – Garrett Hardin, American ecologist, author, and academic (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Estella B. Diggs, American businesswoman and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Eddy Christiani, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
    • 1919 – Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Roger Doucet, Canadian tenor (d. 1981)
    • 1919 – Licio Gelli, Italian financer (d. 2015)
    • 1920 – Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (d. 1991)
    • 1922 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (d. 1987)
    • 1922 – Allan Watkins, Welsh-English cricketer (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (d. 2009)
    • 1924 – Ira Louvin, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player (d. 1965)
    • 1925 – Anthony Mason, Australian soldier and judge, 9th Chief Justice of Australia
    • 1925 – John Swinton of Kimmerghame, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and her other realms
    • 1926 – Arthur Rowley, English footballer, manager and cricketer (d. 2002)
    • 1927 – Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (d. 1991)
    • 1928 – Jack Evans, Welsh-Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996)
    • 1930 – Hilda Hilst, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (d. 2004)
    • 1930 – Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (d. 1989)
    • 1930 – Dieter Roth, German-Swiss illustrator and sculptor (d. 1998)
    • 1930 – Jack Taylor, English footballer and referee (d. 2012)
    • 1931 – Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (d. 2020)
    • 1932 – Slide Hampton, African-American trombonist and composer
    • 1932 – Elaine May, American actress, comedian, director, and screenwriter
    • 1932 – Angela Mortimer, English tennis player
    • 1933 – Edelmiro Amante, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1933 – Easley Blackwood, Jr., American pianist, composer, and educator
    • 1933 – Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi patriarch (d. 2014)
    • 1935 – Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host
    • 1935 – Thomas Kean, American academic and politician, 48th Governor of New Jersey
    • 1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist, psychologist, and author, founded Focus on the Family
    • 1936 – Reg Fleming, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2009)
    • 1937 – Gary Peters, American baseball player
    • 1937 – Ben Zinn, Israeli-born American academic and former international soccer player
    • 1939 – John McCabe, English pianist and composer (d. 2015)
    • 1939 – Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, activist, and author
    • 1939 – Reni Santoni, American actor
    • 1940 – Jacques Caron, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1940 – Souleymane Cissé, Malian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1941 – David L. Boren, American lawyer and politician, 21st Governor of Oklahoma
    • 1942 – Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand politician, 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
    • 1945 – Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Indian cricketer and umpire
    • 1945 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (d. 2017)
    • 1945 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (d. 2000)
    • 1947 – Al Bumbry, American baseball player
    • 1947 – Iggy Pop, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1947 – John Weider, English bass player
    • 1948 – Gary Condit, American businessman and politician
    • 1948 – Paul Davis, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2008)
    • 1948 – Josef Flammer, Swiss ophthalmologist
    • 1948 – Dieter Fromm, German runner
    • 1949 – Patti LuPone, American actress and singer
    • 1950 – Shivaji Satam, Indian actor
    • 1951 – Tony Danza, American actor and producer
    • 1951 – Michael Freedman, American mathematician and academic
    • 1951 – Bob Varsha, American sportscaster
    • 1951 – Steve Vickers, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1952 – Gerald Early, American author and academic
    • 1952 – Cheryl Gillan, British businesswoman and politician, Secretary of State for Wales
    • 1953 – John Brumby, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Victoria
    • 1954 – Ebiet G. Ade, Indonesian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1954 – James Morrison, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Murathan Mungan, Turkish author, poet, and playwright
    • 1955 – Doug Soetaert, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1956 – Peter Kosminsky, English director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1956 – Phillip Longman, German-American demographer and journalist
    • 1957 – Hervé Le Tellier, French linguist and author
    • 1957 – Jesse Orosco, American baseball player
    • 1957 – Herbert Wetterauer, German painter, sculptor, and author
    • 1958 – Andie MacDowell, American model, actress, and producer
    • 1958 – Yoshito Usui, Japanese illustrator (d. 2009)
    • 1958 – Michael Zarnock, American author
    • 1959 – Tim Jacobus, American illustrator and painter
    • 1959 – Olga Kuragina, Russian pentathlete
    • 1959 – Arno Pijpers, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1959 – Robert Smith, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1960 – Michel Goulet, Canadian ice hockey player and scout
    • 1960 – Julius Korir, Kenyan runner
    • 1961 – Cathy Cavadini, American voice actress
    • 1961 – Carey Hayes, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1961 – Chad Hayes, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Neale Marmon, English-German footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1961 – David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author (d. 2011)
    • 1962 – Les Lancaster, American baseball player and coach
    • 1962 – Craig Robinson, American basketball player and coach
    • 1962 – Aavo Sarap, Estonian footballer and coach
    • 1963 – Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (d. 2004)
    • 1963 – Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
    • 1963 – John Cameron Mitchell, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Alex Baumann, Czech-Canadian swimmer
    • 1964 – Ludmila Engquist, Russian-Swedish hurdler
    • 1965 – Ed Belfour, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1965 – Karen Foster, American model and actress
    • 1965 – Gary Grant, American basketball player
    • 1965 – Thomas Helmer, German footballer
    • 1965 – Fiona Kelleghan, American academic, critic and librarian
    • 1967 – Emilio Valle, Cuban hurdler
    • 1968 – Peter van Vossen, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1969 – John Kibowen, Kenyan runner
    • 1969 – Toby Stephens, English actor
    • 1970 – Jeff Anderson, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1970 – Glen Hansard, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1970 – Rob Riggle, American actor and comedian
    • 1970 – Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Axl Rotten, American wrestler (d. 2016)
    • 1971 – Michael Turner, American author and illustrator (d. 2008)
    • 1972 – Richard Chelimo, Kenyan runner (d. 2001)
    • 1972 – Gwendal Peizerat, French ice dancer
    • 1973 – Steve Backshall, English naturalist, writer, and television presenter
    • 1973 – Jonathan Nsenga, Belgian hurdler and coach
    • 1974 – Maksim Gruznov, Estonian footballer
    • 1974 – Orlando Jordan, American wrestler
    • 1974 – David Peachey, Australian rugby league player
    • 1975 – Danyon Loader, New Zealand swimmer
    • 1976 – Rommel Adducul, Filipino basketball player
    • 1976 – Petero Civoniceva, Fijian-Australian rugby league player
    • 1977 – Gyula Koi, Hungarian scholar and educator
    • 1977 – Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater
    • 1978 – Jacob Burns, Australian footballer
    • 1978 – Jukka Nevalainen, Finnish drummer
    • 1978 – Yuliya Pechonkina, Russian hurdler
    • 1979 – Virginie Basselot, French chef
    • 1979 – Tobias Linderoth, French-Swedish footballer and coach
    • 1979 – James McAvoy, Scottish actor
    • 1980 – Jeff Keppinger, American baseball player
    • 1980 – Vincent Lecavalier, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Tony Romo, American football player
    • 1981 – Mads Junker, Danish footballer
    • 1982 – Khalif Barnes, American football player
    • 1982 – Micheal Luck, Australian rugby league player
    • 1982 – Carnell Williams, American football player
    • 1983 – Paweł Brożek, Polish footballer
    • 1983 – Marco Donadel, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (d. 2020)
    • 1984 – Shayna Fox, American voice actress
    • 1986 – Audra Cohen, American tennis player
    • 1986 – Alexander Edler, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Rodney Stuckey, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Mirko Valdifiori, Italian footballer
    • 1987 – Nadif Chowdhury, Bangladeshi cricketer
    • 1987 – Eric Devendorf, American basketball player
    • 1987 – Leroy George, Dutch footballer
    • 1987 – Anastasia Prikhodko, Ukrainian singer
    • 1988 – Ricky Berens, American swimmer
    • 1988 – Jencarlos Canela, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1988 – Pedro Mosquera, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Adam Rooney, Irish footballer
    • 1989 – Tatyana McFadden, Russian-American sprinter and skier
    • 1989 – Carlos Muñoz, Chilean footballer
    • 1990 – Aleksandar Prijović, Swiss-born Serbian footballer
    • 1992 – Isco, Spanish footballer
    • 1992 – Rene Santos, Brazilian footballer
    • 1992 – Joc Pederson, American baseball player
    • 1994 – Mitchell Weiser, German footballer

    Deaths on April 21

    • 234 – Emperor Xian of Han, Chinese emperor (b. 181)
    • 586 – Liuvigild, king of the Visigoths
    • 847 – Odgar, Frankish archbishop of Mainz
    • 866 – Bardas, de facto regent of the Byzantine Empire
    • 941 – Bajkam, de facto regent of the Abbasid Caliphate
    • 1073 – Pope Alexander II
    • 1109 – Anselm of Canterbury, Italian-English archbishop and saint (b. 1033)
    • 1136 – Stephen, Count of Tréguier Breton noblemen (b. c. 1058/62)
    • 1142 – Peter Abelard, French philosopher and theologian (b. 1079)
    • 1213 – Maria of Montpellier, Lady of Montpellier, Queen of Aragon (b. 1182)
    • 1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
    • 1400 – John Wittlebury, English politician (b. 1333)
    • 1509 – Henry VII of England (b. 1457)
    • 1557 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1495)
    • 1574 – Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)
    • 1591 – Sen no Rikyū, Japanese exponent of the tea ceremony (b. 1522)
    • 1650 – Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi, Japanese samurai (b. 1607)
    • 1668 – Jan Boeckhorst, Flemish painter (b. c. 1604)
    • 1699 – Jean Racine, French playwright and poet (b. 1639)
    • 1719 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1640)
    • 1720 – Antoine Hamilton, Irish-French soldier and author (b. 1646)
    • 1722 – Robert Beverley, Jr., English historian and author (b. 1673)
    • 1736 – Prince Eugene of Savoy (b. 1663)
    • 1740 – Thomas Tickell, English poet and author (b. 1685)
    • 1758 – Francesco Zerafa, Maltese architect (b. 1679)
    • 1815 – Joseph Winston, American soldier and politician (b. 1746)
    • 1825 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1765)
    • 1852 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (b. 1787)
    • 1863 – Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet, Irish politician (b. 1782)
    • 1900 – Vikramatji Khimojiraj, Indian ruler (b. 1819)
    • 1910 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (b. 1835)
    • 1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (b. 1892)
    • 1924 – Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (b. 1858)
    • 1930 – Robert Bridges, English poet and author (b. 1844)
    • 1932 – Friedrich Gustav Piffl, Bohemian cardinal (b. 1864)
    • 1938 – Muhammad Iqbal, Indian-Pakistani philosopher and poet (b. 1877)
    • 1941 – Fritz Manteuffel, German gymnast (b. 1875)
    • 1945 – Walter Model, German field marshal (b. 1891)
    • 1946 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist and philosopher (b. 1883)
    • 1948 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (b. 1887)
    • 1952 – Leslie Banks, American actor, director and producer (b. 1890)
    • 1954 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (b. 1897)
    • 1956 – Charles MacArthur, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1895)
    • 1965 – Edward Victor Appleton, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
    • 1971 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (b. 1907)
    • 1973 – Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
    • 1973 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1910)
    • 1974 – Chic Harley, American football player (b. 1894)
    • 1977 – Gummo Marx, American vaudevillian and talent agent (b. 1893)
    • 1978 – Sandy Denny, English singer-songwriter (b.1947)
    • 1978 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, American biologist and academic (b. 1877)
    • 1980 – Alexander Oparin, Russian biochemist and academic (b. 1894)
    • 1980 – Sohrab Sepehri, Iranian poet and painter (b. 1928)
    • 1983 – Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor and singer (b. 1902)
    • 1984 – Marcel Janco, Romanian-Israeli artist (b. 1895)
    • 1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian engineer and mountaineer (b. 1943)
    • 1985 – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the monokini (b. 1922)
    • 1985 – Tancredo Neves, Brazilian banker and politician, Prime Minister of Brazil (b. 1910)
    • 1986 – Marjorie Eaton, American painter and actress (b. 1901)
    • 1986 – Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1930)
    • 1987 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1906)
    • 1989 – James Kirkwood, Jr., American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1924)
    • 1990 – Erté, Russian-French illustrator (b. 1892)
    • 1991 – Willi Boskovsky, Austrian violinist and conductor (b. 1909)
    • 1996 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-born American engineer and race car driver (b. 1909)
    • 1996 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen general and politician, 1st President of Ichkeria (b. 1944)
    • 1996 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1925)
    • 1996 – Jimmy Snyder, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
    • 1998 – Jean-François Lyotard, French sociologist and philosopher (b. 1924)
    • 1999 – Buddy Rogers, American actor (b. 1904)
    • 2003 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (b. 1933)
    • 2004 – Mary McGrory, American journalist (b. 1918)
    • 2005 – Gerry Marshall, English race car driver and journalist (b. 1941)
    • 2006 – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand commander and pilot (b. 1912)
    • 2006 – T. K. Ramakrishnan, Indian politician (b. 1922)
    • 2006 – Telê Santana, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1931)
    • 2007 – Lobby Loyde, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1941)
    • 2009 – Vivian Maier, American photographer (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Gustav Lorentzen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1947)
    • 2010 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish businessman, seventh President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1920)
    • 2010 – Kanagaratnam Sriskandan, Sri Lankan-English engineer and civil servant (b. 1930)
    • 2011 – Catharina Halkes, Dutch theologian and academic (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Doris Betts, American author and academic (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – Charles Colson, American lawyer and activist, founded Prison Fellowship (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Albert Falco, French captain and diver (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Charles Higham, English-American author and poet (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Jerry Toppazzini, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Chrissy Amphlett, Australian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1959)
    • 2013 – Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor, author, and educator (b. 1905)
    • 2013 – Gordon D. Gayle, American general and historian (b. 1917)
    • 2014 – Herb Gray, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Janet Gray Hayes, American politician, 60th Mayor of San Jose (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (b. 1936)
    • 2014 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – M. H. Abrams, American author, critic, and academic (b. 1912)
    • 2015 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (b. 1959)
    • 2015 – John Moshoeu, South African footballer and manager (b. 1965)
    • 2015 – Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, Indian politician, Governor of Assam (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters, Canadian general (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Betsy von Furstenberg, German-American actress (b. 1931)
    • 2016 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1958)
    • 2017 – Ugo Ehiogu, English footballer (b. 1972)
    • 2018 – Verne Troyer, American actor (b. 1969)
    • 2018 – Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian, oldest Japanese and Asian person ever, last verified person born in the 19th century (b. 1900)
    • 2019 – Polly Higgins, Scottish barrister, author and environmental lobbyist, (b. 1968)

    Holidays and observances April 21

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abdecalas
      • Anastasius Sinaita
      • Anselm of Canterbury
      • Beuno
      • Conrad of Parzham
      • Holy Infant of Good Health
      • Shemon Bar Sabbae
      • Wolbodo
      • April 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Civil Service Day (India)
    • Grounation Day (Rastafari movement)
    • Heroic Defense of Veracruz (Mexico)
    • Kang Pan-sok’s Birthday (North Korea)
    • Kartini Day (Indonesia)
    • Local Self Government Day (Russia)
    • National Tea Day (United Kingdom)
    • National Tree Planting Day (Kenya)
    • San Jacinto Day (Texas)
    • Queen’s Official Birthday (Falkland Islands)
    • Tiradentes’ Day (Brazil)
    • Vietnam Book Day (Vietnam)

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

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

    Births on April 7

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

    Deaths on April 7

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

    Holidays and observances on April 7

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

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

    • 1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida.
    • 1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
    • 1792 – The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.
    • 1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.
    • 1800 – The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: The British capture the Danish fleet.
    • 1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.
    • 1885 – Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.
    • 1900 – The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
    • 1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Marie Palace, Saint Petersburg.
    • 1902 – “Electric Theatre”, the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
    • 1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country’s first national census.
    • 1912 – The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.
    • 1917 – World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
    • 1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
    • 1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
    • 1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
    • 1964 – The Soviet Union launches Zond 1.
    • 1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
    • 1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
    • 1975 – Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
    • 1976 – Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
    • 1979 – A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
    • 1980 – United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
    • 1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
    • 1986 – Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”, announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.
    • 1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
    • 1989 – ASUS corporation is founded.
    • 1991 – Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.
    • 1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
    • 1992 – Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
    • 2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
    • 2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
    • 2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
    • 2012 – A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.
    • 2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
    • 2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
    • 2015 – Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area in what has been called the “largest burglary in English legal history.”

    Births on April 2

    • 742 – Charlemagne, Frankish king (d. 814)
    • 1473 – John Corvinus, Hungarian noble (d. 1504)
    • 1545 – Elisabeth of Valois (d. 1568)
    • 1565 – Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch explorer (d. 1599)
    • 1586 – Pietro Della Valle, Italian traveler (d. 1652)
    • 1602 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Franciscan abbess (d. 1665)
    • 1618 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1663)
    • 1647 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-Dutch botanist and illustrator (d. 1717)
    • 1653 – Prince George of Denmark (d. 1708)
    • 1696 – Francesca Cuzzoni, Italian operatic soprano (d. 1778)
    • 1719 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803)
    • 1725 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian explorer and author (d. 1798)
    • 1788 – Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet and author (d. 1862)
    • 1788 – Wilhelmine Reichard, German balloonist (d. 1848)
    • 1789 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (d. 1871)
    • 1792 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (d. 1840)
    • 1798 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet and academic (d. 1874)
    • 1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1875)
    • 1814 – Henry L. Benning, American general and judge (d. 1875)
    • 1814 – Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor (d. 1879)
    • 1827 – William Holman Hunt, English soldier and painter (d. 1910)
    • 1835 – Jacob Nash Victor, American engineer (d. 1907)
    • 1838 – Léon Gambetta, French lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of France (d. 1882)
    • 1840 – Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist (d. 1902)
    • 1841 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (d. 1926)
    • 1842 – Dominic Savio, Italian Catholic saint, adolescent student of Saint John Bosco (d. 1857)
    • 1861 – Iván Persa, Slovenian priest and author (d. 1935)
    • 1862 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
    • 1869 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (d. 1928)
    • 1875 – Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler (d. 1940)
    • 1875 – William Donne, English cricketer and captain (d. 1942)
    • 1884 – J. C. Squire, English poet, author, and historian (d. 1958)
    • 1891 – Jack Buchanan, Scottish entertainer (d. 1957)
    • 1891 – Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor, and poet (d. 1976)
    • 1891 – Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Indian nationalist and anti-colonial activist from Goa (d. 1958)
    • 1896 – Johnny Golden, American golfer (d. 1936)
    • 1898 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor and politician (d. 1990)
    • 1898 – Chiungtze C. Tsen, Chinese mathematician (d. 1940)
    • 1900 – Roberto Arlt, Argentinian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1942)
    • 1900 – Anis Fuleihan, Cypriot-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1970)
    • 1900 – Alfred Strange, English footballer (d. 1978)
    • 1902 – Jan Tschichold, German-Swiss graphic designer and typographer (d. 1974)
    • 1903 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1987)
    • 1906 – Alphonse-Marie Parent, Canadian priest and educator (d. 1970)
    • 1907 – Harald Andersson, American-Swedish discus thrower (d. 1985)
    • 1907 – Luke Appling, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
    • 1908 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (d. 2003)
    • 1910 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1980)
    • 1910 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian spiritual medium (d. 2002)
    • 1914 – Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
    • 1919 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentinian runner and soldier (d. 1981)
    • 1920 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and civil servant (d. 2004)
    • 1920 – Jack Stokes, English animator and director (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Jack Webb, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
    • 1922 – John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Gloria Henry, American actress
    • 1923 – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – G. Spencer-Brown, English mathematician, psychologist, and author (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – Bobby Ávila, Mexican baseball player (d. 2004)
    • 1925 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish author and screenwriter (d. 2008)
    • 1925 – Hans Rosenthal, German radio and television host (d. 1987)
    • 1926 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (d. 2014)
    • 1926 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (d. 2006)
    • 1927 – Carmen Basilio, American boxer and soldier (d. 2012)
    • 1927 – Howard Callaway, American soldier and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Army (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Rita Gam, American actress (d. 2016)
    • 1927 – Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Kenneth Tynan, English author and critic (d. 1980)
    • 1928 – Joseph Bernardin, American cardinal (d. 1996)
    • 1928 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter, actor, and director (d. 1991)
    • 1928 – Roy Masters, English-American radio host
    • 1928 – David Robinson, Northern Irish horticulturist and academic (d. 2004)
    • 1929 – Ed Dorn, American poet and educator (d. 1999)
    • 1930 – Roddy Maude-Roxby, English actor
    • 1931 – Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian javelin thrower (d. 1986)
    • 1932 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (d. 2015)
    • 1933 – György Konrád, Hungarian sociologist and author
    • 1934 – Paul Cohen, American mathematician and theorist (d. 2007)
    • 1934 – Brian Glover, English wrestler and actor (d. 1997)
    • 1934 – Carl Kasell, American journalist and game show host (d. 2018)
    • 1934 – Richard Portman, American sound engineer (d. 2017)
    • 1934 – Dovid Shmidel, Austrian-born Israeli rabbi
    • 1936 – Shaul Ladany, Serbian-Israeli race walker and engineer
    • 1937 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (d. 2005)
    • 1938 – John Larsson, Swedish 17th General of The Salvation Army
    • 1938 – Booker Little, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1961)
    • 1938 – Al Weis, American baseball player
    • 1939 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (d. 1984)
    • 1939 – Anthony Lake, American academic and diplomat, 18th United States National Security Advisor
    • 1939 – Lise Thibault, Canadian journalist and politician, 27th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
    • 1940 – Donald Jackson, Canadian figure skater and coach
    • 1940 – Mike Hailwood, English motorcycle racer (d. 1981)
    • 1940 – Penelope Keith, English actress
    • 1941 – Dr. Demento, American radio host
    • 1941 – Sonny Throckmorton, American country singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Leon Russell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2016)
    • 1942 – Roshan Seth, Indian-English actor
    • 1943 – Michael Boyce, Baron Boyce, South African-English admiral and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
    • 1943 – Caterina Bueno, Italian singer (d. 2007)
    • 1943 – Larry Coryell, American jazz guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1943 – Antonio Sabàto, Sr., Italian actor
    • 1944 – Bill Malinchak, American football player
    • 1945 – Jürgen Drews, German singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Guy Fréquelin, French race car driver
    • 1945 – Linda Hunt, American actress
    • 1945 – Reggie Smith, American baseball player and coach
    • 1945 – Don Sutton, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1945 – Anne Waldman, American poet
    • 1946 – Richard Collinge, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1946 – David Heyes, English politician
    • 1946 – Sue Townsend, English author and playwright (d. 2014)
    • 1946 – Kurt Winter, Canadian guitarist and songwriter (d. 1997)
    • 1947 – Paquita la del Barrio, Mexican singer-songwriter
    • 1947 – Tua Forsström, Finnish writer
    • 1947 – Emmylou Harris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1947 – Camille Paglia, American author and critic
    • 1948 – Roald Als, Danish author and illustrator
    • 1948 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (d. 2012)
    • 1948 – Daniel Okrent, American journalist and author
    • 1948 – Joan D. Vinge, American author
    • 1949 – Paul Gambaccini, American-English radio and television host
    • 1949 – Bernd Müller, German footballer
    • 1949 – Pamela Reed, American actress
    • 1949 – David Robinson, American drummer
    • 1950 – Lynn Westmoreland, American politician
    • 1951 – Ayako Okamoto, Japanese golfer
    • 1952 – Lennart Fagerlund, Swedish cyclist
    • 1952 – Will Hoy, English race car driver (d. 2002)
    • 1952 – Leon Wilkeson, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2001)
    • 1953 – Jim Allister, Northern Irish lawyer and politician
    • 1953 – Rosemary Bryant Mariner, 20th and 21st-century U.S. Navy aviator
    • 1953 – Malika Oufkir, Moroccan Berber writer
    • 1953 – Debralee Scott, American actress (d. 2005)
    • 1953 – James Vance, American author and playwright (d. 2017)
    • 1954 – Gregory Abbott, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1954 – Donald Petrie, American actor and director
    • 1955 – Michael Stone, Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary
    • 1957 – Caroline Dean, English biologist and academic
    • 1957 – Hank Steinbrenner, American businessman, co-owner of the New York Yankees
    • 1958 – Stefano Bettarello, Italian rugby player
    • 1958 – Larry Drew, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Gelindo Bordin, Italian runner
    • 1959 – David Frankel, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1959 – Juha Kankkunen, Finnish race car driver
    • 1959 – Yves Lavandier, French director and producer
    • 1959 – Badou Ezzaki, Moroccan footballer and manager
    • 1960 – Linford Christie, Jamaican-English sprinter
    • 1960 – Brad Jones, Australian race car driver
    • 1960 – Pascale Nadeau, Canadian journalist
    • 1961 – Buddy Jewell, American singer-songwriter
    • 1961 – Christopher Meloni, American actor
    • 1961 – Keren Woodward, English singer-songwriter
    • 1962 – Pierre Carles, French director and producer
    • 1962 – Billy Dean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1962 – Clark Gregg, American actor
    • 1963 – Karl Beattie, English director and producer
    • 1963 – Mike Gascoyne, English engineer
    • 1964 – Pete Incaviglia, American baseball player and coach
    • 1964 – Jonathon Sharkey, American wrestler
    • 1965 – Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (d. 2012)
    • 1966 – Bill Romanowski, American football player and actor
    • 1966 – Teddy Sheringham, English international footballer, striker and coach
    • 1967 – Greg Camp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1967 – Phil Demmel, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1969 – Ajay Devgan, Indian actor, director, and producer
    • 1971 – Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, Brazilian footballer
    • 1971 – Jason Lewry, English cricketer
    • 1971 – Todd Woodbridge, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1972 – Remo D’Souza, Indian choreographer and dancer
    • 1972 – Calvin Davis, American sprinter and hurdler
    • 1972 – Zane Lamprey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Dmitry Lipartov, Russian footballer
    • 1973 – Roselyn Sánchez, Puerto Rican-American actress
    • 1973 – Aleksejs Semjonovs, Latvian footballer
    • 1974 – Tayfun Korkut, Turkish football manager and former player
    • 1975 – Randy Livingston, American basketball player
    • 1975 – Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski, German rower
    • 1976 – Andreas Anastasopoulos, Greek shot putter
    • 1976 – Rory Sabbatini, South African golfer
    • 1976 – Pattie Mallette, Canadian author and film producer
    • 1977 – Per Elofsson, Swedish skier
    • 1977 – Michael Fassbender, German-Irish actor and producer
    • 1977 – Hanno Pevkur, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Justice
    • 1978 – Scott Lynch, American author
    • 1978 – Ethan Smith, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1979 – Jesse Carmichael, American keyboard player
    • 1980 – Avi Benedi, Israeli singer and songwriter
    • 1980 – Adam Fleming, Scottish journalist
    • 1980 – Gavin Heffernan, Canadian director and screenwriter
    • 1980 – Ricky Hendrick, American race car driver (d. 2004)
    • 1980 – Wairangi Koopu, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1980 – Carlos Salcido, Mexican international footballer, defender
    • 1981 – Michael Clarke, Australian cricketer
    • 1981 – Kapil Sharma, Indian stand-up comedian, television presenter and actor
    • 1982 – Marco Amelia, Italian footballer
    • 1982 – Jeremy Bloom, American football player and skier
    • 1982 – Jack Evans, American wrestler
    • 1982 – David Ferrer, Spanish tennis player
    • 1983 – Yung Joc, American rapper
    • 1983 – Maksym Mazuryk, Ukrainian pole vaulter
    • 1984 – Engin Atsür, Turkish basketball player
    • 1984 – Nóra Barta, Hungarian diver
    • 1984 – Jérémy Morel, French footballer
    • 1985 – Thom Evans, Zimbabwean-Scottish rugby player
    • 1985 – Stéphane Lambiel, Swiss figure skater
    • 1986 – Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer
    • 1986 – Andris Biedriņš, Latvian basketball player
    • 1986 – Lee DeWyze, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1987 – Pablo Aguilar, Paraguayan footballer
    • 1987 – Marc Pugh, English footballer
    • 1988 – Jesse Plemons, American actor
    • 1990 – Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russian gymnast
    • 1990 – Miralem Pjanić, Bosnian footballer
    • 1991 – Quavo, American rapper
    • 1993 – Keshorn Walcott, Trinidadian javelin thrower
    • 1997 – Dillon Bassett, American race car driver
    • 1997 – Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer

    Deaths on April 2

    • 670 – Hasan ibn Ali the second Shia Imam (b. 624)
    • 870 – Æbbe the Younger, Frankish abbess
    • 872 – Muflih al-Turki, Turkish general
    • 968 – Yuan Dezhao, Chinese chancellor (b. 891)
    • 991 – Bardas Skleros, Byzantine general
    • 1118 – Baldwin I, king of Jerusalem
    • 1244 – Henrik Harpestræng, Danish botanical and medical author
    • 1272 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English husband of Sanchia of Provence (b. 1209)
    • 1335 – Henry of Bohemia (b. 1265)
    • 1412 – Ruy González de Clavijo, Spanish explorer and author
    • 1416 – Ferdinand I, king of Aragon (b. 1379)
    • 1502 – Arthur, prince of Wales (b. 1486)
    • 1507 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded the Order of the Minims (b. 1416)
    • 1511 – Bernard VII, Lord of Lippe, German nobleman (b. 1428)
    • 1640 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and poet (b. 1595)
    • 1657 – Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1608)
    • 1657 – Jean-Jacques Olier, French priest, founded the Society of Saint-Sulpice (b. 1608)
    • 1672 – Pedro Calungsod, Filipino missionary and saint (b. 1654)
    • 1672 – Diego Luis de San Vitores, Spanish Jesuit missionary (b. 1627)
    • 1720 – Joseph Dudley, English politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1647)
    • 1742 – James Douglas, Scottish physician and anatomist (b. 1675)
    • 1747 – Johann Jacob Dillenius, German-English botanist and mycologist (b. 1684)
    • 1754 – Thomas Carte, English historian and author (b. 1686)
    • 1787 – Thomas Gage, English general and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1719)
    • 1791 – Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, French journalist and politician (b. 1749)
    • 1801 – Thomas Dadford, Jr., English engineer (b. 1761)
    • 1803 – Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet, Scottish judge and politician (b. 1721)
    • 1817 – Johann Heinrich Jung, German author and academic (b. 1740)
    • 1827 – Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus, German physician and educator (b. 1776)
    • 1845 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (b. 1763)
    • 1865 – A. P. Hill, American general (b. 1825)
    • 1872 – Samuel Morse, American painter and academic, invented the Morse code (b. 1791)
    • 1891 – Albert Pike, American lawyer and general (b. 1809)
    • 1891 – Ahmed Vefik Pasha, Greek playwright and politician, 249th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1823)
    • 1894 – Achille Vianelli, Italian painter and academic (b. 1803)
    • 1896 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (b. 1852)
    • 1914 – Paul Heyse, German author, poet, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
    • 1917 – Bryn Lewis, Welsh international rugby player (b.1891)
    • 1923 – Topal Osman, Turkish colonel (b. 1883)
    • 1928 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
    • 1930 – Zewditu I of Ethiopia (b. 1876)
    • 1933 – Ranjitsinhji, Indian cricketer (b. 1872)
    • 1936 – Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, French general (b. 1860)
    • 1942 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (b. 1862)
    • 1948 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (b. 1907)
    • 1953 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (b. 1885)
    • 1966 – C. S. Forester, English novelist (b. 1899)
    • 1972 – Franz Halder, German general (b. 1884)
    • 1972 – Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Japanese martial artist and educator (b. 1887)
    • 1974 – Georges Pompidou, French banker and politician, 19th President of France (b. 1911)
    • 1977 – Walter Wolf, German academic and politician (b. 1907)
    • 1987 – Buddy Rich, American drummer, songwriter, and bandleader (b. 1917)
    • 1989 – Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer (b. 1939)
    • 1992 – Juanito, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1954)
    • 1992 – Jan van Aartsen, Dutch politician (b. 1909)
    • 1994 – Betty Furness, American actress, consumer advocate, game show panelist, television journalist and television personality (b. 1916)
    • 1994 – Marc Fitch, British historian and philanthropist (b. 1908)
    • 1995 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
    • 1997 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese director and producer (b. 1910)
    • 1998 – Rob Pilatus, American-German singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
    • 2001 – Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor and painter (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Levi Celerio, Filipino composer and songwriter (b. 1910)
    • 2002 – John R. Pierce, American engineer and author (b. 1910)
    • 2003 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
    • 2004 – John Argyris, Greek computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1913)
    • 2005 – Lillian O’Donnell, American crime novelist (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
    • 2006 – Lloyd Searwar, Guyanese anthologist and diplomat (b. 1925)
    • 2007 – Henry L. Giclas, American astronomer and academic (b. 1910)
    • 2008 – Yakup Satar, Turkish World War I veteran(b. 1898)
    • 2009 – Albert Sanschagrin, Canadian bishop (b. 1911)
    • 2009 – Bud Shank, American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Chris Kanyon, American wrestler (b. 1970)
    • 2011 – John C. Haas, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – Jesús Aguilarte, Venezuelan captain and politician (b. 1959)
    • 2012 – Elizabeth Catlett, American-Mexican sculptor and illustrator (b. 1915)
    • 2012 – Mauricio Lasansky, American graphic designer and academic (b. 1914)
    • 2013 – Fred, French author and illustrator (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Jesús Franco, Spanish director, screenwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Milo O’Shea, Irish-American actor (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Glyn Jones, South African actor and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Urs Widmer, Swiss author and playwright (b. 1938)
    • 2015 – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
    • 2015 – Robert H. Schuller, American pastor and author (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician, Governor of Limburg (b. 1954)
    • 2016 – Gallieno Ferri, Italian comic book artist and illustrator (b. 1929)
    • 2016 – Robert Abajyan, Armenian sergeant (b. 1996)

    Holidays and observances on April 2

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abundius of Como
      • Amphianus of Lycia
      • Æbbe the Younger
      • Bronach of Glen-Seichis (Irish martyrology)
      • Francis of Paola
      • Francisco Coll Guitart
      • Henry Budd (Anglican Church of Canada)
      • Nicetius of Lyon
      • Pedro Calungsod
      • Theodosia of Tyre
      • Urban of Langres
      • April 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • International Children’s Book Day (International)
    • Thai Heritage Conservation Day (Thailand)
    • Unity of Peoples of Russia and Belarus Day (Belarus)
    • World Autism Awareness Day (International)

  • March 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    March 24th is the 365th and last day of the year in many European implementations of the Julian calendar.

    March 24 in History

    • 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
    • 1387 – English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate.
    • 1401 – Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
    • 1603 – James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.
    • 1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan.
    • 1663 – The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.
    • 1720 – Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the throne on 29 February
    • 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.
    • 1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
    • 1765 – Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
    • 1794 – In Kraków, Tadeusz Kościuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces.
    • 1829 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
    • 1832 – In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.
    • 1854 – President José Gregorio Monagas abolishes slavery in Venezuela.
    • 1860 – Sakuradamon Incident: Assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke.
    • 1869 – The last of Titokowaru’s forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.
    • 1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
    • 1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
    • 1885 – Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Bang Bo on the Tonkin–Guangxi border.
    • 1900 – Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground “Rapid Transit Railroad” that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
    • 1907 – The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
    • 1921 – The 1921 Women’s Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, first international women’s sports event.
    • 1927 – Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.
    • 1934 – United States Congress passes the Tydings–McDuffie Act, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
    • 1944 – Ardeatine massacre: German troops murder 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
    • 1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.
    • 1946 – A British Cabinet Mission arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.
    • 1958 – Rock ‘n’ roll teen idol Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army.
    • 1961 – Quebec Board of the French Language is established.
    • 1965 – Images from the Ranger 9 lunar probe are broadcast live on network television.
    • 1973 – Kenyan athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles.
    • 1976 – In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process.
    • 1977 – Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister of India, the first Prime Minister not to belong to Indian National Congress.
    • 1980 – El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
    • 1986 – The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
    • 1989 – In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground.
    • 1993 – Discovery of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.
    • 1998 – Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
    • 1998 – A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others.
    • 1998 – First computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation, performed at the University of Regensburg, Germany
    • 1999 – Kosovo war: NATO began attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
    • 1999 – A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The resulting inferno kills 38 people.
    • 2003 – The Arab League votes 21–1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
    • 2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
    • 2015 – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.

    Births on March 24

    • 1103 – Yue Fei, Chinese military general (d. 1142)
    • 1441 – Ernest, Elector of Saxony, German ruler of Saxony (d. 1486)
    • 1494 – Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (d. 1555)
    • 1577 – Francis, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin, Bishop of Cammin (d. 1620)
    • 1607 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)
    • 1628 – Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1685)
    • 1657 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese academic and politician (d. 1725)
    • 1693 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clock-maker, invented the Marine chronometer (d. 1776)
    • 1725 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1813)
    • 1725 – Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1788)
    • 1755 – Rufus King, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 1827)
    • 1762 – Marcos Portugal, Portuguese organist and composer (d. 1830)
    • 1775 – Muthuswami Dikshitar, Indian poet and composer (d. 1835)
    • 1782 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian-Italian painter (d. 1836)
    • 1796 – Zulma Carraud, French author (d. 1889)
    • 1796 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1878)
    • 1803 – Egerton Ryerson, Canadian minister, educator, and politician (d. 1882)
    • 1808 – Maria Malibran, Spanish-French soprano (d. 1836)
    • 1809 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1837)
    • 1809 – Joseph Liouville, French mathematician and academic (d. 1882)
    • 1816 – Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Roman Catholic archbishop and Mexican politician who served as regent during the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1864) (d. 1891)
    • 1820 – Edmond Becquerel, French physicist and academic (d. 1891)
    • 1820 – Fanny Crosby, American poet and composer (d. 1915)
    • 1823 – Thomas Spencer Baynes, English philosopher and critic (d. 1887)
    • 1826 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American activist and author (d. 1898)
    • 1828 – Horace Gray, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1902)
    • 1829 – George Francis Train, American businessman (d. 1904)
    • 1829 – Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (d. 1862)
    • 1830 – Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet and playwright (d. 1889)
    • 1834 – William Morris, English textile designer, poet, and author (d. 1896)
    • 1834 – John Wesley Powell, American soldier, geologist, and explorer (d. 1902)
    • 1835 – Joseph Stefan, Austrian physicist, mathematician, and poet (d. 1893)
    • 1848 – Honoré Beaugrand, Canadian journalist and politician, 18th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1906)
    • 1850 – Silas Hocking, English minister and author (d. 1935)
    • 1854 – Henry Lefroy, Australian politician, 11th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1930)
    • 1855 – Andrew W. Mellon, American banker, financier, and diplomat, 49th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1937)
    • 1855 – Olive Schreiner, South African author and activist (d. 1920)
    • 1862 – Frank Weston Benson, American painter and educator (d. 1951)
    • 1869 – Émile Fabre, French author and playwright (d. 1955)
    • 1871 – Alec Hurley, English music hall singer (d. 1913)
    • 1874 – Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd President of the Italian Republic (d. 1961)
    • 1874 – Harry Houdini, Hungarian-Jewish American magician and actor (d. 1926)
    • 1875 – William Burns, Canadian lacrosse player (d. 1953)
    • 1879 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher, poet, and composer (d. 1953)
    • 1882 – Marcel Lalu, French gymnast (d. 1951)
    • 1882 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1943)
    • 1883 – Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (d. 1945)
    • 1884 – Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
    • 1884 – Chika Kuroda, Japanese chemist (d. 1968)
    • 1884 – Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (d. 1972)
    • 1885 – Charles Daniels, American swimmer (d. 1973)
    • 1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1978)
    • 1886 – Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)
    • 1886 – Robert Mallet-Stevens, French architect and designer (d. 1945)
    • 1887 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1933)
    • 1888 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (d. 1922)
    • 1889 – Albert Hill, English-Canadian runner (d. 1969)
    • 1890 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (d. 1954)
    • 1891 – Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1951)
    • 1892 – Marston Morse, American mathematician and academic (d. 1977)
    • 1893 – Walter Baade, German astronomer and author (d. 1960)
    • 1893 – George Sisler, American baseball player and scout (d. 1973)
    • 1897 – Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychotherapist and academic (d. 1957)
    • 1901 – Ub Iwerks, American animator, director, and producer, co-created Mickey Mouse (d. 1971)
    • 1902 – Thomas E. Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of New York (d. 1971)
    • 1903 – Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
    • 1903 – Malcolm Muggeridge, English journalist, author, and scholar (d. 1990)
    • 1905 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino author and diplomat (d. 2007)
    • 1907 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (d. 1960)
    • 1909 – Clyde Barrow, American criminal (d. 1934)
    • 1909 – Richard Wurmbrand, Romanian Pastor and Evangelist (d. 2001)
    • 1910 – Richard Conte, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1975)
    • 1911 – Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (d. 2006)
    • 1912 – Dorothy Height, African-American educator and activist (d. 2010)
    • 1915 – Eugène Martin, French racing driver (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American soldier and author (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (d. 2010)
    • 1917 – John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
    • 1919 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet and publisher, co-founded City Lights Bookstore
    • 1919 – Robert Heilbroner, American economist and historian (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Gene Nelson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1920 – Mary Stolz, American author (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
    • 1922 – Onna White, Canadian dancer and choreographer (d. 2005)
    • 1923 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (d. 1986)
    • 1923 – Michael Legat, English author and publisher (d. 2011)
    • 1924 – Norman Fell, American actor (d. 1998)
    • 1925 – Puig Aubert, German-French rugby league player and coach (d. 1994)
    • 1926 – Desmond Connell, Irish cardinal (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
    • 1926 – William Porter, American hurdler (d. 2000)
    • 1927 – John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Martin Walser, German author and playwright
    • 1928 – Byron Janis, American pianist and composer
    • 1929 – Pat Renella, Italian-American actor (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – David Dacko, Central African politician, 1st President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)
    • 1930 – Steve McQueen, American actor and producer (d. 1980)
    • 1931 – Hanno Drechsler, German educator and politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 2003)
    • 1933 – Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (d. 2011)
    • 1933 – Lee Mendelson, American television producer (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – Don Covay, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1936 – Alex Olmedo, Peruvian-American tennis player
    • 1937 – Billy Stewart, American singer and pianist (d. 1970)
    • 1938 – David Irving, English historian and author
    • 1940 – Bob Mackie, American fashion designer
    • 1941 – Michael Masser, American songwriter, composer and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – R. Lee Ermey, American sergeant and actor (d. 2018)
    • 1944 – Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian academic and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Serbia
    • 1945 – Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist and academic
    • 1945 – Curtis Hanson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1945 – Patrick Malahide, English actor and screenwriter
    • 1946 – Klaus Dinger, German guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)
    • 1946 – Kitty O’Neil, American stuntwoman (d. 2018)
    • 1947 – Dennis Erickson, American football player and coach
    • 1947 – Christine Gregoire, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Governor of Washington
    • 1947 – Mick Jones, English footballer and coach
    • 1947 – Alan Sugar, English businessman
    • 1948 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1948 – Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish mountaineer (d. 1989)
    • 1948 – Lee Oskar, Jewish-Danish musician
    • 1949 – Tabitha King, American author and poet
    • 1949 – Ruud Krol, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1949 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (April Wine) (d. 2017)
    • 1949 – Nick Lowe, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1949 – Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian academic and politician, 36th Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran
    • 1949 – Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
    • 1950 – Gary Wichard, American football player and agent (d. 2011)
    • 1951 – Peter Boyle, Scottish-Australian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1951 – Pat Bradley, American golfer
    • 1951 – Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer, founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
    • 1951 – Dougie Thomson, Scottish bass player
    • 1951 – Anna Włodarczyk, Polish long jumper and coach
    • 1952 – Greg McCrary, American football player (d. 2013)
    • 1953 – Anita L. Allen, African-American lawyer, philosopher, and academic
    • 1953 – Louie Anderson, American actor and comedian
    • 1955 – Doug Jarvis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1955 – Pat Price, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1956 – Steve Ballmer, American businessman
    • 1956 – Bill Wray, American cartoonist and painter
    • 1957 – Pierre Harvey, Canadian cyclist and skier
    • 1957 – Pat Jarvis, Australian rugby league player
    • 1958 – Mike Woodson, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Emmit King, American sprinter
    • 1959 – Renaldo Nehemiah, American hurdler and football player
    • 1959 – Derek Statham, English footballer
    • 1960 – Jan Berglin, Swedish cartoonist
    • 1960 – Barry Horowitz, American wrestler
    • 1960 – Kelly Le Brock, English-American actress and model
    • 1960 – Nena, German singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1960 – Scott Pruett, American race car driver
    • 1960 – Annabella Sciorra, American actress
    • 1961 – Dean Jones, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1961 – Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
    • 1962 – Angèle Dubeau, Canadian violinist
    • 1962 – Star Jones, African-American lawyer, journalist, and talk show host
    • 1962 – Irina Meszynski, German discus thrower
    • 1963 – Raimond van der Gouw, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1963 – Vadym Tyshchenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1963 – Torsten Voss, German decathlete and bobsledder
    • 1965 – The Undertaker, American wrestler and actor
    • 1966 – Floyd Heard, American sprinter and coach
    • 1967 – Diann Roffe, American skier
    • 1968 – Minarti Timur, Indonesian badminton player
    • 1969 – Stephan Eberharter, Austrian skier
    • 1970 – Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
    • 1970 – Sharon Corr, Irish singer-songwriter and violinist
    • 1970 – Judith Draxler, Austrian swimmer
    • 1970 – Erica Kennedy, African-American journalist and author (d. 2012)
    • 1970 – Mike Vanderjagt, Canadian-American football player
    • 1971 – Tig Notaro, American comedian and actor
    • 1972 – Christophe Dugarry, French footballer
    • 1972 – Steve Karsay, American baseball player and coach
    • 1973 – Jacek Bąk, Polish footballer
    • 1973 – Philippe Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1973 – Steve Corica, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1973 – Jure Ivanušič, Slovenian actor, concert pianist and chansonnier
    • 1973 – Mette Jacobsen, Danish swimmer
    • 1973 – Glen Jakovich, Australian footballer
    • 1973 – Jim Parsons, American actor
    • 1974 – Alyson Hannigan, American actress
    • 1974 – Sergey Klyugin, Russian high jumper
    • 1974 – Tado, Filipino comedian and activist (d. 2014)
    • 1975 – Thomas Johansson, Swedish-Monacan tennis player
    • 1976 – Aaron Brooks, American football player
    • 1976 – Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer and coach
    • 1976 – Athanasios Kostoulas, Greek footballer
    • 1976 – Peyton Manning, American football player and entrepreneur
    • 1977 – Jessica Chastain, American actress
    • 1977 – Maxim Kuznetsov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Darren Lockyer, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1978 – Michael Braun, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1978 – Tomáš Ujfaluši, Czech footballer and manager
    • 1978 – José Valverde, Dominican baseball player
    • 1979 – Lake Bell, Jewish-American actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1979 – Norris Hopper, American baseball player
    • 1979 – Periklis Iakovakis, Greek hurdler
    • 1979 – Graeme Swann, English cricketer
    • 1980 – Tassos Venetis, Greek footballer
    • 1981 – Mike Adams, American football player
    • 1981 – Ron Hainsey, American ice hockey player
    • 1981 – Dirk Hayhurst, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Mark Looms, Dutch footballer
    • 1981 – Gary Paffett, English racing driver
    • 1982 – Corey Hart, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Jack Swagger, American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler
    • 1982 – Epico Colon, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
    • 1982 – Jimmy Hempte, Belgian footballer
    • 1982 – Dustin McGowan, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Luca Ceccarelli, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Riccardo Musetti, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – T.J. Ford, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Benoît Assou-Ekotto, French born Cameroonian international footballer, left-back
    • 1984 – Chris Bosh, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Adrian D’Souza, Indian field hockey player
    • 1984 – Lucy Wangui Kabuu, Kenyan runner
    • 1984 – Park Bom, South Korean singer
    • 1984 – Philipp Petzschner, German tennis player
    • 1985 – Lana, American wrestler and manager
    • 1985 – Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and singer
    • 1987 – Ramires, Brazilian footballer
    • 1987 – Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer
    • 1987 – Billy Jones, English footballer
    • 1987 – Yuma Asami, Japanese actress and singer
    • 1988 – Aiga Grabuste, Latvian heptathlete
    • 1988 – Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1988 – Matías Martínez, Argentinian footballer
    • 1988 – Kardo Ploomipuu, Estonian swimmer
    • 1988 – Matt Todd, New Zealand rugby union player
    • 1990 – Starlin Castro, American baseball player
    • 1990 – Aljur Abrenica, Filipino actor
    • 1990 – Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-New Zealand actress
    • 1990 – Lacey Evans, American wrestler
    • 1991 – Nick Browne, English cricketer
    • 1991 – Dalila Jakupovic, Slovenian tennis player
    • 1995 – Enzo Fernandez, French-Spanish footballer

    Deaths on March 24

    • 809 – Harun al-Rashid, Arab caliph (b. 763)
    • 832 – Wulfred, archbishop of Canterbury
    • 1284 – Hugh III of Cyprus (b. 1235)
    • 1296 – Odon de Pins, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller
    • 1381 – Catherine of Vadstena, Swedish saint (b. 1332)
    • 1394 – Constance of Castile, claimant to the throne of Castile
    • 1396 – Walter Hilton, English mystic and saint (b. 1340)
    • 1399 – Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk (b.c. 1320)
    • 1443 – James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas (b. 1371)
    • 1455 – Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)
    • 1499 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1470)
    • 1563 – Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese daimyō (b. 1514)
    • 1575 – Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, Spanish-Portuguese rabbi and author (b. 1488)
    • 1603 – Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
    • 1653 – Samuel Scheidt, German organist and composer (b. 1587)
    • 1684 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (b. 1629)
    • 1684 – Elizabeth Ridgeway, English woman convicted of poisoning her husband
    • 1773 – Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English politician, Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard (b. 1694)
    • 1776 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer (b. 1693)
    • 1824 – Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, French lawyer (b. 1753)
    • 1838 – Abraham Hume, English floriculturist and Tory politician (b. 1748/49)
    • 1869 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, French-Russian general (b. 1779)
    • 1881 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (b. 1817)
    • 1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (b. 1807)
    • 1887 – Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and critic (b. 1837)
    • 1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
    • 1905 – Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1828)
    • 1909 – John Millington Synge, Irish playwright and poet (b. 1871)
    • 1915 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Anglo-Irish astronomer (b. 1848)
    • 1915 – Karol Olszewski, Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1846)
    • 1916 – Enrique Granados, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1867)
    • 1926 – Phan Châu Trinh, Vietnamese activist (b. 1872)
    • 1940 – Édouard Branly, French physicist and academic (b. 1844)
    • 1944 – Orde Wingate, Indian-English general (b. 1903)
    • 1946 – Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b. 1892)
    • 1946 – Carl Schuhmann, German gymnast, shot putter, and jumper (b. 1869)
    • 1948 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish painter and illustrator (b. 1885)
    • 1950 – James Rudolph Garfield, American lawyer and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1865)
    • 1951 – Lorna Hodgkinson, Australian educator and educational psychologist (b. 1887)
    • 1953 – Mary of Teck (b. 1867)
    • 1962 – Jean Goldkette, French-American pianist and bandleader (b. 1899)
    • 1962 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
    • 1968 – Alice Guy-Blaché, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1873)
    • 1971 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel and Aarhus City Hall (b. 1902)
    • 1971 – Arthur Metcalfe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
    • 1976 – Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English field marshal (b. 1887)
    • 1978 – Park Mok-wol, influential Korean poet and academic (b. 1916)
    • 1980 – Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (b. 1917)
    • 1984 – Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)
    • 1985 – Raoul Ubac, French painter, sculptor, photographer and engraver (b. 1910)
    • 1988 – Turhan Feyzioğlu, Turkish academic and politician, 27th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1922)
    • 1990 – Ray Goulding, American comedian and radio host (b. 1922)
    • 1991 – John Kerr, Australian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1914)
    • 1993 – Albert Arlen, Australian pianist, composer, actor, and playwright (b. 1905)
    • 1993 – John Hersey, American journalist and author (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Joseph Needham, English historian and academic (b. 1900)
    • 1999 – Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German politician (b. 1902)
    • 1999 – Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player and manager (b. 1912)
    • 2001 – Muriel Young, English television host and producer (b. 1928)
    • 2002 – César Milstein, Argentinian-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
    • 2002 – Bob Said, American race car driver and bobsledder (b. 1932)
    • 2003 – Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian cardinal (b. 1919)
    • 2006 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (b. 1926)
    • 2007 – Shripad Narayan Pendse, Indian Marathi novelist (b. 1913)
    • 2008 – Chalmers Alford, American guitarist (b. 1955)
    • 2008 – Neil Aspinall, Welsh-English record producer and manager (b. 1941)
    • 2008 – Rafael Azcona, Spanish author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2008 – Richard Widmark, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 2009 – George Kell, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
    • 2009 – Hans Klenk, German racing driver (b. 1919)
    • 2009 – Gábor Ocskay, Hungarian ice hockey player (b. 1975)
    • 2010 – Robert Culp, American actor (b. 1930)
    • 2010 – Jim Marshall, American photographer (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Paul Callaghan, New Zealand physicist and academic (b. 1947)
    • 2012 – Nick Noble, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Inge Lønning, Norwegian theologian, academic, and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Gury Marchuk, Russian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Paolo Ponzo, Italian footballer (b. 1972)
    • 2013 – Mohamed Yousri Salama, Egyptian dentist and politician (b. 1974)
    • 2013 – Francis Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 8th Baron Thurlow, English diplomat (b. 1912)
    • 2014 – Oleksandr Muzychko, Ukrainian activist (b. 1962)
    • 2014 – John Rowe Townsend, English author and scholar (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – David A. Trampier, American illustrator (b. 1954)
    • 2015 – Yehuda Avner, English-Israeli diplomat (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – notable deaths of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash:
      • Oleg Bryjak, Kazakhstani-German opera singer (b. 1960)
      • Maria Radner, German opera singer (b. 1981)
    • 2016 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer (b. 1947)
    • 2016 – Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1949)
    • 2018 – Lys Assia, Swiss singer and First Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (b. 1924)
    • 2019 – Joseph Pilato, American film and voice actor (b.1949)
    • 2020 – Albert Uderzo, French comic book artist (b. 1927)

    Holidays and observances on March 24

    • Christian feast day:
      • Catherine of Vadstena
      • Hildelith of Barking
      • Mac Cairthinn of Clogher
      • Óscar Romero (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism)
      • Paul Couturier (Church of England)
      • Walter Hilton (Church of England)
      • March 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Argentina)
    • National Tree Planting Day (Uganda)
    • Student Day (Scientology)
    • World Tuberculosis Day (International)

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

    • 1400 – The Trần dynasty of Vietnam is deposed, after one hundred and seventy-five years of rule, by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official.
    • 1540 – Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last religious community to be closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
    • 1568 – The Peace of Longjumeau is signed, ending the second phase of the French Wars of Religion.
    • 1708 – James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth as part of the planned French invasion of Britain.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech – “Give me liberty, or give me death!” – at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia.
    • 1801 – Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death inside his bedroom at St. Michael’s Castle.
    • 1806 – After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their “Corps of Discovery” begin their arduous journey home.
    • 1821 – Greek War of Independence: Battle and fall of city of Kalamata.
    • 1848 – The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.
    • 1857 – Elisha Otis’s first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: The First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, marks the start of Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign. Although a Confederate defeat, the engagement distracts Federal efforts to capture Richmond.
    • 1868 – The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.
    • 1879 – War of the Pacific: The Battle of Topáter, the first battle of the war is fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru.
    • 1885 – Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Phu Lam Tao near Hưng Hóa, northern Vietnam.
    • 1888 – In England, The Football League, the world’s oldest professional association football league, meets for the first time.
    • 1889 – The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.
    • 1901 – Emilio Aguinaldo, only President of the First Philippine Republic, was captured at Palanan, Isabela by the forces of General Frederick Funston.
    • 1905 – Eleftherios Venizelos calls for Crete’s union with Greece, and begins what is to be known as the Theriso revolt.
    • 1909 – Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
    • 1918 – First World War: On the third day of the German Spring Offensive, the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is annihilated with many of the men becoming prisoners of war
    • 1919 – In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
    • 1931 – Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged for the killing of a deputy superintendent of police during the Indian independence movement.
    • 1933 – The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act of 1933, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.
    • 1935 – Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
    • 1939 – The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of the Slovak air force in Spišská Nová Ves, killing 13 people and beginning the Slovak–Hungarian War.
    • 1940 – The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All-India Muslim League.
    • 1956 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. This date is now celebrated as Republic Day in Pakistan.
    • 1965 – NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States’ first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).
    • 1977 – The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) is videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes.
    • 1978 – The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.
    • 1980 – Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.
    • 1982 – Guatemala’s government, headed by Fernando Romeo Lucas García is overthrown in a military coup by right-wing General Efraín Ríos Montt.
    • 1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.
    • 1991 – The Revolutionary United Front, with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invades Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow Joseph Saidu Momoh, sparking the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War.
    • 1994 – At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.
    • 1994 – A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.
    • 1994 – Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, killing 75.
    • 1996 – Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.
    • 1999 – Gunmen assassinate Paraguay’s Vice President Luis María Argaña.
    • 2001 – The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.
    • 2003 – Battle of Nasiriyah, first major conflict during the invasion of Iraq.
    • 2008 – Official opening of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India
    • 2009 – FedEx Express Flight 80: A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 flying from Guangzhou, China crashes at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, killing both the captain and the co-pilot.
    • 2018 – President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns from the presidency amid a mass corruption scandal before certain impeachment by the opposition-majority Congress of Peru.
    • 2019 – The Kazakh capital of Astana was renamed to Nur-Sultan.
    • 2019 – The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces declared military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after four years of fighting, although the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.

    Births on March 23

    • 1338 – Emperor Go-Kōgon of Japan (d. 1374)
    • 1430 – Margaret of Anjou (d. 1482)
    • 1514 – Lorenzino de’ Medici, Italian writer and assassin (d. 1548)
    • 1599 – Thomas Selle, German composer (d. 1663)
    • 1614 – Jahanara Begum, Mughal princess (d. 1681)
    • 1643 – Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado, Spanish Dominican lay sister and mystic (d. 1731)
    • 1699 – John Bartram, American botanist and explorer (d. 1777)
    • 1732 – Princess Marie Adélaïde of France (d. 1800)
    • 1749 – Pierre-Simon Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1827)
    • 1750 – Johannes Matthias Sperger, Austrian bassist and composer (d. 1812)
    • 1754 – Jurij Vega, Slovene mathematician, physicist and artillery officer (d. 1802)
    • 1769 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general and diplomat (d. 1832)
    • 1769 – William Smith, English geologist and cartographer (d. 1839)
    • 1823 – Schuyler Colfax, American journalist and politician, 17th Vice President of the United States (d. 1885)
    • 1826 – Ludwig Minkus, Austrian violinist and composer (d. 1917)
    • 1834 – Julius Reubke, German pianist and composer (d. 1858)
    • 1838 – Marie Adam-Doerrer, Swiss women’s rights activist and unionist (d. 1908)
    • 1842 – Friedrich Amelung, Estonian-German historian, businessman and composer (d. 1909)
    • 1842 – Susan Jane Cunningham, American mathematician (d. 1921)
    • 1858 – Ludwig Quidde, German activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
    • 1862 – Nathaniel Reed, American criminal (d. 1950)
    • 1868 – Dietrich Eckart, German journalist and politician (d. 1923)
    • 1869 – Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines (d. 1964)
    • 1869 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Turkish-Armenian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1955)
    • 1872 – Michael Joseph Savage, Australian-New Zealand union leader and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1940)
    • 1874 – Grantley Goulding, English hurdler (d. 1947)
    • 1874 – J. C. Leyendecker, German-American painter and illustrator (d. 1951)
    • 1876 – Ziya Gökalp, Turkish sociologist, poet and activist (d. 1924)
    • 1876 – Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, Burmese poet, writer and political leader (d. 1964)
    • 1878 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1934)
    • 1880 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish lawyer and politician, Finnish Minister of the Interior (d. 1922)
    • 1881 – Lacey Hearn, American sprinter (d. 1969)
    • 1881 – Roger Martin du Gard, French novelist and paleographer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
    • 1881 – Hermann Staudinger, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
    • 1882 – Emmy Noether, Jewish German-American mathematician, physicist and academic (d. 1935)
    • 1884 – Joseph Boxhall, English sailor (d. 1967)
    • 1885 – Platt Adams, American jumper and politician (d. 1961)
    • 1885 – Roque González Garza, Mexican general and acting president (1915) (d. 1962)
    • 1886 – Frank Irons, American long jumper (d. 1942)
    • 1887 – Josef Čapek, Czech painter and poet (d. 1945)
    • 1887 – Rudolf Kinau, German author (d. 1975)
    • 1887 – Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1927)
    • 1887 – Sidney Hillman, Lithuanian-born American labor leader (d. 1946)
    • 1891 – Po Kya, Burmese author and educationist (d. 1942)
    • 1893 – Cedric Gibbons, Irish-American art director and production designer (d. 1960)
    • 1893 – Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu, Indian engineer and businessman (d. 1974)
    • 1894 – Arthur Grimsdell, English international footballer wing half and cricketer (d. 1963)
    • 1895 – Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian and educator (d. 2001)
    • 1895 – Dane Rudhyar, French-American astrologer, author and composer (d. 1985)
    • 1898 – Louis Adamic, Slovenian-American author, translator and politician (d. 1951)
    • 1898 – Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset, Duchess of Parma (d. 1984)
    • 1899 – Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (d. 1943)
    • 1900 – Erich Fromm, German psychologist and sociologist (d. 1980)
    • 1901 – Bon Maharaja, Indian guru and religious writer (d. 1982)
    • 1903 – Frank Sargeson, New Zealand author (d. 1982)
    • 1904 – Joan Crawford, American film actress (d. 1977)
    • 1905 – Lale Andersen, German chanson singer-songwriter (d. 1972)
    • 1907 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
    • 1909 – Charles Werner, American cartoonist (d. 1997)
    • 1910 – Jerry Cornes, English runner, colonial officer and educator (d. 2001)
    • 1910 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1998)
    • 1912 – Eleanor Cameron, Canadian-American author and critic (d. 1996)
    • 1912 – Neil McCorkell, English-South African cricketer and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1912 – Wernher von Braun, German-American physicist and engineer (d. 1977)
    • 1913 – Abidin Dino, Turko-French painter and illustrator (d. 1993)
    • 1914 – Milbourne Christopher, American magician and author (d. 1984)
    • 1915 – Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe (d. 2014)
    • 1915 – Vasily Zaytsev, Russian captain (d. 1991)
    • 1917 – Harry Cranbrook Allen, English historian (d. 1998)
    • 1918 – Stanley Armour Dunham, American sergeant (d. 1992)
    • 1918 – Helene Hale, American politician (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Naoki Kazu, Japanese football player (d.1940s)
    • 1919 – Carl Graffunder, American architect and educator (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Neal Edward Smith, American pilot, lawyer and politician
    • 1920 – Tetsuharu Kawakami, Japanese baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1921 – Donald Campbell, English race car driver (d. 1967)
    • 1921 – Peter Lawler, Australian public servant (d. 2017)
    • 1922 – Marty Allen, American comedian and actor (d. 2018)
    • 1922 – Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor (d. 1990)
    • 1923 – Angelo Ingrassia, American soldier and judge (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Rodney Mims Cook, Sr., American lieutenant and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Bette Nesmith Graham, American inventor, invented Liquid Paper (d. 1980)
    • 1924 – Olga Kennard, English crystallographer and academic
    • 1924 – John Madin, English architect (d. 2012)
    • 1925 – David Watkin, English cinematographer (d. 2008)
    • 1929 – Roger Bannister, English runner, neurologist and academic (d. 2018)
    • 1929 – Michael Manser, English architect and engineer (d. 2016)
    • 1931 – Yevgeny Grishin, Russian speed skater (d. 2005)
    • 1931 – Viktor Korchnoi, Russian chess player and author (d. 2016)
    • 1931 – Yevdokiya Mekshilo, Russian skier (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Don Marshall, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1933 – Norman Bailey, English opera singer and educator
    • 1933 – Philip Zimbardo, American psychologist and academic
    • 1934 – Ludvig Faddeev, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 2017)
    • 1934 – Mark Rydell, American actor, director and producer
    • 1935 – Barry Cryer, English comedian, actor and screenwriter
    • 1936 – Jannis Kounellis, Greek painter and sculptor (d. 2017)
    • 1937 – Craig Breedlove, American race car driver
    • 1937 – Tony Burton, American actor, comedian, boxer and football player (d. 2016)
    • 1937 – Robert Gallo, American physician and academic
    • 1938 – Jon Finlayson, Australian actor and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1942 – Michael Haneke, Austrian director, producer and screenwriter
    • 1942 – Jimmy Miller, American record producer and musician (d. 1994)
    • 1942 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian, scholar and activist (d. 1980)
    • 1943 – Andrew Crockett, Scottish-English economist and banker (d. 2012)
    • 1943 – Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, Finnish singer, author and director (d. 2001)
    • 1944 – B. P. Gavrilov, Russian rugby player (d. 2006)
    • 1944 – Tony McPhee, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1944 – Michael Nyman, English composer of minimalist music and pianist
    • 1945 – Franco Battiato, Italian singer-songwriter and director
    • 1945 – David Grisman, American mandolin player and composer
    • 1946 – Alan Bleasdale, English screenwriter and producer
    • 1947 – Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, American author
    • 1948 – Wasim Bari, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1948 – Marie Malavoy, German-Canadian educator and politician
    • 1949 – Ric Ocasek, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (d. 2019)
    • 1950 – Corinne Cléry, French actress
    • 1950 – Phil Lanzon, English keyboard player and songwriter
    • 1950 – Ahdaf Soueif, Egyptian author and translator
    • 1951 – Ron Jaworski, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1951 – Adrian Reynard, English businessman, founded Reynard Motorsport
    • 1952 – Francesco Clemente, Italian painter and illustrator
    • 1952 – Kent Lambert, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1952 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
    • 1952 – Rex Tillerson, American businessman, engineer and diplomat; 69th United States Secretary of State
    • 1953 – Bo Díaz, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1990)
    • 1953 – Chaka Khan, American singer-songwriter
    • 1953 – Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Indian zoologist and businesswoman
    • 1954 – Geno Auriemma, Italian-American basketball player and coach
    • 1954 – Kenneth Cole, American fashion designer, founded Kenneth Cole Productions
    • 1954 – Paul Price, English born, Welsh international footballer, defender and manager
    • 1955 – Moses Malone, American basketball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
    • 1956 – José Manuel Barroso, Portuguese academic and politician, 115th Prime Minister of Portugal
    • 1957 – Lucio Gutiérrez, Ecuadorian politician, 52nd President of Ecuador
    • 1957 – Robbie James, Welsh footballer and manager (d. 1998)
    • 1957 – Amanda Plummer, American actress
    • 1958 – Etienne De Wilde, Belgian cyclist
    • 1958 – Bengt-Åke Gustafsson, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
    • 1958 – Hugh Grant, Scottish business executive
    • 1959 – Catherine Keener, American actress
    • 1960 – Nicol Stephen, Baron Stephen, Scottish lawyer and politician, 2nd Deputy First Minister of Scotland
    • 1961 – Roger Crisp, English philosopher and academic
    • 1961 – Craig Green, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1961 – Helmi Johannes, Indonesian journalist and producer
    • 1962 – Steve Redgrave, English rower
    • 1963 – Míchel, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Juan Ramón López Caro, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Ana Fidelia Quirot, Cuban runner
    • 1964 – Hope Davis, American actress
    • 1965 – Gary Whitehead, American poet and painter
    • 1966 – Lorenzo Daniel, American sprinter
    • 1966 – Vasilis Vouzas, Greek footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Damon Albarn, English singer-songwriter, producer and actor
    • 1968 – Mike Atherton, English cricketer and journalist
    • 1968 – Fernando Hierro, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Pierre Palmade, French actor and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Yasmeen Ghauri, Canadian model
    • 1971 – Gail Porter, Scottish model and television host
    • 1971 – Alexander Selivanov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1971 – Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Japanese wrestler
    • 1972 – Jonas Björkman, Swedish-Monégasque tennis player and coach
    • 1972 – Joe Calzaghe, Welsh boxer
    • 1972 – Judith Godrèche, French actress and author
    • 1973 – Jerzy Dudek, Polish footballer
    • 1973 – Wim Eyckmans, Belgian race car driver
    • 1973 – Jason Kidd, American basketball player and coach
    • 1974 – Randall Park, American actor, director and screenwriter
    • 1975 – Burak Gürpınar, Turkish drummer
    • 1975 – Andy Turner, English footballer, winger and manager
    • 1976 – Chris Hoy, Scottish cyclist and race car driver
    • 1976 – Smriti Irani, Indian actress, producer and politician, Indian Minister of Human Resource Development
    • 1976 – Dougie Lampkin, English motorcycle racer
    • 1976 – Michelle Monaghan, American actress
    • 1976 – Joel Peralta, Dominican baseball player
    • 1976 – Keri Russell, American actress
    • 1976 – Ricardo Zonta, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1976 – Sa Beining, Chinese host
    • 1977 – Miklos Perlus, Canadian actor and screenwriter
    • 1978 – Simon Gärdenfors, Swedish illustrator
    • 1978 – Walter Samuel, Argentinian footballer
    • 1979 – Mark Buehrle, American baseball player
    • 1979 – Donncha O’Callaghan, Irish rugby player
    • 1981 – Erin Crocker, American race car driver
    • 1981 – Tony Peña, Jr., Dominican baseball player
    • 1981 – Shelley Rudman, English bobsledder
    • 1981 – Giuseppe Sculli, Italian footballer
    • 1981 – Brett Young, American country music singer
    • 1982 – José Contreras Arrau, Chilean footballer
    • 1982 – Andrea Musacco, Italian footballer
    • 1982 – Evgeni Striganov, Estonian ice dancer
    • 1983 – Hakan Balta, Turkish footballer
    • 1983 – Mo Farah, Somali-English runner
    • 1983 – Sascha Riether, German international footballer
    • 1983 – Jerome Thomas, English footballer
    • 1984 – Ryan Araña, Filipino basketball player
    • 1984 – Brandon Marshall, American football player
    • 1985 – Maurice Jones-Drew, American football player
    • 1985 – Bethanie Mattek-Sands, American tennis player
    • 1986 – Patrick Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Andrea Dovizioso, Italian motorcycle racer
    • 1986 – Brett Eldredge, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1986 – Kangana Ranaut, Indian actress
    • 1987 – Alan Toovey, Australian footballer
    • 1988 – Dellin Betances, American baseball player
    • 1988 – Jason Kenny, English cyclist
    • 1988 – Michal Neuvirth, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1989 – Ayesha Curry, Canadian-American chef, author and television personality
    • 1989 – Nikola Gulan, Serbian footballer
    • 1989 – Sarah McKenna, English rugby player
    • 1989 – Luis Fernando Silva, Mexican footballer
    • 1990 – Jaime Alguersuari, Spanish race car driver
    • 1990 – Robert Zickert, German footballer
    • 1991 – Gregg Wylde, Scottish footballer
    • 1992 – Tolga Ciğerci, German-Turkish footballer
    • 1992 – Kyrie Irving, Australian-American basketball player
    • 1993 – Kyle Lovett, Australian rugby league player
    • 1993 – Aytaç Kara, Turkish footballer
    • 1994 – Nick Powell, English footballer
    • 1995 – Kevin Kauber, Estonian footballer
    • 1995 – Jan Lisiecki, Canadian pianist
    • 1995 – Ozan Tufan, Turkish footballer
    • 1996 – Alexander Albon, Thai-British race car driver

    Deaths on March 23

    • 851 – Zhou Chi, Chinese historian and politician (b. 793)
    • 1022 – Zhen Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 968)
    • 1103 – Eudes I, duke of Burgundy (b. 1058)
    • 1361 – Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, English politician, Lord High Steward of England (b. 1310)
    • 1369 – Peter, king of Castile and León (b. 1334)
    • 1483 – Yolande, duchess of Lorraine (b. 1428)
    • 1548 – Itagaki Nobukata, Japanese samurai (b. 1489)
    • 1555 – Julius III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1487)
    • 1559 – Gelawdewos, Ethiopian emperor (b. 1521)
    • 1596 – Henry Unton, English diplomat (b. 1557)
    • 1606 – Justus Lipsius, Flemish philologist and scholar (b. 1547)
    • 1618 – James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, Scottish police officer and politician (b. 1575)
    • 1629 – Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland, English landowner and politician (b. 1580)
    • 1675 – Anthoni van Noordt, Dutch organist and composer (b. 1619)
    • 1680 – Nicolas Fouquet, French politician (b. 1615)
    • 1742 – Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French historian and author (b. 1670)
    • 1747 – Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French general (b. 1675)
    • 1748 – Johann Gottfried Walther, German organist and composer (b. 1684)
    • 1754 – Johann Jakob Wettstein, Swiss theologian and critic (b. 1693)
    • 1783 – Charles Carroll, English barrister and politician (b. 1723)
    • 1801 – Paul I, Russian emperor (b. 1754)
    • 1842 – Stendhal, French novelist (b. 1783)
    • 1862 – Manuel Robles Pezuela, Unconstitutional Mexican interim president, 1858–1859 (b. 1817)
    • 1883 – Arthur Macalister, Scottish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Queensland (b. 1818)
    • 1884 – Henry C. Lord, American businessman (b. 1824)
    • 1910 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (b. 1820)
    • 1914 – Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès, Lebanese saint (b. 1832)
    • 1923 – Hovhannes Tumanyan, Armenian poet and author (b. 1869)
    • 1927 – Paul César Helleu, French painter and etcher (b. 1859)
    • 1931 – Shivaram Rajguru, Indian activist (b. 1908)
    • 1931 – Bhagat Singh, Indian activist (b. 1907)
    • 1931 – Sukhdev Thapar, Indian activist (b. 1907)
    • 1953 – Raoul Dufy, French painter and illustrator (b. 1877)
    • 1953 – Oskar Luts, Estonian author and playwright (b. 1887)
    • 1955 – Arthur Bernardes, Brazilian politician, 12th President of Brazil (b. 1875)
    • 1960 – Franklin Pierce Adams, American journalist and author (b. 1881)
    • 1960 – Said Nursî, Turkish theologian and scholar (b. 1878)
    • 1961 – Albert Bloch, American painter and educator (b. 1882)
    • 1961 – Jack Russell, English cricketer (b. 1887)
    • 1963 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician and logician (b. 1887)
    • 1964 – Peter Lorre, American actor (b. 1904)
    • 1965 – Mae Murray, American actress, dancer, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
    • 1968 – Edwin O’Connor, American journalist and author (b. 1918)
    • 1972 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer, founded Balenciaga (b. 1895)
    • 1973 – Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1889)
    • 1978 – Haim Ernst Wertheimer, Israeli biochemist and academic (b. 1893)
    • 1979 – Ted Anderson, English footballer (b. 1911)
    • 1980 – Arthur Melvin Okun, American economist and academic (b. 1928)
    • 1981 – Beatrice Tinsley, English-New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist (b. 1941)
    • 1981 – Mike Hailwood, English motorcyclist (b. 1940)
    • 1985 – Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching, English physicist and engineer (b. 1913)
    • 1985 – Peter Charanis, Greek-American scholar and educator (b. 1908)
    • 1987 – Olev Roomet, Estonian singer and violinist (b. 1901)
    • 1990 – John Dexter, English director and producer (b. 1925)
    • 1991 – Margaret Atwood Judson, American historian and author (b. 1899)
    • 1991 – Parkash Singh, Indian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1913)
    • 1992 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-German economist, philosopher, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
    • 1992 – Ron Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1949)
    • 1994 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican economist and politician (b. 1950)
    • 1994 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (b. 1921)
    • 1995 – Davie Cooper, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1956)
    • 1999 – Luis María Argaña, Paraguayan judge and politician, Vice President of Paraguay (b. 1932)
    • 1999 – Osmond Borradaile, Canadian director and cinematographer (b. 1898)
    • 2001 – Rowland Evans, American journalist (b. 1921)
    • 2001 – Margaret Jones, British archaeologist (b. 1916)
    • 2001 – Robert Laxalt, American author (b. 1923)
    • 2001 – David McTaggart, Canadian badminton player and environmentalist (b. 1932)
    • 2002 – Eileen Farrell, American soprano (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Ben Hollioake, Australian-English cricketer (b. 1977)
    • 2003 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-English flute player and journalist (b. 1926)
    • 2004 – Rupert Hamer, Australian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 39th Premier of Victoria (b. 1916)
    • 2006 – David B. Bleak, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1932)
    • 2006 – Desmond Doss, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1919)
    • 2006 – Cindy Walker, American singer-songwriter and dancer (b. 1918)
    • 2007 – Paul Cohen, American mathematician and theorist (b. 1934)
    • 2007 – Eric Medlen, American race car driver (b. 1973)
    • 2008 – Vaino Vahing, Estonian psychiatrist, author, and playwright (b. 1940)
    • 2009 – Ghukas Chubaryan, Armenian sculptor (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Raúl Macías, Mexican boxer and trainer (b. 1934)
    • 2011 – Jean Bartik, American computer scientist and engineer (b. 1924)
    • 2011 – Rosario Morales, Puerto Rican poet and writer (b.1930)
    • 2011 – Elizabeth Taylor, American-British actress, socialite and humanitarian (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Somalian politician, President of Somalia (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Jim Duffy, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1937)
    • 2012 – Naji Talib, Iraqi politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Lonnie Wright, American basketball and football player (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Boris Berezovsky, Russian-born Soviet-British mathematician and businessman (b. 1946)
    • 2013 – Onofre Corpuz, Filipino economist, historian, and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – Joe Weider, Canadian-American bodybuilder and publisher, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Dave Brockie, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1963)
    • 2014 – Jaroslav Šerých, Czech painter and illustrator (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Adolfo Suárez, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Gian Vittorio Baldi, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Bobby Lowther, American basketball player and lieutenant (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Lil’ Chris, English singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality (b. 1990)
    • 2016 – Joe Garagiola, Sr., American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1926)
    • 2016 – Ken Howard, American actor (b. 1944)

    Holidays and observances on March 23

    • Christian feast day:
      • Gregory the Illuminator (Episcopal Church)
      • Gwinear
      • Joseph Oriol
      • Ottone Frangipane
      • Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès (Maronite Church)
      • Turibius of Mogrovejo
      • Victorian, Frumentius and Companions
      • March 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Hungarian-Polish Friendship (Hungary and Poland)
    • Day of the Sea (Bolivia)
    • Earliest day on which Easter Monday can fall, while April 26 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after Easter. (Western Christianity)
      • Family Day (South Africa)
      • Śmigus-Dyngus (Poland, Ukraine), Polish diaspora communities)
    • Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Day (Azerbaijan)
    • Pakistan Day (Pakistan)
    • Promised Messiah Day (Ahmadiyya)
    • World Meteorological Day

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

    • 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea.
    • 238 – Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors.
    • 871 – Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.
    • 1508 – Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire.
    • 1621 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
    • 1622 – Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony’s population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War.
    • 1630 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.
    • 1638 – Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.
    • 1713 – The Tuscarora War comes to an end with the fall of Fort Neoheroka, effectively opening up the interior of North Carolina to European colonization.
    • 1739 – Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
    • 1765 – The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.
    • 1784 – The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.
    • 1829 – In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.
    • 1849 – The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.
    • 1871 – In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.
    • 1872 – Illinois becomes the first state to require gender equality in employment.
    • 1873 – The Spanish National Assembly abolishes slavery in Puerto Rico.
    • 1894 – The first playoff game for the Stanley Cup starts.
    • 1906 – The first England vs France rugby union match is played at Parc des Princes in Paris
    • 1920 – Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attacked the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh).
    • 1933 – Cullen–Harrison Act: President Franklin Roosevelt signs an amendment to the Volstead Act, legalizing the manufacture and sale of “3.2 beer” (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume) and light wines.
    • 1939 – Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.
    • 1942 – World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy’s Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.
    • 1943 – World War II: The entire village of Khatyn (in what is the present-day Republic of Belarus) is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118.
    • 1945 – World War II: The city of Hildesheim, Germany heavily damaged in a British air raid, though it had little military significance and Germany was on the verge of final defeat.
    • 1945 – The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.
    • 1960 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
    • 1972 – The United States Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification.
    • 1972 – In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives.
    • 1975 – A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.
    • 1978 – Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope suspended between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
    • 1982 – NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3.
    • 1992 – USAir Flight 405 crashes shortly after takeoff from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport, leading to a number of studies into the effect that ice has on aircraft.
    • 1992 – Fall of communism in Albania: The Democratic Party of Albania wins a decisive majority in the parliamentary election.
    • 1993 – The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.
    • 1995 – Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns to earth after setting a record of 438 days in space.
    • 1997 – Tara Lipinski, aged 14 years and nine months, becomes the youngest women’s World Figure Skating Champion.
    • 2004 – Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force Hellfire missiles.
    • 2006 – Three Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days of captivity and the murder of their colleague from the U.S., Tom Fox.
    • 2013 – At least 37 people are killed and 200 are injured after a fire destroys a camp containing Burmese refugees near Ban Mae, Thailand.
    • 2016 – Three suicide bombers kill 32 people and injure 316 in the 2016 Brussels bombings at the airport and at the Maelbeek/Maalbeek metro station.
    • 2017 – A terrorist attack in London near the Houses of Parliament leaves four people dead and at least 20 injured.
    • 2019 – Robert S. Mueller III delivers his report on the Russian government’s influence on the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election.
    • 2019 – Two buses crashes in Kitampo, a town north of Ghana’s capital Accra, killing at least 50 people.
    • 2020 – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country’s largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.

    Births on March 22

    • 841 – Bernard Plantapilosa, Frankish son of Bernard of Septimania (d. 885)
    • 875 – William I, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 918)
    • 1212 – Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (d. 1235)
    • 1367 – Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (probable; d. 1399)
    • 1394 – Ulugh Beg, Persian astronomer and mathematician (d. 1449)
    • 1459 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1519)
    • 1499 – Johann Carion, German astrologer and chronicler (d. 1537)
    • 1503 – Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian author and educator (d. 1583)
    • 1517 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (d. 1590)
    • 1519 – Catherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, English noblewoman (d. 1580)
    • 1582 – John Williams, Archbishop of York (d. 1650)
    • 1599 – Anthony van Dyck, Flemish-English painter and etcher (d. 1641)
    • 1609 – John II Casimir Vasa, Polish king (d. 1672)
    • 1615 – Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, British scientist (d. 1691)
    • 1663 – August Hermann Francke, German clergyman, philanthropist, and scholar (d. 1727)
    • 1684 – William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician, Secretary at War (d. 1764)
    • 1712 – Edward Moore, English poet and playwright (d. 1757)
    • 1720 – Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect, designed the Yellow Palace and Bernstorff Palace (d. 1799)
    • 1723 – Charles Carroll, American lawyer and politician (d. 1783)
    • 1728 – Anton Raphael Mengs, German painter and theorist (d. 1779)
    • 1785 – Adam Sedgwick, English scientist (d. 1873)
    • 1797 – William I, German Emperor (d. 1888)
    • 1808 – Caroline Norton, English feminist, social reformer, and author (d. 1877)
    • 1808 – David Swinson Maynard, American physician and lawyer (d. 1873)
    • 1812 – Stephen Pearl Andrews, American author and activist (d. 1886)
    • 1814 – Thomas Crawford, American sculptor, designed the Statue of Freedom (d. 1857)
    • 1817 – Braxton Bragg, American general (d. 1876)
    • 1818 – John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-Australian explorer, founded Penwortham (d. 1846)
    • 1822 – Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Ottoman sociologist, historian, scholar, statesman and jurist (d. 1895)
    • 1842 – Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1912)
    • 1846 – Randolph Caldecott, English illustrator and painter (d. 1886)
    • 1846 – James Timberlake, American lieutenant, police officer, and farmer (d. 1891)
    • 1852 – Otakar Ševčík, Czech violinist and educator (d. 1934)
    • 1852 – Hector Sévin, French cardinal (d. 1916)
    • 1855 – Dorothy Tennant, British painter (d. 1926)
    • 1857 – Paul Doumer, French mathematician, journalist, and politician, 14th President of France (d. 1932)
    • 1866 – Jack Boyle, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1913)
    • 1868 – Robert Andrews Millikan, American colonel and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
    • 1869 – Tom McInnes, Scottish-English footballer (d. 1939)
    • 1873 – Ernest Lawson, Canadian-American painter (d. 1939)
    • 1880 – Ernest C. Quigley, Canadian-American football player and coach (d. 1960)
    • 1884 – Arthur H. Vandenberg, American journalist and politician (d. 1951)
    • 1884 – Lyda Borelli, Italian actress (d. 1959)
    • 1885 – Aryeh Levin, Polish-Lithuanian rabbi and educator (d. 1969)
    • 1886 – August Rei, Estonian lawyer and politician, Head of State of Estonia (d. 1963)
    • 1887 – Chico Marx, American actor (d. 1961)
    • 1890 – George Clark, American race car driver (d. 1978)
    • 1892 – Charlie Poole, American country banjo player (d. 1931)
    • 1892 – Johannes Semper, Estonian poet and scholar (d. 1970)
    • 1896 – He Long, Chinese general and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1969)
    • 1896 – Joseph Schildkraut, Austrian-American actor (d. 1964)
    • 1899 – Ruth Page, American ballerina and choreographer (d. 1991)
    • 1901 – Greta Kempton, Austrian-American painter (d. 1991)
    • 1902 – Johannes Brinkman, Dutch architect, designed the Van Nelle Factory (d. 1949)
    • 1902 – Madeleine Milhaud, French actress and composer (d. 2008)
    • 1903 – Bill Holman, American cartoonist (d. 1987)
    • 1907 – James M. Gavin, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (d. 1990)
    • 1908 – Jack Crawford, Australian tennis player (d. 1991)
    • 1908 – Louis L’Amour, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1988)
    • 1909 – Gabrielle Roy, Canadian author and educator (d. 1983)
    • 1910 – Nicholas Monsarrat, English sailor and author (d. 1979)
    • 1912 – Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor and performer (d. 1985)
    • 1912 – Karl Malden, American actor (d. 2009)
    • 1912 – Agnes Martin, Canadian-American painter and educator (d. 2004)
    • 1912 – Leslie Johnson, English race car driver (d. 1959)
    • 1913 – Tom McCall, American journalist and politician, 30th Governor of Oregon (d. 1983)
    • 1913 – Lew Wasserman, American businessman and talent agent (d. 2002)
    • 1913 – James Westerfield, American actor (d. 1971)
    • 1914 – John Stanley, American author and illustrator (d. 1993)
    • 1914 – Donald Stokes, Baron Stokes, English businessman (d. 2008)
    • 1917 – Virginia Grey, American actress (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Irving Kaplansky, Canadian-American mathematician and academic (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Paul Rogers, English actor (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Cheddi Jagan, Guyanese politician, 4th President of Guyana (d. 1997)
    • 1919 – Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (d. 1990)
    • 1920 – James Brown, American actor and singer (d. 1992)
    • 1920 – Werner Klemperer, German-American actor (d. 2000)
    • 1920 – Lloyd MacPhail, Canadian businessman and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island (d. 1995)
    • 1920 – Fanny Waterman, English pianist and educator, founded the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition
    • 1920 – Katsuko Saruhashi, Japanese geochemist (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Ross Martin, American actor (d. 1981)
    • 1921 – Nino Manfredi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1922 – John J. Gilligan, American lieutenant and politician, 62nd Governor of Ohio (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Marcel Marceau, French mime and actor (d. 2007)
    • 1924 – Al Neuharth, American journalist and author, founded USA Today (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Yevgeny Ostashev, Russian test pilot, participant in the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite (d. 1960)
    • 1924 – Osman F. Seden, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
    • 1924 – Bill Wendell, American television announcer (d. 1999)
    • 1927 – Marty Blake, American basketball player and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Nicolas Tikhomiroff, Russian photographer (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Carrie Donovan, American journalist (d. 2001)
    • 1928 – E. D. Hirsch, American author, critic, and academic
    • 1928 – Ed Macauley, American basketball player, coach, and priest (d. 2011)
    • 1929 – Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist
    • 1929 – P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor, director, singer, songwriter, composer, and producer. (d. 1973)
    • 1930 – Derek Bok, American lawyer and academic
    • 1930 – Pat Robertson, American minister and broadcaster, founded the Christian Broadcasting Network
    • 1930 – Stephen Sondheim, American composer and songwriter
    • 1931 – Burton Richter, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
    • 1931 – William Shatner, Canadian actor
    • 1931 – Leslie Thomas, Welsh journalist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Larry Evans, American chess player and journalist (d. 2010)
    • 1933 – Abolhassan Banisadr, Iranian economist and politician, 1st President of Iran
    • 1934 – May Britt, Swedish actress
    • 1934 – Sheila Cameron, English lawyer and judge
    • 1934 – Orrin Hatch, American lawyer and politician
    • 1935 – Lea Pericoli, Italian tennis player and journalist
    • 1935 – Frank Pulli, American baseball player and umpire (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – M. Emmet Walsh, American actor
    • 1936 – Ron Carey, American trade union leader (d. 2008)
    • 1936 – Roger Whittaker, Kenyan-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1936 – Erol Büyükburç, Turkish singer-songwriter, pop music composer, and actor (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Angelo Badalamenti, American pianist and composer
    • 1937 – Armin Hary, German sprinter
    • 1937 – Jon Hassell, American trumpet player and composer
    • 1938 – Rein Etruk, Estonian chess player (d. 2012)
    • 1940 – Dave Keon, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1940 – Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian-American physician and author (d. 1996)
    • 1940 – George Edward Alcorn, Jr. American physicist and inventor
    • 1941 – Billy Collins, American poet
    • 1941 – Jeremy Clyde, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1941 – Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (d. 2019)
    • 1941 – Cassam Uteem, Mauritian politician, 2nd President of Mauritius
    • 1942 – Jorge Ben Jor, Brazilian singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Dick Pound, Canadian lawyer and academic
    • 1943 – George Benson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1943 – Nazem Ganjapour, Iranian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1943 – Keith Relf, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1976)
    • 1945 – Eric Roth, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1946 – Don Chaney, American basketball player and coach
    • 1946 – Rivka Golani, Israeli viola player and composer
    • 1946 – Rudy Rucker, American mathematician, computer scientist, and author
    • 1946 – Harry Vanda, Dutch-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1947 – George Ferguson, English architect and politician, 1st Mayor of Bristol
    • 1947 – James Patterson, American author and producer
    • 1947 – Maarten van Gent, Dutch basketball player and coach
    • 1948 – Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer and director
    • 1949 – Fanny Ardant, French actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Brian Hanrahan, English journalist (d. 2010)
    • 1952 – Des Browne, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
    • 1953 – Kenneth Rogoff, American economist and chess grandmaster
    • 1955 – Lena Olin, Swedish actress
    • 1955 – Pete Sessions, American politician
    • 1955 – Valdis Zatlers, Latvian physician and politician, 7th President of Latvia
    • 1956 – Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (born María Teresa Mestre y Batista)
    • 1957 – Jürgen Bucher, German footballer
    • 1957 – Stephanie Mills, American actress and singer
    • 1959 – Matthew Modine, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Tarmo Laht, Estonian architect
    • 1960 – Lauri Vahtre, Estonian historian and politician
    • 1961 – Simon Furman, British comic book writer
    • 1963 – Deborah Bull, English ballerina
    • 1963 – Susan Ann Sulley, English pop singer (The Human League)
    • 1963 – Martin Vizcarra, Peruvian engineer and politician, 67th President of Peru
    • 1964 – David Gillespie, Australian rugby league player
    • 1966 – Pia Cayetano, Filipino lawyer and politician
    • 1966 – Todd Ewen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1966 – Artis Pabriks, Latvian academic and politician, 11th Minister for Defence of Latvia
    • 1966 – António Pinto, Portuguese runner
    • 1966 – Brian Shaw, American basketball player and coach
    • 1967 – Mario Cipollini, Italian cyclist
    • 1967 – Bernie Gallacher, Scottish-English footballer (d. 2011)
    • 1970 – Andreas Johnson, Swedish singer-songwriter
    • 1970 – Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist
    • 1970 – Hwang Young-cho, South Korean runner
    • 1971 – Keegan-Michael Key, American actor, comedian, and writer
    • 1972 – Shawn Bradley, German-American basketball player, coach, and actor
    • 1972 – Cory Lidle, American baseball player (d. 2006)
    • 1972 – Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Beverley Knight, English singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1974 – Marcus Camby, American basketball player
    • 1974 – Philippe Clement, Belgian footballer
    • 1974 – Geo Meneses, Mexican producer and singer
    • 1975 – Cole Hauser, American actor and producer
    • 1975 – Jiří Novák, Czech-Monegasque tennis player
    • 1976 – Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
    • 1976 – Kathryn Jean Lopez, American journalist
    • 1976 – Asako Toki, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1976 – Kellie Shanygne Williams, American actress
    • 1976 – Reese Witherspoon, American actress and producer
    • 1977 – Joey Porter, American football player and coach
    • 1977 – Tom Poti, American ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Aaron North, American guitarist
    • 1979 – Juan Uribe, Dominican baseball player
    • 1981 – Arne Gabius, German runner
    • 1982 – Piá, Brazilian footballer
    • 1982 – Enrico Gasparotto, Italian cyclist
    • 1982 – Michael Janyk, Canadian skier
    • 1984 – Piotr Trochowski, German footballer
    • 1985 – Mayola Biboko, Belgian footballer
    • 1985 – Jakob Fuglsang, Danish cyclist
    • 1985 – Mike Jenkins, American football player
    • 1985 – Justin Masterson, American baseball player
    • 1985 – Kelli Waite, Australian swimmer
    • 1986 – David Choi, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1986 – Dexter Fowler, American baseball player
    • 1987 – Ike Davis, American baseball player
    • 1987 – Jairo Mora Sandoval, Costa Rican environmentalist (d. 2013)
    • 1987 – Liam Doran, British rally cross driver
    • 1989 – Ruben Popa, Romanian footballer
    • 1989 – J. J. Watt, American football player
    • 1989 – Tyler Oakley, American internet celebrity

    Deaths on March 22

    • 880 – Carloman of Bavaria, Frankish king
    • 1144 – William of Norwich, child murder victim
    • 1322 – Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, English politician, Lord High Steward of England (b. 1278)
    • 1418 – Dietrich of Nieheim, German bishop and historian (b. 1345)
    • 1421 – Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, English soldier and politician, Lord High Steward of England (b. 1388)
    • 1454 – John Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury
    • 1471 – George of Poděbrady (b. 1420)
    • 1544 – Johannes Magnus, Swedish archbishop and theologian (b. 1488)
    • 1602 – Agostino Carracci, Italian painter and educator (b. 1557)
    • 1685 – Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)
    • 1687 – Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-French composer and conductor (b. 1632)
    • 1758 – Jonathan Edwards, English minister, theologian, and philosopher (b. 1703)
    • 1772 – John Canton, English physicist and academic (b. 1718)
    • 1820 – Stephen Decatur, American commander (b. 1779)
    • 1832 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German novelist, poet, playwright, and diplomat (b. 1749)
    • 1840 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician and academic (b. 1798)
    • 1864 – Konstanty Kalinowski, writer, journalist, lawyer and revolutionary (b. 1838)
    • 1881 – Samuel Courtauld, English businessman (b. 1793)
    • 1896 – Thomas Hughes, English lawyer and politician (b. 1822)
    • 1913 – Song Jiaoren, Chinese educator and politician (b. 1882)
    • 1913 – Ruggero Oddi, Italian physiologist and anatomist (b.1864)
    • 1924 – William Macewen, Scottish surgeon and neuroscientist (b. 1848)
    • 1931 – James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1851)
    • 1942 – Frederick Cuming, English cricketer (b. 1875)
    • 1942 – William Donne, English captain and cricketer (b. 1875)
    • 1945 – John Hessin Clarke, American lawyer and judge (b. 1857)
    • 1952 – D. S. Senanayake, 1st Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1883)
    • 1955 – Ivan Šubašić, Croatian lawyer and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
    • 1958 – Mike Todd, American film producer (b. 1909)
    • 1960 – José Antonio Aguirre, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Basque Country (b. 1904)
    • 1966 – John Harlin, American mountaineer and pilot (b. 1935)
    • 1971 – Johannes Villemson, Estonian-American runner (b. 1893)
    • 1971 – Nella Walker, American actress and vaudevillian (b. 1886)
    • 1974 – Peter Revson, American race car driver (b. 1939)
    • 1974 – Orazio Satta Puliga, Italian automobile designer (b. 1910)
    • 1976 – John Dwyer McLaughlin, American painter (b. 1898)
    • 1977 – A. K. Gopalan, Indian educator and politician (b. 1904)
    • 1978 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker, founded The Flying Wallendas (b. 1905)
    • 1979 – Ben Lyon, American actor and studio executive (b. 1901)
    • 1981 – James Elliott, American runner and coach (b. 1915)
    • 1981 – Gil Puyat, Filipino businessman and politician, 13th President of the Senate of the Philippines (b. 1907)
    • 1986 – Olive Deering, American actress (b. 1918)
    • 1986 – Mark Dinning, American singer (b. 1933)
    • 1987 – Odysseas Angelis, Greek general and politician (b. 1912)
    • 1989 – Peta Taylor, English cricketer (b. 1912)
    • 1990 – Gerald Bull, Canadian engineer and academic (b. 1928)
    • 1991 – Léon Balcer, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Solicitor General of Canada (b. 1917)
    • 1991 – Paul Engle, American novelist, poet, playwright, and critic (b. 1908)
    • 1991 – Dave Guard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
    • 1991 – Gloria Holden, English-American actress (b. 1908)
    • 1993 – Steve Olin, American baseball player (b. 1965)
    • 1994 – Dan Hartman, American singer-songwriter, and producer (b. 1950)
    • 1994 – Walter Lantz, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1899)
    • 1996 – Don Murray, American drummer (b. 1945)
    • 1996 – Robert F. Overmyer, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1936)
    • 1996 – Billy Williamson, American guitarist (b. 1925)
    • 1999 – Max Beloff, Baron Beloff, English historian and academic (b. 1913)
    • 1999 – David Strickland, American actor (b. 1969)
    • 2000 – Carlo Parola, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1921)
    • 2001 – Stepas Butautas, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (b. 1925)
    • 2001 – Sabiha Gökçen, Turkish soldier and pilot (b. 1913)
    • 2001 – William Hanna, American animator, director, producer, and voice actor, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (b. 1910)
    • 2001 – Robert Fletcher Shaw, Canadian businessman, academic, and civil servant (b. 1910)
    • 2002 – Rudolf Baumgartner, Swiss violinist and conductor (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – Terry Lloyd, English journalist (b. 1952)
    • 2004 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer and academic (b. 1943)
    • 2004 – Ahmed Yassin, Co-founded Hamas (b. 1937)
    • 2004 – V. M. Tarkunde, Indian lawyer and civil rights activist (b. 1909)
    • 2005 – Rod Price, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1947)
    • 2005 – Gemini Ganesan, Indian film actor (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Kenzō Tange, Japanese architect, designed the Yoyogi National Gymnasium and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (b. 1913)
    • 2006 – Pierre Clostermann, French soldier, pilot, and politician (b. 1921)
    • 2006 – Pío Leyva, Cuban singer and author (b. 1917)
    • 2006 – Kurt von Trojan, Austrian-Australian journalist and author (b. 1937)
    • 2007 – U. G. Krishnamurti, Indian-Italian philosopher and educator (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – Cachao López, Cuban-American bassist and composer (b. 1918)
    • 2010 – James Black, Scottish biologist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1924)
    • 2010 – Özhan Canaydın, Turkish basketball player and businessman (b. 1943)
    • 2011 – Artur Agostinho, Portuguese journalist (b. 1920)
    • 2011 – Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Joe Blanchard, American football player and wrestler (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – John Payton, American lawyer and activist (b. 1946)
    • 2012 – Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley, English academic and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Mickey Sullivan, American baseball player and coach (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – David Waltz, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1943)
    • 2012 – Neil L. Whitehead, English anthropologist and author (b. 1956)
    • 2013 – Vladimír Čech, Czech actor and politician (b. 1951)
    • 2013 – James Nabrit, American lawyer and academic (b. 1932)
    • 2013 – Bebo Valdés, Cuban-Swedish pianist and composer (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Derek Watkins, English trumpet player and composer (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Ray Williams, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
    • 2014 – Yashwant Vithoba Chittal, Indian author (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Mickey Duff, Polish-English boxer and manager (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Thor Listau, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Tasos Mitsopoulos, Cypriot politician, Cypriot Minister of Defence (b. 1965)
    • 2015 – Arkady Arkanov, Ukrainian-Russian actor and playwright (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Horst Buhtz, German footballer and manager (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – George Neel, Jr., American businessman (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Norman Scribner, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1936)
    • 2016 – Phife Dawg, American rapper (b. 1970)
    • 2016 – Rob Ford, Canadian businessman and politician, 64th Mayor of Toronto (b. 1969)
    • 2016 – Rita Gam, American actress (b. 1927)
    • 2018 – Johan van Hulst, Dutch politician, academic and author, Yad Vashem recipient (b. 1911)

    Holidays and observances on March 22

    • Bihar Day (Bihar, India)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Basil of Ancyra
      • Blessed Clemens August Graf von Galen
      • Darerca of Ireland
      • Epaphroditus
      • Jonathan Edwards (Lutheranism)
      • Lea of Rome
      • Nicholas Owen
      • Paul of Narbonne
      • March 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Easter Sunday can fall (last in 1818, will not happen again until 2285), while April 25 is the latest. (Christianity)
    • Emancipation Day or Día de la Abolición de la Esclavitud (Puerto Rico)
    • World Water Day (International)

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

    • 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.