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July 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

622 – The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
997 – Battle of Spercheios: Bulgarian forces of Tsar Samuel are defeated by a Byzantine army under general Nikephoros Ouranos at the Spercheios River in Greece.
1054 – Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian Churches through the act of placing an invalidly-issued Papal bull of Excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the start of the East–West Schism.
1212 – Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: After Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade, forces of Kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Sancho VII of Navarre, Peter II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal defeat those of the Berber Muslim leader Almohad, thus marking a significant turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain.
1232 – The Spanish town of Arjona declares independence and names its native Muhammad ibn Yusuf as ruler. This marks Muhammad’s first rise to prominence; he would later establish the Nasrid Emirate of Granada, the last independent Muslim state in Spain.
1251 – Celebrated by the Carmelite Order – but doubted by modern historians – as the day when Saint Simon Stock had a vision of the Virgin Mary
1377 – King Richard II of England is crowned.
1661 – The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
1683 – Manchu Qing dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
1769 – Father Junípero Serra founds California’s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, California.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: Light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
1790 – The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
1809 – The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
1849 – Antonio María Claret y Clará founds the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, popularly known as the Claretians in Vic, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
1861 – American Civil War: At the order of President Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25-mile march into Virginia for what will become the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the war.
1862 – American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.
1909 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is forced out as Shah of Persia and is replaced by his son Ahmad Shah Qajar.
1910 – John Robertson Duigan makes the first flight of the Duigan pusher biplane, the first aircraft built in Australia.
1915 – Henry James becomes a British citizen to highlight his commitment to Britain during the first World War.
1915 – At Treasure Island on the Delaware River in the United States, the First Order of the Arrow ceremony takes place and the Order of the Arrow is founded to honor American Boy Scouts who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law.
1927 – Augusto César Sandino leads a raid on U.S. Marines and Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional that had been sent to apprehend him in the village of Ocotal, but is repulsed by one of the first dive-bombing attacks in history.
1931 – Emperor Haile Selassie signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
1935 – The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1941 – Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as an MLB record.
1942 – Holocaust: Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv): The government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Vélodrome d’Hiver in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.
1945 – World War II: The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis leaves San Francisco with parts for the atomic bomb “Little Boy” bound for Tinian Island.
1945 – Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
1948 – Following token resistance, the city of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
1948 – The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.
1950 – Chaplain–Medic massacre: American POWs are massacred by North Korean Army.
1951 – King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
1956 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its last “Big Tent” show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; due to changing economics, all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas.
1965 – The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
1965 – South Vietnamese Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, a formerly undetected communist spy and double agent, is hunted down and killed by unknown individuals after being sentenced to death in absentia for a February 1965 coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first mission to land astronauts on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Kennedy, Florida.
1979 – Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
1983 – Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
1990 – The Luzon earthquake strikes the Philippines with an intensity of 7.7, affecting Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Aurora, Bataan, Zambales and Tarlac.
1990 – The Parliament of the Ukrainian SSR declares state sovereignty over the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when the Piper Saratoga PA-32R aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
2004 – Millennium Park, considered Chicago’s first and most ambitious early 21st-century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
2007 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and 6.6 aftershock occurs off the Niigata coast of Japan killing eight people, injuring at least 800 and damaging a nuclear power plant.
2013 – As many as 27 children die and 25 others are hospitalized after eating lunch served at their school in eastern India.
2015 – Four U.S. Marines and one gunman die in a shooting spree targeting military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
2019 – 100 years old building in Mumbai, India, collapsed, killing at least 10 people and many remaining trapped.

Births on July 16

1194 – Clare of Assisi, an Italian nun and saint (d. 1253)
1486 – Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)
1517 – Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, English duchess (d. 1559)
1529 – Petrus Peckius the Elder, Dutch jurist, writer on international maritime law (d. 1589)
1611 – Cecilia Renata of Austria (d. 1644)
1661 – Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, Canadian captain, explorer, and politician (d. 1706)
1714 – Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French engineer and author (d. 1800)
1722 – Joseph Wilton, English sculptor and academic (d. 1803)
1723 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter and academic (d. 1792)
1731 – Samuel Huntington, American jurist and politician, 18th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1796)
1749 – Cyrus Griffin, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 16th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1810)
1796 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and etcher (d. 1875)
1821 – Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader and author, founded Christian Science (d. 1910)
1841 – Nikolai von Glehn, Estonian-German architect and activist (d. 1923)
1858 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1931)
1862 – Ida B. Wells, American journalist and activist (d. 1931)
1863 – Anderson Dawson, Australian politician, 14th Premier of Queensland (d. 1910)
1870 – Lambert McKenna, Irish priest, lexicographer, and scholar (d. 1956)
1871 – John Maxwell, American golfer (d. 1906)
1872 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian pilot and explorer (d. 1928)
1872 – Frank Cooper, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Queensland (d. 1949)
1880 – Kathleen Norris, American journalist and author (d. 1966)
1882 – Violette Neatley Anderson, American judge (d. 1937)
1883 – Charles Sheeler, American photographer and painter (d. 1965)
1884 – Anna Vyrubova, Russian author (d. 1964)
1887 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1951)
1888 – Percy Kilbride, American actor (d. 1964)
1888 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
1889 – Arthur Bowie Chrisman, American author (d. 1953)
1895 – Wilfrid Hamel, Canadian businessman and politician, 35th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 1968)
1896 – Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German biologist and eugenicist (d. 1969)
1896 – Trygve Lie, Norwegian trade union leader and politician, 1st Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1968)
1902 – Alexander Luria, Russian psychologist and physician (d. 1977)
1902 – Mary Philbin, American actress (d. 1993)
1903 – Fritz Bauer, German lawyer and judge (d. 1968)
1903 – Carmen Lombardo, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1971)
1903 – Irmgard Flügge-Lotz, German mathematician and engineer (d. 1974)
1904 – Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1906 – Vincent Sherman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1907 – Frances Horwich, American educator and television host (d. 2001)
1907 – Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman, founded Orville Redenbacher’s (d. 1995)
1907 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
1910 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
1910 – Gordon Prange, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1980)
1911 – Ginger Rogers, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1995)
1911 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (d. 1970)
1912 – Milt Bocek, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1912 – Amy Patterson, Argentine composer, singer, poet, and teacher (d. 2019)
1915 – Barnard Hughes, American actor (d. 2006)
1915 – Elaine Barrie, American actress (d. 2003)
1918 – Denis Edward Arnold, English soldier (d. 2015)
1918 – Paul Farnes, famed World War II Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and one of “The Few” surviving pilots of the Battle of Britain (d. 2020)
1918 – Samuel Victor Perry, English biochemist and rugby player (d. 2009)
1919 – Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian SS officer (d. 1999)
1919 – Choi Kyu-hah, South Korean politician, 4th President of South Korea (d. 2006)
1920 – Anatole Broyard, American critic and editor (d. 1990)
1923 – Chris Argyris, American psychologist, theorist, and academic (d. 2013)
1923 – Bola Sete, Brazilian guitarist (d. 1987)
1924 – James L. Greenfield, American journalist and politician
1924 – Bess Myerson, American model, actress, game show panelist, and politician, Miss America 1945 (d. 2014)
1924 – Rupert Deese, Northern Mariana Islander ceramic artist (d. 2010)
1925 – Frank Jobe, American sergeant and surgeon (d. 2014)
1925 – Rosita Quintana, Argentine actress
1925 – Cal Tjader, American jazz musician (d. 1982)
1926 – Ivica Horvat, Croatian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
1926 – Irwin Rose, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1927 – Pierre F. Côté, Canadian lawyer and civil servant (d. 2013)
1927 – Shirley Hughes, English author and illustrator
1927 – Derek Hawksworth, English footballer
1928 – Anita Brookner, English novelist and art historian (d. 2016)
1928 – Bella Davidovich, Soviet-American pianist
1928 – Robert Sheckley, American author and screenwriter (d. 2005)
1928 – Jim Rathmann, American race car driver (d. 2011)
1928 – Dave Treen, American lawyer and politician, 51st Governor of Louisiana (d. 2009)
1928 – Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer and author (d. 2000)
1929 – Charles Ray Hatcher, American serial killer (d. 1984)
1929 – Sheri S. Tepper, American author and poet (d. 2016)
1929 – Gaby Tanguy, French swimmer
1930 – Guy Béart, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1930 – Michael Bilirakis, American lawyer and politician
1930 – Bert Rechichar, American football defensive back and kicker (d. 2019)
1931 – Fergus Gordon Kerr, Scottish Roman Catholic priest of the English Dominican Province
1931 – Norm Sherry, American former catcher, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball
1932 – John Chilton, English trumpet player and composer (d. 2016)
1932 – Max McGee, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2007)
1932 – Dick Thornburgh, American lawyer and politician, 76th United States Attorney General
1933 – Julian A. Brodsky, American businessman
1934 – Tomás Eloy Martínez, Argentine journalist (d. 2010)
1934 – Katherine D. Ortega, 38th Treasurer of the United States
1934 – Donald M. Payne, American educator and politician (d. 2012)
1935 – Carl Epting Mundy Jr., American general (d. 2014)
1935 – Lynn Wyatt, American socialite and philanthropist
1936 – Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese politician, 91st Prime Minister of Japan
1936 – Buddy Merrill, American guitarist
1936 – Jerry Norman, American sinologist and linguist (d. 2012)
1936 – Venkataraman Subramanya, Indian-Australian cricketer
1937 – Richard Bryan, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Nevada
1937 – John Daly, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1938 – Cynthia Enloe, American author and academic
1938 – Tony Jackson, English singer and bass player (d. 2003)
1939 – William Bell, American singer-songwriter
1939 – Lido Vieri, Italian football manager and football player
1939 – Denise LaSalle, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2018)
1939 – Ruth Perry, president of Liberia (d. 2017)
1939 – Shringar Nagaraj, Indian actor and producer (d. 2013)
1939 – Corin Redgrave, English actor and activist (d. 2010)
1939 – Mariele Ventre, Italian singer and conductor (d. 1995)
1941 – Desmond Dekker, Jamaican singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
1941 – Dag Solstad, Norwegian author and playwright
1941 – Hans Wiegel, Dutch journalist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1941 – Sir George Young, 6th Baronet, English banker and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
1942 – Margaret Court, Australian tennis player and minister
1943 – Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban-American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1990)
1943 – Vernon Bogdanor, English political scientist and academic
1943 – Jimmy Johnson, American football player and coach
1944 – Angharad Rees, English-Welsh actress and jewellery designer (d. 2012)
1946 – Louise Fréchette, Canadian civil servant and diplomat, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
1946 – Barbara Lee, American politician
1946 – Ron Yary, American football player
1947 – Don Burke, Australian television host and producer
1947 – Alexis Herman, American businesswoman and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of Labor
1947 – Assata Shakur, American-Cuban criminal and activist
1948 – Rubén Blades, Panamanian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1948 – Lars Lagerbäck, Swedish footballer and manager
1948 – Kevin McKenzie, South African cricketer
1948 – Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist and conductor
1949 – Alan Fitzgerald, American guitarist and keyboardist
1950 – Pierre Paradis, Canadian lawyer and politician
1950 – Dennis Priestley, English darts player
1950 – Frances Spalding, English historian and academic
1950 – Tom Terrell, American journalist and photographer (d. 2007)
1951 – Jean-Luc Mongrain, Canadian journalist
1951 – Che Rosli, Malaysian politician
1952 – Stewart Copeland, American drummer and songwriter
1952 – Richard Egielski, American author and illustrator
1952 – Marc Esposito, French director and screenwriter
1952 – Ken McEwan, South African cricketer
1953 – Douglas J. Feith, American lawyer and politician, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
1954 – Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
1955 – Susan Wheeler, American poet and academic
1955 – Saw Swee Leong, Malaysian badminton player
1956 – Tony Kushner, American playwright and screenwriter
1957 – Faye Grant, American actress
1957 – Alexandra Marinina, Ukrainian-Russian colonel and author
1958 – Mick Cornett, American politician, and former mayor of Oklahoma City.
1958 – Michael Flatley, American-Irish dancer and choreographer
1958 – Mike Rogers, American politician
1959 – Gary Anderson, South African-American football player
1959 – James MacMillan, Scottish composer and conductor
1959 – Zoran Jolevski, Macedonian economist, politician, and diplomat, Macedonian Ambassador to the United States
1959 – Jürgen Ligi, Estonian economist and politician, 25th Estonian Minister of Defence
1960 – Terry Pendleton, American baseball player and coach
1962 – Grigory Leps, Russian singer-songwriter
1963 – Phoebe Cates, American actress
1963 – Srečko Katanec, Slovenian footballer and coach
1963 – Mikael Pernfors, Swedish tennis player
1964 – Phil Hellmuth, American poker player
1964 – Miguel Induráin, Spanish cyclist
1965 – Michel Desjoyeaux, French sailor
1965 – Claude Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Sherri Stoner, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Jyrki Lumme, Finnish ice hockey player
1967 – Will Ferrell, American actor, comedian, and producer
1968 – Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player and manager
1968 – Barry Sanders, American football player
1968 – Larry Sanger, American philosopher and businessman, co-founded Wikipedia and Citizendium
1968 – Michael Searle, Australian rugby league player and businessman
1968 – Robert Sherman, American songwriter and businessman
1968 – Olga Souza, Brazilian singer and dancer
1969 – Jules De Martino, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1969 – Kathryn Harby-Williams, Australian netball player and sportscaster
1970 – Raimonds Miglinieks, Latvian basketball player and coach
1970 – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Corey Feldman, American actor
1971 – Ed Kowalczyk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Live)
1972 – Ben Cahoon, American-Canadian football player and coach
1972 – François Drolet, Canadian speed skater
1973 – Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer
1973 – Graham Robertson, American director and producer
1973 – Tim Ryan, American politician
1974 – Jeremy Enigk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Maret Maripuu, Estonian politician, Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
1974 – Ryan McCombs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Wendell Sailor, Australian rugby player
1975 – Bas Leinders, Belgian race car driver
1976 – Tomasz Kuchar, Polish race car driver
1976 – Carlos Humberto Paredes, Paraguayan footballer
1976 – Anna Smashnova, Belarusian-Israeli tennis player
1977 – Bryan Budd, Northern Ireland-born English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2006)
1979 – Chris Mihm, American basketball player
1979 – Mai Nakamura, Japanese swimmer
1979 – Kim Rhode, American sport shooter
1979 – Nathan Rogers, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Konstantin Skrylnikov, Russian footballer
1980 – Adam Scott, Australian golfer
1981 – Giuseppe Di Masi, Italian footballer
1981 – Robert Kranjec, Slovenian ski jumper
1981 – Zach Randolph, American basketball player
1981 – Vicente Rodríguez, Spanish footballer
1982 – André Greipel, German cyclist
1982 – Carli Lloyd, American soccer player
1982 – Michael Umaña, Costa Rican footballer
1983 – Duncan Keith, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Hayanari Shimoda, Japanese race car driver
1984 – Attila Szabó, Hungarian decathlete
1985 – Mārtiņš Kravčenko, Latvian basketball player
1986 – Dustin Boyd, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Misako Uno, Japanese actress, singer, and fashion designer
1987 – Mousa Dembélé, Belgian footballer
1987 – AnnaLynne McCord, American actress and producer
1987 – Knowshon Moreno, American football player
1988 – Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer
1989 – Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
1990 – Bureta Faraimo, New Zealand rugby league player
1990 – Wizkid, Nigerian singer and songwriter
1990 – Johann Zarco, French motorcycle racer
1991 – Nate Schmidt, American ice hockey player
1991 – Andros Townsend, English footballer
1996 – Daniel Pearson, English actor and presenter

Deaths on July 16

784 – Fulrad, Frankish diplomat and saint (b. 710)
866 – Irmgard, Frankish abbess
1212 – William de Brus, 3rd Lord of Annandale
1216 – Pope Innocent III (b. 1160)
1324 – Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (b. 1267)
1342 – Charles I of Hungary (b. 1288)
1344 – An-Nasir Ahmad, Sultan of Egypt (b. 1316)
1509 – João da Nova, Portuguese explorer (b. 1460)
1546 – Anne Askew, English author and poet (b. 1520)
1557 – Anne of Cleves (b. 1515)
1576 – Isabella de’ Medici, Italian noble (b. 1542)
1647 – Masaniello, Italian rebel (b. 1622)
1664 – Andreas Gryphius, German poet and playwright (b. 1616)
1686 – John Pearson, English bishop and scholar (b. 1612)
1691 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French politician, French Secretary of State for War (b. 1641)
1729 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (b. 1683)
1747 – Giuseppe Crespi, Italian painter (b. 1665)
1770 – Francis Cotes, English painter and academic (b. 1726)
1796 – George Howard, English field marshal and politician (b. 1718)
1831 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, French-Russian general (b. 1763)
1849 – Sarah Allen, African-American missionary for the African Methodist Episcopal Church (b. 1764)
1868 – Dmitry Pisarev, Russian author and critic (b. 1840)
1879 – Edward Deas Thomson, Scottish-Australian politician, 3rd Chief Secretary of New South Wales (b. 1800)
1882 – Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States 1861-1865 (b. 1818)
1886 – Ned Buntline, American journalist and author (b. 1823)
1896 – Edmond de Goncourt, French critic and publisher, founded Académie Goncourt (b. 1822)
1915 – Ellen G. White, American theologian and author (b. 1827)
1917 – Philipp Scharwenka, German composer and educator (b. 1847)
1939 – Bartholomeus Roodenburch, Dutch swimmer (b. 1866)
1949 – Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1866)
1953 – Hilaire Belloc, French-born British writer and historian (b. 1870)
1954 – Herms Niel, German soldier, trombonist, and composer (b. 1888)
1960 – Albert Kesselring, German field marshal (b. 1881)
1960 – John P. Marquand, American author (b. 1893)
1964 – Rauf Orbay, Turkish colonel and politician, Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1881)
1965 – Boris Artzybasheff, Ukrainian-American illustrator (b.1899)
1969 – James Scott Douglas, English-born Scottish race car driver and 6th Baronet Douglas (b. 1930)
1981 – Harry Chapin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
1982 – Charles Robberts Swart, South African lawyer and politician, 1st State President of South Africa (b. 1894)
1985 – Heinrich Böll, German novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
1985 – Wayne King, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (b. 1901)
1989 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor and manager (b. 1908)
1990 – Robert Blackburn, Irish educator (b. 1927)
1990 – Miguel Muñoz, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1922)
1991 – Meindert DeJong, Dutch-American soldier and author (b. 1906)
1991 – Robert Motherwell, American painter and academic (b. 1915)
1991 – Frank Rizzo, American police officer and politician, 93rd Mayor of Philadelphia (b. 1920)
1992 – Buck Buchanan, American football player and coach (b. 1940)
1994 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
1995 – May Sarton, American playwright and novelist (b. 1912)
1995 – Stephen Spender, English author and poet (b. 1909)
1996 – Adolf von Thadden, German lieutenant and politician (b. 1921)
1998 – John Henrik Clarke, American historian and scholar (b. 1915)
1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., American lawyer and publisher (b. 1960)
1999 – Alan Macnaughton, Canadian lawyer and politician, Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons (b. 1903)
2001 – Morris, Belgian cartoonist (b. 1923)
2002 – John Cocke, American computer scientist and engineer (b. 1925)
2003 – Celia Cruz, Cuban-American singer and actress (b. 1925)
2003 – Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (b. 1935)
2004 – George Busbee, American lawyer and politician, 77th Governor of Georgia (b. 1927)
2004 – Charles Sweeney, American general and pilot (b. 1919)
2005 – Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (b. 1920)
2005 – Camillo Felgen, Luxembourgian singer-songwriter and radio host (b. 1920)
2006 – Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 13th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas (b. 1948)
2007 – Caterina Bueno, Italian singer and historian (b. 1943)
2008 – Jo Stafford, American singer (b. 1917)
2008 – Lindsay Thompson, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Victoria (b. 1923)
2011 – Forrest Blue, American football player (b. 1944)
2012 – William Asher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2012 – Stephen Covey, American businessman and author (b. 1932)
2012 – Gilbert Esau, American businessman and politician (b. 1919)
2012 – Ed Lincoln, Brazilian bassist, pianist, and composer (b. 1932)
2012 – Masaharu Matsushita, Japanese businessman (b. 1913)
2012 – Kitty Wells, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1919)
2013 – Alex Colville, Canadian painter and academic (b. 1920)
2013 – Marv Rotblatt, American baseball player (1927)
2014 – Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (b. 1920)
2014 – Mary Ellen Otremba, American educator and politician (b. 1950)
2014 – Johnny Winter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
2014 – Heinz Zemanek, Austrian computer scientist and academic (b. 1920)
2015 – Denis Avey, English soldier, engineer, and author (b. 1919)
2015 – Evelyn Ebsworth, English chemist and academic (b. 1933)
2015 – Alcides Ghiggia, Uruguayan footballer and manager (b. 1926)
2015 – Jack Goody, English anthropologist, author, and academic (b. 1919)
2017 – George Romero, American filmmaker (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances on July 16

Christian feast day:
- Gondulphus of Tongeren
- Helier
- Our Lady of Mount Carmel
  - Fiesta de La Tirana (Tarapacá Region, Chile)
- Reineldis
- July 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Engineer’s Day (Honduras)
Holocaust Memorial Day (France)

July 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

It is the last day of the first half of the year. The end of this day marks the halfway point of a leap year. It also falls on the same day of the week as New Year’s Day in a leap year. The midpoint of the year for southern hemisphere DST countries occurs at 11:00 p.m.

AD 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the Ostrogoth king, Totila, is mortally wounded.
1097 – Battle of Dorylaeum: Crusaders led by prince Bohemond of Taranto defeat a Seljuk army led by sultan Kilij Arslan I.
1431 – The Battle of La Higueruela takes place in Granada, leading to a modest advance of the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista.
1520 – Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés fight their way out of Tenochtitlan after nightfall.
1523 – Jan van Essen and Hendrik Vos become the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels.
1569 – Union of Lublin: The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania confirm a real union; the united country is called the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Republic of Both Nations.
1643 – First meeting of the Westminster Assembly, a council of theologians (“divines”) and members of the Parliament of England appointed to restructure the Church of England, at Westminster Abbey in London.
1690 – Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (as reckoned under the Julian calendar).
1766 – François-Jean de la Barre, a young French nobleman, is tortured and beheaded before his body is burnt on a pyre along with a copy of Voltaire’s Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France.
1770 – Lexell’s Comet is seen closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 astronomical units (2,180,000 km; 1,360,000 mi).
1782 – Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attack the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
1819 – Johann Georg Tralles discovers the Great Comet of 1819, (C/1819 N1). It was the first comet analyzed using polarimetry, by François Arago.
1837 – A system of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths is established in England and Wales.
1855 – Signing of the Quinault Treaty: The Quinault and the Quileute cede their land to the United States.
1858 – Joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society of London.
1862 – The Russian State Library is founded as the Library of the Moscow Public Museum.
1862 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Malvern Hill takes place. It is the last of the Seven Days Battles, part of George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign.
1863 – Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marking the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Gettysburg begins.
1867 – The British North America Act takes effect as the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia join into confederation to create the modern nation of Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada. This date is commemorated annually in Canada as Canada Day, a national holiday.
1870 – The United States Department of Justice formally comes into existence.
1873 – Prince Edward Island joins into Canadian Confederation.
1874 – The Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter, goes on sale.
1878 – Canada joins the Universal Postal Union.
1879 – Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower.
1881 – The world’s first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States.
1881 – General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell and Childers reforms of the British Army, comes into effect.
1885 – The United States terminates reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada.
1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Leopold II of Belgium.
1890 – Canada and Bermuda are linked by telegraph cable.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The Battle of San Juan Hill is fought in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
1903 – Start of first Tour de France bicycle race.
1908 – SOS is adopted as the international distress signal.
1911 – Germany despatches the gunship SMS Panther to Morocco, sparking the Agadir Crisis.
1915 – Leutnant Kurt Wintgens of the then-named German Deutsches Heer’s Fliegertruppe army air service achieves the first known aerial victory with a synchronized machine-gun armed fighter plane, the Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker.
1916 – World War I: First day on the Somme: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed and 40,000 wounded.
1922 – The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 begins in the United States.
1923 – The Parliament of Canada suspends all Chinese immigration.
1931 – United Airlines begins service (as Boeing Air Transport).
1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty become the first people to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engined monoplane aircraft.
1932 – Australia’s national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed.
1935 – Regina, Saskatchewan police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ambush strikers participating in the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
1942 – World War II: First Battle of El Alamein.
1942 – The Australian Federal Government becomes the sole collector of income tax in Australia as State Income Tax is abolished.
1943 – The City of Tokyo and the Prefecture of Tokyo are both replaced by the Tokyo Metropolis.
1947 – The Philippine Air Force is established.
1948 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-i-Azam) inaugurates Pakistan’s central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan.
1949 – The merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ends more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin royal family.
1957 – The International Geophysical Year begins.
1958 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada via microwave.
1958 – Flooding of Canada’s Saint Lawrence Seaway begins.
1959 – Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the US, the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
1960 – Independence of Somalia.
1960 – Ghana becomes a republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceases to be its head of state.
1962 – Independence of Rwanda and Burundi.
1963 – ZIP codes are introduced for United States mail.
1963 – The British Government admits that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent.
1966 – The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto.
1967 – Merger Treaty: The European Community is formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission.
1968 – The United States Central Intelligence Agency’s Phoenix Program is officially established.
1968 – The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries.
1968 – Formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States.
1972 – The first Gay pride march in England takes place.
1976 – Portugal grants autonomy to Madeira.
1978 – The Northern Territory in Australia is granted self-government.
1979 – Sony introduces the Walkman.
1980 – “O Canada” officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
1983 – A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashes into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
1984 – The PG-13 rating is introduced by the MPAA.
1987 – The American radio station WFAN in New York City is launched as the world’s first all-sports radio station.
1990 – German reunification: East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany.
1991 – Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.
1997 – China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover ceremony is attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Charles, Prince of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
1999 – The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. In Wales, the powers of the Welsh Secretary are transferred to the National Assembly.
2002 – The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
2002 – Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154, and DHL Flight 611, a Boeing 757, collide in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board both planes.
2003 – Over 500,000 people protest against efforts to pass anti-sedition legislation in Hong Kong.
2004 – Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini–Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC.
2006 – The first operation of Qinghai–Tibet Railway is conducted in China.
2007 – Smoking in England is banned in all public indoor spaces.
2008 – Riots erupt in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections.
2013 – Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.

Births on July 1

1311 – Liu Bowen, Chinese military strategist, statesman and poet (d. 1375)
1464 – Clara Gonzaga, Italian noble (d. 1503)
1481 – Christian II of Denmark (d. 1559)
1506 – Louis II of Hungary (d. 1526)
1534 – Frederick II of Denmark (d. 1588)
1553 – Peter Street, English carpenter and builder (d. 1609)
1574 – Joseph Hall, English bishop and mystic (d. 1656)
1586 – Claudio Saracini, Italian lute player and composer (d. 1630)
1633 – Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1698)
1646 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1716)
1663 – Franz Xaver Murschhauser, German composer and theorist (d. 1738)
1725 – Rhoda Delaval, English painter and aristrocrat (d. 1757)
1725 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (d. 1807)
1731 – Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, Scottish-English admiral (d. 1804)
1742 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and academic (d. 1799)
1771 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1839)
1788 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1867)
1804 – Charles Gordon Greene, American journalist and politician (d. 1886)
1804 – George Sand, French author and playwright (d. 1876)
1807 – Thomas Green Clemson, American politician and educator, founded Clemson University (d. 1888)
1808 – Ygnacio del Valle, Mexican-American landowner (d. 1880)
1814 – Robert Torrens, Irish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of South Australia (d. 1884)
1818 – Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian-Austrian physician and obstetrician (d. 1865)
1818 – Karl von Vierordt, German physician, psychologist and academic (d. 1884)
1822 – Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Vietnamese poet and activist (d. 1888)
1834 – Jadwiga Łuszczewska, Polish poet and author (d. 1908)
1850 – Florence Earle Coates, American poet (d. 1927)
1858 – Willard Metcalf, American painter (d. 1925)
1858 – Velma Caldwell Melville, American editor and writer of prose and poetry (d. 1924)
1863 – William Grant Stairs, Canadian-English captain and explorer (d. 1892)
1869 – William Strunk Jr., American author and educator (d. 1946)
1872 – Louis Blériot, French pilot and engineer (d. 1936)
1872 – William Duddell, English physicist and engineer (d. 1917)
1873 – Alice Guy-Blaché, French-American film director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1968)
1873 – Andrass Samuelsen, Faroese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1954)
1875 – Joseph Weil, American con man (d. 1976)
1876 – T.J. Ryan, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Queensland (d. 1921)
1878 – Jacques Rosenbaum, Estonian-German architect (d. 1944)
1879 – Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
1881 – Edward Battersby Bailey, English geologist (d. 1965)
1882 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1962)
1883 – Arthur Borton, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1933)
1885 – Dorothea Mackellar, Australian author and poet (d. 1968)
1887 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-English author and scholar (d. 1981)
1892 – James M. Cain, American author and journalist (d. 1977)
1892 – László Lajtha, Hungarian composer and conductor (d. 1963)
1899 – Thomas A. Dorsey, American pianist and composer (d. 1993)
1899 – Charles Laughton, English-American actor and director (d. 1962)
1899 – Konstantinos Tsatsos, Greek scholar and politician, President of Greece (d. 1987)
1901 – Irna Phillips, American screenwriter (d. 1973)
1902 – William Wyler, French-American film director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1903 – Amy Johnson, English pilot (d. 1941)
1903 – Beatrix Lehmann, English actress (d. 1979)
1906 – Jean Dieudonné, French mathematician and academic (d. 1992)
1906 – Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded the Estée Lauder Companies (d. 2004)
1907 – Norman Pirie, Scottish-English biochemist and virologist (d. 1997)
1909 – Emmett Toppino, American sprinter (d. 1971)
1910 – Glenn Hardin, American hurdler (d. 1975)
1911 – Arnold Alas, Estonian landscape architect and artist (d. 1990)
1911 – Sergey Sokolov, Russian marshal and politician, Soviet Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
1912 – David Brower, American environmentalist, founded Sierra Club Foundation (d. 2000)
1912 – Sally Kirkland, American journalist (d. 1989)
1913 – Frank Barrett, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1913 – Lee Guttero, American basketball player (d. 2004)
1913 – Vasantrao Naik, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 1979)
1914 – Thomas Pearson, British Army officer (d. 2019)
1914 – Christl Cranz, German alpine skier (d. 2004)
1914 – Bernard B. Wolfe, American politician (d. 2016)
1915 – Boots Poffenberger, American baseball player (d. 1999)
1915 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter, bass player, guitarist and producer (d. 1992)
1915 – Joseph Ransohoff, American soldier and neurosurgeon (d. 2001)
1915 – Philip Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme, British peer (d. 2000)
1915 – Nguyễn Văn Linh, Vietnamese politician (d. 1998)
1916 – Olivia de Havilland, British-American actress
1916 – Iosif Shklovsky, Ukrainian astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1985)
1916 – George C. Stoney, American director and producer (d. 2012)
1917 – Humphry Osmond, English-American lieutenant and psychiatrist (d. 2004)
1917 – Álvaro Domecq y Díez, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2005)
1918 – Ralph Young, American singer and actor (d. 2008)
1918 – Ahmed Deedat, South African writer and public speaker (d. 2005)
1918 – Pedro Yap, Filipino lawyer (d. 2003)
1919 – Arnold Meri, Estonian colonel (d. 2009)
1919 – Malik Dohan al-Hassan, Iraqi politician
1919 – Gerald E. Miller, American vice admiral (d. 2014)
1920 – Henri Amouroux, French historian and journalist (d. 2007)
1920 – Harold Sakata, Japanese-American wrestler and actor (d. 1982)
1920 – Joseph G. Williams, American musician
1920 – George I. Fujimoto, American-Japanese chemist
1921 – Seretse Khama, Batswana lawyer and politician, 1st President of Botswana (d. 1980)
1921 – Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist (d. 2005)
1921 – Arthur Johnson, Canadian canoeist (d. 2003)
1922 – Toshi Seeger, German-American activist, co-founded the Clearwater Festival (d. 2013)
1922 – Mordechai Bibi, Israeli politician
1923 – Scotty Bowers, American Marine, author and pimp (d. 2019)
1924 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1924 – Florence Stanley, American actress (d. 2003)
1924 – Georges Rivière, French actor
1925 – Farley Granger, American actor (d. 2011)
1925 – Art McNally, American football referee
1926 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1926 – Carl Hahn, German businessman
1926 – Mohamed Abshir Muse, Somali general (d. 2017)
1926 – Hans Werner Henze, German composer and educator (d. 2012)
1927 – Alan J. Charig, English paleontologist and author (d. 1997)
1927 – Joseph Martin Sartoris, American bishop
1927 – Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India (d. 2007)^[27]
1929 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
1930 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American director and producer (d. 2005)
1930 – Carol Chomsky, American linguist and academic (d. 2008)
1931 – Leslie Caron, French actress and dancer
1932 – Ze’ev Schiff, French-Israeli journalist and author (d. 2007)
1933 – C. Scott Littleton, American anthropologist and academic (d. 2010)
1934 – Claude Berri, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1934 – Jamie Farr, American actor
1934 – Jean Marsh, English actress and screenwriter
1934 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director and producer (d. 2008)
1935 – James Cotton, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 2017)
1935 – David Prowse, English actor
1936 – Wally Amos, American entrepreneur and founder of Famous Amos
1938 – Craig Anderson, American baseball player and coach
1938 – Hariprasad Chaurasia, Indian flute player and composer
1939 – Karen Black, American actress (d. 2013)
1939 – Delaney Bramlett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (d. 2008)
1940 – Craig Brown, Scottish footballer and manager
1940 – Ela Gandhi, South African activist and politician
1940 – Cahit Zarifoğlu, Turkish poet and author (d. 1987)
1941 – Rod Gilbert, Canadian-American ice hockey player
1941 – Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1941 – Myron Scholes, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – Twyla Tharp, American dancer and choreographer
1942 – Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Iraqi field marshal and politician (d. 2015)
1942 – Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress
1942 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer and pastor (d. 2015)
1942 – Julia Higgins, English chemist and academic
1943 – Philip Brunelle, American conductor and organist
1943 – Peeter Lepp, Estonian politician, 37th Mayor of Tallinn
1943 – Jeff Wayne, American composer, musician and lyricist
1945 – Mike Burstyn, American actor and singer
1945 – Debbie Harry, American singer-songwriter and actress
1946 – Mick Aston, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2013)
1946 – Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish sergeant and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs
1947 – Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Japanese race car driver
1947 – Malcolm Wicks, English academic and politician (d. 2012)
1948 – John Ford, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Néjia Ben Mabrouk, Tunisian-Belgian director and screenwriter
1949 – John Farnham, English-Australian singer-songwriter
1949 – David Hogan, American composer and educator (d. 1996)
1949 – Venkaiah Naidu, Indian lawyer and politician
1950 – David Duke, American white supremacist, politician and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard
1951 – Trevor Eve, English actor and producer
1951 – Anne Feeney, American singer-songwriter and activist
1951 – Julia Goodfellow, English physicist and academic
1951 – Klaus-Peter Justus, German runner
1951 – Tom Kozelko, American basketball player
1951 – Terrence Mann, American actor, singer and dancer
1951 – Fred Schneider, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1951 – Victor Willis, American singer-songwriter, pianist and actor
1952 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor, producer and screenwriter
1952 – David Arkenstone, American composer and performer
1952 – David Lane, English oncologist and academic
1952 – Steve Shutt, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1952 – Timothy J. Tobias, American pianist and composer (d. 2006)
1953 – Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Malta
1953 – Jadranka Kosor, Croatian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Croatia
1954 – Keith Whitley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1989)
1955 – Nikolai Demidenko, Russian pianist and educator
1955 – Li Keqiang, Chinese economist and politician, 7th Premier of the People’s Republic of China
1955 – Lisa Scottoline, American lawyer and author
1957 – Lisa Blount, American actress and producer (d. 2010)
1957 – Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player
1957 – Sean O’Driscoll, English footballer and manager
1958 – Jack Dyer Crouch II, American diplomat, United States Deputy National Security Advisor
1960 – Michael Beattie, Australian rugby league player and coach
1960 – Lynn Jennings, American runner
1960 – Evelyn “Champagne” King, American soul/disco singer
1960 – Kevin Swords, American rugby player
1961 – Malcolm Elliott, English cyclist
1961 – Ivan Kaye, English actor
1961 – Carl Lewis, American long jumper and runner
1961 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
1961 – Michelle Wright, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Andre Braugher, American actor and producer
1962 – Mokhzani Mahathir, Malaysian businessman
1963 – Roddy Bottum, American singer and keyboard player
1963 – Nick Giannopoulos, Australian actor
1963 – David Wood, American lawyer and environmentalist (d. 2006)
1964 – Bernard Laporte, French rugby player and coach
1965 – Carl Fogarty, English motorcycle racer
1965 – Garry Schofield, English rugby player and coach
1965 – Harald Zwart, Norwegian director and producer
1966 – Enrico Annoni, Italian footballer and coach
1966 – Shawn Burr, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1967 – Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American model and actress
1969 – Séamus Egan, American-Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Missy Elliott, American rapper, producer, dancer and actress
1971 – Julianne Nicholson, American actress
1974 – Jefferson Pérez, Ecuadorian race walker
1975 – Sean Colson, American basketball player and coach
1975 – Sufjan Stevens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer and coach
1976 – Hannu Tihinen, Finnish footballer
1976 – Albert Torrens, Australian rugby league player
1976 – Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer and manager
1976 – Szymon Ziółkowski, Polish hammer thrower
1977 – Tom Frager, Senegalese-French singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Keigo Hayashi, Japanese musician
1977 – Jarome Iginla, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Forrest Griffin, American mixed martial artist and actor
1981 – Carlo Del Fava, South African-Italian rugby player
1981 – Tadhg Kennelly, Irish-Australian footballer
1982 – Justin Huber, Australian baseball player
1982 – Joachim Johansson, Swedish tennis player
1982 – Adrian Ward, American football player
1982 – Hilarie Burton, American actress
1984 – Donald Thomas, Bahamian high jumper
1985 – Chris Perez, American baseball player
1986 – Charlie Blackmon, American baseball player
1986 – Andrew Lee, Australian footballer
1986 – Julian Prochnow, German footballer
1987 – Michael Schrader, German decathlete
1988 – Dedé, Brazilian footballer
1988 – Aleksander Lesun, Russian modern pentathlete
1989 – Kent Bazemore, American basketball player
1989 – Daniel Ricciardo, Australian race car driver
1990 – Ben Coker, English footballer
1991 – Michael Wacha, American baseball player
1992 – Aaron Sanchez, American baseball player
1995 – Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Belgian footballer
1995 – Savvy Shields, Miss America 2017
1996 – Adelina Sotnikova, Russian figure skater
1998 – Aleksandra Golovkina, Lithuanian figure skater
2000 – Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Indonesian sprinter
2001 – Chosen Jacobs, American entertainer

Deaths on July 1

552 – Totila, Ostrogoth king
992 – Heonjeong, Korean queen (b. 966)
1109 – Alfonso VI, king of León and Castile (b. 1040)
1224 – Hōjō Yoshitoki, regent of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan (b. 1163)
1242 – Chagatai Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1183)
1277 – Baibars, Egyptian sultan (b. 1223)
1321 – María de Molina, queen of Castile and León
1348 – Joan, English princess
1555 – John Bradford, English reformer, prebendary of St. Paul’s (b. 1510)
1589 – Lady Saigō, Japanese concubine (b. 1552)
1592 – Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, Italian composer and educator (b. 1535)
1614 – Isaac Casaubon, French philologist and scholar (b. 1559)
1622 – William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, English politician (b. 1575)
1681 – Oliver Plunkett, Irish archbishop and saint (b. 1629)
1736 – Ahmed III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1673)
1774 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1705)
1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English admiral and politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1730)
1784 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1710)
1787 – Charles de Rohan, French marshal (b. 1715)
1819 – the Public Universal Friend, American evangelist (b. 1752)
1839 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1785)
1860 – Charles Goodyear, American chemist and engineer (b. 1800)
1863 – John F. Reynolds, American general (b. 1820)
1884 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective and spy (b. 1819)
1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (b. 1811)
1905 – John Hay, American journalist and politician, 37th United States Secretary of State (b. 1838)
1912 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (b. 1875)
1925 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (b. 1866)
1934 – Ernst Röhm, German paramilitary commander (b. 1887)
1942 – Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, Irish writer (b. 1857)
1943 – Willem Arondeus, Dutch artist, author, and anti-Nazi resistance fighter (b. 1894)
1944 – Carl Mayer, Austrian-English screenwriter (b. 1894)
1944 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian author (b. 1930)
1948 – Achille Varzi, Italian race car driver (b. 1904)
1950 – Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and educator (b. 1865)
1950 – Eliel Saarinen, Finnish-American architect, co-designed the National Museum of Finland (b. 1873)
1951 – Tadeusz Borowski, Polish poet, novelist and journalist (b. 1922)
1961 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (b. 1894)
1962 – Purushottam Das Tandon, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
1962 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1882)
1964 – Pierre Monteux, French-American viola player and conductor (b. 1875)
1965 – Wally Hammond, English cricketer (b. 1903)
1965 – Robert Ruark, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
1966 – Frank Verner, American runner (b. 1883)
1967 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (b. 1888)
1968 – Fritz Bauer, German judge and politician (b. 1903)
1971 – William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
1971 – Learie Constantine, Trinidadian-English cricketer, lawyer, and politician (b. 1901)
1974 – Juan Perón, Argentinian general and politician, President of Argentina (b. 1895)
1978 – Kurt Student, German general and pilot (b. 1890)
1981 – Carlos de Oliveira, Portuguese author and poet (b. 1921)
1983 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect, designed the Montreal Biosphère (b. 1895)
1984 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1904)
1991 – Michael Landon, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1936)
1992 – Franco Cristaldi, Italian screenwriter and producer (b. 1924)
1994 – Merriam Modell, American author (b. 1908)
1995 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host (b. 1938)
1995 – Ian Parkin, English guitarist (Be-Bop Deluxe) (b. 1950)
1996 – William T. Cahill, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1904)
1996 – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (b. 1954)
1996 – Steve Tesich, Serbian-American author and screenwriter (b. 1942)
1997 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (b. 1917)
1997 – Charles Werner, American cartoonist (b. 1909)
1999 – Edward Dmytryk, Canadian-American director and producer (b. 1908)
1999 – Forrest Mars Sr., American businessman, created M&M’s and the Mars bar (b. 1904)
1999 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress (b. 1910)
1999 – Sola Sierra, Chilean human rights activist (b. 1935)
2000 – Walter Matthau, American actor (b. 1920)
2001 – Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
2001 – Jean-Louis Rosier, French race car driver (b. 1925)
2003 – Herbie Mann, American flute player and saxophonist (b. 1930)
2004 – Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2004 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (b. 1924)
2004 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer and conductor (b. 1909)
2005 – Renaldo Benson, American singer-songwriter (Four Tops) (b. 1936)
2005 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1923)
2005 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (Change) (b. 1951)
2006 – Ryutaro Hashimoto, Japanese politician, 53rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
2006 – Robert Lepikson, Estonian race car driver and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior (b. 1952)
2006 – Fred Trueman, English cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1931)
2008 – Mel Galley, English guitarist (b. 1948)
2009 – Karl Malden, American actor (b. 1912)
2009 – Onni Palaste, Finnish soldier and author (b. 1917)
2009 – Mollie Sugden, English actress (b. 1922)
2010 – Don Coryell, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
2010 – Arnold Friberg, American painter and illustrator (b. 1913)
2010 – Ilene Woods, American actress and singer (b. 1929)
2012 – Peter E. Gillquist, American priest and author (b. 1938)
2012 – Ossie Hibbert, Jamaican-American keyboard player and producer (b. 1950)
2012 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (b. 1926)
2012 – Alan G. Poindexter, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961)
2012 – Jack Richardson, American author and playwright (b. 1934)
2013 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (b. 1926)
2013 – Charles Foley, American game designer, co-created Twister (b. 1930)
2013 – William H. Gray, American minister and politician (b. 1941)
2014 – Jean Garon, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1938)
2014 – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (b. 1935)
2014 – Bob Jones, English lawyer and politician (b. 1955)
2014 – Anatoly Kornukov, Ukrainian-Russian general (b. 1942)
2014 – Walter Dean Myers, American author and poet (b. 1937)
2015 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and television host (b. 1927)
2015 – Czesław Olech, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1931)
2015 – Nicholas Winton, English lieutenant and humanitarian (b. 1909)
2016 – Robin Hardy, English author and film director (b. 1929)
2020 – Georg Ratzinger, German Roman Catholic priest and musician (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances on July 1

Christian feast day:
- Aaron (Syriac Christianity)
- Blessed Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
- Felix of Como
- Junípero Serra
- Julius and Aaron
- Leontius of Autun
- Servanus
- Veep
- July 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Feast of the Most Precious Blood (removed from official Roman Catholic calendar since 1969)
Earliest day on which Alexanderson Day can fall, celebrated on the Sunday closest to July 2. (Sweden)
Earliest day on which CARICOM Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Guyana)
Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Cayman Islands)
Earliest day on which Día del Amigo can fall, celebrated on the first Saturday of July. (Peru)
Earliest day on which Fishermen’s Holiday, celebrated on the first Friday of July (Marshall Islands)
Earliest day on which Heroes’ Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Zambia)
Earliest day on which International Co-operative Day, can fall, celebrated on the first Saturday of July.
Earliest day on which International Free Hugs Day, can fall, celebrated on the first Saturday of July.
Earliest day on which Navy Day can fall, celebrated on the first Sunday in July. (Ukraine)
Earliest day on which Navy Days can fall, celebrated First Saturday and Sunday. (Netherlands)
Earliest day on which Youth Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in July. (Singapore)
Armed Forces Day (Singapore)
Canada Day, formerly Dominion Day (Canada)
Children’s Day (Pakistan)
Communist Party of China Founding Day (China)
Day of Officials and Civil Servants (Hungary)
Doctors’ Day (India)
Emancipation Day (Netherlands Antilles)
Engineer’s Day (Bahrain, Mexico)
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Hong Kong, China)
Independence Day (Burundi), celebrates the independence of Burundi from Belgium in 1962.
Independence Day (Rwanda)
Independence Day (Somalia)
International Tartan Day
July Morning (Bulgaria)
Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) (Suriname)
Madeira Day (Madeira, Portugal)
Moving Day (Quebec) (Canada)
Newfoundland and Labrador Memorial Day
Republic Day (Ghana)
Sir Seretse Khama Day (Botswana)
Territory Day (British Virgin Islands)
The first day of Van Mahotsav, celebrated until July 7. (India)

July 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

325 – The original Nicene Creed is adopted at the First Council of Nicaea.
1179 – The Battle of Kalvskinnet takes place outside Nidaros (now Trondheim), Norway. Earl Erling Skakke is killed, and the battle changes the tide of the civil wars.
1306 – The Earl of Pembroke’s army defeats Bruce’s Scottish army at the Battle of Methven.
1586 – English colonists leave Roanoke Island, after failing to establish England’s first permanent settlement in North America.
1770 – New Church Day: Emanuel Swedenborg writes: “The Lord sent forth His twelve disciples, who followed Him in the world into the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reign. This took place on the 19th day of June, in the year 1770.”
1800 – War of the Second Coalition Battle of Höchstädt results in a French victory over Austria.
1816 – Battle of Seven Oaks between North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1821 – Decisive defeat of the Filiki Eteria by the Ottomans at Drăgășani (in Wallachia).
1846 – The first officially recorded, organized baseball game is played under Alexander Cartwright’s rules on Hoboken, New Jersey’s Elysian Fields with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the Knickerbockers 23–1. Cartwright umpired.
1850 – Princess Louise of the Netherlands marries Crown Prince Karl of Sweden–Norway.
1862 – The U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford.
1865 – Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 41 other contiguous states as Juneteenth.
1867 – Maximilian I of the Second Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro.
1875 – The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins.
1903 – Benito Mussolini, at the time a radical Socialist, is arrested by Bern police for advocating a violent general strike.
1910 – The first Father’s Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
1913 – Natives Land Act, 1913 in South Africa implemented.
1934 – The Communications Act of 1934 establishes the United States’ Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
1943 – The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL merge for one season due to player shortages caused by World War II.
1953 – Cold War: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York.
1960 – The first NASCAR race was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
1961 – Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom.
1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate.
1965 – Nguyễn Cao Kỳ becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam at the head of a military junta; General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes the figurehead chief of state.
1985 – Members of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, dressed as Salvadoran soldiers, attack the Zona Rosa area of San Salvador.
1987 – Basque separatist group ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45.
1988 – Pope John Paul II canonizes 117 Vietnamese Martyrs.
1990 – The current international law defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, is ratified for the first time by Norway.
1990 – The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is founded in Moscow.
1991 – The last Soviet army units in Hungary are withdrawn.
2007 – The al-Khilani Mosque bombing in Baghdad leaves 78 people dead and another 218 injured.
2009 – Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police officers break out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef.
2009 – War in North-West Pakistan: The Pakistani Armed Forces open Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Taliban and other Islamist rebels in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
2012 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requested asylum in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents including footage of civilian killings by the US army.
2018 – The 10,000,000th United States Patent is issued.

Births on June 19

1301 – Prince Morikuni, shōgun of Japan (d. 1333)
1417 – Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, lord of Rimini (d. 1468)
1566 – James VI and I of the United Kingdom (d. 1625)
1590 – Philip Bell, British colonial governor (d. 1678)
1595 – Hargobind, sixth Sikh guru (d. 1644)
1598 – Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1677)
1606 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (d. 1649)
1623 – Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1662)
1633 – Philipp van Limborch, Dutch author and theologian (d. 1712)
1701 – François Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1775)
1731 – Joaquim Machado de Castro, Portuguese sculptor (d. 1822)
1764 – José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan general and politician (d. 1850)
1771 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1859)
1776 – Francis Johnson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1842)
1783 – Friedrich Sertürner, German chemist and pharmacist (d. 1841)
1793 – Joseph Earl Sheffield, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1882)
1795 – James Braid, Scottish-English surgeon (d. 1860)
1797 – Hamilton Hume, Australian explorer (d. 1873)
1815 – Cornelius Krieghoff, Dutch-Canadian painter (d. 1872)
1816 – William H. Webb, American shipbuilder and philanthropist, founded the Webb Institute (d. 1899)
1833 – Mary Tenney Gray, American editorial writer, club-woman, philanthropist, and suffragette (d. 1904)
1834 – Charles Spurgeon, English pastor and author (d. 1892)
1840 – Georg Karl Maria Seidlitz, German entomologist and academic (d. 1917)
1843 – Mary Sibbet Copley, American philanthropist (d. 1929)
1845 – Cléophas Beausoleil, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1904)
1846 – Antonio Abetti, Italian astronomer and academic (d. 1928)
1850 – David Jayne Hill, American historian and politician, 24th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1932)
1851 – Billy Midwinter, English-Australian cricketer (d. 1890)
1851 – Silvanus P. Thompson, English physicist, engineer, and academic (d. 1916)
1854 – Alfredo Catalani, Italian composer and academic (d. 1893)
1854 – Hjalmar Mellin, Finnish mathematician and theorist (d. 1933)
1855 – George F. Roesch, American lawyer and politician (d. 1917)
1858 – Sam Walter Foss, American poet and librarian (d. 1911)
1861 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish-English field marshal (d. 1928)
1861 – Émile Haug, French geologist and paleontologist (d. 1927)
1861 – José Rizal, Filipino journalist, author, and poet (d. 1896)
1865 – May Whitty, English actress (d. 1948)
1871 – Alajos Szokolyi, Hungarian hurdler, jumper, and physician (d. 1932)
1872 – Theodore Payne, English-American gardener and botanist (d. 1963)
1874 – Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish physicist and engineer (d. 1941)
1876 – Nigel Gresley, Scottish-English engineer (d. 1941)
1877 – Charles Coburn, American actor (d. 1961)
1881 – Maginel Wright Enright, American illustrator (d. 1966)
1883 – Gladys Mills Phipps, American horse breeder (d. 1970)
1884 – Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, French painter and historian (d. 1974)
1886 – Finley Hamilton, American lawyer and politician (d. 1940)
1888 – Arthur Massey Berry, Canadian soldier and pilot (d. 1970)
1891 – John Heartfield, German photographer and activist (d. 1968)
1896 – Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (d. 1974)
1896 – Wallis Simpson, American wife of Edward VIII (d. 1986)
1897 – Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
1897 – Moe Howard, American comedian (d. 1975)
1902 – Guy Lombardo, Canadian-American violinist and bandleader (d. 1977)
1903 – Mary Callery, American-French sculptor and academic (d. 1977)
1903 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (d. 1941)
1903 – Wally Hammond, English cricketer and coach (d. 1965)
1903 – Hans Litten, German lawyer (d. 1938)
1905 – Mildred Natwick, American actress (d. 1994)
1906 – Ernst Boris Chain, German-Irish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1906 – Knut Kroon, Swedish footballer (d. 1975)
1906 – Walter Rauff, German SS officer (d. 1984)
1907 – Clarence Wiseman, Canadian 10th General of the Salvation Army (d. 1985)
1909 – Osamu Dazai, Japanese author (d. 1948)
1909 – Rūdolfs Jurciņš, Latvian basketball player (d. 1948)
1910 – Sydney Allard, English race car driver, founded the Allard Company (d. 1966)
1910 – Paul Flory, American chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1910 – Abe Fortas, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1982)
1912 – Don Gutteridge, American baseball player and manager (d. 2008)
1912 – Virginia MacWatters, American soprano and actress (d. 2005)
1913 – Helene Madison, American swimmer (d. 1970)
1914 – Alan Cranston, American journalist and politician (d. 2000)
1914 – Lester Flatt, American bluegrass singer-songwriter, guitarist, and mandolin player (d. 1979)
1915 – Pat Buttram, American actor (d. 1994)
1915 – Julius Schwartz, American publisher and agent (d. 2004)
1917 – Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwean guerrilla leader and politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (d. 1999)
1919 – Pauline Kael, American film critic (d. 2001)
1920 – Yves Robert, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
1921 – Louis Jourdan, French-American actor and singer (d. 2015)
1922 – Aage Bohr, Danish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
1922 – Marilyn P. Johnson, American educator and diplomat, 8th United States Ambassador to Togo
1923 – Bob Hank, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
1926 – Erna Schneider Hoover, American mathematician and inventor
1927 – Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Argentine general and human rights violator (d. 2018)
1928 – Tommy DeVito, American singer and guitarist
1928 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (d. 2000)
1930 – Gena Rowlands, American actress
1932 – Pier Angeli, Italian actress (d. 1971)
1932 – José Sanchis Grau, Spanish author and illustrator (d. 2011)
1932 – Marisa Pavan, Italian actress
1933 – Viktor Patsayev, Kazakh engineer and astronaut (d. 1971)
1934 – Gérard Latortue, Haitian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Haiti
1936 – Marisa Galvany, American soprano and actress
1937 – André Glucksmann, French philosopher and author (d. 2015)
1938 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (d. 2002)
1939 – Bernd Hoss, German footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1939 – John F. MacArthur, American minister and theologian
1941 – Václav Klaus, Czech economist and politician, 2nd President of the Czech Republic
1942 – Merata Mita, New Zealand director and producer (d. 2010)
1944 – Chico Buarque, Brazilian singer, composer, writer and poet
1945 – Radovan Karadžić, Serbian-Bosnian politician and convicted war criminal, 1st President of Republika Srpska
1945 – Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, Nobel Prize laureate
1945 – Tobias Wolff, American short story writer, memoirist, and novelist
1946 – Jimmy Greenhoff, English footballer and manager
1947 – Salman Rushdie, Indian-English novelist and essayist
1947 – John Ralston Saul, Canadian philosopher and author
1948 – Nick Drake, English singer-songwriter (d. 1974)
1948 – Phylicia Rashad, American actress
1950 – Neil Asher Silberman, American archaeologist and historian
1950 – Ann Wilson, American singer-songwriter and musician
1951 – Ayman al-Zawahiri, Egyptian terrorist
1951 – Francesco Moser, Italian cyclist
1952 – Bob Ainsworth, English politician, Secretary of State for Defence
1954 – Mike O’Brien, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales
1954 – Lou Pearlman, American music producer and fraudster (d. 2016)
1954 – Kathleen Turner, American actress
1954 – Richard Wilkins, New Zealand-Australian journalist and television presenter
1955 – Mary O’Connor, New Zealand runner
1955 – Mary Schapiro, American lawyer and politician
1957 – Anna Lindh, Swedish politician, 39th Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2003)
1957 – Jean Rabe, American journalist and author
1958 – Sergei Makarov, Russian-American ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Mark DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player
1959 – Christian Wulff, German lawyer and politician, 10th President of Germany
1960 – Andrew Dilnot, English economist and academic
1960 – Johnny Gray, American runner and coach
1960 – Luke Morley, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1960 – Patti Rizzo, American golfer
1962 – Paula Abdul, American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, and presenter
1962 – Jeremy Bates, English tennis player
1962 – Ashish Vidyarthi, Indian actor
1963 – Laura Ingraham, American radio host and author
1963 – Margarita Ponomaryova, Russian hurdler
1963 – Rory Underwood, English rugby player, lieutenant, and pilot
1964 – Brent Goulet, American soccer player and manager
1964 – Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and former Mayor of London
1964 – Brian Vander Ark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Sabine Braun, German heptathlete
1965 – Sadie Frost, English actress and producer
1966 – Michalis Romanidis, Greek basketball player
1967 – Bjørn Dæhlie, Norwegian skier and businessman
1968 – Alastair Lynch, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1968 – Timothy Morton, American philosopher and academic
1968 – Kimberly Anne “Kim” Walker, American film and television actress (d. 2001)
1970 – Rahul Gandhi, Indian politician
1970 – Quincy Watts, American sprinter and football player
1970 – Brian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – José Emilio Amavisca, Spanish footballer
1971 – Chris Armstrong, English footballer
1972 – Jean Dujardin, French actor
1972 – Ilya Markov, Russian race walker
1972 – Brian McBride, American soccer player and coach
1972 – Poppy Montgomery, Australian-American actress
1972 – Robin Tunney, American actress
1973 – Jahine Arnold, American football player
1973 – Yuko Nakazawa, Japanese singer
1973 – Yasuhiko Yabuta, Japanese baseball player
1974 – Doug Mientkiewicz, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1974 – Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi, Bangladeshi member of parliament
1975 – Hugh Dancy, English actor and model
1975 – Anthony Parker, American basketball player
1976 – Anar Baghirov, Azerbaijani lawyer
1976 – Dennis Crowley, American businessman, co-founded Foursquare
1976 – Bryan Hughes, English footballer and manager
1976 – Anita Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer
1978 – Dirk Nowitzki, German basketball player
1978 – Zoe Saldana, American actress
1978 – Claudio Vargas, Dominican baseball player
1979 – José Kléberson, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Jean Carroll, Irish cricketer
1980 – Dan Ellis, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Robbie Neilson, Scottish footballer and manager
1980 – Nuno Santos, Portuguese footballer
1981 – Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi, Saudi Arabian long jumper
1981 – Moss Burmester, New Zealand swimmer
1982 – Alexander Frolov, Russian ice hockey player
1982 – Chris Vermuelen, Australian motorcycle racer
1983 – Macklemore, American rapper
1983 – Aidan Turner, Irish actor
1984 – Paul Dano, American actor
1984 – Wieke Dijkstra, Dutch field hockey player
1984 – Andri Eleftheriou, Cypriot sport shooter
1985 – Ai Miyazato, Japanese golfer
1985 – José Ernesto Sosa, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Dire Tune, Ethiopian runner
1986 – Aoiyama Kōsuke, Bulgarian sumo wrestler
1986 – Lázaro Borges, Cuban pole vaulter
1986 – Diego Hypólito, Brazilian gymnast
1986 – Marvin Williams, American basketball player
1987 – Rashard Mendenhall, American football player
1988 – Jacob deGrom, American baseball player
1990 – Moa Hjelmer, Swedish sprinter
1990 – Xavier Rhodes, American football player
1992 – Keaton Jennings, South African-English cricketer
1992 – C. J. Mosley, American football player
1993 – Olajide Olatunji, English YouTuber

Deaths on June 19

404 – Huan Xuan, Jin-dynasty warlord and emperor of Huan Chu (b. 369)
626 – Soga no Umako, Japanese son of Soga no Iname (b. 551)
930 – Xiao Qing, chancellor of Later Liang (b. 862)
1027 – Romuald, Italian mystic and saint (b. 951)
1185 – Taira no Munemori, Japanese soldier (b. 1147)
1282 – Eleanor de Montfort, Welsh princess (b. 1252)
1312 – Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English politician (b. 1284)
1341 – Juliana Falconieri, Italian nun and saint (b. 1270)
1364 – Elisenda of Montcada, queen consort and regent of Aragon (b. 1292)
1504 – Bernhard Walther, German astronomer and humanist (b. 1430)
1542 – Leo Jud, Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1482)
1545 – Abraomas Kulvietis, Lithuanian-Russian lawyer and jurist (b. 1509)
1567 – Anna of Brandenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg (b. 1507)
1584 – Francis, Duke of Anjou (b. 1555)
1608 – Alberico Gentili, Italian lawyer and jurist (b. 1551)
1650 – Matthäus Merian, Swiss-German engraver and publisher (b. 1593)
1747 – Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer and educator (b. 1669)
1747 – Nader Shah, Persian leader (b. 1688)
1762 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German organist and composer (b. 1702)
1768 – Benjamin Tasker Sr., American soldier and politician, 10th Colonial Governor of Maryland (b. 1690)
1786 – Nathanael Greene, American general (b. 1742)
1805 – Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French painter and educator (b. 1724)
1820 – Joseph Banks, English botanist and author (b. 1743)
1844 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French zoologist and biologist (b. 1772)
1864 – Richard Heales, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Victoria (b. 1822)
1864 – Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, American soldier (b. 1843)
1865 – Evangelos Zappas, Greek-Romanian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1800)
1867 – Miguel Miramón, Unconstitutional president of Mexico, 1859-1860 (b. 1832)
1867 – Maximilian I of Mexico (b. 1832)
1874 – Ferdinand Stoliczka, Moravian palaeontologist and ornithologist (b. 1838)
1884 – Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentinian-French politician and diplomat (b. 1810)
1903 – Herbert Vaughan, English cardinal (b. 1832)
1918 – Francesco Baracca, Italian fighter pilot (b. 1888)
1921 – Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet and author (b. 1888)
1922 – Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Yokozuna (b. 1874)
1932 – Sol Plaatje, South African journalist and activist (b. 1876)
1937 – J. M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and playwright (b. 1860)
1939 – Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878)
1940 – Maurice Jaubert, French composer and conductor (b. 1900)
1941 – C. V. Hartman, Swiss botanist and anthropologist (b. 1862)
1941 – Otto Hirsch, German jurist and politician (b. 1885)
1949 – Syed Zafarul Hasan, Indian philosopher and academic (b. 1885)
1951 – Angelos Sikelianos, Greek poet and playwright (b. 1884)
1953 – Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (b. 1915)
1953 – Julius Rosenberg, American spy (b. 1918)
1956 – Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (b. 1874)
1962 – Frank Borzage, American film director and actor (b. 1894)
1966 – Ed Wynn, American actor and comedian (b. 1886)
1968 – James Joseph Sweeney, American bishop (b. 1898)
1975 – Sam Giancana, American mob boss (b. 1908)
1977 – Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist and philosopher (b. 1933)
1979 – Paul Popenoe, American explorer and scholar, founded Relationship counseling (b. 1888)
1981 – Anya Phillips, Chinese-American band manager and co-founder of the Mudd Club (b. 1955)
1984 – Lee Krasner, American painter and educator (b. 1908)
1986 – Len Bias, American basketball player (b. 1963)
1987 – Margaret Carver Leighton, American author (b. 1896)
1988 – Fernand Seguin, Canadian biochemist and academic (b. 1922)
1988 – Gladys Spellman, American lawyer and politician (b. 1918)
1989 – Betti Alver, Estonian author and poet (b. 1906)
1990 – George Addes, American trade union leader, co-founded United Automobile Workers (b. 1911)
1990 – Isabella Smith Andrews, New Zealand writer (b. 1905)
1991 – Jean Arthur, American actress (b. 1900)
1993 – William Golding, British novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
1995 – Peter Townsend, Burmese-English captain and pilot (b. 1914)
2001 – Stanley Mosk, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1912)
2001 – John Heyer, Australian director and producer (b. 1916)
2004 – Clayton Kirkpatrick, journalist and newspaper editor (b. 1915)
2007 – Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1919)
2007 – Alberto Mijangos, Mexican-American painter and educator (b. 1925)
2007 – Terry Hoeppner, American football player and coach (b. 1947)
2007 – Ze’ev Schiff, Israeli journalist and author (b. 1932)
2008 – Barun Sengupta, Bengali journalist, founded Bartaman (b. 1934)
2009 – Tomoji Tanabe, Japanese engineer and surveyor (b. 1895)
2010 – Manute Bol, Sudanese-American basketball player and activist (b. 1962)
2010 – Anthony Quinton, Baron Quinton, English philosopher and academic (b. 1925)
2010 – Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican writer, journalist and political activist (b. 1938)
2012 – Norbert Tiemann, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Nebraska (b. 1924)
2013 – Vince Flynn, American author (b. 1966)
2013 – James Gandolfini, American actor and producer (b. 1961)
2013 – Gyula Horn, Hungarian politician, 37th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1932)
2013 – Dave Jennings, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1952)
2013 – Filip Topol, Czech singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1965)
2013 – Slim Whitman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
2014 – Oskar-Hubert Dennhardt, German general (b. 1915)
2014 – Gerry Goffin, American songwriter (b. 1939)
2014 – Ibrahim Touré, Ivorian footballer (b. 1985)
2015 – James Salter, American novelist and short-story writer (b. 1925)
2016 – Anton Yelchin, American actor (b. 1989)
2017 – Otto Warmbier, American college student detained in North Korea (b. 1994)
2018 – Koko, western lowland gorilla and user of American Sign Language (b. 1971)
2019 – Etika, American YouTuber and streamer (b. 1990)

Holidays and observances on June 19

Christian feast day:
- Deodatus (or Didier) of Nevers (or of Jointures)
- Gervasius and Protasius (Catholic Church)
- Hildegrim of Châlons
- Juliana Falconieri
- Romuald
- Ursicinus of Ravenna
- Zosimus
- June 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
New Church feast day
- New Church Day
Day of the Independent Hungary (Hungary)
Feast of Forest (Palawan)
Juneteenth (United States, especially African Americans)
Labour Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
Laguna Day (Laguna)
Never Again Day (Uruguay)
World Sickle Cell Day (International)

June 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

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

Births on May 22

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

Deaths on May 22

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

Holidays and observances on May 22

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

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

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.
1096 – First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany.
1152 – The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king two years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.
1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.
1291 – Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.
1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
1388 – During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
1499 – Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
1565 – The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.
1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd’s accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
1652 – Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced.
1756 – The Seven Years’ War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.
1794 – Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.
1812 – John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
1843 – The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the “separate but equal” doctrine is constitutional.
1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
1912 – The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears in Venice, California.
1927 – The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
1927 – After being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approves Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China.
1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino.
1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.
1965 – Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
1973 – Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker’s bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.
1974 – Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
1977 – Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
1980 – Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
1980 – Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognized by the international community.
1993 – Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
1994 – Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
2005 – A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
2009 – The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
2015 – At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.
2018 – A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills 10 people.

Births on May 18

1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (d. 1131)
1186 – Konstantin of Rostov (d. 1218)
1450 – Piero Soderini, Italian politician and diplomat (d. 1513)
1537 – Guido Luca Ferrero, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)
1631 – Stanislaus Papczyński, Polish priest (d. 1701)
1662 – George Smalridge, English bishop (d. 1719)
1692 – Joseph Butler, English bishop, theologian, and apologist (d. 1752)
1711 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1787)
1777 – John George Children, English chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist (d. 1852)
1778 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Irish soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Austria (d. 1854)
1785 – John Wilson, Scottish author and critic (d. 1854)
1797 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
1822 – Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (d. 1896)
1835 – Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher and 3rd chancellor of Syracuse University (d. 1908)
1850 – Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1925)
1851 – James Budd, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of California (d. 1908)
1852 – Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (d. 1934)
1854 – Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and educator (d. 1924)
1855 – Francis Bellamy, American minister and author (d. 1931)
1862 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and politician, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1948)
1867 – Minakata Kumagusu, Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist (d. 1941)
1868 – Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
1869 – Lucy Beaumont, English-American actress (d. 1937)
1871 – Denis Horgan, Irish shot putter and weight thrower (d. 1922)
1872 – Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
1876 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)
1878 – Johannes Terwogt, Dutch rower (d. 1977)
1882 – Babe Adams, American baseball player, manager, and journalist (d. 1968)
1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian marshal and politician, 16th President of Brazil (d. 1974)
1883 – Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (d. 1969)
1886 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., American chemist and engineer (d. 1944)
1891 – Rudolf Carnap, German-American philosopher and academic (d. 1970)
1892 – Ezio Pinza, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1957)
1895 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (d. 1934)
1896 – Eric Backman, Swedish runner (d. 1965)
1897 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
1898 – Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Turkish poet, author, and playwright (d. 1973)
1901 – Henri Sauguet, French composer (d. 1989)
1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
1902 – Meredith Willson, American playwright and composer (d. 1984)
1904 – Shunryū Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator (d. 1971)
1904 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York Attorney General (d. 1986)
1905 – Ruth Alexander, pioneering American pilot (d. 1930)
1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1943)
1907 – Irene Hunt, American author and educator (d. 2001)
1909 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player and academic (d. 1995)
1910 – Ester Boserup, Danish economist and author (d. 1999)
1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues/R&B singer (d. 1985)
1912 – Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1912 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (d. 2001)
1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African politician (d. 2003)
1913 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English publisher and politician (d. 2000)
1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer, founded Balmain (d. 1982)
1914 – Boris Christoff, Bulgarian-Italian opera singer (d. 1993)
1917 – Bill Everett, American author and illustrator (d. 1973)
1919 – Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (d. 1991)
1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
1921 – Michael A. Epstein, English pathologist and academic
1922 – Bill Macy, American actor (d. 2019)
1922 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (d. 1983)
1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, Canadian actor and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
1923 – Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
1924 – Priscilla Pointer, American actress
1924 – Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster (d. 2019)
1925 – Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
1927 – Richard Body, English politician (d. 2018)
1927 – Ray Nagel, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)
1929 – Jack Sanford, American baseball player and coach (d. 2000)
1929 – Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 2012)
1930 – Warren Rudman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
1930 – Fred Saberhagen, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
1931 – Robert Morse, American actor
1931 – Kalju Pitksaar, Estonian chess player (d. 1995)
1931 – Clément Vincent, Canadian farmer and politician (d. 2018)
1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician, First Lady of France
1933 – H. D. Deve Gowda, Indian farmer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of India
1933 – Don Whillans, English rock climber and mountaineer (d. 1985)
1934 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor and director
1936 – Leon Ashley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1936 – Türker İnanoğlu, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter
1936 – Michael Sandle, English sculptor and academic
1937 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster
1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourger jurist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Luxembourg
1938 – Janet Fish, American painter and academic
1939 – Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, English historian, journalist, and politician
1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
1939 – Gordon O’Connor, Canadian general and politician, 38th Canadian Minister of Defence
1940 – Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
1941 – Gino Brito, Canadian wrestler and promoter
1941 – Malcolm Longair, Scottish astronomer, physicist, and academic
1941 – Miriam Margolyes, English-Australian actress and singer
1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer, coach, and manager
1944 – Albert Hammond, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1944 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist, essayist, and poet (d. 2001)
1946 – Frank Hsieh, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 40th Premier of the Republic of China
1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player and sportscaster
1946 – Gerd Langguth, German political scientist and author (d. 2013)
1947 – John Bruton, Irish politician, 10th Taoiseach of Ireland
1947 – Gail Strickland, American actress
1948 – Joe Bonsall, American country/gospel singer
1948 – Yi Mun-yol, South Korean author and academic
1948 – Richard Swedberg, Swedish sociologist and academic
1948 – Tom Udall, American lawyer and politician, 28th New Mexico Attorney General, United States Senator from New Mexico
1949 – Rick Wakeman, English progressive rock keyboardist and songwriter (Yes)
1949 – Walter Hawkins, American gospel music singer and pastor (d. 2010)
1950 – Rod Milburn, American hurdler and coach (d. 1997)
1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American singer-songwriter and painter
1951 – Richard Clapton, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Jim Sundberg, American baseball player and sportscaster
1951 – Angela Voigt, German long jumper (d. 2013)
1952 – Diane Duane, American author and screenwriter
1952 – David Leakey, English general and politician
1952 – George Strait, American singer, guitarist and producer
1952 – Jeana Yeager, American pilot
1953 – Alan Kupperberg, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
1954 – Wreckless Eric, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Eric Gerets, Belgian footballer and manager
1955 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter
1956 – Catherine Corsini, French director and screenwriter
1956 – John Godber, English playwright and screenwriter
1957 – Michael Cretu, Romanian-German keyboard player and producer
1957 – Henrietta Moore, English anthropologist and academic
1958 – Rubén Omar Romano, Argentinian-Mexican footballer and coach
1958 – Toyah Willcox, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1959 – Graham Dilley, English cricketer and coach (d. 2011)
1959 – Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1960 – Brent Ashton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1960 – Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player
1961 – Russell Senior, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1963 – Sam Vincent, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Ignasi Guardans, Spanish academic and politician
1966 – Renata Nielsen, Polish-Danish long jumper and coach
1966 – Michael Tait, American singer-songwriter and producer
1967 – Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author
1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German race car driver
1967 – Nancy Juvonen, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded Flower Films
1967 – Mimi Macpherson, Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity
1968 – Philippe Benetton, French rugby player
1968 – Ralf Kelleners, German race car driver
1969 – Troy Cassar-Daley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1969 – Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1969 – Antônio Carlos Zago, Brazilian footballer and manager
1970 – Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Tim Horan, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
1970 – Billy Howerdel, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1970 – Javier Cárdenas, Spanish singer, television and radio presenter
1970 – Vicky Sunohara, Canadian former ice hockey player
1971 – Brad Friedel, American international soccer player, goalkeeper, manager and sportscaster
1971 – Mark Menzies, Scottish politician
1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese race car driver
1972 – Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1973 – Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (d. 2011)
1974 – Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and sportscaster
1975 – Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
1975 – Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Ron Mercer, American basketball player
1976 – Marko Tomasović, Croatian pianist and composer
1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
1977 – Lee Hendrie, English footballer
1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer and sportscaster
1977 – Li Tie, Chinese footballer and manager
1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
1978 – Marcus Giles, American baseball player
1978 – Charles Kamathi, Kenyan runner
1979 – Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft
1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
1979 – Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoeist
1979 – Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer
1979 – Julián Speroni, Argentinian footballer
1980 – Reggie Evans, American basketball player
1980 – Michaël Llodra, French tennis player
1980 – Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer
1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian international footballer
1981 – Ashley Harrison, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Jason Brown, English footballer
1982 – Marie-Ève Pelletier, Canadian tennis player
1983 – Gary O’Neil, English footballer
1983 – Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player
1983 – Vince Young, American football player
1984 – Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter
1984 – Simon Pagenaud, French race car driver
1984 – Darius Šilinskis, Lithuanian basketball player
1984 – Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player
1984 – Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist
1985 – Oliver Sin, Hungarian painter
1985 – Henrique Sereno, Portuguese footballer
1986 – Ahmed Hamada, Egyptian race car driver
1986 – Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player
1988 – Taeyang, South Korean singer
1990 – Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer
1990 – Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer
1990 – Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player
1992 – Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model
1993 – Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player
1993 – Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
1998 – Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
1999 – Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
2000 – Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer
2000 – Steven Sessegnon, English footballer
2002 – Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater

Deaths on May 18

526 – Pope John I (b. 470)
893 – Stephen I of Constantinople (b. 867)
932 – Ma Shaohong, general of Later Tang
947 – Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty
978 – Frederick I, duke of Upper Lorraine
1065 – Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine (b. c. 1003)
1096 – Minna of Worms, Jewish martyr killed during the Worms massacre (1096)
1160 – Eric Jedvardsson (King Eric IX) of Sweden (since 1156); (b. circa 1120)
1297 – Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury
1401 – Vladislaus II of Opole (b. 1332)
1410 – Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1352)
1550 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (b. 1498)
1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter (b. 1486)
1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, historian, and theologian (b. 1623)
1675 – Jacques Marquette, French-American missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
1692 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (b. 1617)
1721 – Maria Barbara Carillo, victim of the Spanish Inquisition (b.1625)
1733 – Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (b. 1761)
1780 – Charles Hardy, English-American admiral and politician, 29th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1714)
1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian-Indian rebel leader (b. 1742)
1792 – Levy Solomons, Canadian merchant and fur trader (b. 1730)
1795 – Robert Rogers, English colonel (b. 1731)
1799 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and publisher (b. 1732)
1800 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
1807 – John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (b. 1721)
1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor, and educator, invented Bourbon whiskey (b. 1738)
1844 – Richard McCarty, American lawyer and politician (b. 1780)
1853 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (b. 1806)
1867 – Clarkson Stanfield, English painter (b. 1793)
1889 – Isabella Glyn, Scottish-English actress (b. 1823)
1900 – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French archaeologist and philosopher (b. 1813)
1908 – Louis-Napoléon Casault, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1823)
1909 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (b. 1841)
1910 – Pauline Viardot, French soprano and composer (b. 1821)
1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1860)
1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
1941 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
1943 – Ōnishiki Daigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 28th Yokozuna (b. 1883)
1947 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
1958 – Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and critic (b. 1881)
1963 – Ernie Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1939)
1968 – Frank Walsh, Australian politician, 34th Premier of South Australia (b. 1897)
1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1908)
1973 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (b. 1880)
1974 – Harry Ricardo, English engine designer and researcher (b. 1885)
1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (b. 1908)
1980 – Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
- Reid Blackburn, American photographer and journalist (b. 1952)
- David A. Johnston, American volcanologist and geologist (b. 1949)
1980 – Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
1981 – Arthur O’Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
1981 – William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (b. 1908)
1987 – Mahdi Amel, Lebanese journalist, poet, and academic (b. 1936)
1989 – Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder and author (b. 1921)
1990 – Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
1995 – Alexander Godunov, Russian-American ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
1995 – Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, Irish ufologist and historian (b. 1911)
1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
1998 – Obaidullah Aleem, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1939)
1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1954)
1999 – Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)
2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian-American composer and musicologist (b. 1946)
2001 – Irene Hunt, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
2004 – Elvin Jones, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1927)
2006 – Jaan Eilart, Estonian geographer, ecologist, and historian (b. 1933)
2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
2008 – Joseph Pevney, American actor and director (b. 1911)
2008 – Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (b. 1942)
2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954)
2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (b. 1925)
2012 – Peter Jones, English-Australian drummer and songwriter (b. 1967)
2012 – Alan Oakley, English bicycle designer, designed the Raleigh Chopper (b. 1927)
2013 – Aleksei Balabanov, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1959)
2013 – Jo Benkow, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1924)
2013 – Steve Forrest, American actor (b. 1925)
2013 – David McMillan, American football player (b. 1981)
2013 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (b. 1928)
2014 – Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1921)
2014 – Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist and academic (b. 1929)
2014 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1948)
2014 – Chukwuedu Nwokolo, Nigerian physician and academic (b. 1921)
2014 – Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (b. 1946)
2015 – Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947)
2015 – Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (b. 1926)
2015 – T. J. Moran, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1930)
2015 – Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (b. 1946)
2017 – Roger Ailes, American businessman (b. 1940)
2017 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (b. 1916)
2017 – Chris Cornell, American singer (b. 1964)
2020 – Ken Osmond, American actor and the police officer (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances on May 18

Christian feast day:
- Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
- Eric IX of Sweden
- Felix of Cantalice
- Pope John I
- Venantius of Camerino
- May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Victoria Day (Canada) (Earliest possible date of the last Monday preceding May 25)
Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
Battle of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)
Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
Flag and Universities Day (Haiti)
Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
International Museum Day
Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)
Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
Teacher’s Day (Syria)
Victory Day (Sri Lanka)
World AIDS Vaccine Day

May 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book Revelations of Divine Love.
1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, are officially married at Greenwich.
1568 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
1619 – Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason.
1779 – War of the Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from it (the Innviertel).
1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in the Cumberland River area of what would become the U.S. state of Tennessee, providing for democratic government and a formal system of justice.
1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the “First Fleet”) to establish a penal colony in Australia.
1804 – Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city.
1830 – Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia.
1846 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on the Federal Republic of Mexico following a dispute over the American annexation of the Republic of Texas and a Mexican military incursion.
1861 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a “proclamation of neutrality” which recognizes the Confederacy as having belligerent rights.
1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
1861 – Pakistan’s (then a part of British India) first railway line opens, from Karachi to Kotri.
1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Resaca: The battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: In far south Texas, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
1888 – With the passage of the Lei Áurea (“Golden Law”), Empire of Brazil abolishes slavery.
1909 – The first Giro d’Italia starts from Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna will be the winner.
1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.
1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.
1940 – World War II: Germany’s conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech to the House of Commons.
1940 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting against German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
1943 – World War II: Operations Vulcan and Strike force the surrender of the last Axis troops in Tunisia.
1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.
1950 – The first round of the Formula One World Championship is held at Silverstone.
1951 – The 400th anniversary of the founding of the National University of San Marcos is commemorated by the opening of the first large-capacity stadium in Peru.
1952 – The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting.
1954 – The anti-National Service Riots, by Chinese middle school students in Singapore, take place.
1954 – The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography.
1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
1958 – May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.
1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.
1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
1967 – Dr. Zakir Husain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969.
1969 – May 13 Incident involving sectarian violence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1971 – Over 900 unarmed Bengali Hindus are murdered in the Demra massacre.
1972 – Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators lead to 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.
1972 – The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured.
1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.
1985 – Police bombed MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
1989 – Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.
1990 – The Dinamo–Red Star riot took place at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (fans of Red Star Belgrade).
1992 – Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People’s Republic of China.
1995 – Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.
1996 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
1998 – Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped.
1998 – India carries out two nuclear weapon tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
2005 – Andijan uprising, Uzbekistan; Troops open fire on crowds of protestors after a prison break; at least 187 people were killed according to official estimates.
2006 – São Paulo violence: Rebellions occur in several prisons in Brazil.
2011 – Two bombs explode in the Charsadda District of Pakistan killing 98 people and wounding 140 others.
2012 – Forty-nine dismembered bodies are discovered by Mexican authorities on Mexican Federal Highway 40.
2013 – American physician Kermit Gosnell is found guilty in Pennsylvania of murdering three infants born alive during attempted abortions, involuntary manslaughter of a woman during an abortion procedure, and other charges.
2014 – An explosion at an underground coal mine in southwest Turkey kills 301 miners.

Births on May 13

1024 – Hugh of Cluny, French abbot and saint (d. 1109)
1179 – Theobald III, Count of Champagne (d. 1201)
1221 – Alexander Nevsky, Russian prince and saint (d. 1263)
1254 – Marie of Brabant, Queen of France (d. 1321)
1453 – Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran, Scottish princess (d. 1488)
1588 – Ole Worm, Danish physician and historian (d. 1654)
1597 – Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver (d. 1655)
1638 – Richard Simon, French priest and scholar (d. 1712)
1699 – Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1782)
1712 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish politician and diplomat (d. 1772)
1713 – Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (d. 1765)
1717 – Maria Theresa, Archduchess, Queen, and Empress; Austrian wife of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1780)
1730 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1782)
1735 – Horace Coignet, French violinist and composer (d. 1821)
1742 – Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (d. 1798)
1753 – Lazare Carnot, French general, mathematician, and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1823)
1792 – Pope Pius IX (d. 1878)
1794 – Louis Léopold Robert, French painter (d. 1835)
1795 – Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist and chronologist (d. 1875)
1811 – Juan Bautista Ceballos, President of Mexico (1853) (b. 1859)
1822 – Francis, Duke of Cádiz (d. 1902)
1830 – Zebulon Baird Vance, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1894)
1832 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and author (d. 1864)
1840 – Alphonse Daudet, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1897)
1842 – Arthur Sullivan, English composer (d. 1900)
1853 – Vaiben Louis Solomon, Australian politician, 21st Premier of South Australia (d. 1908)
1856 – Tom O’Rourke, American boxer and manager (d. 1938)
1857 – Ronald Ross, Indian-English physician and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
1868 – Sumner Paine, American target shooter (d. 1904)
1869 – Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Turkish writer (d. 1944)
1877 – Robert Hamilton, Scottish international footballer (d. 1948)
1881 – Lima Barreto, Brazilian journalist and author (d. 1922)
1881 – Joe Forshaw, American runner (d. 1964)
1882 – Georges Braque, French painter and sculptor (d. 1963)
1883 – Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek-American pathologist, invented the pap smear (d. 1962)
1884 – Oskar Rosenfeld, Jewish-Austrian writer and Holocaust victim (d.1944)
1885 – Mikiel Gonzi, Maltese archbishop (d. 1984)
1887 – Lorna Hodgkinson, Australian educator and educational psychologist (d. 1951)
1888 – Inge Lehmann, Danish seismologist and geophysicist (d. 1993)
1894 – Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, Icelandic politician, 2nd President of Iceland (d. 1972)
1895 – Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-American psychologist, parapsychologist, and author (d. 1964)
1901 – Murilo Mendes, Brazilian poet and telegrapher (d. 1975)
1904 – Louis Duffus, Australian-South African cricketer and journalist (d. 1984)
1905 – Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th President of India (d. 1977)
1907 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (d. 1989)
1908 – Eugen Kapp, Estonian composer and educator (d. 1996)
1909 – Ken Darby, American composer and conductor (d. 1992)
1911 – Robert Middleton, American actor (d. 1977)
1911 – Maxine Sullivan, American singer and actress (d. 1987)
1912 – Gil Evans, Canadian-American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1988)
1912 – Judah Nadich, American colonel and rabbi (d. 2007)
1913 – Robert Dorning, English actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1989)
1913 – Theo Helfrich, German racing driver (d. 1978)
1913 – William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian politician, 20th President of Liberia (d. 1980)
1914 – Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
1914 – Johnnie Wright, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1914 – Antonia Ferrín Moreiras, Spanish mathematician, academic, and astronomer (d. 2009)
1916 – Sachidananda Routray, Indian Oriya-language poet (d. 2004)
1918 – Balasaraswati, Indian dancer and instructor (d. 1984)
1918 – Gwyn Howells, Australian public servant (d. 1997)
1920 – Gareth Morris, English flute player (d. 2007)
1922 – Michael Ainsworth, English cricketer (d. 1978)
1922 – Otl Aicher, German graphic designer and typographer (d. 1991)
1922 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (d. 2009)
1923 – Ruth Adler Schnee, German-American textile designer and interior designer
1924 – Theodore Mann, American director and producer (d. 2012)
1924 – Harry Schwarz, South African anti-apartheid leader, lawyer, and Ambassador (d. 2010)
1927 – Archie Scott Brown, Scottish race car driver (d. 1958)
1927 – Fred Hellerman, American folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2016)
1927 – Herbert Ross, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2001)
1928 – Enrique Bolaños, Nicaraguan politician, President of Nicaragua
1928 – Édouard Molinaro, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1929 – John Galvin, American general (d. 2015)
1930 – Mike Gravel, American lieutenant and politician
1930 – José Jiménez Lozano, Spanish journalist and author
1930 – Vernon Shaw, Dominican politician, 5th President of Dominica (d. 2013)
1931 – Jim Jones, American cult leader, founder of the Peoples Temple (d. 1978)
1931 – Sydney Lipworth, South African-English lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist
1933 – John Roseboro, American baseball player and coach (d. 2002)
1934 – Ehud Netzer, Israeli archaeologist, architect, and academic (d. 2010)
1934 – Leon Wagner, American baseball player and actor (d. 2004)
1935 – Dominic Cossa, American opera singer
1935 – Jan Saudek, Czech photographer and painter
1935 – Kája Saudek, Czech author and illustrator (d. 2015)
1936 – Bill Rompkey, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2017)
1937 – Trevor Baylis, English inventor, invented the wind-up radio (d. 2018)
1937 – Roch Carrier, Canadian librarian and author
1937 – Zohra Lampert, American actress
1937 – Beverley Owen, American actress (d. 2019)
1937 – Roger Zelazny, American author and poet (d. 1995)
1938 – Giuliano Amato, Italian academic and politician, 48th Prime Minister of Italy
1938 – Laurent Beaudoin, Canadian businessman
1938 – Anna Cropper, British actress (d. 2007)
1938 – Francine Pascal, American author and playwright
1938 – Buck Taylor, American actor
1939 – Hildrun Claus, German long jumper
1939 – Peter Frenkel, German race walker and coach
1939 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
1940 – Bruce Chatwin, English author (d. 1989)
1940 – Kōkichi Tsuburaya, Japanese runner (d. 1968)
1941 – Senta Berger, Austrian actress
1941 – Joe Brown, English singer and musician
1941 – Jody Conradt, American basketball player and coach
1941 – Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1959)
1942 – Leighton Gage, American author (d. 2013)
1942 – Roger Young, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1943 – Anthony Clarke, Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, English lawyer and judge
1943 – Kurt Trampedach, Danish painter and sculptor (d. 2013)
1943 – Mary Wells, American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
1944 – Sir Crispin Agnew, 11th Baronet, Scottish explorer, lawyer, and judge
1944 – Robert L. Crawford Jr., American actor
1944 – Carolyn Franklin, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
1944 – Armistead Maupin, American author, screenwriter, and actor
1945 – Lasse Berghagen, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1945 – Magic Dick, American blues-rock harmonica, trumpet, and saxophone player
1945 – Lou Marini, American saxophonist and composer
1946 – Tim Pigott-Smith, English actor and author (d. 2017)
1946 – Jean Rondeau, French race car driver and constructor (d. 1985)
1946 – Marv Wolfman, American author
1947 – Charles Baxter, American novelist, essayist, and poet
1947 – Edgar Burcksen, Dutch-American film editor
1948 – Sheila Jeffreys, English-Australian political scientist, author, and academic
1948 – Dean Meminger, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1949 – Jane Glover, English conductor and scholar
1949 – Zoë Wanamaker, American-British actress
1949 – Philip Kruse, Norwegian trumpeter and orchestra leader
1950 – Andy Cunningham, English actor (d. 2011)
1950 – Danny Kirwan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1950 – Joe Johnston, American film director and effects artist
1950 – Manning Marable, American author and academic (d. 2011)
1950 – Bobby Valentine, American baseball player and manager
1950 – Stevie Wonder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1951 – Rosie Boycott, English journalist and author
1951 – Sharon Sayles Belton, American politician, 45th Mayor of Minneapolis
1951 – Anand Modak, Indian composer and director (d. 2014)
1951 – Herman Philipse, Dutch philosopher and academic
1951 – Selina Scott, English journalist, producer, and author
1951 – Paul Thompson, English drummer
1952 – John Kasich, American politician, 69th Governor of Ohio
1952 – Mary Walsh, Canadian actress, producer, and screenwriter
1952 – Londa Schiebinger, American academic and author
1953 – Zlatko Burić, Croat-Danish actor
1953 – Gerry Sutcliffe, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
1953 – David Voelker, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1953 – Harm Wiersma, Dutch draughts player and politician
1953 – Ruth A. David, American electrical engineer
1954 – Johnny Logan, Australian-Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1956 – Richard Madeley, English journalist and author
1956 – Fred Melamed, American actor
1956 – Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party
1957 – Alan Ball, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Frances Barber, English actress
1957 – Mark Heap, English actor
1957 – David Hill, English organist and conductor
1957 – Mar Roxas, Filipino economist and politician, 24th Filipino Secretary of the Interior
1957 – Koji Suzuki, Japanese author and screenwriter
1958 – Anthony Ray Parker, American actor
1961 – Siobhan Fallon Hogan, American actress
1961 – Dennis Rodman, American basketball player, wrestler, and actor
1962 – Paul Burstow, English politician
1962 – Nick Hurd, English businessman and politician, Minister for Civil Society
1963 – Andrea Leadsom, English politician
1963 – Wally Masur, Australian tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
1964 – Stephen Colbert, American comedian and talk show host
1964 – Chris Maitland, English drummer
1964 – Tom Verica, American actor, television director, and producer
1965 – José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountaineer (d. 2006)
1965 – Tasmin Little, English violinist and educator
1965 – János Marozsán, Hungarian footballer
1965 – Hikari Ōta, Japanese comedian and actor
1965 – José Rijo, Dominican baseball player
1965 – Lari White, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (d. 2018)
1966 – Alison Goldfrapp, English singer-songwriter and producer
1966 – Darius Rucker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Tish Cyrus, American actress and film producer
1967 – Shon Greenblatt, American actor
1967 – Tommy Gunn, pornographic actor
1967 – Chuck Schuldiner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
1967 – Melanie Thornton, American-German singer (d. 2001)
1968 – Miguel Ángel Blanco, Spanish politician (d. 1997)
1968 – Susan Floyd, American actress
1968 – Scott Morrison, Australian politician, 30th Prime Minister of Australia
1968 – PMD, American rapper
1968 – Dmitriy Shevchenko, Russian discus thrower and coach
1969 – Buckethead, American guitarist and songwriter
1969 – Nikos Aliagas, French-Greek journalist and television host
1970 – Doug Evans, American football player
1970 – Robert Maćkowiak, Polish sprinter
1971 – Imogen Boorman, English actress and martial artist
1971 – Rob Fredrickson, American football player
1971 – Espen Lind, Norwegian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1971 – Tom Nalen, American football player and sportscaster
1972 – Stefaan Maene, Belgian swimmer
1972 – Darryl Sydor, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1972 – Pieta van Dishoeck, Dutch rower
1973 – Eric Lewis, American pianist
1973 – Bridgett Riley, American boxer and stuntwoman
1975 – Jamie Allison, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Cristian Bezzi, Italian rugby player and coach
1975 – Brian Geraghty, American actor
1976 – Mark Delaney, Welsh footballer and manager
1976 – Trajan Langdon, American basketball player and scout
1976 – Ana Popović, Serbian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Magdalena Walach, Polish actress
1977 – Ilse DeLange, Dutch singer-songwriter
1977 – Anthony Q. Farrell, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter
1977 – Robby Hammock, American baseball player and coach
1977 – Neil Hopkins, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1977 – James Middlebrook, English cricketer
1977 – Samantha Morton, English actress and director
1977 – Brian Thomas Smith, American actor and producer
1977 – Pusha T, American rapper
1978 – Brooke Anderson, American journalist
1978 – Mike Bibby, American basketball player and coach
1978 – Ryan Bukvich, American baseball player
1978 – Germán Magariños, Argentinian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Dilshan Vitharana, Sri Lankan cricketer
1978 – Barry Zito, American baseball player
1978 – Nuwan Zoysa, Sri Lankan cricketer
1979 – Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland
1979 – Steve Mildenhall, English footballer
1979 – Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Ukrainian footballer
1980 – L. J. Smith, American football player
1981 – Luciana Berger, English politician
1981 – Nicolas Jeanjean, French rugby player
1981 – Sunny Leone, Canadian American actress, model, and pornstar
1981 – Michael Mantenuto, American actor (d. 2017)
1981 – Shaun Phillips, American football player
1981 – Ryan Piers Williams, American actor and film director
1982 – Albert Crusat, Spanish footballer
1982 – Larry Fonacier, Filipino basketball player
1982 – Oguchi Onyewu, American soccer player
1983 – Natalie Cassidy, English actress and singer
1983 – Anita Görbicz, Hungarian handball player
1983 – Johnny Hoogerland, Dutch cyclist
1983 – Grégory Lemarchal, French singer (d. 2007)
1983 – Jacob Reynolds, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1983 – Yaya Touré, Ivorian footballer
1984 – J. B. Cox, American baseball player
1984 – Benny Dayal, Indian singer
1984 – Dawn Harper, American hurdler
1984 – Caroline Rotich, Kenyan runner
1985 – Javier Balboa, Spanish-Equatoguinean footballer
1985 – Jaroslav Halák, Slovak ice hockey player
1985 – David Hernandez, American baseball player
1985 – Carolina Luján, Argentine chess player
1985 – Iwan Rheon, Welsh actor and singer
1985 – Travis Zajac, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Lena Dunham, American actress, director, and screenwriter
1986 – Eun-Hee Ji, South Korean golfer
1986 – Robert Pattinson, English actor
1986 – Alexander Rybak, Belarusian-Norwegian singer-songwriter, violinist, and actor
1986 – Scott Sutter, English footballer
1986 – Nino Schurter, Swiss cyclist
1986 – Kris Versteeg, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Antonio Adán, Spanish footballer
1987 – Hugo Becker, French actor
1987 – Matt Doyle, American actor and singer
1987 – Laura Izibor, Irish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1987 – Candice King, American singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Sandro Mareco, Argentine chess player
1987 – Hunter Parrish, American actor and singer
1987 – Marianne Vos, Dutch cyclist
1987 – Charlotte Wessels, Dutch singer-songwriter
1987 – Bobby Shuttleworth, American soccer player
1988 – Paulo Avelino, Filipino actor and singer
1988 – Didier Cohen, Australian DJ, producer and media personality
1988 – Casey Donovan, Australian singer-songwriter
1989 – P. K. Subban, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Mychal Givens, American baseball player
1991 – Jennifer Beattie, Scottish footballer
1991 – Anders Fannemel, Norwegian ski jumper
1992 – Bill Arnold, American ice hockey player
1992 – Willson Contreras, Venezuelan baseball player
1992 – Josh Papalii, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
1992 – Georgina García Pérez, Spanish tennis player
1993 – Stefan Kraft, Austrian ski jumper
1993 – Debby Ryan, American actress and singer
1993 – Romelu Lukaku, Belgian footballer
1993 – Siim-Tanel Sammelselg, Estonian ski jumper
1993 – Tones and I, Australian singer-songwriter
1994 – Łukasz Moneta, Polish footballer
1997 – Reimis Smith, Australian rugby league player

Deaths on May 13

189 – Emperor Ling of Han, Chinese emperor (b. 156)
1112 – Ulric II, Margrave of Carniola
1176 – Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)
1285 – Robert de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros
1312 – Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)
1573 – Takeda Shingen, Japanese daimyō (b. 1521)
1619 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch politician (b. 1547)
1704 – Louis Bourdaloue, French preacher and author (b. 1632)
1726 – Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, Italian singer (b. 1659)
1782 – Daniel Solander, Swedish-English botanist and phycologist (b. 1736)
1807 – Eliphalet Dyer, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1721)
1809 – Beilby Porteus, English bishop (b. 1731)
1832 – Georges Cuvier, French zoologist and academic (b. 1769)
1835 – John Nash, English architect, designed the Royal Pavilion (b. 1752)
1866 – Nikolai Brashman, Czech-Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1796)
1878 – Joseph Henry, American physicist and academic (b. 1797)
1884 – Cyrus McCormick, American businessman, co-founded the International Harvester Company (b. 1809)
1885 – Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician, pathologist, and anatomist (b. 1809)
1903 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Philippines (b. 1864)
1916 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (b. 1859)
1921 – Jean Aicard, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1848)
1926 – Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian-American bishop (b. 1857)
1929 – Arthur Scherbius, German electrical engineer, invented the Enigma machine (b. 1878)
1930 – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian scientist, explorer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
1938 – Charles Édouard Guillaume, Swiss-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
1941 – Frederick Christian, English cricketer (b. 1877)
1941 – Ōnishiki Uichirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 26th Yokozuna (b. 1891)
1945 – Tubby Hall, American drummer (b. 1895)
1946 – Zara DuPont, American suffragist (b. 1869)
1947 – Sukanta Bhattacharya, Indian poet and playwright (b. 1926)
1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (b. 1920)
1957 – Michael Fekete, Hungarian-Israeli mathematician and academic (b. 1886)
1961 – Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)
1962 – Henry Trendley Dean, American dentist (b. 1893)
1962 – Franz Kline, American painter and academic (b. 1910)
1963 – Alois Hudal, Austrian-Italian bishop (b. 1885)
1972 – Dan Blocker, American actor (b. 1928)
1974 – Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican poet and diplomat (b. 1902)
1974 – Arthur J. Burks, American colonel and author (b. 1898)
1975 – Bob Wills, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1905)
1977 – Mickey Spillane, American mobster (b. 1934)
1985 – Leatrice Joy, American actress (b. 1893)
1985 – Richard Ellmann, American literary critic and biographer (b. 1918)
1988 – Chet Baker, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1929)
1992 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor (b. 1909)
1994 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish-English race car driver (b. 1920)
1994 – John Swainson, Canadian-American jurist and politician, 42nd Governor of Michigan (b. 1925)
1995 – Hao Wang, Chinese-American logician, philosopher, and mathematician (b. 1921)
1999 – Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Saudi Arabian scholar and academic (b. 1910)
1999 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer and journalist (b. 1902)
2000 – Paul Bartel, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
2000 – Jumbo Tsuruta, Japanese wrestler (b. 1951)
2001 – Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (b. 1939)
2002 – Ruth Cracknell, Australian actress and author (b. 1925)
2002 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1939)
2005 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (b. 1921)
2005 – George Dantzig, American mathematician and academic (b. 1914)
2006 – Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian and scholar (b. 1923)
2006 – Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (b. 1949)
2008 – Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1930)
2008 – Ron Stone, American journalist and author (b. 1936)
2009 – Frank Aletter, American actor (b. 1926)
2009 – Meir Brandsdorfer, Belgian rabbi (b. 1934)
2009 – Achille Compagnoni, Italian skier and mountaineer (b. 1914)
2011 – Derek Boogaard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1982)
2011 – Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (b. 1933)
2011 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, co-founded McCain Foods (b. 1930)
2011 – Bruce Ricker, American director and producer (b. 1942)
2012 – Arsala Rahmani Daulat, Afghan politician (b. 1937)
2012 – Donald “Duck” Dunn, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (b. 1941)
2012 – Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cuban-American theologian, author, and academic (b. 1943)
2012 – Lee Richardson, English speedway rider (b. 1979)
2012 – Don Ritchie, Australian humanitarian (b. 1925)
2012 – Nguyễn Văn Thiện, Vietnamese bishop (b. 1906)
2013 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist, author, and actress (b. 1927)
2013 – Otto Herrigel, Namibian lawyer and politician (b. 1937)
2013 – Jagdish Mali, Indian photographer (b. 1954)
2013 – Chuck Muncie, American football player (b. 1953)
2013 – Fyodor Tuvin, Russian footballer (b. 1973)
2013 – Lynne Woolstencroft, Canadian politician (b. 1943)
2014 – David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author (b. 1926)
2014 – Malik Bendjelloul, Swedish director and producer (b. 1977)
2014 – J. F. Coleman, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
2014 – Ron Stevens, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
2014 – Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, American occultist and author (b. 1948)
2015 – Earl Averill, Jr., American baseball player (b. 1931)
2015 – Robert Drasnin, American clarinet player and composer (b. 1927)
2015 – Nina Otkalenko, Russian runner (b. 1928)
2015 – David Sackett, American-Canadian physician and academic (b. 1934)
2015 – Gainan Saidkhuzhin, Russian cyclist (b. 1937)
2018 – Margot Kidder, Canadian-American actress (b. 1948)
2019 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (b. 1922)
2019 – Unita Blackwell, American civil rights activist, and politician (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances on May 13

Abbotsbury Garland Day (Dorset, England)
Christian feast day:
- Our Lady of Fátima
- Gerard of Villamagna
- Glyceria
- John the Silent (Roman Catholic)
- Julian of Norwich (Roman Catholic)
- Frances Perkins (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Servatius
- May 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Rotuma Day (Rotuma)

May 13 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

May 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
1436 – Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
1471 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury: Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.
1493 – Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.
1686 – The Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.
1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
1799 – Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is invaded and Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.
1814 – Emperor Napoleon arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
1814 – King Ferdinand VII abolishes the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism.
1836 – Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians
1859 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall in England.
1869 – The Naval Battle of Hakodate is fought in Japan.
1871 – The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1886 – Haymarket affair: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.
1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
1912 – Italy occupies the Greek island of Rhodes.
1919 – May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
1926 – The United Kingdom general strike begins.
1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.
1932 – In Atlanta, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.
1945 – World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
1945 – World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath is signed, coming into effect the following day. It encompasses all Wehrmacht units in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany.
1946 – In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Five people are killed in the riot.
1949 – The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash.
1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
1959 – The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.
1961 – American civil rights movement: The “Freedom Riders” begin a bus trip through the South.
1961 – Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).
1970 – Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.
1972 – The Don’t Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to “Greenpeace Foundation”.
1978 – The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people.
1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1982 – Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.
1988 – The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
1989 – Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.
1990 – Latvia proclaims the renewal of its independence after the Soviet occupation.
1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
2000 – Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London (an office separate from that of the Lord Mayor of London).
2007 – Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7-mile wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita scale.
2014 – Three people are killed and 62 injured in a pair of bombings on buses in Nairobi, Kenya.

Births on May 4

1006 – Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Persian mystic and poet (d. 1088)
1008 – Henry I, king of France (d. 1060)
1559 – Alice Spencer, English noblewoman (d. 1637)
1634 – Katherine Ferrers, English aristocrat and heiress (d. 1660)
1649 – Chhatrasal, Indian ruler (d. 1731)
1654 – Kangxi Emperor, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty
1655 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker, invented the piano (d. 1731)
1677 – Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, French noblewoman (d.1749)
1715 – Richard Graves, English minister and author (d. 1804)
1733 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, and sailor (d. 1799)
1752 – John Brooks, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
1757 – Manuel Tolsá, Spanish sculptor and first director of the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City (d. 1816)
1767 – Tyagaraja, Indian composer (d. 1847)
1770 – François Gérard, French painter (d. 1837)
1772 – Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
1796 – Horace Mann, American educator and politician (d. 1859)
1796 – William Pennington, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1862)
1796 – William H. Prescott, American historian and scholar (d. 1859)
1820 – Julia Gardiner Tyler, American wife of John Tyler, 11th First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
1820 – John Whiteaker, American soldier, judge, and politician, 1st Governor of Oregon (d. 1902)
1822 – Charles Boucher de Boucherville, Canadian physician and politician, 3rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1915)
1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist, anatomist, and academic (d. 1895)
1825 – Augustus Le Plongeon, English-American historian, photographer, and academic (d. 1908)
1826 – Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
1827 – John Hanning Speke, English soldier and explorer (d. 1864)
1851 – Thomas Dewing, American painter (d. 1938)
1852 – Alice Liddell, English model (d. 1934)
1855 – Greyfriars Bobby, faithful dog (d. 1872)
1883 – Wang Jingwei, Chinese politician (d. 1944)
1884 – Richard Baggallay, English army officer and cricketer (d. 1975)
1887 – Andrew Dasburg, French-American painter (d. 1979)
1889 – Francis Spellman, American cardinal (d. 1967)
1890 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian painter (d. 1945)
1902 – Ronnie Aird, English cricketer and administrator (d. 1986)
1902 – Cola Debrot, Dutch physician, lawyer, and politician (d. 1981)
1903 – Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
1903 – Paul Demel, Czech actor (d. 1951)
1905 – Al Dexter, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
1906 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1987)
1907 – Lincoln Kirstein, American soldier and playwright, co-founded the New York City Ballet (d. 1996)
1907 – Walter Walsh, American target shooter and FBI agent (d. 2014)
1908 – Wolrad Eberle, German decathlete (d. 1949)
1911 – Evald Seepere, Estonian boxer (d. 1990)
1913 – John Broome, American author (d. 1999)
1913 – Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (d. 2007)
1914 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (d. 1971)
1916 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
1916 – Richard Proenneke, American soldier, carpenter, and meteorologist (d. 2003)
1917 – Edward T. Cone, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
1917 – Nick Joaquin, Filipino writer, journalist and historian (d. 2004)
1918 – Tom Mead, Australian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
1918 – Kakuei Tanaka, Japanese soldier and politician, 64th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
1919 – Dory Funk, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1973)
1919 – Basil Yamey, South African-English economist and academic
1921 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1921 – John van Kesteren, Dutch-American tenor and actor (d. 2008)
1921 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2005)
1922 – Paul-Émile Charbonneau, Canadian archbishop (d. 2014)
1922 – Eugenie Clark, American biologist and academic (d. 2015)
1923 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (d. 2006)
1923 – Ed Cassidy, American jazz and rock drummer (d. 2012)
1923 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer and producer (d. 1986)
1923 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian (d. 2012)
1923 – John Toner, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1925 – Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
1925 – Maurice R. Greenberg, American businessman and philanthropist
1926 – David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon, English politician
1928 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2006)
1928 – Thomas Kinsella, Irish poet, translator, and publisher
1928 – Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian air marshal and politician, 4th President of Egypt (d. 2020)
1928 – Betsy Rawls, American golfer
1928 – Wolfgang von Trips, German race car driver (d. 1961)
1929 – Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (d. 2015)
1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-British actress and humanitarian (d. 1993)
1930 – Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson family
1930 – Roberta Peters, American soprano (d. 2017)
1931 – Jan Pesman, Dutch speed skater (d. 2014)
1931 – Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor and educator (d. 2018)
1931 – Thomas Stuttaford, English physician, journalist, and politician (d. 2018)
1932 – Harlon Hill, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1932 – Alexander MacAra, Scottish epidemiologist and academic (d. 2012)
1933 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (d. 2007)
1936 – El Cordobés, Spanish bullfighter
1936 – Med Hondo, Mauritanian filmmaker and actor (d. 2019)
1937 – Ron Carter, American bassist and educator
1937 – Dick Dale, American surf-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (d. 2019)
1937 – Wim Verstappen, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1938 – Tyrone Davis, American blues and soul singer (d. 2005)
1938 – Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican journalist, author, and critic (d. 2010)
1938 – Gillian Tindall, English historian and author
1939 – Neil Fox, English rugby league player and coach
1939 – Amos Oz, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2018)
1939 – Leon Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player
1940 – Robin Cook, American physician and author
1940 – Peter Gregg, American race car driver and businessman (d. 1980)
1941 – George Will, American journalist and author
1942 – Nickolas Ashford, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2011)
1943 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 1971)
1943 – Mihail Chemiakin, Russian painter and sculptor
1943 – Prasanta Pattanaik, Indian economist and academic
1944 – Steve Liebmann, Australian radio and television host
1944 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress (d. 2019)
1945 – Jan Mulder, Dutch footballer and journalist
1946 – John Barnard, English car designer
1946 – Gary Bauer, American political activist
1946 – John Watson, British race car driver
1947 – John Bosley, Canadian businessman and politician, 31st Canadian Speaker of the House of Commons
1947 – Ronald Sørensen, Dutch historian and politician
1947 – Trivimi Velliste, Estonian politician, 17th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1948 – Alison Britton, English sculptor and educator
1948 – Hurley Haywood, American race car driver
1948 – King George Tupou V of Tonga, (d. 2012)
1949 – Graham Swift, English novelist and short story writer
1950 – Darryl Hunt, English bass player
1951 – Colin Bass, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
1951 – Colleen Hanabusa, American lawyer and politician
1951 – Jackie Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer
1952 – Belinda Green, Australian beauty queen and 1972 Miss World
1953 – Pia Zadora, American actress and singer
1954 – Ryan Cayabyab, Filipino pianist, composer, and conductor
1956 – Michael L. Gernhardt, American astronaut and engineer
1956 – David Guterson, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist
1956 – Ken Oberkfell, American baseball player and coach
1957 – Jaak Huimerind, Estonian architect
1957 – Kathy Kreiner, Canadian skier
1957 – Peter Sleep, Australian cricketer
1957 – Marijke Vos, Dutch educator and politician
1958 – Delbert Fowler, American football player
1958 – Keith Haring, American painter (d. 1990)
1958 – Jane Kennedy, English politician
1958 – Caroline Spelman, English politician, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
1959 – Valdemaras Chomičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1959 – Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1959 – Bob Tway, American golfer
1960 – Werner Faymann, Austrian politician, 28th Chancellor of Austria
1961 – Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer
1964 – Silvia Costa, Cuban high jumper
1966 – Gary Elkins, English footballer and manager
1966 – Jane McGrath, English-Australian activist, co-founded the McGrath Foundation (d. 2008)
1967 – Kate Garraway, English journalist
1967 – Ana Gasteyer, American actress and singer
1969 – Micah Aivazoff, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Franz Resch, Austrian footballer and manager
1970 – Gregg Alexander, American singer-songwriter and producer
1970 – Will Arnett, Canadian actor and producer
1970 – Giovanni Mirabassi, Italian jazz musician
1970 – Dawn Staley, American basketball player
1970 – Paul Wiseman, New Zealand cricketer and coach
1971 – Joe Borowski, American baseball player and sportscaster
1971 – Miles Stewart, Australian triathlete
1972 – Manny Aybar, Dominican baseball player
1972 – Mike Dirnt, American bass player and songwriter
1973 – Matthew Barnaby, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1973 – Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Argentinian footballer and coach
1973 – John Madden, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Miguel Cairo, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
1974 – Tony McCoy, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
1976 – Ben Grieve, American baseball player
1976 – Rory Hamill, Northern Irish international footballer
1976 – Jason Michaels, American baseball player
1976 – Indrek Visnapuu, Estonian basketball player and coach
1977 – John Tripp, Canadian-German ice hockey player
1978 – Erin Andrews, American sportscaster and journalist
1978 – Igor Biscan, Croatian footballer
1978 – Brett Burton, Australian footballer
1978 – Vladimíra Uhlířová, Czech tennis player
1979 – Lance Bass, American singer, dancer, and producer
1979 – Kristin Harmel, American journalist and author
1979 – Marie Poissonnier, French pole vaulter
1979 – Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan rugby player
1980 – Andrew Raycroft, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer
1981 – Dallon Weekes, American singer-songwriter and musician
1982 – Kleopas Giannou, Greek footballer
1982 – Markus Rogan, Austrian swimmer
1982 – Giorgos Tsiaras, Greek basketball player
1983 – Dan Christian, Australian cricketer
1983 – Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Robert Zwinkels, Dutch footballer
1984 – Manjural Islam Rana, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2007)
1984 – Brad Maddox, American wrestler and referee
1984 – Sarah Meier, Swiss figure skater
1984 – Montell Owens, American football player
1984 – Kevin Slowey, American baseball player
1985 – Ravi Bopara, English cricketer
1985 – Anthony Fedorov, Ukrainian-born American singer and actor
1985 – Fernandinho, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Lester “Bo” McCalebb, American-Macedonian professional basketball player
1985 – Jamie Adenuga, English MC and rapper
1986 – Devan Dubnyk, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – George Hill, American basketball player
1987 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
1987 – Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer
1988 – Radja Nainggolan, Belgian footballer
1989 – Dániel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
1989 – Henna Lindholm, Finnish figure skater
1989 – Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
1989 – Aris Tatarounis, Greek basketball player
1989 – James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
1990 – Irina Falconi, American tennis player
1990 – Ryan Morgan, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Duvashen Padayachee, Australian race car driver
1990 – Andrea Torres, Filipino actress and model
1991 – Brianne Jenner, Canadian women’s ice hockey player
1992 – Victor Oladipo, American basketball player
1993 – Jānis Bērziņš, Latvian basketball player
1994 – Abi Masatora, Japanese sumo wrestler
1994 – Joseph Tapine, New Zealand rugby league player
1996 – Pelayo Roza, Spanish sprint canoeist

Deaths on May 4

408 – Venerius, archbishop of Milan
784 – Arbeo, bishop of Freising
1003 – Herman II, duke of Swabia
1038 – Gotthard of Hildesheim, German bishop (b. 960)
1406 – Coluccio Salutati, chancellor of Florence (b. 1331)
1436 – Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish rebel leader
1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, son and heir of Henry VI of England (b. 1453)
1471 – Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset (b. 1438)
1483 – George Neville, Duke of Bedford (b. 1457)
1506 – Husayn Mirza Bayqara, Timurid ruler of Herat (b. 1438)
1519 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, duke of Urbino (b. 1492)
1535 – John Houghton, Carthusian monk and saint
1562 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (b. 1525)
1566 – Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
1571 – Pierre Viret, Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1511)
1604 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (b. 1533)
1605 – Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian naturalist (b. 1522)
1615 – Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish priest and mathematician (b. 1561)
1626 – Arthur Lake, English bishop and scholar (b. 1569)
1677 – Isaac Barrow, English mathematician and theologian (b. 1630)
1684 – John Nevison, English criminal (b. 1639)
1729 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (b. 1651)
1734 – James Thornhill, English painter and politician (b. 1675)
1737 – Eustace Budgell, English journalist and politician (b. 1686)
1774 – Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, Prussian nobleman (b. 1714)
1776 – Jacques Saly, French painter and sculptor (b. 1717)
1790 – Matthew Tilghman, American politician (b. 1718)
1799 – Tipu, ruler of Mysore (b. 1750)
1811 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
1816 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1761)
1824 – Joseph Joubert, French author (b. 1754)
1826 – Sebastián Kindelán y O’Regan, colonial governor of East Florida, Santo Domingo and Cuba (b. 1757)
1839 – Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (b. 1784)
1858 – Aimé Bonpland, French botanist and explorer (b. 1773)
1859 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1771)
1880 – Edward Clark, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
1901 – John Jones Ross, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (b. 1831)
1903 – Gotse Delchev, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary IMRO (b. 1872)
1912 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist credited with discovering sex chromosomes (b. 1861)
1916 – Ned Daly, Irish rebel commander (Easter Rising) (b. 1891)
1916 – John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (b. 1851)
1916 – Joseph Plunkett, Irish rebel and writer (b. 1887)
1916 – Willie Pearse, Irish rebel (b. 1891)
1919 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak general and politician (b. 1880)
1922 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (b. 1888)
1923 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1877)
1924 – E. Nesbit, English author and poet (b. 1858)
1938 – Kanō Jigorō, Japanese founder of judo (b. 1860)
1938 – Carl von Ossietzky, German journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
1941 – Chris McKivat, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1880)
1945 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1880)
1953 – Alexandre Pharamond, French rugby player (b. 1876)
1955 – George Enescu, Romanian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1881)
1964 – Karl Robert Pusta, Estonian politician, 4th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883)
1969 – Osbert Sitwell, English-Italian author and poet (b. 1892)
1972 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
1973 – Jane Bowles, American author and playwright (b. 1917)
1975 – Moe Howard, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1897)
1976 – Frank Strahan, Australian public servant (b. 1886)
1980 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav field marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
1981 – C. Loganathan, Sri Lankan banker (b. 1913)
1983 – Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1911)
1984 – Diana Dors, English actress (b. 1931)
1985 – Fikri Sönmez, Turkish tailor and politician (b. 1938)
1985 – Clarence Wiseman, English-Canadian 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
1987 – Paul Butterfield, American singer and harmonica player (b. 1942)
1987 – Cathryn Damon, American actress (b. 1930)
1988 – Lillian Estelle Fisher, American historian of Spanish America (b. 1891)
1990 – Emily Remler, American guitarist (b. 1957)
1991 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter and mandolin player (b. 1902)
1992 – Gregor Mackenzie, Scottish politician (b. 1927)
1993 – France Štiglic, Slovenian film director and screenwriter (b. 1919)
1995 – Connie Wisniewski, American baseball player (b. 1922)
2000 – Hendrik Casimir, Dutch physicist and academic (b. 1909)
2001 – Bonnie Lee Bakley, American model, wife of Robert Blake (b. 1956)
2004 – David Reimer, Canadian victim of a botched circumcision and transgender reassignment surgery (b. 1965)
2005 – David Hackworth, American colonel and journalist (b. 1930)
2008 – Fred Baur, American chemist and founder of Pringles (b. 1918)
2009 – Dom DeLuise, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1933)
2011 – Sammy McCrory, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1924)
2012 – Mort Lindsey, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1923)
2012 – Bob Stewart, American television producer, founded Stewart Tele Enterprises (b. 1920)
2012 – Adam Yauch, American rapper and director (b. 1964)
2012 – Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (b. 1963)
2013 – Otis R. Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (b. 1918)
2013 – Christian de Duve, English-Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
2013 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (b. 1948)
2013 – Mario Machado, Chinese-American journalist and actor (b. 1935)
2013 – Morgan Morgan-Giles, English admiral and politician (b. 1914)
2013 – César Portillo de la Luz, Cuban guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
2014 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (b. 1924)
2014 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (b. 1983)
2014 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
2014 – Helga Königsdorf, German physicist and author (b. 1938)
2014 – Ross Lonsberry, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1947)
2014 – Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Central African politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1948)
2015 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (b. 1931)
2015 – Ellen Albertini Dow, American actress (b. 1913)
2015 – Marv Hubbard, American football player (b. 1946)
2016 – Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundian politician (b. 1946)
2020 – Don Shula, American football player and coach (b. 1930)
2020 – Greg Zanis, American carpenter and activist (b. 1950)

Holidays and observances on May 4

Anti-Bullying Day (United Nations)
Bird Day (United States)
Cassinga Day (Namibia)
Christian feast day:
- Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla
- Blessed Michal Giedroyc
- English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era (Church of England)
- F. C. D. Wyneken (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
- Florian
- Gotthard of Hildesheim
- José María Rubio
- Judas Cyriacus
- Monica of Hippo (1960 Roman Catholic Calendar)
- Sacerdos of Limoges
- Venerius of Milan
- May 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Dave Brubeck Day
Death of Milan Rastislav Štefánik Day (Slovakia)
Greenery Day (Japan)
International Firefighters’ Day
May Fourth Movement commemorations:
- Literary Day (Republic of China)
- Youth Day (China)
Remembrance Day for Martyrs and Disabled (Afghanistan)
Remembrance of the Dead (Netherlands)
Restoration of Independence day (Latvia)
Star Wars Day (International observance)
World Give Day
World Naked Gardening Day
Youth Day (Fiji)

May 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

475 BC – Roman consul Publius Valerius Poplicola celebrates a Roman triumph for his victory over Veii and the Sabines.
305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor.
524 – King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orléans after an eight-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar.
880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
1169 – Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland.
1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state.
1455 – Battle of Arkinholm, Royal forces end the Black Douglas hegemony in Scotland.
1576 – Stephen Báthory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, marries Anna Jagiellon and they become co-rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1707 – The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect.
1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain
1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Upper Bavaria, by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.
1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1786 – In Vienna, Austria, Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time.
1794 – War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793.
1820 – Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to kill the British Cabinet and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool.
1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.
1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world’s second modern police force and Asia’s first, is established.
1846 – The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.
1851 – Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London.
1856 – The Province of Isabela was created in the Philippines in honor of Queen Isabela II.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes its capture of New Orleans.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
1865 – The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.
1866 – The Memphis Race Riots begin. In three days time, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1875 – Alexandra Palace reopens after being burned down in a fire in 1873.
1884 – The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions demands the eight-hour work day in the United States.
1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.
1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business.
1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers’ Day in many countries.
1893 – The World’s Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
1894 – Coxey’s Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.
1898 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy destroys the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy after a seven-hour battle. Spain loses all seven of its ships, and 381 Spanish sailors die. There are no American vessel losses or combat deaths.
1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
1915 – The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her 202nd, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.
1919 – German troops enter Munich to suppress the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.
1927 – The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor.
1929 – The 7.2 M_w  Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran–Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121.
1930 – “Pluto” is officially proposed for the name of the newly-discovered dwarf planet Pluto by Vesto Slipher in the Lowell Observatory Observation Circular. The name quickly catches on.
1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
1941 – World War II: German forces launch a major attack during the siege of Tobruk.
1944 – World War II: Two hundred Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani, Athens in reprisal for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi.
1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany”. The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.
1945 – World War II: Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother, Magda.
1945 – World War II: Forces of the Soviet Red Army liberate Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at Stalag Luft I near Barth, Germany.
1945 – World War II: Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army.
1945 – World War II: Yugoslav Partisans liberate Trieste.
1946 – Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.
1946 – The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.
1947 – Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.
1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an “epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system”, marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
1957 – Thirty-four people are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashes in Hampshire, England.
1960 – Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra; also known as “Maharashtra Day”.
1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
1961 – The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.
1965 – Cross-Strait relations: Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China, takes place.
1967 – Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu are married in Las Vegas.
1970 – Vietnam War: Protests erupt following the announcement by Richard Nixon that the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces would attack Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign.
1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.
1974 – The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón.
1977 – Thirty-six people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations.
1978 – Japan’s Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.
1983 – The Sydney Entertainment Centre is opened.
1987 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1989 – Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1990 – The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) is granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church in the Philippines.
1993 – Dingiri Banda Wijetunga became president of Sri Lanka automatically after killing of R Premadasa in LTTE bomb explosion.
1994 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
1995 – Croatian War of Independence: Croatian forces launch Operation Flash.
1999 – The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924
1999 – SpongeBob SquarePants premieres on Nickelodeon.
2001 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares the existence of “a state of rebellion”, hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion.
2002 – OpenOffice.org released version 1.0, the first stable version of the software.
2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the “Mission Accomplished” speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”.
2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
2009 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.
2011 – Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.
2019 – Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district of India: Sixteen army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.

Births on May 1

1218 – John I, Count of Hainaut (d. 1257)
1218 – Rudolf I of Germany (d. 1291)
1285 – Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1326)
1326 – Rinchinbal Khan, Mongolian emperor (d. 1332)
1488 – Sidonie of Bavaria, eldest daughter of Duke Albrecht IV of Bavaria-Munich (d. 1505)
1527 – Johannes Stadius, German astronomer, astrologer, mathematician (d. 1579)
1545 – Franciscus Junius, French theologian (d. 1602)
1579 – Wolphert Gerretse, Dutch-American farmer, co-founded New Netherland (d. 1662)
1582 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (d. 1643)
1585 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (d. 1612)
1591 – Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German missionary and astronomer (d. 1666)
1594 – John Haynes, English-American politician, 1st Governor of the Colony of Connecticut (d. 1653)
1602 – William Lilly, English astrologer (d. 1681)
1672 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1719)
1730 – Joshua Rowley, English admiral (d. 1790)
1735 – Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen, Dutch admiral and philanthropist (d. 1819)
1751 – Judith Sargent Murray, American poet and playwright (d. 1820)
1764 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (d. 1820)
1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Irish-English field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1852)
1783 – Phoebe Hinsdale Brown, American hymnwriter (d. 1861)
1803 – James Clarence Mangan, Irish poet and author (d. 1849)
1821 – Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (d. 1897)
1824 – Alexander William Williamson, English chemist and academic (d. 1904)
1825 – Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1898)
1825 – George Inness, American painter and educator (d. 1894)
1827 – Jules Breton, French painter (d. 1906)
1829 – José de Alencar, Brazilian author and playwright (d. 1877)
1829 – Frederick Sandys, English painter and illustrator (d. 1904)
1830 – Guido Gezelle, Belgian priest and poet (d. 1899)
1831 – Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and activist (d. 1903)
1847 – Henry Demarest Lloyd, American journalist and politician (d. 1903)
1848 – Adelsteen Normann, Norwegian painter (d. 1919)
1850 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (d. 1942)
1851 – Laza Lazarević, Serbian psychiatrist and neurologist (d. 1891)
1852 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and professional scout (d. 1903)
1852 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1934)
1853 – Jacob Mikhailovich Gordin, Jewish Ukrainian-American journalist, actor, and playwright (d. 1909)
1855 – Cecilia Beaux, American painter and academic (d. 1942)
1857 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (d. 1891)
1859 – Jacqueline Comerre-Paton, French painter and sculptor (d. 1955)
1862 – Marcel Prévost, French novelist and playwright (d. 1941)
1864 – Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother’s Day (d. 1948)
1871 – Seakle Greijdanus, Dutch theologian and scholar (d. 1948)
1871 – Emiliano Chamorro Vargas, President of Nicaragua (d. 1966)
1872 – Hugo Alfvén, Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter (d. 1960)
1872 – Sidónio Pais, Portuguese soldier and politician, 4th President of Portugal (d. 1918)
1874 – Romaine Brooks, American-French painter and illustrator (d. 1970)
1874 – Paul Van Asbroeck, Belgian target shooter (d. 1959)
1875 – Dave Hall, American runner (d. 1972)
1881 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French priest, palaeontologist, and philosopher (d. 1955)
1884 – Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, English race car driver and politician (d. 1964)
1885 – Clément Pansaers, Belgian poet (d. 1922)
1885 – Ralph Stackpole, American sculptor and painter (d. 1973)
1887 – Alan Cunningham, Anglo-Irish general and diplomat, High Commissioners for Palestine and Transjordan (d. 1983)
1890 – Clelia Lollini, Italian physician (d. 1963 or 1964)
1891 – Lillian Estelle Fisher, American historian of Spanish America (d. 1988)
1895 – Nikolai Yezhov, Soviet secret police official, head of the NKVD (d. 1940)
1895 – May Hollinworth, Australian theatre producer and director (d. 1968)
1896 – Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (d. 1947)
1896 – Mark W. Clark, American general (d. 1984)
1896 – J. Lawton Collins, American general (d. 1987)
1898 – Alfred Schmidt, Estonian weightlifter (d. 1972)
1900 – Ignazio Silone, Italian journalist and politician (d. 1978)
1900 – Aleksander Wat, Polish poet and writer (d. 1967)
1901 – Sterling Allen Brown, American poet, academic, and critic (d. 1989)
1901 – Heinz Eric Roemheld, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1985)
1901 – Antal Szerb, Hungarian scholar and author (d. 1945)
1905 – Henry Koster, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1988)
1906 – Horst Schumann, German SS officer and physician (d. 1983)
1907 – Hayes Alvis, American bassist (d. 1972)
1907 – Kate Smith, American singer and actress (d. 1986)
1908 – Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist and author (d. 1968)
1908 – Morris Kline, American mathematician and academic (d. 1992)
1909 – Endel Puusepp, Estonian-Soviet military pilot and politician (d. 1996)
1909 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1990)
1910 – Behice Boran, Turkish sociologist and politician (d. 1987)
1910 – Raya Dunayevskaya, Ukrainian-American philosopher and activist (d. 1987)
1910 – Dirk Andries Flentrop, Dutch organ builder (d. 2003)
1910 – J. Allen Hynek, American astronomer and ufologist (d. 1986)
1910 – Nejdet Sançar, Turkish literature teacher (d. 1975)
1911 – Wilfred Watson, English-Canadian poet, playwright and educator (d. 1998)
1912 – Otto Kretschmer, German admiral (d. 1998)
1913 – Louis Nye, American actor (d. 2005)
1913 – Walter Susskind, Czech-English pianist, conductor, and educator (d. 1980)
1914 – Jaap van der Poll, Dutch javelin thrower (d. 2010)
1915 – Hanns Martin Schleyer, German businessman (d. 1977)
1916 – Antoni Bazaniak, Polish sprint canoeist (d. 1979)
1916 – Glenn Ford, Canadian-American actor and producer (d. 2006)
1917 – John Beradino, American baseball player and actor (d. 1996)
1917 – Ulric Cross, Trinidadian navigator, judge, and diplomat (d. 2013)
1917 – Danielle Darrieux, French actress and singer (d. 2017)
1917 – Ahron Soloveichik, Russian rabbi and scholar (d. 2001)
1918 – Gersh Budker, Ukrainian-Russian physicist and academic (d. 1977)
1918 – Jack Paar, American comedian, author and talk show host (d. 2004)
1919 – Manna Dey, Indian singer and composer (d. 2013)
1919 – Mohammed Karim Lamrani, Moroccan businessman and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Morocco (d. 2018)
1919 – Dan O’Herlihy, Irish-American actor (d. 2005)
1921 – Vladimir Colin, Romanian journalist and author (d. 1991)
1922 – Alastair Gillespie, Canadian scholar and politician (d. 2018)
1923 – Joseph Heller, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1999)
1923 – Antônio Maria Mucciolo, Italian-Brazilian archbishop (d. 2012)
1923 – Marcel Rayman, Polish soldier (d. 1944)
1924 – Evelyn Boyd Granville, American mathematician, computer scientist, and academic
1924 – Karel Kachyňa, Czech director and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1924 – Terry Southern, American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1925 – Chuck Bednarik, American lieutenant and football player (d. 2015)
1925 – Scott Carpenter, American commander, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2013)
1925 – Sardar Fazlul Karim, Bangladeshi philosopher, scholar, and academic (d. 2014)
1926 – Peter Lax, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic
1927 – Gary Bertini, Israeli conductor and composer (d. 2005)
1927 – Laura Betti, Italian actress (d. 2004)
1927 – Albert Zafy, Malagasy politician, 3rd President of Madagascar (d. 2017)
1927 – Bernard Vukas, Yugoslav-Croatian footballer (d. 1983)
1928 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1928 – Delfim Netto, Brazilian economist
1929 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-English sociologist and politician (d. 2009)
1929 – Sonny Ramadhin, Trinidadian cricketer
1930 – Ollie Matson, American sprinter and football player (d. 2011)
1930 – Richard Riordan, American lieutenant and politician, 39th Mayor of Los Angeles and publisher
1930 – Little Walter Jacobs, American blues harp player and singer (d. 1968)
1931 – Naim Attallah, Palestinian author
1932 – Sandy Woodward, English admiral (d. 2013)
1932 – Tabibar Rahman Sarder, Bangladeshi politician. (d. 2010)
1934 – Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Mexican politician
1934 – Tang Chang, Thai artist (d. 1990)
1934 – Shirley Horn, American singer and pianist (d. 2005)
1934 – Phillip King, Tunisian-English sculptor
1934 – John Meillon, Australian actor (d. 1989)
1936 – Danièle Huillet, French filmmaker (d. 2006)
1936 – Hans E. Wallman, Swedish director, producer, and composer (d. 2014)
1937 – Una Stubbs, English actress and dancer
1939 – Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1939 – Wilhelmina Cooper, Dutch model (d. 1980)
1939 – Victor Davies, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor
1943 – Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan politician (d. 2004)
1943 – Joe Walsh, Irish politician, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (d. 2014)
1945 – Rita Coolidge, American singer-songwriter
1945 – Carson Whitsett, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer (d. 2007)
1946 – Joanna Lumley, English actress, voice-over artist, author, and activist
1946 – John Woo, Hong Kong director, producer, and screenwriter
1947 – Jacob Bekenstein, Mexican-born Israeli-American theoretical physicist (d. 2015)
1947 – Sergio Infante, Chilean-Swedish poet and author
1948 – Györgyi Balogh, Hungarian sprinter
1948 – Patricia Hill Collins, American sociologist and scholar
1949 – Jim Clench, Canadian bass player (d. 2010)
1949 – Tim Hodgkinson, English saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer
1949 – Paul Teutul, Sr., American motorcycle designer, co-founded Orange County Choppers
1950 – Dann Florek, American actor and director
1950 – Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer and coach
1951 – Gordon Greenidge, Barbadian cricketer and coach
1951 – Geoff Lees, English race car driver
1951 – Sally Mann, American photographer
1952 – Richard Blundell, English economist and academic
1952 – Kim Lewison, English lawyer and judge
1952 – Peter Smith, Malaysian-born English academic and judge
1953 – Glen Ballard, American songwriter and producer
1954 – Ray Parker, Jr., American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1954 – Joel Rosenberg, Canadian-American author and activist (d. 2011)
1955 – Alex Cunningham, Scottish politician
1955 – Martin O’Donnell, American composer
1955 – Ray Searage, American baseball player and coach
1956 – Catherine Frot, French actress
1956 – Phil Foglio, American illustrator
1957 – Rick Darling, Australian cricketer
1957 – Uberto Pasolini, Italian banker, director, and producer
1959 – Yasmina Reza, French actress and playwright
1959 – Lawrence Seeff, South African cricketer and basket weaver
1960 – Steve Cauthen, American jockey and sportscaster
1961 – Sultan Günal-Gezer, Dutch politician
1961 – Clint Malarchuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Marilyn Milian, American judge
1961 – Vasiliy Sidorenko, Russian hammer thrower
1962 – Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress
1962 – Ted Sundquist, American football player, coach, and manager
1964 – Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed skater
1966 – Olaf Thon, German footballer and manager
1967 – Tim McGraw, American singer-songwriter and actor
1968 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer and manager
1968 – D’arcy Wretzky, American bass player and singer
1969 – Wes Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Mary Lou McDonald, Irish politician
1969 – Billy Owens, American basketball player
1970 – Bernard Butler, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1971 – Ethan Albright, American football player
1971 – Stuart Appleby, Australian golfer
1971 – Kim Grant, South African tennis player
1971 – Artur Kohutek, Polish hurdler and soldier
1971 – Ajith Kumar, Indian film actor in Tamil cinema and race car driver
1972 – Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Yemeni terrorist
1972 – Julie Benz, American actress
1972 – Yoon Hae-young, South Korean actress
1973 – Peter Baah, English footballer and manager
1973 – Mike Jesse, German footballer
1973 – Curtis Martin, American football player
1973 – Oliver Neuville, German footballer
1975 – Austin Croshere, American basketball player and sportscaster
1975 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)
1975 – Nina Hossain, English journalist
1975 – Alexey Smertin, Russian international footballer
1976 – Patricia Stokkers, Dutch swimmer
1977 – Vera Lischka, Austrian swimmer and politician
1978 – James Badge Dale, American actor
1979 – Mauro Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
1979 – Roman Lyashenko, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
1980 – Marvin Cabrera, Mexican footballer
1980 – Rob Davison, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1980 – Inês Henriques, Portuguese race walker
1980 – Jan Heylen, Belgian race car driver
1980 – Jay Reatard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
1980 – Yuliya Tabakova, Russian athlete
1981 – Manny Acosta, Panamanian baseball player
1981 – Derek Asamoah, Ghanaian footballer
1981 – Alexander Hleb, Belarusian footballer
1981 – Wes Welker, American football player
1982 – Beto, Portuguese footballer
1982 – Jamie Dornan, Northern Irish model and actor
1982 – Mark Farren, Irish footballer (d. 2016)
1982 – Katya Zamolodchikova, American drag queen
1982 – Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player
1982 – Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer
1983 – Alain Bernard, French swimmer
1983 – Human Tornado, American wrestler
1983 – Park Hae-jin, South Korean actor
1984 – David Backes, American ice hockey player
1984 – Mišo Brečko, Slovenian footballer
1984 – Patrick Eaves, American ice hockey player
1984 – Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer
1984 – Farah Fath, American actress
1984 – Keiichiro Koyama, Japanese singer and actor
1984 – Víctor Montaño, Colombian footballer
1984 – Mark Seaby, Australian footballer
1985 – Shahriar Nafees, Bangladeshi cricketer
1986 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer (d. 2013)
1986 – Adam Casey, Australian footballer
1986 – Cassie Jaye, American actress and film director
1986 – Jesse Klaver, Dutch politician
1986 – Lee Chang-min, South Korean singer
1986 – Brent Stanton, Australian footballer
1987 – Leonardo Bonucci, Italian footballer
1987 – Glen Coffee, American football player
1987 – Iván DeJesús Jr., Puerto Rican baseball player
1987 – Marcus Drum, Australian footballer
1987 – Amir Johnson, American basketball player
1987 – Ryan Mathews, American football player
1987 – Saidi Ntibazonkiza, Burundian footballer
1987 – Shahar Pe’er, Israeli tennis player
1988 – Maria Balaba, Latvian figure skater
1988 – Maxim Gustik, Belarusian freestyle skier
1988 – Teodor Peterson, Swedish cross-country skier
1989 – Alejandro Arribas, Spanish footballer
1989 – Poļina Jeļizarova, Latvian runner
1990 – Uriel Álvarez, Mexican footballer
1990 – Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress
1990 – Diego Contento, German footballer
1990 – Scooter Gennett, American baseball player
1991 – Marcus Stroman, American baseball player
1991 – Daniel Talbot, British sprinter
1992 – Trevor Philp, Canadian alpine skier
1992 – Bradley Roby, American football player
1993 – Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, French footballer
1993 – Ifeoma Nwoye, Nigerian wrestler
1994 – Wallace Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
1995 – Collin Seedorf, Dutch footballer
1996 – Christopher J. Alexis Jr., Grenadian road cyclist
1996 – Daniel Saifiti, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
1996 – Jacob Saifiti, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
1996 – Michael Seaton, Jamaican footballer
2004 – Charli D’Amelio, American social media influencer and dancer

Deaths on May 1

408 – Arcadius, Byzantine emperor (b. 377)
558 – Marcouf, missionary and saint
908 – Wang Zongji, Chinese prince and pretender
1118 – Matilda of Scotland (b. 1080)
1171 – Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster (b. 1110)
1187 – Roger de Moulins, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller
1255 – Walter de Gray, English prelate and statesman
1277 – Stefan Uroš I of Serbia (b. 1223)
1278 – William II of Villehardouin
1308 – Albert I of Germany (b. 1255)
1312 – Paul I Šubić of Bribir
1539 – Isabella of Portugal (b. 1503)
1555 – Pope Marcellus II (b. 1501)
1572 – Pope Pius V (b. 1504)
1668 – Frans Luycx, Flemish painter (b. 1604)
1730 – François de Troy, French painter and engraver (b. 1645)
1731 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German violinist and composer (b. 1677)
1738 – Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English politician, First Lord of the Treasury (b. 1669)
1772 – Gottfried Achenwall, Polish-German historian, economist, and jurist (b. 1719)
1813 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French general (b. 1768)
1838 – Antoine Louis Dugès, French obstetrician and naturalist (b. 1797)
1856 – John Wilbur, American minister and theologian (b. 1774)
1873 – David Livingstone, Scottish-English missionary and explorer (b. 1813)
1899 – Ludwig Büchner, German physiologist and physician (b. 1824)
1904 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer and academic (b. 1841)
1913 – John Barclay Armstrong, American lieutenant (b. 1850)
1920 – Princess Margaret of Connaught (b. 1882)
1935 – Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (b. 1889)
1943 – Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian religious leader, founded the Brunstad Christian Church (b. 1871)
1945 – Joseph Goebbels, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1897)
1945 – Magda Goebbels, German wife of Joseph Goebbels (b. 1901)
1953 – Everett Shinn, American painter and illustrator (b. 1876)
1956 – LeRoy Samse, American pole vaulter (b. 1883)
1960 – Charles Holden, English architect, designed the Bristol Central Library (b. 1875)
1963 – Lope K. Santos, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1879)
1965 – Spike Jones, American singer and bandleader (b. 1911)
1968 – Jack Adams, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1895)
1968 – Harold Nicolson, English author and politician (b. 1886)
1970 – Yi Un, Korean prince (b. 1897)
1973 – Asger Jorn, Danish painter and sculptor (b. 1914)
1976 – T. R. M. Howard, American surgeon and activist (b. 1908)
1976 – Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek poet and politician (b. 1939)
1978 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer and conductor (b. 1903)
1982 – William Primrose, Scottish viola player and educator (b. 1903)
1984 – Jüri Lossmann, Estonian-Swedish runner (b. 1891)
1985 – Denise Robins, English journalist and author (b. 1897)
1986 – Hylda Baker, English comedian, actress and music hall performer (b. 1905)
1986 – Hugo Peretti, American songwriter and producer (b. 1916)
1988 – Ben Lexcen, Australian sailor and architect (b. 1936)
1989 – Sally Kirkland, American journalist (b. 1912)
1989 – V. M. Panchalingam, Sri Lankan civil servant (b. 1930)
1989 – Patrice Tardif, Canadian farmer and politician (b. 1904)
1990 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-American tenor and actor (b. 1926)
1991 – Richard Thorpe, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
1993 – Pierre Bérégovoy, French metallurgist and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1925)
1993 – Ranasinghe Premadasa, Sri Lankan politician, 3rd President of Sri Lanka (b. 1924)
1994 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (b. 1960)
1995 – Antonio Salemme, Italian-American painter (b. 1892)
1997 – Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (b. 1927)
1998 – Eldridge Cleaver, American author and activist (b. 1935)
2000 – Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder and actor (b. 1926)
2002 – Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh, Indian poet and author (b. 1908)
2003 – Miss Elizabeth, American wrestler and manager (b. 1960)
2003 – Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)
2005 – Kenneth Clark, American psychologist and academic (b. 1914)
2008 – Anthony Mamo, Maltese judge and politician, 1st President of Malta (b. 1909)
2008 – Philipp von Boeselager, German soldier and economist (b. 1917)
2010 – Helen Wagner, American actress (b. 1918)
2011 – Henry Cooper, English boxer (b. 1934)
2011 – Ted Lowe, English sportscaster (b. 1920)
2012 – James Kinley, Canadian engineer and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (b. 1925)
2012 – Mordechai Virshubski, German-Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1930)
2013 – Chris Kelly, American rapper (b. 1978)
2013 – Pierre Pleimelding, French footballer and manager (b. 1952)
2014 – Adamu Atta, Nigerian lawyer and politician, 5th Governor of Kwara State (b. 1927)
2014 – Radhia Cousot, Tunisian-American computer scientist and academic (b. 1947)
2014 – Assi Dayan, Israeli actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1945)
2014 – Juan de Dios Castillo, Mexican footballer and coach (b. 1951)
2015 – Geoff Duke, English-Manx motorcycle racer (b. 1923)
2015 – Vafa Guluzade, Azerbaijani political scientist, academic, and diplomat (b. 1940)
2015 – María Elena Velasco, Mexican actress, singer, director, and screenwriter (b. 1940)
2015 – Grace Lee Whitney, American actress (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances on May 1

Christian feast day:
- Andeolus
- Augustin Schoeffler, Jean-Louis Bonnard (part of Vietnamese Martyrs)
- Benedict of Szkalka
- Brioc
- James the Less (Anglican Communion)
- Joseph the Worker (Roman Catholic)
- Blessed Klymentiy Sheptytsky (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
- Marcouf
- Philip the Apostle (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
- Richard Pampuri
- Sigismund of Burgundy
- Ultan
- May 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in May. (Samoa)
Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in May. (Hong Kong, Hungary, Lithuania, Mozambique, Portugal, Spain, Romania)
Earliest day on which National Day of Prayer can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Thursday in May. (United States)
Earliest day on which World Asthma Day can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Tuesday in May. (International)
Armed Forces Day (Mauritania)
Constitution Day (Argentina, Latvia, Marshall Islands)
Commemoration of the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat following the foundation of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti (India):
- Maharashtra Day
International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day
Lei Day (Hawaii)
International Workers’ Day or Labour Day (International), and its related observances:
- Earliest day on which Labour Day can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of May. (Barbados, Dominica)
- Law Day (United States), formerly intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day. (United States)
- Loyalty Day, formerly intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labour Day. (United States)
May Day (beginning of Summer) observances in the Northern hemisphere (see April 30):
- Beltane (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans in the Northern hemisphere)
- Earliest day on which Beltane can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in May. (Ireland, Scotland)
- Calan Mai (Wales)
Samhain (Celtic neopagans and Wiccans in the Southern Hemisphere)

May 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over Transcaucasia is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire.
799 – After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection.
1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
1607 – Eighty Years’ War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming dynasty China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1707 – A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
1792 – “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty of the Russian Empire.
1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal’s English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks’ Mills.
1882 – French and Vietnamese troops clashed in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class “A” League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
1940 – Merkið, the flag of the Faroe Islands is approved by the British occupation government.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two.
1945 – Liberation Day (Italy): The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini is captured after trying to escape. This day was set as a public holiday to celebrate the Liberation of Italy.
1945 – United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland’s soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
1951 – Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA.
1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
1960 – The United States Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
1983 – Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto’s orbit.
1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
1988 – In Israel, John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
2001 – Michele Alboreto is killed while testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.
2004 – The March for Women’s Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.
2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
2007 – Boris Yeltsin’s funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.

Births on April 25

1214 – Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
1228 – Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
1284 – Edward II of England (d. 1327)
1287 – Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1330)
1502 – Georg Major, German theologian and academic (d. 1574)
1529 – Francesco Patrizi, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1597)
1599 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician, Lord Protector of Great Britain (d. 1658)
1621 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, English soldier and politician (d. 1679)
1666 – Johann Heinrich Buttstett, German organist and composer (d. 1727)
1694 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland (d. 1753)
1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer and author (d. 1776)
1723 – Giovanni Marco Rutini, Italian composer (d. 1797)
1725 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (d. 1786)
1767 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (d. 1847)
1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist and academic (d. 1850)
1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
1843 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
1849 – Felix Klein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1925)
1850 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (d. 1927)
1851 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish author, critic, and academic (d. 1901)
1854 – Charles Sumner Tainter, American engineer and inventor (d. 1940)
1862 – Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, English ornithologist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1933)
1868 – John Moisant, American pilot and engineer (d. 1910)
1871 – Lorne Currie, French-English sailor (d. 1926)
1872 – C. B. Fry, English cricketer, footballer, educator, and politician (d. 1956)
1873 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (d. 1956)
1873 – Howard Garis, American author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily series of children’s stories (d. 1962)
1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian businessman and inventor, developed Marconi’s law, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
1874 – Ernest Webb, English-Canadian race walker (d. 1937)
1876 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian publisher, lawyer, and politician (d. 1958)
1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and triathlete (d. 1946)
1882 – Fred McLeod, Scottish golfer (d. 1976)
1887 – Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese lawyer and critic (d. 1936)
1892 – Maud Hart Lovelace, American author (d. 1980)
1896 – Fred Haney, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1977)
1897 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
1900 – Gladwyn Jebb, English politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1996)
1900 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1902 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (d. 1964)
1902 – Mary Miles Minter, American actress (d. 1984)
1903 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1987)
1905 – George Nepia, New Zealand rugby player and referee (d. 1986)
1906 – William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1997)
1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
1909 – William Pereira, American architect, designed the Transamerica Pyramid (d. 1985)
1910 – Arapeta Awatere, New Zealand interpreter, military leader, politician, and murderer (d. 1976)
1911 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
1912 – Earl Bostic, African-American saxophonist (d. 1965)
1913 – Nikolaos Roussen, Greek captain (d. 1944)
1914 – Ross Lockridge Jr., American author and academic (d. 1948)
1915 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1916 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (d. 1994)
1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
1917 – Jean Lucas, French racing driver (d. 2003)
1918 – Graham Payn, South African-born English actor and singer (d. 2005)
1918 – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, French-American astronomer and academic (d. 1995)
1918 – Astrid Varnay, Swedish-American soprano and actress (d. 2006)
1919 – Finn Helgesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2011)
1921 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter and sculptor (d. 2006)
1923 – Francis Graham-Smith, English astronomer and academic
1923 – Melissa Hayden, Canadian ballerina (d. 2006)
1923 – Albert King, African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
1924 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish race walker (d. 2009)
1924 – Franco Mannino, Italian pianist, composer, director, and playwright (d. 2005)
1924 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (d. 2013)
1925 – Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher, English trade union leader and businessman
1925 – Sammy Drechsel, German comedian and journalist (d. 1986)
1925 – Louis O’Neil, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2018)
1926 – Johnny Craig, American author and illustrator (d. 2001)
1926 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
1926 – Patricia Castell, Argentine actress (d. 2013)
1927 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (d. 2009)
1927 – Albert Uderzo, French author and illustrator (d. 2020)
1928 – Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 2011)
1929 – Yvette Williams, New Zealand long jumper, shot putter, and discus thrower (d. 2019)
1930 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1930 – Godfrey Milton-Thompson, English admiral and surgeon (d. 2012)
1930 – Peter Schulz, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Hamburg (d. 2013)
1931 – Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1980)
1931 – David Shepherd, English painter and author (d. 2017)
1932 – Nikolai Kardashev, Russian astrophysicist (d. 2019)
1932 – Meadowlark Lemon, African-American basketball player and minister (d. 2015)
1932 – Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower and politician (d. 1998)
1933 – Jerry Leiber, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1933 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (d. 1992)
1934 – Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1935 – Bob Gutowski, American pole vaulter (d. 1960)
1935 – Reinier Kreijermaat, Dutch footballer (d. 2018)
1936 – Henck Arron, Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (d. 2000)
1938 – Roger Boisjoly, American aerodynamicist and engineer (d. 2012)
1938 – Ton Schulten, Dutch painter and graphic designer
1939 – Tarcisio Burgnich, Italian footballer and manager
1939 – Michael Llewellyn-Smith, English academic and diplomat
1939 – Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, English historian and academic
1939 – Veronica Sutherland, English academic and British diplomat
1940 – Al Pacino, American actor and director
1941 – Bertrand Tavernier, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Jon Kyl, American lawyer and politician
1943 – Tony Christie, English singer-songwriter and actor
1944 – Len Goodman, English dancer
1944 – Mike Kogel, German singer-songwriter
1944 – Stephen Nickell, English economist and academic
1944 – Bruce Ponder, English geneticist and cancer researcher
1945 – Stu Cook, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1945 – Richard C. Hoagland, American theorist and author
1945 – Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1946 – Talia Shire, American actress
1946 – Peter Sutherland, Irish lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Ireland
1946 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian colonel, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1947 – Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
1948 – Mike Selvey, English cricketer and sportscaster
1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, Taiwanese politician, 39th Premier of the Republic of China
1949 – Vicente Pernía, Argentinian footballer and race car driver
1949 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician, French Minister of Finance
1949 – James Fenton, English poet, journalist and literary critic
1950 – Donnell Deeny, Northern Irish lawyer and judge
1950 – Steve Ferrone, English drummer
1950 – Peter Hintze, German politician (d. 2016)
1950 – Valentyna Kozyr, Ukrainian high jumper
1951 – Ian McCartney, Scottish politician, Minister of State for Trade
1952 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist and composer
1952 – Vladislav Tretiak, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1952 – Jacques Santini, French footballer and coach
1953 – Ron Clements, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Gary Cosier, Australian cricketer
1953 – Anthony Venables, English economist, author, and academic
1954 – Melvin Burgess, English author
1954 – Randy Cross, American football player and sportscaster
1954 – Róisín Shortall, Irish educator and politician
1955 – Américo Gallego, Argentinian footballer and coach
1955 – Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor and singer
1955 – Zev Siegl, American businessman, co-founded Starbucks
1956 – Dominique Blanc, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1956 – Abdalla Uba Adamu, Nigerian professor, media scholar
1957 – Theo de Rooij, Dutch cyclist and manager
1958 – Fish, Scottish singer-songwriter
1958 – Misha Glenny, British journalist
1959 – Paul Madden, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia
1959 – Daniel Kash, Canadian actor and director
1959 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player (d. 2016)
1960 – Paul Baloff, American singer (d. 2002)
1960 – Robert Peston, English journalist
1960 – Bruce Redman, Australian director, producer, and critic
1961 – Dinesh D’Souza, Indian-American journalist and author
1961 – Miran Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
1962 – Foeke Booy, Dutch footballer and manager
1963 – Joy Covey, American businesswoman (d. 2013)
1963 – Dave Martin, English footballer
1963 – David Moyes, Scottish footballer and manager
1963 – Bernd Müller, German footballer and manager
1963 – Paul Wassif, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Hank Azaria, American actor, voice artist, comedian and producer
1964 – Andy Bell, English singer-songwriter
1965 – Eric Avery, American bass player and songwriter
1965 – Mark Bryant, American basketball player and coach
1965 – John Henson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2014)
1966 – Diego Domínguez, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
1966 – Femke Halsema, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician
1966 – Darren Holmes, American baseball player and coach
1966 – Erik Pappas, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Angel Martino, American swimmer
1968 – Vitaliy Kyrylenko, Ukrainian long jumper
1968 – Thomas Strunz, German footballer
1969 – Joe Buck, American sportscaster
1969 – Martin Koolhoven, Dutch director and screenwriter
1969 – Jon Olsen, American swimmer
1969 – Darren Woodson, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Renée Zellweger, American actress and producer
1970 – Jason Lee, American skateboarder, actor, comedian and producer
1971 – Sara Baras, Spanish dancer
1971 – Brad Clontz, American baseball player
1973 – Carlota Castrejana, Spanish triple jumper
1973 – Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer
1973 – Barbara Rittner, German tennis player
1975 – Jacque Jones, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Gilberto da Silva Melo, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Tim Duncan, American basketball player
1976 – Breyton Paulse, South African rugby player
1976 – Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player and coach
1977 – Constantinos Christoforou, Cypriot singer-songwriter
1977 – Ilias Kotsios, Greek footballer
1977 – Marguerite Moreau, American actress and producer
1977 – Matthew West, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1978 – Matt Walker, English swimmer
1980 – Ben Johnston, Scottish drummer and songwriter
1980 – James Johnston, Scottish bass player and songwriter
1980 – Daniel MacPherson, Australian actor and television host
1980 – Bruce Martin, New Zealand cricketer
1980 – Kazuhito Tadano, Japanese baseball player
1980 – Alejandro Valverde, Spanish cyclist
1981 – Dwone Hicks, American football player
1981 – Felipe Massa, Brazilian racing driver
1981 – John McFall, English sprinter
1981 – Anja Pärson, Swedish skier
1982 – Brian Barton, American baseball player
1982 – Monty Panesar, English cricketer
1982 – Marco Russo, Italian footballer
1983 – Johnathan Thurston, Australian rugby league player
1983 – DeAngelo Williams, American football player
1984 – Robert Andino, American baseball player
1984 – Isaac Kiprono Songok, Kenyan runner
1985 – Giedo van der Garde, Dutch racing driver
1986 – Alexei Emelin, Russian ice hockey player
1986 – Thin Seng Hon, Cambodian Paralympic athlete
1986 – Gwen Jorgensen, American triathlete
1986 – Claudia Rath, German heptathlete
1987 – Razak Boukari, Togolese footballer
1987 – Jay Park, American-South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
1987 – Johann Smith, American soccer player
1988 – James Sheppard, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Marie-Michèle Gagnon, Canadian skier
1989 – Michael van Gerwen, Dutch darts player
1989 – Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, one of the highest-ranking spiritual leaders in Tibet
1990 – Jean-Éric Vergne, French racing driver
1990 – Taylor Walker, Australian footballer
1991 – Alex Shibutani, American ice dancer
1993 – Alex Bowman, American race car driver
1993 – Daniel Norris, American baseball player
1994 – Omar McLeod, Jamaican hurdler
1995 – Lewis Baker, English footballer
1996 – Mack Horton, Australian swimmer
1997 – Julius Ertlthaler, Austrian footballer

Deaths on April 25

501 – Rusticus, saint and archbishop of Lyon (b. 455)
775 – Smbat VII Bagratuni, Armenian prince
775 – Mushegh VI Mamikonian, Armenian prince
908 – Zhang Wenwei, Chinese chancellor
1074 – Herman I, Margrave of Baden
1077 – Géza I of Hungary (b. 1040)
1185 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (b. 1178)
1217 – Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia
1228 – Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem (b. 1212)
1243 – Boniface of Valperga, Bishop of Aosta
1264 – Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, medieval English nobleman; Earl of Winchester (b. 1195)
1295 – Sancho IV of Castile (b. 1258)
1342 – Pope Benedict XII (b. 1285)
1397 – Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, English nobleman
1472 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian author, poet, and philosopher (b. 1404)
1516 – John Yonge, English diplomat (b. 1467)
1566 – Louise Labé, French poet and author (b. 1520)
1566 – Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France (b. 1499)
1595 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and songwriter (b. 1544)
1605 – Naresuan, Siamese King of Ayutthaya Kingdom (b. c. 1555)
1644 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (b. 1611)
1660 – Henry Hammond, English cleric and theologian (b. 1605)
1690 – David Teniers the Younger, Flemish painter and educator (b. 1610)
1744 – Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (b. 1701)
1770 – Jean-Antoine Nollet, French minister, physicist, and academic (b. 1700)
1800 – William Cowper, English poet (b. 1731)
1840 – Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1781)
1873 – Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1783)
1875 – 12th Dalai Lama (b. 1857)
1878 – Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
1890 – Crowfoot, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1830)
1891 – Nathaniel Woodard, English priest and educator (b. 1811)
1892 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (b. 1840)
1892 – Karl von Ditmar, Estonian-German geologist and explorer (b. 1822)
1906 – John Knowles Paine, American composer and educator (b. 1839)
1911 – Emilio Salgari, Italian journalist and author (b. 1862)
1913 – Joseph-Alfred Archambeault, Canadian bishop (b. 1859)
1915 – Frederick W. Seward, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State (b. 1830)
1919 – Augustus D. Juilliard, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1836)
1923 – Louis-Olivier Taillon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Premier of Quebec (b. 1840)
1928 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian general (b. 1878)
1941 – Salih Bozok, Turkish commander and politician (b. 1881)
1943 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian director, producer, and playwright (b. 1858)
1944 – George Herriman, American cartoonist (b. 1880)
1944 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player (b. 1859)
1944 – William Stephens, American engineer and politician, 24th Governor of California (b. 1859)
1945 – Huldreich Georg Früh, Swiss composer (b. 1903)
1961 – Robert Garrett, American discus thrower and shot putter (b. 1875)
1970 – Anita Louise, American actress (b. 1915)
1972 – George Sanders, English actor (b. 1906)
1973 – Olga Grey, Hungarian-American actress (b. 1896)
1974 – Gustavo R. Vincenti, Maltese architect and developer (b. 1888)
1975 – Mike Brant, Israeli singer and songwriter (b.1947)
1976 – Carol Reed, English director and producer (b. 1906)
1976 – Markus Reiner, Israeli engineer and educator (b. 1886)
1982 – John Cody, American cardinal (b. 1907)
1983 – William S. Bowdern, American priest and author (b. 1897)
1988 – Carolyn Franklin, American singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
1988 – Clifford D. Simak, American journalist and author (b. 1904)
1990 – Dexter Gordon, American saxophonist, composer, and actor (b. 1923)
1992 – Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
1995 – Art Fleming, American game show host (b. 1925)
1995 – Ginger Rogers, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
1995 – Lev Shankovsky, Ukrainian military historian (b. 1903)
1996 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director (b. 1920)
1998 – Wright Morris, American author and photographer (b. 1910)
1999 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author (b. 1914)
1999 – Roger Troutman, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1951)
2000 – Lucien Le Cam, French mathematician and statistician (b. 1924)
2000 – David Merrick, American director and producer (b. 1911)
2001 – Michele Alboreto, Italian racing driver (b. 1956)
2002 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper and dancer (b. 1971)
2003 – Samson Kitur, Kenyan runner (b. 1966)
2004 – Thom Gunn, English-American poet and academic (b. 1929)
2005 – Jim Barker, American politician (b. 1935)
2005 – Swami Ranganathananda, Indian monk and educator (b. 1908)
2006 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1916)
2006 – Peter Law, Welsh politician and independent member of parliament (b. 1948)
2007 – Alan Ball Jr., English footballer and manager (b. 1945)
2007 – Arthur Milton, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1928)
2007 – Bobby Pickett, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
2008 – Humphrey Lyttelton, English trumpet player, composer, and radio host (b. 1921)
2009 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
2010 – Dorothy Provine, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
2010 – Alan Sillitoe, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet (b. 1928)
2011 – Poly Styrene, British musician (b. 1957)
2012 – Gerry Bahen, Australian footballer (b. 1929)
2012 – Denny Jones, American rancher and politician (b. 1910)
2012 – Moscelyne Larkin, American ballerina and educator (b. 1925)
2012 – Louis le Brocquy, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1916)
2013 – Brian Adam, Scottish biochemist and politician (b. 1948)
2013 – Jacob Avshalomov, American composer and conductor (b. 1919)
2013 – György Berencsi, Hungarian virologist and academic (b. 1941)
2013 – Rick Camp, American baseball player (b. 1953)
2014 – Dan Heap, Canadian priest and politician (b. 1925)
2014 – William Judson Holloway Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and judge (b. 1923)
2014 – Earl Morrall, American football player and coach (b. 1934)
2014 – Tito Vilanova, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1968)
2014 – Stefanie Zweig, German journalist and author (b. 1932)
2015 – Jim Fanning, American-Canadian baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
2015 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (b. 1948)
2015 – Don Mankiewicz, American screenwriter and novelist (b. 1922)
2015 – Mike Phillips, American basketball player (b. 1956)
2016 – Tom Lewis, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1922)
2018 – Madeeha Gauhar, Pakistani actress, playwright and director of social theater, and women’s rights activist (b. 1956)
2019 – John Havlicek, American basketball player (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances on April 25

Anniversary of the First Cabinet of Kurdish Government (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Anzac Day (Australia, New Zealand)
Arbor Day (Germany)
Christian feast day:
- Giovanni Battista Piamarta
- Major Rogation (Western Christianity)
- Mark the Evangelist
- Maughold
- Philo and Agathopodes
- Anianus of Alexandria
- April 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
DNA Day
Flag Day (Faroe Islands)
Freedom Day (Portugal)
Liberation Day (Italy)
Liberation Day (South Georgia)
Military Foundation Day (North Korea)
Parental Alienation Awareness Day
Red Hat Society Day
Sinai Liberation Day (Egypt)
World Malaria Day

April 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).
1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy marking the end of the legendary Trojan War, given by chief librarian of the Library of Alexandria Erastothenes, among others.
1547 – Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.
1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1704 – The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.
1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress”.
1877 – Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1885 – American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
1895 – Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop “Spray”.
1913 – The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.
1914 – The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
1916 – Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.
1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.
1918 – World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
1922 – The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
1932 – Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
1933 – Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
1944 – World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.
1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1955 – The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1963 – Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d’état against Juan Bosch.
1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had “gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily”.
1970 – China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
1970 – The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
1980 – Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1990 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1993 – An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
1996 – In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.
2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.
2013 – A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
2013 – Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China’s Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.

Births on April 24

1086 – Ramiro II of Aragon (d. 1157)
1492 – Sabina of Bavaria, Bavarian duchess and noblewoman (d. 1564)
1532 – Thomas Lucy, English politician (d. 1600)
1533 – William I of Orange, founding father of the Netherlands (d. 1584)
1538 – Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (d. 1587)
1545 – Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, English Earl (d. 1581)
1562 – Xu Guangqi, Ming Dynasty Chinese politician, scholar and lay Catholic leader (d. 1633)
1581 – Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint (d. 1660)
1608 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France (d. 1660)
1620 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (d. 1674)
1706 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1780)
1718 – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish-English painter and educator (d. 1784)
1743 – Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman and engineer, invented the power loom (d. 1823)
1784 – Peter Vivian Daniel, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1860)
1815 – Anthony Trollope, English novelist, essayist, and short story writer (d. 1882)
1823 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician, President of Mexico (d. 1889)
1845 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
1856 – Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (d. 1951)
1860 – Queen Marau, last Queen of Tahiti (d.1935)
1862 – Tomitaro Makino, Japanese botanist (d. 1957)
1868 – Sandy Herd, Scottish golfer (d. 1944)
1876 – Erich Raeder, German admiral (d. 1960)
1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss-French painter (d. 1958)
1879 – Susanna Bokoyni, Hungarian-American circus performer (d. 1984)
1880 – Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper (d. 1954)
1880 – Josef Müller, Croatian entomologist (d. 1964)
1882 – Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Scottish-English air marshal (d. 1970)
1885 – Thomas Cronan, American triple jumper (d. 1962)
1885 – Con Walsh, Irish-Canadian hammer thrower and footballer (d. 1961)
1887 – Denys Finch Hatton, English hunter (d. 1931)
1888 – Pe Maung Tin, Burma-based scholar and educator (d. 1973)
1889 – Stafford Cripps, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1952)
1889 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and academic (d. 1924)
1897 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican colonel and politician, 45th President of Mexico (d. 1955)
1897 – Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist, anthropologist, and engineer (d. 1941)
1899 – Oscar Zariski, Russian-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
1900 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author and educator (d. 1984)
1903 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician, founded the Falange (d. 1936)
1904 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator (d. 1997)
1905 – Al Bates, American long jumper (d. 1999)
1905 – Robert Penn Warren, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (d. 1989)
1906 – William Joyce, American-born Irish-British Nazi propaganda broadcaster (d. 1946)
1906 – Mimi Smith, English nurse (d. 1991)
1907 – Gabriel Figueroa, Mexican cinematographer (d. 1997)
1908 – Marceline Day, American actress (d. 2000)
1908 – Inga Gentzel, Swedish runner (d. 1991)
1908 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (d. 1963)
1912 – Ruth Osburn, American discus thrower (d. 1994)
1913 – Dieter Grau, German-American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
1914 – William Castle, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1914 – Phil Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1991)
1914 – Justin Wilson, American chef and author (d. 2001)
1916 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2002)
1919 – David Blackwell, American mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
1919 – Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 4th President of Cyprus (d. 2013)
1920 – Gino Valenzano, Italian race car driver (d. 2011)
1922 – Marc-Adélard Tremblay, Canadian anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
1923 – Doris Burn, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
1924 – Clement Freud, German-English radio host, academic, and politician (d. 2009)
1924 – Ruth Kobart, American actress and singer (d. 2002)
1925 – Franco Leccese, Italian sprinter (d. 1992)
1926 – Marilyn Erskine, American actress
1926 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, Swedish farmer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 2016)
1927 – Josy Barthel, Luxembourgian runner and politician, Luxembourgian Minister for Energy (d. 1992)
1928 – Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer and manager
1928 – Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist (d. 2008)
1928 – Anahit Perikhanian, Russian-born Armenian Iranologist (d. 2012)
1929 – Dr. Rajkumar, Indian actor and singer (d. 2006)
1930 – Jerome Callet, American instrument designer, educator, and author (d. 2019)
1930 – Richard Donner, American actor, director, and producer
1930 – José Sarney, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 31st President of Brazil
1931 – Abdelhamid Kermali, Algerian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1931 – Bridget Riley, English painter and illustrator
1934 – Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (d. 2015)
1934 – Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer
1936 – David Crombie, Canadian educator and politician, 56th Mayor of Toronto
1936 – Jill Ireland, English actress (d. 1990)
1937 – Joe Henderson, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2001)
1940 – Sue Grafton, American author (d. 2017)
1941 – Richard Holbrooke, American journalist, banker, and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2010)
1941 – John Williams, Australian-English guitarist and composer
1942 – Richard M. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 54th Mayor of Chicago
1942 – Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, activist, and producer
1943 – Richard Sterban, American country & gospel bass singer
1943 – Gordon West, English footballer (d. 2012)
1944 – Peter Cresswell, English judge
1944 – Maarja Nummert, Estonian architect
1944 – Tony Visconti, American record producer, musician and singer
1945 – Doug Clifford, American drummer and songwriter
1946 – Doug Christie, Canadian lawyer and activist (d. 2013)
1947 – Josep Borrell, Spanish engineer and politician, 22nd President of the European Parliament
1947 – João Braz de Aviz, Brazilian cardinal
1947 – Claude Dubois, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Denise Kingsmill, Baroness Kingsmill, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician
1947 – Roger D. Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1948 – Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2013)
1948 – Eliana Gil, Ecuadorian-American psychiatrist, therapist, and author
1949 – Eddie Hart, American sprinter
1949 – Véronique Sanson, French singer-songwriter and producer
1950 – Rob Hyman, American singer-songwriter and musician
1951 – Ron Arad, Israeli architect and academic
1951 – Christian Bobin, French author and poet
1951 – Nigel Harrison, English bass player and songwriter
1951 – Enda Kenny, Irish educator and politician, 13th Taoiseach of Ireland
1952 – Jean Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
1952 – Ralph Winter, American film producer
1953 – Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
1954 – Mumia Abu-Jamal, American journalist, activist, and convicted murderer
1954 – Jack Blades, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1955 – Marion Caspers-Merk, German politician
1955 – John de Mol Jr., Dutch businessman, co-founded Endemol
1955 – Eamon Gilmore, Irish trade union leader and politician, 25th Tánaiste of Ireland
1955 – Margaret Moran, British politician and criminal
1955 – Guy Nève, Belgian race car driver (d. 1992)
1955 – Michael O’Keefe, American actor
1955 – Bill Osborne, New Zealand rugby player
1956 – James A. Winnefeld, Jr., American admiral
1957 – Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, Pakistani-English businessman and politician
1958 – Brian Paddick, English police officer and politician
1959 – Paula Yates, British-Australian television host and author (d. 2000)
1961 – Andrew Murrison, English physician and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
1962 – Clemens Binninger, German politician
1962 – Stuart Pearce, English footballer, coach, and manager
1962 – Steve Roach, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Paula Frazer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Billy Gould, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1963 – Mano Solo, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2010)
1964 – Helga Arendt, German sprinter (d. 2013)
1964 – Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian, actor, and producer
1964 – Djimon Hounsou, Beninese-American actor and producer
1964 – Witold Smorawiński, Polish guitarist, composer, and educator
1965 – Jeff Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1966 – Pierre Brassard, Canadian comedian and actor
1966 – Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
1966 – David Usher, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
1967 – Dino Rađa, Croatian basketball player
1967 – Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan-American baseball player and coach
1968 – Aidan Gillen, Irish actor
1968 – Todd Jones, American baseball player
1968 – Roxanna Panufnik, English composer
1968 – Hashim Thaçi, Kosovan soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Kosovo
1969 – Elias Atmatsidis, Greek footballer
1969 – Rory McCann, Scottish actor
1969 – Eilidh Whiteford, Scottish academic and politician
1970 – Damien Fleming, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
1971 – Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan cricketer and umpire
1971 – Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer
1972 – Chipper Jones, American baseball player
1972 – Jure Košir, Slovenian skier and singer
1973 – Gabby Logan, English gymnast, television and radio host
1973 – Damon Lindelof, American screenwriter and producer
1973 – Brian Marshall, American bass player and songwriter
1973 – Eric Snow, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
1973 – Toomas Tohver, Estonian footballer
1973 – Lee Westwood, English golfer
1974 – Eric Kripke, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Stephen Wiltshire, English illustrator
1975 – Dejan Savić, Yugoslavian and Serbian water polo player
1976 – Steve Finnan, Irish international footballer
1976 – Frédéric Niemeyer, Canadian tennis player and coach
1977 – Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1977 – Diego Placente, Argentine footballer
1978 – Diego Quintana, Argentine footballer
1980 – Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer
1980 – Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player (d. 2008)
1981 – Taylor Dent, American tennis player
1981 – Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer
1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1982 – David Oliver, American hurdler
1982 – Simon Tischer, German volleyball player
1983 – Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete
1985 – Mike Rodgers, American sprinter
1986 – Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player
1987 – Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Kris Letang, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist
1987 – Jan Vertonghen, Belgian international footballer
1987 – Varun Dhawan, Indian actor
1989 – Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player
1989 – David Boudia, American diver
1989 – Taja Mohorčič, Slovenian tennis player
1990 – Kim Tae-ri, South Korean actress
1990 – Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player
1991 – Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model
1991 – Morgan Ciprès, French figure skater
1991 – Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer
1992 – Joe Keery, American actor
1992 – Laura Kenny, English cyclist
1993 – Ben Davies, Welsh international footballer
1994 – Jordan Fisher, American singer, dancer, and actor
1994 – Caspar Lee, British-South African Youtuber
1996 – Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player
1997 – Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer
1997 – Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player
1998 – Ryan Newman, American actress
1999 – Jerry Jeudy, American football player

Deaths on April 24

624 – Mellitus, saint, and archbishop of Canterbury
1149 – Petronille de Chemillé, abbess of Fontevrault
1288 – Gertrude of Austria (b. 1226)
1338 – Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat (b. 1291)
1479 – Jorge Manrique, Spanish poet (b. 1440)
1513 – Şehzade Ahmet, Ottoman prince (b. 1465)
1617 – Concino Concini, Italian-French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1575)
1622 – Fidelis of Sigmaringen, German friar and saint (b. 1577)
1656 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (b. 1561)
1731 – Daniel Defoe, English journalist, novelist, and spy (b. 1660)
1748 – Anton thor Helle, German-Estonian clergyman and translator (b. 1683)
1779 – Eleazar Wheelock, American minister and academic, founded Dartmouth College (b. 1711)
1794 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician (b. 1719)
1852 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (b. 1783)
1889 – Zulma Carraud, French author (b. 1796)
1891 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German field marshal (b. 1800)
1924 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (b. 1844)
1931 – David Kldiashvili, Georgian author and playwright (b. 1862)
1935 – Anastasios Papoulas, Greek general (b. 1857)
1938 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (b. 1863)
1939 – Louis Trousselier, French cyclist (b. 1881)
1941 – Karin Boye, Swedish author and poet (b. 1900)
1942 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (b. 1874)
1944 – Charles Jordan, American magician (b. 1888)
1945 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (b. 1899)
1947 – Hans Biebow, German SS officer (b. 1902)
1947 – Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1873)
1948 – Jāzeps Vītols, Latvian composer (b. 1863)
1954 – Guy Mairesse, French race car driver (b. 1910)
1960 – Max von Laue, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
1961 – Lee Moran, American actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1888)
1962 – Milt Franklyn, American composer (b. 1897)
1964 – Gerhard Domagk, German pathologist and bacteriologist (b. 1895)
1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress (b. 1878)
1966 – Simon Chikovani, Georgian poet and author (b. 1902)
1967 – Vladimir Komarov, Russian pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1927)
1967 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (b. 1885)
1968 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
1970 – Otis Spann, American singer and pianist (b. 1930)
1972 – Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)
1974 – Bud Abbott, American comedian and producer (b. 1895)
1975 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1947)
1976 – Mark Tobey, American-Swiss painter and educator (b. 1890)
1980 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (b. 1904)
1982 – Ville Ritola, Finnish runner (b. 1896)
1983 – Erol Güngör, Turkish sociologist, psychologist, and academic (b. 1938)
1983 – Rolf Stommelen, German race car driver (b. 1943)
1984 – Rafael Pérez y Pérez, Spanish author (b. 1891)
1993 – Oliver Tambo, South African lawyer and activist (b. 1917)
1993 – Tran Duc Thao, Vietnamese philosopher and theorist (b. 1917)
1995 – Lodewijk Bruckman, Dutch painter (b. 1903)
1997 – Allan Francovich, American director and producer (b. 1941)
1997 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian and activist (b. 1927)
1997 – Eugene Stoner, American engineer, designed the AR-15 rifle (b. 1922)
2001 – Josef Peters, German race car driver (b. 1914)
2001 – Johnny Valentine, American wrestler (b. 1928)
2002 – Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourgian sculptor (b. 1908)
2004 – José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and producer (b. 1923)
2004 – Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded Estée Lauder Companies (b. 1906)
2005 – Ezer Weizman, Israeli general and politician, 7th President of Israel (b. 1924)
2005 – Fei Xiaotong, Chinese sociologist and academic (b. 1910)
2006 – Brian Labone, English footballer (b. 1940)
2006 – Moshe Teitelbaum, Romanian-American rabbi and author (b. 1914)
2008 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, and saxophonist, and composer (b. 1921)
2011 – Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philanthropist (b. 1926)
2014 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect, designed Haas House (b. 1934)
2014 – Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1948)
2014 – Shobha Nagi Reddy, Indian politician (b. 1968)
2014 – Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1921)
2015 – Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish journalist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1922)
2016 – Tommy Kono, American weightlifter and coach (b. 1930)
2017 – Robert Pirsig, American author and philosopher (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on April 24

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day (Armenia, France)
Christian feast day:
- Benedict Menni
- Dermot of Armagh
- Dyfnan of Anglesey
- Ecgberht of Ripon
- Fidelis of Sigmaringen
- Gregory of Elvira
- Ivo of Ramsey
- Johann Walter (Lutheran)
- Mary of Clopas
- Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
- Mellitus
- Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur
- Salome (disciple)
- Wilfrid (Church of England)
- William Firmatus
- April 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Concord Day (Niger)
Democracy Day (Nepal)
Earliest day on which Arbor Day can fall, while April 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Friday in April. (United States)
Earliest day on which Turkmen Racing Horse Festival can fall, while April 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in April. (Turkmenistan)
Fashion Revolution Day, and its related observances:
- Labour Safety Day (Bangladesh, proposed)
Kapyong Day (Australia, Canada)
National Panchayati Raj Day (India)
St Mark’s Eve
Republic Day (The Gambia)
World Day for Laboratory Animals

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