1761

  • May 26 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe.
    • 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire takes place. The Sasanids defeat the Armenians militarily but guarantee them freedom to openly practice Christianity.
    • 946 – King Edmund I of England is murdered by a thief whom he personally attacks while celebrating St Augustine’s Mass Day.
    • 961 – King Otto I elects his 6-year-old son Otto II as heir apparent and co-ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom. He is crowned at Aachen, and placed under the tutelage of his grandmother Matilda.
    • 1135 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile is crowned in León Cathedral as Imperator totius Hispaniae (Emperor of all of Spain).
    • 1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 23,000.
    • 1328 – William of Ockham, the Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena, and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing a death sentence from Pope John XXII.
    • 1538 – Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.
    • 1573 – The Battle of Haarlemmermeer, a naval engagement in the Dutch War of Independence.
    • 1637 – Pequot War: A combined English and Mohegan force under John Mason attacks a village in Connecticut, massacring approximately 500 Pequots.
    • 1644 – Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese and Spanish forces both claim victory in the Battle of Montijo.
    • 1736 – The Battle of Ackia was fought near the present site of Tupelo, Mississippi. British and Chickasaw soldiers repelled a French and Choctaw attack on the then-Chickasaw village of Ackia.
    • 1770 – The Orlov Revolt, an attempt to revolt against the Ottoman Empire before the Greek War of Independence, ends in disaster for the Greeks.
    • 1783 – A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut, celebrated the end of fighting in the American Revolution.
    • 1805 – Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan Cathedral, the gothic cathedral in Milan.
    • 1821 – Establishment of the Peloponnesian Senate by the Greek rebels.
    • 1822 – One hundred sixteen people die in the Grue Church fire, the biggest fire disaster in Norway’s history.
    • 1857 – Dred Scott is emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners.
    • 1864 – Montana is organized as a United States territory.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last full general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.
    • 1868 – The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson ends with his acquittal by one vote.
    • 1869 – Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
    • 1879 – Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
    • 1896 – Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.
    • 1896 – Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
    • 1897 – Dracula, a Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
    • 1897 – The original manuscript of William Bradford’s history, “Of Plymouth Plantation” is returned to the Governor of Massachusetts by the Bishop of London after being taken during the American Revolutionary War.
    • 1900 – Thousand Days’ War: The Colombian Conservative Party turns the tide of war in their favor with victory against the Colombian Liberal Party in the Battle of Palonegro.
    • 1908 – The first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East was made at Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia. The rights to the resource were quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
    • 1917 – Several powerful tornadoes rip through Illinois, including the city of Mattoon.
    • 1918 – The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.
    • 1923 – The first 24 Hours of Le Mans was held and has since been run annually in June.
    • 1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
    • 1936 – In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he sits down in the early hours of the following morning, he had spoken for ten hours.
    • 1937 – Walter Reuther and members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) clashed with Ford Motor Company security guards at the River Rouge Complex complex in Dearborn, Michigan, during the Battle of the Overpass.
    • 1938 – In the United States, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.
    • 1940 – World War II: Operation Dynamo: In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
    • 1940 – World War II: The Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French garrison.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Gazala takes place.
    • 1948 – The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 80-557, which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
    • 1966 – British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.
    • 1967 – The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released.
    • 1968 – H-dagurinn in Iceland: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight
    • 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing.
    • 1970 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
    • 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army slaughters at least 71 Hindus in Burunga, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
    • 1972 – The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
    • 1981 – Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
    • 1981 – An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.
    • 1983 – The 7.8 Mw  Sea of Japan earthquake shakes northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami is generated that leaves about 100 people dead.
    • 1986 – The European Community adopts the European flag.
    • 1991 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
    • 1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes in the Phu Toei National Park in Thailand, killing all 223 people on board.
    • 1998 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in New Jersey v. New York that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
    • 1998 – The first “National Sorry Day” was held in Australia, and reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by over a million people.
    • 2002 – The tugboat Robert Y. Love collides with a support pier of Interstate 40 on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, resulting in 14 deaths and 11 others injured.
    • 2004 – United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
    • 2008 – Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.

    Births on May 26

    • 1264 – Koreyasu, Japanese prince and shōgun (d. 1326)
    • 1478 – Clement VII, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1534)
    • 1562 – James III, margrave of Baden-Hachberg (d. 1590)
    • 1566 – Mehmed III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1603)
    • 1602 – Philippe de Champaigne, Dutch-French painter (d. 1674)
    • 1623 – William Petty, English economist and philosopher (d. 1687)
    • 1650 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire (d. 1722)
    • 1667 – Abraham de Moivre, French-English mathematician and theorist (d. 1754)
    • 1669 – Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist and mycologist (d. 1722)
    • 1700 – Nicolaus Zinzendorf, German bishop and saint (d. 1760)
    • 1799 – August Kopisch, German poet and painter (d. 1853)
    • 1822 – Edmond de Goncourt, French author and critic, founded the Académie Goncourt (d. 1896)
    • 1863 – Bob Fitzsimmons, English-New Zealand boxer (d. 1917)
    • 1865 – Robert W. Chambers, American author and illustrator (d. 1933)
    • 1867 – Mary of Teck, English-born queen consort of the United Kingdom (d. 1953)
    • 1873 – Olaf Gulbransson, Norwegian painter and illustrator (d. 1958)
    • 1876 – Percy Perrin, English cricketer (d. 1945)
    • 1880 – W. Otto Miessner, American composer and educator (d. 1967)
    • 1881 – Adolfo de la Huerta, Mexican politician and provisional president, 1920 (d. 1955)
    • 1883 – Mamie Smith, American singer, actress, dancer, and pianist (d. 1946)
    • 1886 – Al Jolson, American singer and actor (d. 1950)
    • 1887 – Ba U, 2nd President of Burma (d. 1963)
    • 1893 – Eugene Aynsley Goossens, English conductor and composer (d. 1962)
    • 1895 – Dorothea Lange, American photographer and journalist (d. 1965)
    • 1895 – Paul Lukas, Hungarian-American actor and singer (d. 1971)
    • 1898 – Ernst Bacon, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
    • 1898 – Christfried Burmeister, Estonian speed skater (d. 1965)
    • 1899 – Antonio Barrette, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
    • 1899 – Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (d. 1997)
    • 1900 – Karin Juel, Swedish singer, actor, and writer (d. 1976)
    • 1904 – George Formby, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1961)
    • 1904 – Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1983)
    • 1904 – Vlado Perlemuter, Lithuanian-French pianist and educator (d. 2002)
    • 1907 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (d. 2006)
    • 1907 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1979)
    • 1908 – Robert Morley, English actor (d. 1992)
    • 1908 – Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, Vietnamese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1976)
    • 1909 – Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 1994)
    • 1909 – Adolfo López Mateos, Mexican politician, 48th President of Mexico (d. 1969)
    • 1910 – Imi Lichtenfeld, Hungarian-Israeli martial artist, boxer, and gymnast (d. 1998)
    • 1911 – Maurice Baquet, French actor and cellist (d. 2005)
    • 1911 – Henry Ephron, American playwright, screenwriter, and producer (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – János Kádár, Hungarian mechanic and politician, 46th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1989)
    • 1912 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian-American actor (d. 1980)
    • 1913 – Peter Cushing, English actor (d. 1994)
    • 1913 – Pierre Daninos, French author (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Karin Ekelund, Swedish actress (d. 1976)
    • 1913 – Josef Manger, German weightlifter (d. 1991)
    • 1914 – Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2009)
    • 1915 – Vernon Alley, American bassist (d. 2004)
    • 1915 – Antonia Forest, English author (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Henriette Roosenburg, Dutch journalist and author (d. 1972)
    • 1919 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (d. 2003)
    • 1920 – Jack Cheetham, South African cricketer (d. 1980)
    • 1920 – Peggy Lee, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2002)
    • 1921 – Inge Borkh, German soprano (d. 2018)
    • 1922 – Troy Smith, American businessman, founded Sonic Drive-In (d. 2009)
    • 1923 – James Arness, American actor (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Roy Dotrice, English actor (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – Carmen Montejo, Cuban-Mexican actress (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Alec McCowen, English actor (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Miles Davis, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1991)
    • 1927 – Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Jack Kevorkian, American pathologist, author, and assisted suicide activist (d. 2011)
    • 1929 – J. F. Ade Ajayi, Nigerian historian and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Ernie Carroll, Australian television personality and producer
    • 1929 – Hans Freeman, Australian bioinorganic chemist and protein crystallographer (d. 2008)
    • 1929 – John Jackson, English lawyer and businessman
    • 1929 – Catherine Sauvage, French singer and actress (d. 1998)
    • 1930 – Karim Emami, Indian-Iranian lexicographer and critic (d. 2005)
    • 1933 – Edward Whittemore, American soldier and author (d. 1995)
    • 1935 – Eero Loone, Estonian philosopher and academic
    • 1936 – David Stevens, Baron Stevens of Ludgate, English politician
    • 1937 – Manorama, Indian actress and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Paul E. Patton, American politician, 59th Governor of Kentucky
    • 1938 – William Bolcom, American pianist and composer
    • 1938 – Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Russian author and playwright
    • 1938 – K. Bikram Singh, Indian director and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1938 – Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano and actress
    • 1939 – Brent Musburger, American sportscaster
    • 1939 – Herb Trimpe, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Canadian academic and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
    • 1940 – Levon Helm, American singer-songwriter, drummer, producer, and actor (d. 2012)
    • 1941 – Aldrich Ames, American CIA officer and criminal
    • 1941 – Jim Dobbin, Scottish microbiologist and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1941 – Cliff Drysdale, South African tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1941 – Imants Kalniņš, Latvian composer
    • 1943 – Erica Terpstra, Dutch swimmer, journalist, and politician
    • 1944 – Phil Edmonston, American-Canadian journalist and politician
    • 1944 – Jan Kinder, Norwegian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Sam Posey, American race car driver and journalist
    • 1945 – Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian lawyer and politician, 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2012)
    • 1945 – Alistair MacDuff, English lawyer and judge
    • 1945 – Garry Peterson, Canadian-American drummer
    • 1946 – Neshka Robeva, Bulgarian gymnast and coach
    • 1946 – Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1993)
    • 1947 – Carol O’Connell, American author and painter
    • 1947 – Glenn Turner, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1948 – Stevie Nicks, American singer-songwriter
    • 1949 – Jeremy Corbyn, British journalist and politician
    • 1949 – Ward Cunningham, American computer programmer, developed the first wiki
    • 1949 – Pam Grier, American actress
    • 1949 – Anne McGuire, Scottish educator and politician
    • 1949 – Philip Michael Thomas, American actor
    • 1949 – Hank Williams Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1951 – Ramón Calderón, Spanish lawyer and businessman
    • 1951 – Lou van den Dries, Dutch mathematician
    • 1951 – Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut, founded Sally Ride Science (d. 2012)
    • 1951 – Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Irish educator and politician
    • 1952 – David Meece, American singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1953 – Kay Hagan, American lawyer and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1953 – Don McAllister, English footballer and manager
    • 1953 – Michael Portillo, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1953 – Dan Roundfield, American basketball player (d. 2012)
    • 1954 – Alan Hollinghurst, English novelist, poet, short story writer, and translator
    • 1954 – Denis Lebel, Canadian businessman and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Transport
    • 1955 – Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese-American chef
    • 1955 – Paul Stoddart, Australian businessman
    • 1955 – Wesley Walker, American football player and educator
    • 1956 – Neil Parish, English politician
    • 1956 – Fiona Shackleton, English lawyer
    • 1957 – Diomedes Díaz, Colombian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1957 – François Legault, Canadian businessman and politician
    • 1957 – Roberto Ravaglia, Italian race car driver
    • 1958 – Ronnie Black, American golfer
    • 1958 – Arto Bryggare, Finnish hurdler and politician
    • 1958 – Margaret Colin, American actress
    • 1959 – Ole Bornedal, Danish actor, director, and producer
    • 1960 – Doug Hutchison, American actor
    • 1960 – Dean Lukin, Australian weightlifter
    • 1960 – Masahiro Matsunaga, Japanese race car driver
    • 1960 – Rob Murphy, American baseball player
    • 1960 – Romas Ubartas, Lithuanian discus thrower
    • 1961 – Steve Pate, American golfer
    • 1961 – Tarsem Singh, Indian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Black, English singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1962 – Genie Francis, Canadian-American actress
    • 1962 – Bobcat Goldthwait, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Simon Armitage, English poet, playwright and novelist
    • 1963 – Claude Legault, Canadian actor and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Mary Nightingale, English journalist
    • 1963 – Jamie Spence, English golfer
    • 1964 – Caitlín R. Kiernan, Irish-American paleontologist and author
    • 1964 – Lenny Kravitz, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor
    • 1964 – Argiris Pedoulakis, Greek basketball player and coach
    • 1965 – Hazel Irvine, Scottish sportscaster and journalist
    • 1966 – Helena Bonham Carter, English actress
    • 1966 – Zola Budd, South African runner
    • 1967 – Philip Treacy, Irish milliner, hat designer
    • 1967 – Mika Yamamoto, Japanese journalist (d. 2012)
    • 1968 – Fernando León de Aranoa, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark
    • 1968 – Steve Sedgley, English footballer and manager
    • 1969 – John Baird, Canadian politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1969 – Siri Lindley, American triathlete and coach
    • 1969 – Dominic Mohan, English journalist
    • 1970 – Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese illustrator
    • 1971 – Zaher Andary, Lebanese footballer
    • 1971 – Matt Stone, American actor, animator, screenwriter, producer, and composer
    • 1973 – Naomi Harris, Canadian-American photographer
    • 1974 – Lars Frölander, Swedish swimmer
    • 1975 – Lauryn Hill, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1976 – Paul Collingwood, English cricketer and coach
    • 1976 – Stephen Curry, Australian comedian and actor
    • 1976 – Kenny Florian, American mixed martial artist and sportscaster
    • 1976 – Justin Pierre, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1977 – Nikos Chatzivrettas, Greek basketball player
    • 1977 – Raina Telgemeier, American author and cartoonist
    • 1977 – Luca Toni, Italian footballer
    • 1977 – Misaki Ito, Japanese actress and model
    • 1978 – Phil Elvrum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Fabio Firmani, Italian footballer
    • 1978 – Dan Parks, Australian-Scottish rugby player
    • 1979 – Amanda Bauer, American astronomer and academic
    • 1979 – Natalya Nazarova, Russian sprinter
    • 1979 – Elisabeth Harnois, American actress
    • 1979 – Mehmet Okur, Turkish basketball player
    • 1980 – Louis-Jean Cormier, Canadian singer and songwriter
    • 1981 – Robert Copeland, Australian footballer
    • 1981 – Anthony Ervin, American swimmer
    • 1981 – Jason Manford, English actor, screenwriter, and television host
    • 1981 – Isaac Slade, American singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1981 – Ben Zobrist, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Sten Lassmann, Estonian pianist
    • 1982 – Hasan Kabze, Turkish footballer
    • 1983 – Demy de Zeeuw, Dutch footballer
    • 1983 – Henry Holland, English fashion designer
    • 1983 – Nathan Merritt, Australian rugby league player
    • 1985 – Monika Christodoulou, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1985 – Ashley Vincent, English footballer
    • 1986 – Michel Tornéus, Swedish long jumper
    • 1987 – Olcay Şahan, Turkish footballer
    • 1987 – Josh Thomas, Australian comedian and actor
    • 1988 – Andrea Catellani, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Will Chambers, Australian rugby league player
    • 1988 – Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Colombian footballer
    • 1988 – Dani Samuels, Australian discus thrower
    • 1988 – Joel Selwood, Australian footballer
    • 1988 – Damian Williams, American football player
    • 1989 – Paula Findlay, Canadian triathlete
    • 1991 – Ah Young, South Korean singer and actress
    • 1992 – Curtis Rona, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1993 – Jason Adesanya, Belgian footballer
    • 1993 – Dan Sarginson, Australian-English rugby league player
    • 1993 – Katerine Savard, Canadian swimmer
    • 1993 – Jimmy Vesey, American ice hockey player
    • 1996 – Lara Goodall, South African cricketer

    Deaths on May 26

    • 604 – Augustine of Canterbury, Benedictine monk and archbishop
    • 735 – Bede, English monk, historian, and theologian
    • 818 – Ali al-Ridha, Saudi Arabian 8th of The Twelve Imams
    • 926 – Yuan Xingqin, Chinese general and governor
    • 946 – Edmund I, king of England (b. 921)
    • 1035 – Berenguer Ramon I, Spanish nobleman (b. 1005)
    • 1055 – Adalbert, margrave of Austria
    • 1250 – Peter I, duke of Brittany
    • 1339 – Aldona Ona, queen of Poland
    • 1362 – Louis I, king of Naples (b. 1320)
    • 1421 – Mehmed I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1389)
    • 1512 – Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1447)
    • 1536 – Francesco Berni, Italian poet (b. 1498)
    • 1552 – Sebastian Münster, German cartographer and cosmographer (b. 1488)
    • 1648 – Vincent Voiture, French poet and author (b. 1597)
    • 1653 – Robert Filmer, English theorist and author (b. 1588)
    • 1679 – Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1636)
    • 1685 – Charles II, German elector palatine (b. 1651)
    • 1703 – Samuel Pepys, English politician (b. 1633)
    • 1742 – Pylyp Orlyk, Ukrainian diplomat (b. 1672)
    • 1746 – Thomas Southerne, Irish playwright (b. 1660)
    • 1762 – Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher and academic (b. 1714)
    • 1799 – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish linguist, biologist, and judge (b. 1714)
    • 1818 – Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Finland (b. 1761)
    • 1818 – Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza, Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader (b. 1785)
    • 1824 – Capel Lofft, English lawyer (b. 1751)
    • 1840 – Sidney Smith, English admiral and politician (b. 1764)
    • 1881 – Jakob Bernays, German philologist and academic (b. 1824)
    • 1883 – Abdelkader El Djezairi, Algerian ruler (b. 1808)
    • 1902 – Almon Brown Strowger, American soldier and inventor (b. 1839)
    • 1904 – Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French physician and neurologist (b. 1857)
    • 1908 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader, founded the Ahmadiyya movement (b. 1835)
    • 1914 – Jacob August Riis, Danish-American journalist, photographer, and reformer (b. 1849)
    • 1924 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor, founded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (b. 1859)
    • 1926 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (b. 1904)
    • 1933 – Horatio Bottomley, English financier, journalist, and politician (b. 1860)
    • 1933 – Jimmie Rodgers, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1897)
    • 1939 – Charles Horace Mayo, American physician, co-founded Mayo Clinic (b. 1865)
    • 1943 – Edsel Ford, American businessman (b. 1893)
    • 1943 – Alice Tegnér, Swedish organist, composer, and educator (b. 1864)
    • 1944 – Christian Wirth, German SS officer (b. 1885)
    • 1948 – Torsten Bergström, Swedish actor and director (b. 1896)
    • 1951 – Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (b. 1880)
    • 1954 – Lionel Conacher, Canadian football player and politician (b. 1900)
    • 1955 – Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
    • 1956 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (b. 1902)
    • 1959 – Philip Kassel, American gymnast (b. 1876)
    • 1966 – Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (b. 1894)
    • 1969 – Paul Hawkins, Australian race car driver (b. 1937)
    • 1969 – Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer, co-founded the Lockheed Corporation (b. 1889)
    • 1974 – Silvio Moser, Swiss race car driver (b. 1941)
    • 1976 – Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic (b. 1889)
    • 1978 – Cybele Andrianou, Greek actress (b. 1887)
    • 1979 – George Brent, Irish-American actor (b. 1904)
    • 1984 – Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (b. 1936)
    • 1989 – Don Revie, English footballer and manager (b. 1927)
    • 1994 – Sonny Sharrock, American guitarist (b. 1940)
    • 1995 – Friz Freleng, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Ralph Horween, American football player and coach (b. 1896)
    • 1999 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (b. 1906)
    • 1999 – Waldo Semon, American chemist and engineer (b. 1898)
    • 2001 – Vittorio Brambilla, Italian race car driver (b. 1937)
    • 2001 – Anne Haney, American actress (b. 1934)
    • 2001 – Moven Mahachi, Zimbabwean soldier and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (b. 1952)
    • 2001 – Dona Massin, Canadian actress and choreographer (b. 1917)
    • 2002 – Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (b. 1932)
    • 2003 – Kathleen Winsor, American journalist and author (b. 1919)
    • 2004 – Nikolai Chernykh, Russian astronomer (b. 1931)
    • 2005 – Eddie Albert, American actor (b. 1906)
    • 2005 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
    • 2005 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist and educator (b. 1937)
    • 2005 – Leslie Smith, English businessman, co-founded Lesney Products (b. 1918)
    • 2006 – Édouard Michelin, French businessman (b. 1963)
    • 2006 – Kevin O’Flanagan, Irish footballer and physician (b. 1919)
    • 2007 – Jack Edward Oliver, English illustrator (b. 1942)
    • 2007 – Howard Porter, American basketball player (b. 1948)
    • 2008 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
    • 2008 – Zita Urbonaitė, Lithuanian cyclist (b. 1973)
    • 2009 – Mihalis Papagiannakis, Greek journalist and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2009 – Peter Zezel, Canadian ice hockey and soccer player (b. 1965)
    • 2010 – Art Linkletter, Canadian-American radio and television host (b. 1912)
    • 2010 – Chris Moran, English air marshal and pilot (b. 1956)
    • 2010 – Kieran Phelan, Irish politician (b. 1949)
    • 2011 – Arisen Ahubudu, Sri Lankan scholar, author, and playwright (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Arthur Decabooter, Belgian cyclist (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Leo Dillon, American illustrator (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Stephen Healey, Welsh captain and footballer (b. 1982)
    • 2012 – Hiroshi Miyazawa, Japanese politician (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Hans Schmidt, Canadian wrestler (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Jim Unger, English-Canadian illustrator (b. 1937)
    • 2013 – Ray Barnhart, American businessman and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – John Bierwirth, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Roberto Civita, Italian-Brazilian businessman (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Tom Lichtenberg, American football player and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2013 – Otto Muehl, Austrian painter (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Jack Vance, American author (b. 1916)
    • 2014 – Baselios Thoma Didymos I, Indian metropolitan (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American academic and neuropharmacologist (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – William R. Roy, American physician, journalist, and politician (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Hooshang Seyhoun, Iranian-Canadian architect, sculptor, and painter (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Vicente Aranda, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Les Johnson, Australian politician and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Robert Kraft, American astronomer and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – João Lucas, Portuguese footballer (b. 1979)
    • 2015 – Dayton Waller, American soldier and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2016 – Hedy Epstein, German-born American human rights activist and Holocaust survivor (b. 1924)
    • 2017 – Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-born American politician (b. 1928)

    Holidays and observances on May 26

    • Christian feast day:
      • Augustine of Canterbury (Anglican Communion and Eastern Orthodox)
      • Lambert of Vence
      • Peter Sanz (one of Martyr Saints of China)
      • Philip Neri
      • Pope Eleuterus
      • Quadratus of Athens
      • Zachary, Bishop of Vienne
      • May 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Independence Day, commemorates the day of the First Republic in 1918 (Georgia)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guyana from the United Kingdom in 1966.
    • Mother’s Day (Poland)
    • National Paper Airplane Day (United States)
    • National Sorry Day (Australia)

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

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

    • 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
    • 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England.
    • 1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice.
    • 1607 – Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
    • 1608 – The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states.
    • 1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne.
    • 1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
    • 1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
    • 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.
    • 1800 – The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the U.S. Government from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day.
    • 1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St. Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition‘s historic journey up the Missouri River.
    • 1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor.
    • 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place.
    • 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward.
    • 1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.
    • 1878 – The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers.
    • 1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
    • 1913 – Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.
    • 1918 – Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the Two-minute silence.
    • 1925 – Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway is published.
    • 1931 – Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.
    • 1935 – The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote.
    • 1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
    • 1940 – World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city center.
    • 1943 – World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
    • 1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
    • 1951 – Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.
    • 1955 – Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
    • 1961 – Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.
    • 1970 – Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.
    • 1973 – Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched.
    • 1977 – A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport (now Kenneth Kaunda International Airport) in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people.
    • 1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
    • 1988 – Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.
    • 2004 – The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
    • 2004 – Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 crashes into the Amazon rainforest during approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, killing 33 people.
    • 2010 – Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on the STS-132 mission to deliver the first shuttle-launched Russian ISS component — Rassvet. This was originally slated to be the final launch of Atlantis, before Congress approved STS-135.
    • 2012 – Agni Air Flight CHT crashes in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.

    Births on May 14

    • 1316 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1378)
    • 1553 – Margaret of Valois (d. 1615)
    • 1574 – Francesco Rasi, Italian singer-songwriter, theorbo player, and poet (d. 1621)
    • 1592 – Alice Barnham, wife of statesman Francis Bacon (d. 1650)
    • 1630 – Katakura Kagenaga, Japanese samurai (d. 1681)
    • 1652 – Johann Philipp Förtsch, German composer (d. 1732)
    • 1657 – Sambhaji, Indian emperor (d. 1689)
    • 1666 – Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)
    • 1679 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1764)
    • 1699 – Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian general (d. 1786)
    • 1701 – William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (d. 1782)
    • 1710 – Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (d. 1771)
    • 1725 – Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice (d. 1802)
    • 1727 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (d. 1788)
    • 1737 – George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, Irish-English politician and diplomat, Governor of Grenada (d. 1806)
    • 1752 – Timothy Dwight IV, American minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1817)
    • 1752 – Albrecht Thaer, German agronomist and author (d. 1828)
    • 1761 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1816)
    • 1771 – Robert Owen, Welsh businessman and social reformer (d. 1858)
    • 1771 – Thomas Wedgwood, English photographer (d. 1805)
    • 1781 – Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, German historian and academic (d. 1873)
    • 1794 – Fanny Imlay, daughter of British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1816)
    • 1814 – Charles Beyer, German-English engineer, co-founded Beyer, Peacock and Company (d. 1876)
    • 1817 – Alexander Kaufmann, German poet and educator (d. 1893)
    • 1820 – James Martin, Irish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1886)
    • 1830 – Antonio Annetto Caruana, Maltese archaeologist and author (d. 1905)
    • 1832 – Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician and academic (d. 1903)
    • 1851 – Anna Laurens Dawes, American author and suffragist (d. 1938)
    • 1852 – Henri Julien, Canadian illustrator (d. 1908)
    • 1863 – John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician, founder of the Fields Medal (d. 1932)
    • 1867 – Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Bavaria (d. 1919)
    • 1868 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (d. 1935)
    • 1869 – Arthur Rostron, English captain (d. 1940)
    • 1872 – Elia Dalla Costa, Italian cardinal (d. 1961)
    • 1878 – J. L. Wilkinson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
    • 1879 – Fred Englehardt, American jumper (d. 1942)
    • 1880 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971)
    • 1881 – Lionel Hill, Australian politician, 30th Premier of South Australia (d. 1963)
    • 1881 – George Murray Hulbert, American judge and politician (d. 1950)
    • 1885 – Otto Klemperer, German composer and conductor (d. 1973)
    • 1887 – Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943)
    • 1888 – Archie Alexander, American mathematician and engineer (d. 1958)
    • 1893 – Louis Verneuil, French actor and playwright (d. 1952)
    • 1897 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1959)
    • 1897 – Ed Ricketts, American biologist and ecologist (d. 1948)
    • 1899 – Charlotte Auerbach, German-Jewish Scottish folklorist, geneticist, and zoologist. (d.1994)
    • 1899 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist and academic (d. 1993)
    • 1899 – Earle Combs, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
    • 1900 – Hal Borland, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
    • 1900 – Walter Rehberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1957)
    • 1900 – Cai Chang, Chinese first leader of All-China Women’s Federation (d. 1990)
    • 1900 – Leo Smit, Dutch pianist and composer (d. 1943)
    • 1900 – Edgar Wind, German-English historian, author, and academic (d. 1971)
    • 1901 – Robert Ritter, German psychologist and physician (d. 1951)
    • 1903 – Billie Dove, American actress (d. 1997)
    • 1904 – Hans Albert Einstein, Swiss-American engineer and educator (d. 1973)
    • 1904 – Marcel Junod, Swiss physician and anesthesiologist (d. 1961)
    • 1905 – Jean Daniélou, French cardinal and theologian (d. 1974)
    • 1905 – Herbert Morrison, American soldier and journalist (d. 1989)
    • 1905 – Antonio Berni, Argentinian painter, illustrator, and engraver (d. 1981)
    • 1907 – Ayub Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 2nd President of Pakistan (d. 1974)
    • 1907 – Hans von der Groeben, German journalist and diplomat (d. 2005)
    • 1908 – Betty Jeffrey, Australian nurse and author (d. 2000)
    • 1909 – Godfrey Rampling, English sprinter and colonel (d. 2009)
    • 1910 – Ken Viljoen, South African cricketer (d. 1974)
    • 1910 – Ne Win, Prime Minister and President of Burma (d. 2002)
    • 1914 – Gul Khan Nasir, Pakistani journalist, poet, and politician (d. 1983)
    • 1914 – William Thomas Tutte, British codebreaker and mathematician (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Robert F. Christy, Canadian-American physicist and astronomer (d. 2012)
    • 1916 – Lance Dossor, English-Australian pianist and educator (d. 2005)
    • 1916 – Marco Zanuso, Italian architect and designer (d. 2001)
    • 1917 – Lou Harrison, American composer and critic (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Norman Luboff, American composer and conductor (d. 1987)
    • 1919 – Solange Chaput-Rolland, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2001)
    • 1919 – John Hope, American soldier and meteorologist (d. 2002)
    • 1921 – Richard Deacon, American actor (d. 1984)
    • 1922 – Franjo Tuđman, Yugoslav historian; later 1st President of Croatia (d. 1999)
    • 1923 – Adnan Pachachi, Iraqi politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Mrinal Sen, Bangladeshi-Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Sophie Kurys, American baseball player (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Patrice Munsel, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian violinist and composer (d. 1997)
    • 1925 – Al Porcino, American trumpet player (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Ninian Sanderson, Scottish race car driver (d. 1985)
    • 1926 – Eric Morecambe, English comedian and actor (d. 1984)
    • 1927 – Herbert W. Franke, Austrian scientist and author
    • 1928 – Dub Jones, American R&B bass singer (d. 2000)
    • 1928 – Frederik H. Kreuger, Dutch engineer, author, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Brian Macdonald, Canadian dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Henry McGee, English actor and singer (d. 2006)
    • 1929 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – William James, Australian general and physician (d. 2015)
    • 1931 – Alvin Lucier, American composer and academic
    • 1932 – Robert Bechtle, American lithographer and painter
    • 1933 – Siân Phillips, Welsh actress and singer
    • 1935 – Ethel Johnson, American professional wrestler (d. 2018)
    • 1935 – Rudi Šeligo, Slovenian playwright and politician (d. 2004)
    • 1936 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1973)
    • 1936 – Dick Howser, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1987)
    • 1938 – Robert Boyd, English pediatrician and academic
    • 1939 – Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (d. 2016)
    • 1939 – Troy Shondell, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1940 – Chay Blyth, Scottish sailor and rower
    • 1940 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982)
    • 1940 – George Mathewson, Scottish banker and businessman
    • 1941 – Ada den Haan, Dutch swimmer
    • 1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (d. 2003)
    • 1942 – Byron Dorgan, American lawyer and politician
    • 1942 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1942 – Tony Pérez, Cuban-American baseball player and manager
    • 1942 – Malise Ruthven, Irish author and academic
    • 1943 – Jack Bruce, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014)
    • 1943 – L. Denis Desautels, Canadian accountant and civil servant
    • 1943 – Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 5th President of Iceland
    • 1943 – Derek Leckenby, English pop-rock guitarist (d. 1994)
    • 1943 – Richard Peto, English statistician and epidemiologist
    • 1944 – Gene Cornish, Canadian-American guitarist
    • 1944 – George Lucas, American director, producer, and screenwriter, founded Lucasfilm
    • 1944 – David Kelly, Welsh scientist (d. 2003)
    • 1945 – Francesca Annis, English actress
    • 1945 – George Nicholls, English rugby player
    • 1945 – Yochanan Vollach, Israeli footballer
    • 1946 – Sarah Hogg, Viscountess Hailsham, English economist and journalist
    • 1947 – Al Ciner, American pop-rock guitarist
    • 1947 – Ana Martín, Mexican actress, singer producer and former model (Miss Mexico 1963)
    • 1948 – Timothy Stevenson, English lawyer and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire
    • 1948 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer and coach (d. 2007)
    • 1949 – Sverre Årnes, Norwegian author, screenwriter, and director
    • 1949 – Walter Day, American game designer and businessman, founded Twin Galaxies
    • 1949 – Johan Schans, Dutch swimmer
    • 1949 – Klaus-Peter Thaler, German cyclist
    • 1951 – Jay Beckenstein, American saxophonist
    • 1952 – David Byrne, Scottish singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1952 – Michael Fallon, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1952 – Orna Grumberg, Israeli computer scientist and academic
    • 1952 – Raul Mälk, Estonian politician, 22nd Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1952 – Wim Mertens, Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist.
    • 1952 – Donald R. McMonagle, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1952 – Robert Zemeckis, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1953 – Tom Cochrane, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1953 – Hywel Williams, Welsh politician
    • 1955 – Marie Chouinard, Canadian dancer and choreographer
    • 1955 – Alasdair Fraser, Scottish fiddler
    • 1955 – Peter Kirsten, South African cricketer and rugby player
    • 1955 – Dennis Martínez, Nicaraguan baseball player and coach
    • 1955 – Jens Sparschuh, German author and playwright
    • 1956 – Hazel Blears, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
    • 1956 – Steve Hogarth, English singer-songwriter and keyboardist
    • 1958 – Christine Brennan, American journalist and author
    • 1958 – Chris Evans, English-Australian politician, 26th Australian Minister for Employment
    • 1958 – Rudy Pérez, Cuban-born American composer and music producer
    • 1958 – Wilma Rusman, Dutch runner
    • 1959 – Carlisle Best, Barbadian cricketer
    • 1959 – Patrick Bruel, French actor, singer, and poker player
    • 1959 – Markus Büchel, Liechtensteiner politician, 9th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein (d. 2013)
    • 1959 – Robert Greene, American author and translator
    • 1959 – John Holt, American football player (d. 2013)
    • 1959 – Rick Vaive, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1959 – Heather Wheeler, English politician
    • 1960 – Anne Clark, English singer-songwriter and poet
    • 1960 – Alec Dankworth, English bassist and composer
    • 1960 – Frank Nobilo, New Zealand golfer
    • 1960 – Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor
    • 1961 – David Quantick, English journalist and critic
    • 1961 – Tommy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 2015)
    • 1961 – Tim Roth, English actor and director
    • 1961 – Alain Vigneault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1962 – Ian Astbury, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1962 – C.C. DeVille, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor
    • 1962 – Danny Huston, Italian-American actor and director
    • 1963 – Pat Borders, American baseball player and coach
    • 1963 – David Yelland, English journalist and author
    • 1964 – James M. Kelly, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1964 – Suzy Kolber, American sportscaster and producer
    • 1964 – Alan McIndoe, Australian rugby league player
    • 1964 – Eric Peterson, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1965 – Eoin Colfer, Irish author
    • 1966 – Marianne Denicourt, French actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Mike Inez, American rock bass player and songwriter
    • 1966 – Fab Morvan, French singer-songwriter, dancer and model
    • 1966 – Raphael Saadiq, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1967 – Natasha Kaiser-Brown, American sprinter and coach
    • 1967 – Tony Siragusa, American football player and journalist
    • 1968 – Mary DePiero, Canadian diver
    • 1969 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
    • 1969 – Sabine Schmitz, German race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Henry Smith, English politician
    • 1969 – Danny Wood, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and choreographer
    • 1971 – Deanne Bray, American actress
    • 1971 – Sofia Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Martin Reim, Estonian footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Kirstjen Nielsen, American attorney, 6th United States Secretary of Homeland Security
    • 1973 – Natalie Appleton, Canadian singer and actress
    • 1973 – Voshon Lenard, American basketball player
    • 1973 – Fraser Nelson, Scottish journalist
    • 1973 – Hakan Ünsal, Turkish footballer and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Julian White, English rugby player
    • 1974 – Anu Välba, Estonian journalist
    • 1975 – Nicki Sørensen, Danish cyclist
    • 1976 – Hunter Burgan, American bass player
    • 1976 – Brian Lawrence, American baseball player and coach
    • 1976 – Martine McCutcheon, English actress and singer
    • 1977 – Sophie Anderton, English model and actress
    • 1977 – Roy Halladay, American baseball player (d. 2017)
    • 1977 – Ada Nicodemou, Cypriot-Australian actress
    • 1978 – Brent Harvey, Australian footballer
    • 1978 – Eddie House, American basketball player
    • 1978 – André Macanga, Angolan footballer and manager
    • 1978 – Gustavo Varela, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1979 – Dan Auerbach, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1979 – Edwige Lawson-Wade, French basketball player
    • 1979 – Clinton Morrison, English-Irish footballer
    • 1979 – Carlos Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer
    • 1980 – Zdeněk Grygera, Czech footballer
    • 1980 – Pavel Londak, Estonian footballer
    • 1980 – Eugene Martineau, Dutch decathlete
    • 1980 – Júlia Sebestyén, Hungarian figure skater
    • 1980 – Hugo Southwell, English-Scottish rugby player
    • 1980 – Joe van Niekerk, South African rugby player
    • 1981 – Pranav Mistry, Indian computer scientist, invented SixthSense
    • 1983 – Anahí, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1983 – Keeley Donovan, English journalist
    • 1983 – Frank Gore, American football player
    • 1983 – Uroš Slokar, Slovenian basketball player
    • 1983 – Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1983 – Amber Tamblyn, American actress, author, model, director
    • 1984 – Gary Ablett, Jr., Australian footballer
    • 1984 – Luke Gregerson, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Olly Murs, English singer-songwriter
    • 1984 – Michael Rensing, German footballer
    • 1984 – Indrek Siska, Estonian footballer
    • 1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Facebook
    • 1985 – Dustin Lynch, American singer-songwriter
    • 1985 – Sam Perrett, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1985 – Simona Peycheva, Bulgarian gymnast
    • 1985 – Zack Ryder, American wrestler
    • 1986 – Andrea Bovo, Italian footballer
    • 1986 – Clay Matthews III, American football player
    • 1986 – Marco Motta, Italian footballer
    • 1987 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (d. 2012)
    • 1987 – Franck Songo’o, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1987 – François Steyn, South African rugby player
    • 1988 – Jayne Appel, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Rob Gronkowski, American football player
    • 1989 – Alina Talay, Belorussian hurdler
    • 1993 – Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer
    • 1993 – Kristina Mladenovic, French tennis player
    • 1993 – Bence Rakaczki, Hungarian footballer (d. 2014)
    • 1994 – Marcos Aoás Corrêa, Brazilian footballer
    • 1994 – Pernille Blume, Danish swimmer
    • 1994 – Bronte Campbell, Australian swimmer
    • 1994 – Dennis Praet, Belgian footballer
    • 1995 – Bernardo Fernandes da Silva Junior, Brazilian footballer
    • 1995 – Jonah Placid, Australian rugby player
    • 1996 – Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ
    • 2001 – Jack Hughes, American hockey player

    Deaths on May 14

    • 649 – Pope Theodore I
    • 934 – Zhu Hongzhao, Chinese general and governor
    • 964 – Pope John XII (b. 927)
    • 1080 – William Walcher, Bishop of Durham
    • 1219 – William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, English soldier and politician (b. 1147)
    • 1470 – Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409)
    • 1576 – Tahmasp I, Shah of Persia (b. 1514)
    • 1603 – Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1543)
    • 1608 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1543)
    • 1610 – Henry IV of France (b. 1553)
    • 1643 – Louis XIII of France (b. 1601)
    • 1649 – Friedrich Spanheim, Swiss theologian and academic (b. 1600)
    • 1667 – Georges de Scudéry, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1601)
    • 1688 – Antoine Furetière, French scholar, lexicographer, and author (b. 1619)
    • 1754 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French playwright and producer (b. 1692)
    • 1761 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1710)
    • 1847 – Fanny Mendelssohn, German pianist and composer (b. 1805)
    • 1860 – Ludwig Bechstein, German author (b. 1801)
    • 1873 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (b. 1797)
    • 1878 – Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai and politician (b. 1830)
    • 1881 – Mary Seacole, Jamaican-English nurse and author (b. 1805)
    • 1889 – Volney Howard, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1809)
    • 1893 – Ernst Kummer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1810)
    • 1906 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, journalist, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1829)
    • 1912 – Frederick VIII of Denmark (b. 1843)
    • 1912 – August Strindberg, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist (b. 1849)
    • 1918 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American journalist and publisher (b. 1841)
    • 1919 – Henry J. Heinz, American businessman, founded the H. J. Heinz Company (b. 1844)
    • 1923 – N. G. Chandavarkar, Indian jurist and politician (b. 1855)
    • 1923 – Charles de Freycinet, French engineer and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
    • 1931 – David Belasco, American director, producer, and playwright (b. 1853)
    • 1934 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (b. 1872)
    • 1935 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (b. 1868)
    • 1936 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (b. 1861)
    • 1940 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian author and activist (b. 1869)
    • 1940 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (b. 1902)
    • 1943 – Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
    • 1945 – Heber J. Grant, American religious leader, 7th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1856)
    • 1945 – Wolfgang Lüth, Latvian-German captain (b. 1913)
    • 1945 – Isis Pogson, English astronomer and meteorologist (b. 1852)
    • 1953 – Yasuo Kuniyoshi, American painter and photographer (b. 1893)
    • 1954 – Heinz Guderian, Prussian-German general (b. 1888)
    • 1956 – Joan Malleson, English physician (b. 1889)
    • 1957 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (b. 1884)
    • 1959 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (b. 1897)
    • 1959 – Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (b. 1862)
    • 1960 – Lucrezia Bori, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1887)
    • 1962 – Florence Auer, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1880)
    • 1968 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
    • 1969 – Enid Bennett, Australian-American actress (b. 1893)
    • 1969 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1888)
    • 1970 – Billie Burke, American actress and singer (b. 1884)
    • 1973 – Jean Gebser, German linguist, philosopher, and poet (b. 1905)
    • 1976 – Keith Relf, English singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and producer (b. 1943)
    • 1979 – Jean Rhys, Dominican-English novelist (b. 1890)
    • 1980 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (b. 1912)
    • 1982 – Hugh Beaumont, American actor (b. 1909)
    • 1983 – Roger J. Traynor, American academic and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of California (b. 1900)
    • 1983 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, Mexican politician, 46th President of Mexico (b. 1900)
    • 1984 – Ted Hicks, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (b. 1910)
    • 1984 – Walter Rauff, German SS officer (b. 1906)
    • 1987 – Rita Hayworth, American actress and dancer (b. 1918)
    • 1987 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovenian poet and playwright (b. 1914)
    • 1988 – Willem Drees, Dutch politician and historian, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958) (b. 1886)
    • 1991 – Aladár Gerevich, Hungarian fencer (b. 1910)
    • 1992 – Nie Rongzhen, Chinese general and politician, Mayor of Beijing (b. 1899)
    • 1993 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American journalist and publisher (b. 1908)
    • 1994 – Cihat Arman, Turkish footballer and manager (b. 1915)
    • 1994 – W. Graham Claytor Jr., American businessman, lieutenant, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Christian B. Anfinsen, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
    • 1997 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (b. 1934)
    • 1997 – Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian violinist and composer (b. 1925)
    • 1998 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
    • 1998 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (b. 1915)
    • 2000 – Keizō Obuchi, Japanese politician, 84th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
    • 2001 – Paul Bénichou, French writer, intellectual, critic, and literary historian (b. 1908)
    • 2001 – Gil Langley, Australian cricketer, footballer, and politician (b. 1919)
    • 2003 – Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2003 – Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
    • 2003 – Robert Stack, American actor and producer (b. 1919)
    • 2004 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (b. 1913)
    • 2005 – Jimmy Martin, American musician (b. 1927)
    • 2006 – Lew Anderson, American actor and saxophonist (b. 1922)
    • 2006 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (b. 1905)
    • 2006 – Eva Norvind, Mexican actress, director, and producer (b. 1944)
    • 2007 – Mary Scheier, American sculptor and educator (b. 1908)
    • 2007 – Ülo Jõgi, Estonian historian and author (b. 1921)
    • 2010 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (b. 1938)
    • 2010 – Norman Hand, American football player (b. 1972)
    • 2010 – Goh Keng Swee, Singaporean soldier and politician, 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian author and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Mario Trejo, Argentinian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Wayne Brown, American accountant and politician, 14th Mayor of Mesa (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Arsen Chilingaryan, Armenian footballer and manager (b. 1962)
    • 2013 – Asghar Ali Engineer, Indian author and activist (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – Ray Guy, Canadian journalist (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Jeffrey Kruger, English-American businessman (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Emanuel Raymond Lewis, American librarian and author (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Morvin Simon, New Zealand historian, composer, and conductor (b. 1944)
    • 2015 – B.B. King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Micheál O’Brien, Irish footballer and hurler (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Stanton J. Peale, American astrophysicist and academic (b. 1937)
    • 2015 – Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (b. 1953)
    • 2016 – Darwyn Cooke, American comic book writer and artist (b. 1962)
    • 2017 – Powers Boothe, American actor (b. 1948)
    • 2018 – Tom Wolfe, American author (b. 1931)
    • 2019 – Tim Conway, American actor, writer (b. 1933)

    Holidays and observances on May 14

    • Christian feast day:
      • Boniface of Tarsus
      • Engelmund of Velsen
      • Matthias the Apostle (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion)
      • Michael Garicoïts
      • Mo Chutu of Lismore (Roman Catholic Church)
      • Victor and Corona
      • May 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which the first day of Sanja Matsuri can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third weekend of May. (Sensō-ji, Tokyo)
    • Flag Day (Paraguay)
    • Hastings Banda’s Birthday (Malawi)
    • National Unification Day (Liberia)
    • The first day of Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival. (Izumo-taisha)

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

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

    • 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico assumes the throne.
    • 1294 – John II becomes Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg.
    • 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
    • 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptized by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
    • 1616 – Treaty of Loudun ends French civil war.
    • 1715 – A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe, and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.
    • 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
    • 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” is given a mayor-council form of government.
    • 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
    • 1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
    • 1815 – Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
    • 1830 – The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
    • 1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
    • 1848 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.
    • 1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49.
    • 1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
    • 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
    • 1867 – The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
    • 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
    • 1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
    • 1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
    • 1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.
    • 1921 – The Government of Ireland Act 1920 is passed, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
    • 1928 – The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days.
    • 1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
    • 1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
    • 1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
    • 1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
    • 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
    • 1951 – London’s Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.
    • 1951 – The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
    • 1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
    • 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.
    • 1957 – Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
    • 1960 – The Off-Broadway musical comedy The Fantasticks opens in New York City’s Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
    • 1960 – The Anne Frank House museum opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
    • 1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the “Birmingham campaign” protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.
    • 1971 – Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989
    • 1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world’s tallest building.
    • 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
    • 1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
    • 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.
    • 1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h).
    • 1999 – Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side resulted into the kargil war.
    • 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.
    • 2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
    • 2002 – An Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashes into a bank in Jalandhar, killing eight and injuring 17.
    • 2007 – The 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.
    • 2015 – Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
    • 2016 – Eighty-eight thousand people were evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire ripped through the community, destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.

    Births on May 3

    • 490 – K’an Joy Chitam I, ruler of Palenque (d. 565)
    • 612 – Constantine III, Byzantine emperor (d. 641)
    • 1238 – Emilia Bicchieri, Italian saint (d. 1314)
    • 1276 – Louis, Count of Évreux, son of King Philip III of France (d. 1319)
    • 1415 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1495)
    • 1428 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (d. 1495)
    • 1446 – Margaret of York (d. 1503)
    • 1461 – Raffaele Riario, Italian cardinal (d. 1521)
    • 1469 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and philosopher (d. 1527)
    • 1479 – Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1552)
    • 1481 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (d. 1534)
    • 1536 – Stephan Praetorius, German theologian (d. 1603)
    • 1632 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nurse and saint, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec (d. 1668)
    • 1662 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect, designed the Pillnitz Castle (d. 1736)
    • 1678 – Amaro Pargo, Spanish corsair (d. 1747)
    • 1695 – Henri Pitot, French physicist and engineer, invented the Pitot tube (d. 1771)
    • 1729 – Florian Leopold Gassmann, Czech composer (d. 1774)
    • 1761 – August von Kotzebue, German playwright and author (d. 1819)
    • 1764 – Princess Élisabeth of France (d. 1794)
    • 1768 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and businessman (d. 1838)
    • 1783 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (d. 1858)
    • 1814 – Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 4th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (d. 1892)
    • 1826 – Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
    • 1844 – Richard D’Oyly Carte, English talent agent and composer (d. 1901)
    • 1849 – Jacob Riis, Danish-American journalist and photographer (d. 1914)
    • 1849 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
    • 1854 – George Gore, American baseball player and manager (d. 1933)
    • 1859 – August Herrmann, American executive in Major League Baseball (d.1931)
    • 1860 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1940)
    • 1867 – Andy Bowen, American boxer (d. 1894)
    • 1867 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer (d. 1944)
    • 1870 – Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
    • 1871 – Emmett Dalton, American criminal (d. 1937)
    • 1873 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1945)
    • 1874 – François Coty, French businessman and publisher, founded Coty, Inc. (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer and academic (d. 1954)
    • 1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1925)
    • 1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co-founded Qantas (d. 1950)
    • 1886 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
    • 1887 – Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (d. 1954)
    • 1889 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
    • 1889 – Gottfried Fuchs, German-Canadian Olympic soccer player (d. 1972)
    • 1891 – Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet and critic (d. 1969)
    • 1891 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball pitcher (d. 1963)
    • 1892 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
    • 1892 – Jacob Viner, Canadian-American economist and academic (d. 1970)
    • 1893 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian author (d. 1975)
    • 1895 – Cornelius Van Til, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and apologist (d. 1987)
    • 1896 – Karl Allmenröder, German soldier and pilot (d. 1917)
    • 1896 – V. K. Krishna Menon, Indian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 1974)
    • 1896 – Dodie Smith, English author and playwright (d. 1990)
    • 1897 – William Joseph Browne, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Solicitor General of Canada (d. 1989)
    • 1898 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and activist (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
    • 1902 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
    • 1905 – Edmund Black, American hammer thrower (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Werner Fenchel, German-Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1988)
    • 1905 – Red Ruffing, American baseball pitcher and coach (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
    • 1906 – René Huyghe, French historian and author (d. 1997)
    • 1906 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist and author (d. 1975)
    • 1906 – Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2005)
    • 1910 – Norman Corwin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist and composer (d. 1980)
    • 1912 – May Sarton, American poet, novelist and memoirist (d. 1995)
    • 1913 – William Inge, American playwright and novelist (d. 1973)
    • 1914 – Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, French journalist, author, and poet (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestler and trainer, founded Stampede Wrestling (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Richard Lippold, American sculptor and academic (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Léopold Simoneau, Canadian tenor and actor (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Betty Comden, American screenwriter and librettist (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – George Gaynes, Finnish-American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1918 – Ted Bates, English footballer and manager (d. 2003)
    • 1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American soldier and illustrator (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2014)
    • 1920 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer (d. 2001)
    • 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
    • 1922 – Len Shackleton, English footballer and journalist (d. 2000)
    • 1923 – George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, and educator (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Ralph Hall, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1924 – Yehuda Amichai, German-Israeli author and poet (d. 2000)
    • 1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver, founded Tyrrell Racing (d. 2001)
    • 1925 – Jean Séguy, French sociologist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Matt Baldwin, Canadian curler and engineer
    • 1928 – Dave Dudley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1928 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)
    • 1929 – Denise Lor, American singer and actress (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – Juan Gelman, Argentinian poet and author (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – David Harrison, English chemist and academic
    • 1931 – Vasily Rudenkov, Belarusian hammer thrower (d. 1982)
    • 1931 – Sait Maden, Turkish translator, poet, painter and graphic designer (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Robert Osborne, American actor and historian (d. 2017)
    • 1933 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
    • 1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer and sportscaster (d. 2011)
    • 1934 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer and actor
    • 1935 – Ron Popeil, American businessman, founded the Ronco Company
    • 1937 – Nélida Piñon, Brazilian author and academic
    • 1938 – Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian terrorist
    • 1938 – Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
    • 1938 – Napoleon XIV, American singer, songwriter and record producer
    • 1939 – Jonathan Harvey, English composer and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1940 – David Koch, American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist (d. 2019)
    • 1940 – Clemens Westerhof, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1941 – Alexander Harley, English general
    • 1941 – Edward Malloy, American priest and academic
    • 1942 – Věra Čáslavská, Czech gymnast and coach (d. 2016)
    • 1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist and sportscaster
    • 1942 – Butch Otter, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Idaho
    • 1943 – Yukio Hashi, Japanese singer and actor
    • 1943 – Jim Risch, American lawyer and politician, 31st Governor of Idaho
    • 1943 – Vicente Saldivar, Mexican boxer (d. 1985)
    • 1944 – Peter Doyle, English bishop
    • 1944 – Pete Staples, English bass player
    • 1945 – Jörg Drehmel, German triple jumper and coach
    • 1945 – Davey Lopes, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1946 – Norm Chow, American football player and coach
    • 1946 – Silvino Francisco, South African snooker player
    • 1946 – Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster
    • 1947 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
    • 1948 – Denis Cosgrove, British-American academic and geographer (d. 2008)
    • 1948 – Chris Mulkey, American actor
    • 1949 – Liam Donaldson, English physician and academic
    • 1949 – Ruth Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett, English academic and politician
    • 1949 – Ron Wyden, American academic and politician
    • 1950 – Mary Hopkin, Welsh singer-songwriter
    • 1950 – Dag Arnesen, Norwegian pianist and composer
    • 1951 – Alan Clayson, English singer-songwriter and journalist
    • 1951 – Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1951 – Ashok Gehlot, Indian politician, 21st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
    • 1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian author and publicist
    • 1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American pastor and politician
    • 1952 – Caitlin Clarke, American actress (d. 2004)
    • 1952 – Joseph W. Tobin, American cardinal
    • 1953 – Bruce Hall, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1953 – Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1954 – Angela Bofill, American singer-songwriter
    • 1954 – Jean-Marc Roberts, French author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1955 – Stephen D. M. Brown, British geneticist
    • 1955 – Colin Deans, Scottish rugby player
    • 1955 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2004)
    • 1955 – Seishirō Nishida, Japanese actor
    • 1956 – Marc Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician
    • 1957 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1957 – Rod Langway, Taiwanese-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1958 – Bill Sienkiewicz, American author and illustrator
    • 1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-English comedian, writer, and broadcaster
    • 1959 – David Ball, English keyboard player and producer
    • 1959 – Uma Bharti, Indian activist and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
    • 1959 – Ben Elton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Kathy Smallwood-Cook, English sprinter and educator
    • 1961 – Steve McClaren, English footballer and manager
    • 1961 – David Vitter, American lawyer and politician
    • 1961 – Leyla Zana, Kurdish activist and politician
    • 1962 – Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
    • 1963 – Jeff Hornacek, American basketball player and coach
    • 1963 – Mona Siddiqui, Pakistani-Scottish journalist and academic
    • 1964 – Sterling Campbell, American drummer and songwriter
    • 1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
    • 1965 – Ignatius Aphrem II, Syrian patriarch
    • 1965 – Mark Cousins, Northern Irish director, writer, cinematographer
    • 1965 – John Jensen, Danish footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian businessman
    • 1966 – Giorgos Agorogiannis, Greek footballer
    • 1966 – Frank Dietrich, German politician (d. 2011)
    • 1967 – Daniel Anderson, Australian rugby league coach and manager
    • 1967 – Kenneth Joel Hotz, Canadian producer, writer, director, actor, and comedian
    • 1968 – Viliami Ofahengaue, Tongan-Australian rugby player
    • 1971 – Douglas Carswell, British politician, the first elected MP for the UK Independence Party
    • 1972 – Stephen Barclay, English lawyer and politician
    • 1973 – Jamie Baulch, Welsh sprinter and television host
    • 1975 – Willie Geist, American television journalist and host
    • 1976 – Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
    • 1976 – Brad Scott, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1976 – Chris Scott, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1977 – Eric Church, American country music singer-songwriter
    • 1977 – Ryan Dempster, Canadian baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Tyronn Lue, American basketball player and coach
    • 1977 – Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
    • 1977 – Ben Olsen, American soccer player and coach
    • 1978 – Christian Annan, Ghanaian-Hong Kong footballer
    • 1978 – Paul Banks, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Dai Tamesue, Japanese hurdler
    • 1978 – Lawrence Tynes, American football player
    • 1979 – Steve Mack, American wrestler
    • 1979 – Anastasiya Shvedova, Belarusian pole vaulter
    • 1980 – Zuzana Ondrášková, Czech tennis player
    • 1982 – Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-American football player
    • 1982 – Nick Stavinoha, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Joseph Addai, American football player
    • 1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
    • 1983 – Jérôme Clavier, French pole vaulter
    • 1983 – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1985 – Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Kadri Lehtla, Estonian biathlete
    • 1985 – Miko Mälberg, Estonian swimmer
    • 1986 – Moon Byung-woo, South Korean footballer
    • 1987 – Lina Grinčikaitė, Lithuanian sprinter
    • 1988 – Ben Revere, American baseball player
    • 1988 – Paddy Holohan, Irish mixed martial artist
    • 1989 – Jesse Bromwich, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1989 – Katinka Hosszú, Hungarian swimmer
    • 1990 – Brooks Koepka, American golfer
    • 1991 – Samuel Seo, South Korean musician
    • 1992 – Aaron Whitchurch, Australian rugby league player
    • 1995 – Ivan Bukavshin, Russian chess player (d. 2016)
    • 1996 – Mary Cain, American runner
    • 1996 – Alex Iwobi, Nigerian football player
    • 1996 – Domantas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1997 – Desiigner, American rapper
    • 1997 – Dwayne Haskins, American football player
    • 1997 – Ivana Jorović, Serbian tennis player

    Deaths on May 3

    • 678 – Tōchi, Japanese princess
    • 738 – Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil, Mayan ruler (ajaw)
    • 1152 – Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
    • 1270 – Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
    • 1294 – John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
    • 1330 – Alexios II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1282)
    • 1410 – Antipope Alexander V
    • 1481 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (b. 1432)
    • 1501 – John Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, English Baron (b. 1463)
    • 1524 – Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent, English peer (b. 1481)
    • 1534 – Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (b. 1481)
    • 1589 – Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1528)
    • 1606 – Henry Garnet, English priest and author (b. 1555)
    • 1621 – Elizabeth Bacon, English Tudor gentlewoman (b. 1541)
    • 1679 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (b. 1613)
    • 1693 – Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
    • 1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Czech-Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1644)
    • 1724 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (b. 1662)
    • 1750 – John Willison, Scottish minister and author (b. 1680)
    • 1752 – Samuel Ogle, English-American captain and politician, 5th Governor of Restored Proprietary Government (b. 1692)
    • 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
    • 1763 – George Psalmanazar, French-English author (b. 1679)
    • 1764 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1712)
    • 1779 – John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1714)
    • 1793 – Martin Gerbert, German historian and theologian (b. 1720)
    • 1839 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
    • 1856 – Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (b. 1803)
    • 1856 – Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, Arab-French servant to Napoleon I (b. 1788)
    • 1882 – Leonidas Smolents, Austrian–Greek general and army minister (b. 1806)
    • 1910 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist (b. 1871)
    • 1916 – Tom Clarke, Irish rebel (b. 1858)
    • 1916 – Thomas MacDonagh, Irish poet and rebel (b. 1878)
    • 1916 – Patrick Pearse, Irish teacher and rebel leader (b. 1879)
    • 1918 – Charlie Soong, Chinese businessman and missionary (b. 1863)
    • 1919 – Elizabeth Almira Allen, American educator (b. 1854)
    • 1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian race car driver (b. 1883)
    • 1925 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (b. 1841)
    • 1932 – Charles Fort, American journalist and author (b. 1874)
    • 1935 – Jessie Willcox Smith, American illustrator (b. 1863)
    • 1939 – Madeleine Desroseaux, French author and poet (b. 1873)
    • 1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
    • 1943 – Harry Miller, American engineer (b. 1875)
    • 1948 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish assassin of Heikki Ritavuori (b. 1876)
    • 1949 – Fanny Walden, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1888)
    • 1958 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
    • 1969 – Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
    • 1970 – Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer, coach, and pilot (b. 1918)
    • 1972 – Kenneth Bailey, Australian lawyer and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Canada (b. 1898)
    • 1972 – Emil Breitkreutz, American runner and coach (b. 1883)
    • 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
    • 1978 – Bill Downs, American journalist (b. 1914)
    • 1981 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
    • 1986 – Robert Alda, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 1987 – Dalida, Italian singer, actress, dancer, and model (b. 1933)
    • 1988 – Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1908)
    • 1989 – Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (b. 1926)
    • 1991 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1933)
    • 1992 – George Murphy, American actor, dancer, and politician (b. 1902)
    • 1996 – Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist, composer, and educator (b. 1921)
    • 1996 – Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
    • 1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
    • 1997 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (b. 1976)
    • 1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1927)
    • 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1999 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
    • 1999 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1967)
    • 1999 – Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – Júlia Báthory, Hungarian glass designer (b. 1901)
    • 2000 – John Joseph O’Connor, American cardinal (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, English politician, First Secretary of State (b. 1910)
    • 2002 – Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
    • 2003 – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (b. 1932)
    • 2004 – Ken Downing, English race car driver (b. 1917)
    • 2004 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1928)
    • 2006 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (b. 1921)
    • 2006 – Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)
    • 2006 – Earl Woods, American colonel, baseball player, and author (b. 1932)
    • 2007 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (b. 1913)
    • 2007 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese politician (b. 1932)
    • 2008 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
    • 2009 – Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (b. 1928)
    • 2009 – Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, Indian author and critic (b. 1931)
    • 2010 – Roy Carrier, American accordion player (b. 1947)
    • 2010 – Peter O’Donnell, English soldier and author (b. 1920)
    • 2010 – Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (b. 1923)
    • 2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (b. 1936)
    • 2011 – Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor and director (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician, 30th President of Panama (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – Felix Werder, German-Australian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Joe Astroth, American baseball player (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Herbert Blau, American engineer and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1943)
    • 2013 – Keith Carter, American swimmer and soldier (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – David Morris Kern, American pharmacist, co-invented Orajel (b. 1909)
    • 2013 – Curtis Rouse, American football player (b. 1960)
    • 2013 – Branko Vukelić, Croatian politician, 11th Minister of Defence for Croatia (b. 1958)
    • 2014 – Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Francisco Icaza, Mexican painter (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Jim Oberstar, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Danny Jones, Welsh rugby player (b. 1986)
    • 2015 – Warren Smith, American golfer and coach (b. 1915)
    • 2016 – Ian Deans, Canadian politician (b. 1937)
    • 2016 – Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
    • 2017 – Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and model (b. 1942)

    Holidays and observances on May 3

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
      • Antonia and Alexander
      • Juvenal of Narni
      • Moura (Coptic Church)
      • Philip and James the Lesser
      • Pope Alexander I
      • Sarah the Martyr (Coptic Church)
      • The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland
      • Theodosius of Kiev (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • May 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Constitution Memorial Day (Japan)
    • Constitution Day (Poland)
    • Finding of the Holy Cross-related observances:
      • Fiesta de las Cruces (Spain and Hispanic America)
      • Roodmas, or Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross (Gallican Rite of the Catholic Church)
    • Sun Day (International)
    • World Press Freedom Day
  • |

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

    • 224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire.
    • 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.
    • 1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
    • 1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
    • 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
    • 1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world.
    • 1758 – The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city.
    • 1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
    • 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
    • 1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.
    • 1794 – Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island.
    • 1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
    • 1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
    • 1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
    • 1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war.
    • 1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
    • 1920 – Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.
    • 1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.
    • 1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.
    • 1941 – The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia.
    • 1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.
    • 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
    • 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
    • 1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center.
    • 1949 – The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.
    • 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
    • 1952 – The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II.
    • 1952 – The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
    • 1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to “forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship” and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
    • 1967 – Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license.
    • 1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
    • 1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.
    • 1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.
    • 1975 – General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on victory.
    • 1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
    • 1978 – President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
    • 1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
    • 1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.
    • 1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane’s fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
    • 1993 – A Zambia Air Force DHC-5 Buffalo crashes off the coast of Libreville, Gabon, killing all 30 passengers, which included the entire Zambia national football team.
    • 1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
    • 1996 – Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4½ hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
    • 1996 – Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.
    • 2004 – CBS News released evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.

    Births on April 28

    • AD 32 – Otho, Roman emperor (d. 69 AD)
    • 1402 – Nezahualcoyotl, Acolhuan philosopher, warrior, poet and ruler (d. 1472)
    • 1442 – Edward IV, king of England (d. 1483)
    • 1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean commander (d. 1598)
    • 1573 – Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, son of Charles IX (d. 1650)
    • 1604 – Joris Jansen Rapelje, Dutch settler in colonial North America (d. 1662)
    • 1623 – Wilhelmus Beekman, Dutch politician (d. 1707)
    • 1630 – Charles Cotton, English poet and author (d. 1687)
    • 1676 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (d. 1751)
    • 1715 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1767)
    • 1758 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
    • 1761 – Marie Harel, French cheesemaker (d. 1844)
    • 1765 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
    • 1819 – Ezra Abbot, American scholar and academic (d. 1884)
    • 1827 – William Hall, Canadian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1904)
    • 1838 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1913)
    • 1848 – Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1909)
    • 1854 – Hertha Marks Ayrton, Polish-British engineer, mathematician, and physicist. (d. 1923)
    • 1855 – José Malhoa, Portuguese painter (d. 1933)
    • 1863 – Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician, 7th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1933)
    • 1863 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (d. 1929)
    • 1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist and academic (d. 1940)
    • 1868 – Lucy Booth, English composer (d. 1953)
    • 1868 – Georgy Voronoy, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1908)
    • 1874 – Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1936)
    • 1874 – Sidney Toler, American actor and director (d. 1947)
    • 1876 – Nicola Romeo, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1938)
    • 1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor and director (d. 1954)
    • 1886 – Erich Salomon, German-born news photographer (d. 1944)
    • 1886 – Art Shaw, American hurdler (d. 1955)
    • 1888 – Walter Tull, English footballer and soldier (d. 1918)
    • 1889 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese economist and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1970)
    • 1896 – Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet, and painter (d. 1948)
    • 1896 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet and critic (d. 1963)
    • 1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1986)
    • 1900 – Alice Berry, Australian activist (d. 1978)
    • 1900 – Heinrich Müller, German SS officer (d. 1945)
    • 1900 – Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1992)
    • 1901 – H. B. Stallard, English runner and surgeon (d. 1973)
    • 1902 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author and critic (d. 1979)
    • 1906 – Kurt Gödel, Czech-American mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1978)
    • 1906 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (d. 1999)
    • 1908 – Ethel Catherwood, American-Canadian high jumper and javelin thrower (d. 1987)
    • 1908 – Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster (d. 1981)
    • 1908 – Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman (d. 1974)
    • 1909 – Arthur Võõbus, Estonian-American theologist and orientalist (d. 1988)
    • 1910 – Sam Merwin, Jr., American author (d. 1996)
    • 1911 – Lee Falk, American director, producer, and playwright (d. 1999)
    • 1912 – Odette Hallowes, French soldier and spy (d. 1995)
    • 1912 – Kaneto Shindō, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1913 – Rose Murphy, American singer (d. 1989)
    • 1914 – Michel Mohrt, French author, historian (d. 2011)
    • 1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (d. 1993)
    • 1917 – Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Rowland Evans, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
    • 1921 – Simin Daneshvar, Iranian author and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – Carolyn Cassady, American author (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – William Guarnere, American sergeant (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (d. 2009)
    • 1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian educator and politician, 1st President of Zambia
    • 1925 – T. John Lesinski, American judge and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (d. 1996)
    • 1925 – John Leonard Thorn, English lieutenant, author, and academic
    • 1926 – James Bama, American artist and illustrator
    • 1926 – Bill Blackbeard, American historian and author (d. 2011)
    • 1926 – Harper Lee, American novelist (d. 2016)
    • 1926 – Hulusi Sayın, Turkish general (d. 1991)
    • 1928 – Yves Klein, French painter (d. 1962)
    • 1928 – Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American geologist and astronomer (d. 1997)
    • 1930 – James Baker, American lawyer and politician, 61st United States Secretary of State
    • 1930 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
    • 1933 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American neuropharmacologist and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Lois Duncan, American journalist and author (d. 2016)
    • 1935 – Pedro Ramos, Cuban baseball player
    • 1935 – Jimmy Wray, Scottish boxer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Tariq Aziz, Iraqi journalist and politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq (d. 2006)
    • 1937 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1937 – John White, Scottish international footballer(d. 1964)
    • 1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (d. 1995)
    • 1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer
    • 1941 – Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
    • 1941 – John Madejski, English businessman and academic
    • 1941 – Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1941 – Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (d. 2013)
    • 1942 – Mike Brearley, English cricketer and psychoanalyst
    • 1943 – Aryeh Bibi, Iraqi-born Israeli politician
    • 1944 – Elizabeth LeCompte, American director and producer
    • 1944 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician, 10th Minister-President of the Walloon Region
    • 1944 – Alice Waters, American chef and author
    • 1946 – Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1946 – Ginette Reno, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1946 – Larissa Grunig, American theorist and activist
    • 1947 – Christian Jacq, French historian and author
    • 1947 – Nicola LeFanu, English composer and academic
    • 1947 – Steve Khan, American jazz guitarist
    • 1948 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1948 – Marcia Strassman, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
    • 1949 – Jeremy Cooke, English lawyer and judge
    • 1949 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
    • 1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor and director (d. 2006)
    • 1950 – Willie Colón, Puerto Rican-American trombonist and producer
    • 1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer
    • 1950 – Steve Rider, English journalist and sportscaster
    • 1951 – Tim Congdon, English economist and politician
    • 1951 – Larry Smith, Canadian football player and politician
    • 1952 – Chuck Leavell, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1952 – Mary McDonnell, American actress
    • 1953 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (d. 2003)
    • 1953 – Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1953 – Brian Greenhoff, English footballer and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1954 – Timothy Curley, American educator
    • 1954 – Michael P. Jackson, American politician, 3rd Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
    • 1954 – Vic Sotto, Filipino actor-producer, singer-songwriter, comedian and television personality
    • 1954 – Ron Zook, American football player and coach
    • 1955 – Eddie Jobson, English keyboard player and violinist
    • 1955 – Dieter Rubach, German bass player
    • 1956 – Jimmy Barnes, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1957 – Wilma Landkroon, Dutch singer
    • 1958 – Hal Sutton, American golfer
    • 1960 – Tom Browning, American baseball player
    • 1960 – Elena Kagan, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
    • 1960 – Phil King, English bass player
    • 1960 – Ian Rankin, Scottish author
    • 1960 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strongman and weightlifter (d. 1993)
    • 1960 – Walter Zenga, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Sandrine Dumas, French actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Lloyd Eisler, Canadian figure skater and coach
    • 1963 – Marc Lacroix, Belgian biochemist and academic
    • 1964 – Stephen Ames, Trinidadian golfer
    • 1964 – Noriyuki Iwadare, Japanese composer
    • 1964 – Ajay Kakkar, Baron Kakkar, English surgeon and academic
    • 1964 – Barry Larkin, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
    • 1964 – L’Wren Scott, American model and fashion designer (d. 2014)
    • 1965 – Jennifer Rardin, American author (d. 2010)
    • 1966 – John Daly, American golfer
    • 1966 – Too Short, American rapper, producer and actor
    • 1967 – Chris White, English engineer and politician
    • 1968 – Howard Donald, English singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1968 – Andy Flower, South-African-Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
    • 1969 – LeRon Perry Ellis, American basketball player
    • 1970 – Richard Fromberg, Australian tennis player
    • 1970 – Nicklas Lidström, Swedish ice hockey player and scout
    • 1970 – Diego Simeone, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Brad McEwan, Australian journalist
    • 1972 – Violent J, American rapper
    • 1972 – Helena Tulve, Estonian composer
    • 1972 – Jean-Paul van Gastel, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Jorge Garcia, American actor and producer
    • 1973 – Earl Holmes, American football player and coach
    • 1973 – Andrew Mehrtens, South African-New Zealand rugby player
    • 1974 – Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress and producer
    • 1974 – Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
    • 1974 – Richel Hersisia, Dutch boxer
    • 1974 – Vernon Kay, English radio and television host
    • 1974 – Dominic Matteo, Scottish footballer and journalist
    • 1975 – Michael Walchhofer, Austrian skier
    • 1976 – Shane Jurgensen, Australian cricketer
    • 1978 – Lauren Laverne, English singer and television host
    • 1978 – Robert Oliveri, American actor
    • 1978 – Nate Richert, American actor
    • 1979 – Scott Fujita, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1980 – Bradley Wiggins, English cyclist
    • 1981 – Jessica Alba, American model and actress
    • 1981 – Pietro Travagli, Italian rugby player
    • 1982 – Nikki Grahame, English model and journalist
    • 1982 – Chris Kaman, American basketball player
    • 1983 – Josh Brookes, Australian motorcycle racer
    • 1983 – David Freese, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Roger Johnson, English footballer
    • 1983 – Graham Wagg, English cricketer
    • 1983 – Thomas Waldrom, New Zealand-English rugby player
    • 1984 – Dmitri Torbinski, Russian footballer
    • 1985 – Lucas Jakubczyk, German sprinter and long jumper
    • 1985 – Deividas Stagniūnas, Lithuanian ice dancer
    • 1986 – Roman Polák, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Jenna Ushkowitz, Korean-American actress, singer, and dancer
    • 1987 – Ryan Conroy, Scottish footballer
    • 1987 – Samantha Akkineni, Indian actress and model
    • 1987 – Bradley Johnson, English footballer
    • 1987 – Zoran Tošić, Serbian footballer
    • 1988 – Jonathan Biabiany, French footballer
    • 1988 – Juan Manuel Mata, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Katariina Tuohimaa, Finnish tennis player
    • 1989 – Emil Salomonsson, Swedish footballer
    • 1989 – Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer
    • 1990 – Niels-Peter Mørck, Danish footballer
    • 1992 – Blake Bortles, American football player
    • 1992 – DeMarcus Lawrence, American football player
    • 1993 – Craig Garvey, Australian rugby league player
    • 1993 – Eva Samková, Czech snowboarder
    • 1995 – Jonathan Benteke, Belgian footballer
    • 1995 – Melanie Martinez, American singer

    Deaths on April 28

    • 224 – Artabanus V of Parthia (b. 191)
    • 948 – Hu Jinsi, Chinese general and prefect
    • 988 – Adaldag, archbishop of Bremen
    • 1109 – Abbot Hugh of Cluny (b. 1024)
    • 1192 – Conrad of Montferrat (b. 1140)
    • 1197 – Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of Deheubarth (b. 1132)
    • 1257 – Shajar al-Durr, sovereign sultana of Egypt
    • 1260 – Luchesius Modestini, founding member of the Third Order of St. Francis
    • 1400 – Baldus de Ubaldis, Italian jurist (b. 1327)
    • 1489 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1449)
    • 1533 – Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1461)
    • 1643 – Francisco de Lucena, Portuguese politician (b. 1578)
    • 1710 – Thomas Betterton, English actor and manager (b. 1630)
    • 1716 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (b. 1673)
    • 1726 – Thomas Pitt, English merchant and politician (b. 1653)
    • 1741 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (b. 1668)
    • 1772 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, German physician and politician (b. 1737)
    • 1781 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (b. 1723)
    • 1813 – Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
    • 1816 – Johann Heinrich Abicht, German philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1762)
    • 1841 – Peter Chanel, French priest, missionary, and martyr (b. 1803)
    • 1853 – Ludwig Tieck, German author and poet (b. 1773)
    • 1858 – Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist and anatomist (b. 1801)
    • 1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-English businessman, founded Cunard Line (b. 1787)
    • 1881 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (b. 1818)
    • 1883 – John Russell, English hunter and dog breeder (b. 1795)
    • 1902 – Cyprien Tanguay, Canadian priest and historian (b. 1819)
    • 1903 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American scientist (b. 1839)
    • 1905 – Fitzhugh Lee, American general and politician, 40th Governor of Virginia (b. 1835)
    • 1925 – Richard Butler, English-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
    • 1928 – May Jordan McConnel, Australian trade unionist and suffragist (b. 1860)
    • 1929 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (b. 1879)
    • 1936 – Fuad I of Egypt (b. 1868)
    • 1944 – Mohammed Alim Khan, Manghud ruler (b. 1880)
    • 1944 – Frank Knox, American journalist and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1874)
    • 1945 – Roberto Farinacci, Italian soldier and politician (b. 1892)
    • 1945 – Hermann Fegelein, German general (b. 1906)
    • 1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian journalist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1883)
    • 1946 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and academic (b. 1870)
    • 1954 – Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
    • 1956 – Fred Marriott, American race car driver (b. 1872)
    • 1957 – Heinrich Bär, German colonel and pilot (b. 1913)
    • 1962 – Bennie Osler, South African rugby player (b. 1901)
    • 1963 – Wilhelm Weber, German gymnast (b. 1880)
    • 1970 – Ed Begley, American actor (b. 1901)
    • 1973 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (b. 1893)
    • 1976 – Richard Hughes, American author and poet (b. 1900)
    • 1977 – Ricardo Cortez, American actor (b. 1900)
    • 1977 – Sepp Herberger, German footballer and coach (b. 1897)
    • 1978 – Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghan commander and politician, 1st President of Afghanistan (b. 1909)
    • 1980 – Tommy Caldwell, American bass player (b. 1949)
    • 1987 – Ben Linder, American engineer and activist (b. 1959)
    • 1991 – Steve Broidy, American film producer (b. 1905)
    • 1992 – Francis Bacon, Irish painter (b. 1909)
    • 1993 – Diva Diniz Corrêa, Brazilian zoologist (b. 1918)
    • 1993 – Jim Valvano, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1946)
    • 1994 – Berton Roueché, American journalist and author (b. 1910)
    • 1996 – Lester Sumrall, American minister, founded LeSEA (b. 1913)
    • 1997 – Ann Petry, American novelist (b. 1908)
    • 1998 – Jerome Bixby, American author and screenwriter (b. 1923)
    • 1999 – Rory Calhoun, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
    • 1999 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and engineer (b. 1927)
    • 1999 – Alf Ramsey, English footballer and manager (b. 1920)
    • 1999 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)
    • 2000 – Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish physician and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2000 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English author and poet (b. 1916)
    • 2002 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (b. 1950)
    • 2002 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1916)
    • 2005 – Percy Heath, American bassist (b. 1923)
    • 2005 – Chris Candido, American wrestler (b. 1971)
    • 2005 – Taraki Sivaram, Sri Lankan journalist and author (b. 1959)
    • 2006 – Steve Howe, American baseball player (b. 1958)
    • 2007 – Dabbs Greer, American actor (b. 1917)
    • 2007 – René Mailhot, Canadian journalist (b. 1942)
    • 2007 – Tommy Newsom, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1929)
    • 2007 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (b. 1912)
    • 2007 – Bertha Wilson, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and jurist (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina and actress (b. 1939)
    • 2009 – Richard Pratt, Polish-Australian businessman (b. 1934)
    • 2011 – Erhard Loretan, Swiss mountaineer (b. 1959)
    • 2012 – Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Matilde Camus, Spanish poet and author (b. 1919)
    • 2012 – Al Ecuyer, American football player (b. 1937)
    • 2012 – Patricia Medina, English actress (b. 1919)
    • 2012 – Milan N. Popović, Serbian psychiatrist and author (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Aberdeen Shikoyi, Kenyan rugby player (b. 1985)
    • 2013 – Brad Lesley, American baseball player (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Fredrick McKissack, American author (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – John C. Reynolds, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Jack Shea, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – János Starker, Hungarian-American cellist and educator (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Bernie Wood, New Zealand journalist and author (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Barbara Fiske Calhoun, American cartoonist and painter (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – William Honan, American journalist and author (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Dennis Kamakahi, American guitarist and composer (b. 1953)
    • 2014 – Edgar Laprade, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Jack Ramsay, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Idris Sardi, Indonesian violinist and composer (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Frederic Schwartz, American architect, co-designed Empty Sky (b. 1951)
    • 2014 – Ryan Tandy, Australian rugby player (b. 1981)
    • 2015 – Antônio Abujamra, Brazilian actor and director (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Marcia Brown, American author and illustrator (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Michael J. Ingelido, American general (b. 1916)
    • 2016 – Jenny Diski, English author and screenwriter (b. 1947)
    • 2017 – Mariano Gagnon, American Catholic priest and author (b. 1929)
    • 2018 – James Hylton, American race car driver (b. 1934)
    • 2019 – Richard Lugar, American politician (b.1932)
    • 2019 – John Singleton, American film director (b. 1968)

    Holidays and observances on April 28

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aphrodisius and companions
      • Gianna Beretta Molla
      • Kirill of Turov (Orthodox, added to Roman Martyrology in 1969)
      • Louis de Montfort
      • Pamphilus of Sulmona
      • Peter Chanel
      • Vitalis and Valeria of Milan
      • April 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Lawyers’ Day (Odisha, India)
    • Mujahideen Victory Day (Afghanistan)
    • National Heroes Day (Barbados)
    • Restoration of Sovereignty Day (Japan)
    • Sardinia Day (Sardinia)
    • Workers’ Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work (international)
      • National Day of Mourning (Canada)

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

    • 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.
    • 1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid.
    • 1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
    • 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.
    • 1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
    • 1738 – Real Academia de la Historia (“Royal Academy of History”) is founded in Madrid.
    • 1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
    • 1783 – Three-Fifths Compromise: the first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.
    • 1831 – The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
    • 1847 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
    • 1857 – “The Spirits Book” by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.
    • 1864 – Battle of Dybbøl: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.
    • 1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1899 – The St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.
    • 1902 – The 7.5 Mw  Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800–2,000.
    • 1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.
    • 1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
    • 1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
    • 1915 – French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
    • 1923 – Yankee Stadium: “The House that Ruth Built” opens.
    • 1925 – The International Amateur Radio Union is formed in Paris.
    • 1930 – The British Broadcasting Corporation announced that “there is no news” in their evening report.
    • 1939 – Robert Menzies, who became Australia’s longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
    • 1942 – Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
    • 1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
    • 1945 – Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
    • 1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.
    • 1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into effect.
    • 1949 – The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport News Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.
    • 1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
    • 1955 – Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
    • 1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country’s first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.
    • 1983 – A suicide bomber in Lebanon destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people.
    • 1987 – The New York Islanders defeat the Washington Capitals 3–2 in Game 7 of their Patrick Division Semifinal series.
    • 1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
    • 1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the United Nations compound at Qana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.
    • 1997 – The Red River flood begins and soon overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.
    • 1999 – Wayne Gretzky, the National Hockey League’s all-time points scorer, plays his final game at Madison Square Garden as a teammate of the New York Rangers in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gretzky recorded his final career point, an assist, bringing his career point total to 2,857.
    • 2007 – A series of bombings, two of them being suicides, occur in Baghdad, killing 198 and injuring 251.
    • 2013 – A suicide bombing in a Baghdad cafe kills 27 people and injures another 65.
    • 2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country’s name will change to Eswatini.
    • 2019 – A redacted version of the Mueller Report is released to the United States Congress and the public.
    • 2020 – Coronavirus Pandemic: Europe surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

    Births on April 18

    • 359 – Gratian, Roman emperor (d. 383)
    • 588 – K’an II, Mayan ruler (d. 658)
    • 812 – Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (d. 847)
    • 1446 – Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1484)
    • 1480 – Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI
    • 1503 – Henry II of Navarre, (d. 1555)
    • 1534 – William Harrison, English clergyman (d. 1593)
    • 1580 – Thomas Middleton, English Jacobean playwright and poet (d. 1627)
    • 1590 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
    • 1605 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1674)
    • 1666 – Jean-Féry Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1747)
    • 1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician (d. 1810)
    • 1759 – Jacques Widerkehr, French cellist and composer (d. 1823)
    • 1771 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (d. 1820)
    • 1772 – David Ricardo, British economist and politician (d. 1823)
    • 1794 – William Debenham, English founder of Debenhams (d. 1863)
    • 1797 – Adolphe Thiers, French historian and politician, 2nd President of France (d. 1877)
    • 1813 – James McCune Smith, African-American physician, apothecary, abolitionist, and author (d. 1865)
    • 1819 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban lawyer and activist (d. 1874)
    • 1819 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1895)
    • 1838 – Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist and academic (d. 1912)
    • 1854 – Ludwig Levy, German architect (d. 1907)
    • 1857 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
    • 1858 – Dhondo Keshav Karve, Indian educator and activist, Bharat Ratna Awardee (d. 1962)
    • 1858 – Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and author (d. 1935)
    • 1863 – Count Leopold Berchtold, Austrian-Hungarian politician and diplomat, Joint Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)
    • 1863 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (d. 1920)
    • 1864 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (d. 1916)
    • 1874 – Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Croatian author and poet (d. 1938)
    • 1877 – Vicente Sotto, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1950)
    • 1879 – Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist and scholar (d. 1962)
    • 1880 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (d. 1968)
    • 1882 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler (d. 1964)
    • 1882 – Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (d. 1977)
    • 1884 – Jaan Anvelt, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1937)
    • 1888 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1979)
    • 1889 – Jessie Street, Australian activist (d. 1970)
    • 1892 – Eugene Houdry, French-American mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1962)
    • 1893 – Violette Morris, French shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1944)
    • 1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian geologist and cartographer (d. 2001)
    • 1897 – Per-Erik Hedlund, Swedish skier (d. 1975)
    • 1898 – Patrick Hennessy, Irish soldier and businessman (d. 1981)
    • 1900 – Bertha Isaacs, Bahamian teacher, tennis player, politician and women’s rights activist (d. 1997)
    • 1901 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (d. 1967)
    • 1901 – László Németh, Hungarian dentist, author, and playwright (d. 1975)
    • 1902 – Waldemar Hammenhög, Swedish author (d. 1972)
    • 1902 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
    • 1904 – Pigmeat Markham, African-American comedian, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
    • 1905 – Sydney Halter, Canadian lawyer and businessman (d. 1990)
    • 1905 – George H. Hitchings, American physician and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
    • 1907 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-American composer and conductor (d. 1995)
    • 1911 – Ilario Bandini, Italian businessman and racing driver (d. 1992)
    • 1911 – Maurice Goldhaber, Ukrainian Jewish-American physicist and academic (d. 2011)
    • 1914 – Claire Martin, Canadian author (d. 2014)
    • 1915 – Joy Davidman, Polish-Ukrainian Jewish American poet and author (d. 1960)
    • 1916 – Carl Burgos, American illustrator (d. 1984)
    • 1916 – Doug Peden, Canadian basketball player (d. 2005)
    • 1917 – Ty LaForest, Canadian-American baseball player (d. 1947)
    • 1918 – Gabriel Axel, Danish-French actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)
    • 1918 – Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
    • 1918 – Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, founded CliffsNotes (d. 2001)
    • 1918 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Virginia O’Brien, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
    • 1919 – Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending (d. 2002)
    • 1920 – John F. Wiley, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1921 – Jean Richard, French actor and singer (d. 2001)
    • 1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress (d. 2017)
    • 1922 – Lord Kitchener, Trinidadian singer (d. 2000)
    • 1923 – Alfred Bieler, Swiss ice hockey player (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Beryl Platt, Baroness Platt of Writtle, English engineer and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1924 – Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Henry Hyde, American commander, lawyer, and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1924 – Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer and author (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Doug Insole, English cricketer (d. 2017)
    • 1927 – Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist, author, and academic (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Charles Pasqua, French businessman and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Peter Hordern, English soldier and politician
    • 1930 – Clive Revill, New Zealand actor and singer
    • 1931 – Bill Miles, American director and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – James Drury, American actor (d. 2020)
    • 1934 – George Shirley, African-American tenor and educator
    • 1935 – Brian Clay, Australian rugby league player (d. 1987)
    • 1935 – Costas Ferris, Egyptian-Greek actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1936 – Roger Graef, American-English criminologist, director, and producer
    • 1936 – Vladimir Hütt, Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1997)
    • 1936 – “TV” Tommy Ivo, American actor and drag racer
    • 1937 – Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building (d. 2009)
    • 1937 – Tatyana Shchelkanova, Russian long jumper and heptathlete (d. 2011)
    • 1937 – Teddy Taylor, Scottish journalist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
    • 1939 – Glen Hardin, American pianist and arranger
    • 1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 2010)
    • 1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1940 – Mike Vickers, English guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
    • 1941 – Michael D. Higgins, Irish sociologist and politician, 9th President of Ireland
    • 1942 – Michael Beloff, English lawyer and academic
    • 1942 – Steve Blass, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1942 – Robert Christgau, American journalist and critic
    • 1942 – Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racing driver (d. 1970)
    • 1944 – Kathy Acker, American author and poet (d. 1997)
    • 1944 – Frances D’Souza, Baroness D’Souza, English academic and politician
    • 1944 – Robert Hanssen, American FBI agent and double agent
    • 1944 – Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor and photographer
    • 1945 – Bernard Arcand, Canadian anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
    • 1945 – Richard Bausch, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1945 – Robert Bausch, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress
    • 1946 – Tommy Shannon, American bass guitarist
    • 1947 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (d. 2013)
    • 1947 – Dorothy Lyman, American actress
    • 1947 – Cindy Pickett, American actress
    • 1947 – Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1947 – James Woods, American actor and producer
    • 1948 – Régis Wargnier, French director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
    • 1950 – Paul Callery, Australian footballer
    • 1950 – Tina Chow, American model and jewelry designer (d. 1992)
    • 1950 – Kenny Ortega, American director, producer, and choreographer
    • 1950 – Grigory Sokolov, Russian pianist and composer
    • 1951 – Ricardo Fortaleza, Australian-Filipino boxer and coach
    • 1951 – Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1953 – Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter
    • 1954 – Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer
    • 1956 – Chris Jones, English footballer
    • 1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor
    • 1957 – Ian Campbell, Australian jumper
    • 1958 – Gabi Delgado-López, Spanish-German singer, co-founder of D.A.F.
    • 1958 – Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer and coach (d. 1999)
    • 1959 – Susan Faludi, American journalist and author
    • 1959 – Frank Mulholland, Lord Mulholland, Scottish judge, former Solicitor General for Scotland and Lord Advocate
    • 1960 – John Chiedozie, Nigerian international footballer
    • 1960 – Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Ukrainian runner
    • 1961 – Kelly Hansen, American singer-songwriter
    • 1961 – Jane Leeves, English actress and dancer
    • 1961 – John Podhoretz, American journalist and author
    • 1962 – Jeff Dunham, American comedian and ventriloquist
    • 1962 – Nick Farr-Jones, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor and producer
    • 1963 – Conan O’Brien, American actor, producer, screenwriter, and talk show host
    • 1963 – Phil Simmons, Trinidadian cricketer
    • 1963 – Peter Van Loan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of International Trade
    • 1964 – Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic
    • 1964 – Rithy Panh, Cambodian director and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1967 – Maria Bello, American actress and writer
    • 1969 – Keith DeCandido, American author
    • 1969 – Stefan Schwarz, Swedish footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Robert Změlík, Czech decathlete
    • 1970 – Rico Brogna, American baseball player and coach
    • 1970 – Greg Eklund, American drummer and guitarist
    • 1970 – Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabian-Lebanese businessman and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Lebanon
    • 1970 – François Leroux, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host
    • 1970 – Tatiana Stefanidou, Greek journalist and talk show host
    • 1971 – Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1971 – Graham Rowntree, English rugby player
    • 1971 – David Tennant, Scottish actor
    • 1972 – Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist
    • 1972 – Eli Roth, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1972 – Michael Rutter, English motorcycle racer
    • 1973 – Derrick Brooks, American football player
    • 1973 – Brady Clark, American baseball player
    • 1973 – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner
    • 1974 – Millie Corretjer, Puerto Rican-American actress and singer
    • 1974 – Mark Tremonti, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1976 – Gavin Creel, American actor and singer
    • 1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress, director, and producer
    • 1976 – Andrew Ilie, Romanian-Australian tennis player
    • 1976 – Justin Ross, American politician
    • 1976 – Staffan Strand, Swedish high jumper
    • 1977 – Dan LaCouture, American ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Cindy Taylor, Paraguayan model and actress
    • 1979 – Michael Bradley, American basketball player and coach
    • 1979 – Ethan Cohn, American actor
    • 1979 – Matt Cooper, Australian rugby league player
    • 1979 – Anthony Davidson, English racing driver
    • 1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American model and businesswoman
    • 1980 – Rabiu Afolabi, Nigerian footballer and manager
    • 1980 – Justin Levens, American mixed martial artist (d. 2008)
    • 1981 – Brian Buscher, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Milan Jovanović, Serbian footballer
    • 1981 – Aldo Ramírez, Colombian footballer
    • 1981 – Audrey Tang, Taiwanese computer scientist and academic
    • 1982 – Ibrahim al-Asiri, Saudi Arabian terrorist
    • 1982 – Greg Camarillo, American football player
    • 1982 – Ricardo Colclough, Canadian-American football player
    • 1982 – Simone Farina, Italian footballer
    • 1982 – Scott Hartnell, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1982 – Blair Late, American singer-songwriter and journalist
    • 1982 – Darren Sutherland, Irish boxer (d. 2009)
    • 1982 – Marie-Élaine Thibert, Canadian singer
    • 1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1983 – Reeve Carney, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1984 – Red Bryant, American football player
    • 1984 – America Ferrera, American actress and producer
    • 1985 – Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
    • 1986 – Billy Butler, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Maurice Edu, American soccer player
    • 1986 – Taylor Griffin, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Conrad Logan, Irish footballer
    • 1986 – Efraín Velarde, Mexican footballer
    • 1987 – Brett Deledio, Australian footballer
    • 1987 – Danny Guthrie, English footballer
    • 1987 – Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, English model and actress
    • 1987 – Samantha Jade, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1987 – Ivan Tričkovski, Macedonian footballer
    • 1988 – Andre Frolov, Estonian footballer
    • 1988 – Alexander Hauck, South African-German rugby player
    • 1989 – Jessica Jung, Korean American singer, songwriter, actress, and fashion designer
    • 1990 – Henderson Álvarez, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1990 – Anna van der Breggen, Dutch cyclist
    • 1990 – Jake Howells, English footballer
    • 1990 – Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer
    • 1990 – Junior Torunarigha, Nigerian footballer
    • 1993 – Matt Salisbury, English cricketer
    • 1993 – Nathan Sykes, English singer-songwriter
    • 1995 – Divock Origi, Belgian footballer
    • 1996 – Mariah Bell, American figure skater
    • 1996 – Ioana Ducu, Romanian tennis player
    • 1997 – Matthias Blübaum, German chess grandmaster
    • 1997 – Donny van de Beek, Dutch footballer

    Deaths on April 18

    • 727 – Agallianos Kontoskeles, Byzantine commander and rebel leader
    • 850 – Perfectus, Spanish monk and martyr
    • 909 – Dionysius II, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch
    • 943 – Fujiwara no Atsutada, Japanese nobleman and poet (b. 906)
    • 963 – Stephen Lekapenos, co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
    • 1161 – Theobald of Bec, French-English archbishop (b. 1090)
    • 1176 – Galdino della Sala, Italian archdeacon and saint
    • 1552 – John Leland, English poet and historian (b. 1502)
    • 1555 – Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)
    • 1556 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and politician (b. 1495)
    • 1567 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
    • 1587 – John Foxe, English historian and author (b. 1516)
    • 1636 – Julius Caesar, English judge and politician (b. 1557)
    • 1650 – Simonds d’Ewes, English lawyer and politician (b. 1602)
    • 1674 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (b. 1620)
    • 1689 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1648)
    • 1732 – Louis Feuillée, French astronomer, geographer, and botanist (b. 1660)
    • 1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)
    • 1763 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau, Canadian murderer (b. 1733)
    • 1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
    • 1796 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1732)
    • 1802 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
    • 1832 – Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)
    • 1859 – Tatya Tope, Indian general (b. 1814)
    • 1864 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and linguist (b. 1832)
    • 1873 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
    • 1898 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (b. 1826)
    • 1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish religious leader, 24th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
    • 1912 – Martha Ripley, American physician (b. 1843)
    • 1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1858)
    • 1923 – Savina Petrilli, Italian religious leader (b. 1851)
    • 1936 – Milton Brown, American singer and bandleader (b. 1903)
    • 1936 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1879)
    • 1938 – George Bryant, American archer (b. 1878)
    • 1942 – Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (b. 1903)
    • 1942 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American heiress, sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (b. 1875)
    • 1943 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
    • 1945 – John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer, invented the vacuum tube (b. 1849)
    • 1945 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist and soldier (b. 1900)
    • 1947 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (b. 1887)
    • 1951 – Óscar Carmona, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
    • 1955 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1879)
    • 1958 – Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (b. 1872)
    • 1959 – Irving Cummings, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1888)
    • 1959 – Percy Smith, English footballer and manager (b. 1880)
    • 1963 – Meyer Jacobstein, American academic and politician (b. 1880)
    • 1964 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
    • 1965 – Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican engineer (b. 1917)
    • 1967 – Karl Miller, German footballer (b. 1913)
    • 1974 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright, and director (b. 1895)
    • 1986 – Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation (b. 1892)
    • 1988 – Pierre Desproges, French journalist and actor (b. 1939)
    • 1988 – Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet and playwright (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Arturo Frondizi, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Argentina (b. 1908)
    • 1996 – Brook Berringer, American football player (b. 1973)
    • 1996 – Bernard Edwards, American bass player and producer (b. 1952)
    • 1997 – Edward Barker, English cartoonist (b. 1950)
    • 1998 – Terry Sanford, American lieutenant and politician, 65th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1917)
    • 2002 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian ethnographer and explorer (b. 1914)
    • 2002 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (b. 1938)
    • 2003 – Edgar F. Codd, English-American soldier, pilot, and computer scientist (b. 1923)
    • 2004 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 2nd President of Fiji (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Sam Mills, American football player and coach (b. 1959)
    • 2006 – Mercedes Palomino, Spanish-born Quebec actor and theatre director (b. 1913)
    • 2007 – Iccho Itoh, Japanese politician (b. 1945)
    • 2008 – Germaine Tillion, French ethnologist and anthropologist (b. 1907)
    • 2012 – Dick Clark, American television host and producer, founded Dick Clark Productions (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – René Lépine, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – K. D. Wentworth, American author (b. 1951)
    • 2013 – Cordell Mosson, American bass player (b. 1952)
    • 2013 – Steuart Pringle, English general (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Goran Švob, Croatian philosopher and author (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Anne Williams, English activist (b. 1951)
    • 2014 – Guru Dhanapal, Indian director and producer (b. 1959)
    • 2014 – Sanford Jay Frank, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1954)
    • 2014 – Eduard Kosolapov, Russian footballer (b. 1976)
    • 2014 – David McClarty, Northern Irish politician (b. 1951)
    • 2014 – Brian Priestman, English conductor and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Dylan Tombides, Australian footballer (b. 1994)
    • 2015 – Roger Lobo, Macanese-Hong Kong businessman and politician (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Erwin Waldner, German footballer (b. 1933)
    • 2016 – Aleah Stanbridge, Swedish singer (b. 1977)
    • 2017 – Vic Albury, Major League pitcher (b. 1947)
    • 2018 – Bruno Sammartino, Italian professional wrestler (b. 1935)
    • 2018 – Dale Winton, British television presenter (b. 1955)
    • 2019 – Lorraine Warren, American paranormal investigator. (b. 1927)

    Holidays and observances on  April 18

    • Christian feast day:
      • Apollonius the Apologist
      • Corebus
      • Cyril VI of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Eleutherius and Antia
      • Galdino della Sala
      • Molaise of Leighlin
      • Perfectus
      • Plato of Sakkoudion
      • April 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Army Day (Iran)
    • Coma Patients’ Day (Poland)
    • Friend’s Day (Brazil)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Zimbabwe from the United Kingdom in 1980.
    • International Day For Monuments and Sites
    • Invention Day (Japan)
    • Victory over the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice (Russia)

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

    • AD 73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish–Roman War.
    • 1346 – Stefan Dušan, “the Mighty”, is crowned Emperor of the Serbs at Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans.
    • 1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Charles V.
    • 1582 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.
    • 1746 – The Battle of Culloden is fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland.After the battle many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants.
    • 1780 – Franz Friedrich Wilhelm von Fürstenberg founds the University of Münster.
    • 1799 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor: Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
    • 1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush–Bagot Treaty, limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
    • 1847 – Shooting of a Māori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Wars.
    • 1853 – The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens the first passenger rail in India, from Bori Bunder to Thane.
    • 1858 – The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is wound up.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: Battle at Lee’s Mills in Virginia.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: During the Vicksburg Campaign, gunboats commanded by acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter run downriver past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg.
    • 1881 – In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
    • 1908 – Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah.
    • 1910 – The oldest existing indoor ice hockey arena still used for the sport in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time.
    • 1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
    • 1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland.
    • 1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of “prayer and fasting” in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.
    • 1919 – Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.
    • 1922 – The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed.
    • 1925 – During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Nazi-affiliated Ustaše is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 is effected.
    • 1943 – Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.
    • 1944 – World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.
    • 1945 – The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).
    • 1945 – More than 7,000 die when the German refugee ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine.
    • 1947 – An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600.
    • 1947 – Bernard Baruch first applies the term “Cold War” to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
    • 1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
    • 1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
    • 1972 – Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
    • 1990 – “Doctor Death”, Jack Kevorkian, participates in his first assisted suicide.
    • 2001 – India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.
    • 2003 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting ten new member states to the European Union.
    • 2007 – Virginia Tech shooting: Seung-Hui Cho guns down 32 people and injures 17 before committing suicide.
    • 2012 – The trial for Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, begins in Oslo, Norway.
    • 2012 – The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, it was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.
    • 2013 – A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran, killing at least 35 people and injuring 117 others.
    • 2013 – The 2013 Baga massacre is started when Boko Haram militants engage government soldiers in Baga.
    • 2014 – The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the South Korean government, media, and shipping authorities.

    Births on April 16

    • 1435 – Jan II the Mad, Duke of Żagań (1439–1449 and 1461–1468 and again in 1472) (d. 1504)
    • 1488 – Jungjong of Joseon (d. 1544)
    • 1495 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1557)
    • 1516 – Tabinshwehti, Burmese king (d. 1550)
    • 1569 – John Davies, English poet and lawyer (d. 1626)
    • 1635 – Frans van Mieris the Elder, Dutch painter (d. 1681)
    • 1646 – Jules Hardouin-Mansart, French architect, designed the Château de Dampierre and Grand Trianon (d. 1708)
    • 1660 – Hans Sloane, Irish-English physician and academic (d. 1753)
    • 1661 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and politician, First Lord of the Treasury (d. 1715)
    • 1682 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (d. 1744)
    • 1697 – Johann Gottlieb Görner, German organist and composer (d. 1778)
    • 1728 – Joseph Black, French-Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1799)
    • 1730 – Henry Clinton, English general and politician (d. 1795)
    • 1755 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (d. 1842)
    • 1786 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician, 4th Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (d. 1847)
    • 1800 – George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, English field marshal and politician (d. 1888)
    • 1808 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 6th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1864)
    • 1821 – Ford Madox Brown, French-English soldier and painter (d. 1893)
    • 1823 – Gotthold Eisenstein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1852)
    • 1826 – Sir James Corry, 1st Baronet, British politician (d. 1891)
    • 1827 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian poet and bookseller (d. 1879)
    • 1839 – Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì, Italian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1908)
    • 1834 – Charles Lennox Richardson, English merchant (d. 1862)
    • 1844 – Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
    • 1847 – Hans Auer, Swiss-Austrian architect, designed the Federal Palace of Switzerland (d. 1906)
    • 1848 – Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian author and activist (d. 1919)
    • 1851 – Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 3rd Solicitor General of Sri Lanka (d. 1930)
    • 1864 – Rose Talbot Bullard, American medical doctor and professor (d. 1915)
    • 1865 – Harry Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945)
    • 1866 – José de Diego, Puerto Rican journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1918)
    • 1867 – Wilbur Wright, American inventor (d. 1912)
    • 1871 – John Millington Synge, Irish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1909)
    • 1874 – Jōtarō Watanabe, Japanese general (d. 1936)
    • 1878 – R. E. Foster, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1914)
    • 1882 – Seth Bingham, American organist and composer (d. 1972)
    • 1884 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, English cricketer, journalist, and politician (d. 1963)
    • 1885 – Leó Weiner, Hungarian composer and educator (d. 1960)
    • 1886 – Michalis Dorizas, Greek-American football player and javelin thrower (d. 1957)
    • 1886 – Ernst Thälmann, German politician (d. 1944)
    • 1888 – Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (d. 1940)
    • 1889 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1977)
    • 1890 – Fred Root, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1954)
    • 1890 – Gertrude Chandler Warner, American author and educator (d. 1979)
    • 1891 – Dorothy P. Lathrop, American author and illustrator (d. 1980)
    • 1892 – Howard Mumford Jones, American author, critic, and academic (d. 1980)
    • 1893 – Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1968)
    • 1893 – John Norton, American hurdler (d. 1979)
    • 1895 – Ove Arup, English-Danish engineer and businessman, founded Arup (d. 1988)
    • 1896 – Robert Henry Best, American journalist (d. 1952)
    • 1896 – Árpád Weisz, Hungarian footballer (d. 1944)
    • 1899 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist and academic (d. 1988)
    • 1900 – Polly Adler, Russian-American madam and author (d. 1962)
    • 1903 – Paul Waner, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
    • 1904 – Fifi D’Orsay, Canadian-American vaudevillian, actress, and singer (d. 1983)
    • 1905 – Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d. 2005)
    • 1907 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor and businessman, founded Bombardier Inc. (d. 1964)
    • 1907 – August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (d. 1947)
    • 1908 – Ellis Marsalis, Sr., American businessman and activist (d. 2004)
    • 1908 – Ray Ventura, French jazz bandleader (d. 1979)
    • 1910 – Berton Roueché, American journalist and author (d. 1994)
    • 1911 – Guy Burgess, English-Russian spy (d. 1963)
    • 1913 – Les Tremayne, English actor (d. 2003)
    • 1914 – John Hodiak, American actor (d. 1955)
    • 1915 – Robert Speck, Canadian politician, 1st Mayor of Mississauga (d. 1972)
    • 1916 – Behçet Necatigil, Turkish author, poet, and translator (d. 1979)
    • 1917 – Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, 18th Duchess of Medinaceli (d. 2013)
    • 1917 – Barry Nelson, American actor (d. 2007)
    • 1918 – Dick Gibson, English racing driver (d. 2010)
    • 1918 – Hsuan Hua, Chinese-American monk and author (d. 1995)
    • 1918 – Juozas Kazickas, Lithuanian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Spike Milligan, Irish actor, comedian, and writer (d. 2002)
    • 1919 – Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (d. 2011)
    • 1919 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (d. 2013)
    • 1919 – Thomas Willmore, English geometer and academic (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Ananda Dassanayake, Sri Lankan politician (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Prince George Valdemar of Denmark (d. 1986)
    • 1921 – Arlin M. Adams, American lawyer and judge (d. 2015)
    • 1921 – Wolfgang Leonhard, German historian and author (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Peter Ustinov, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1922 – Kingsley Amis, English novelist, poet, and critic (d. 1995)
    • 1922 – John Christopher, English author (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – Lawrence N. Guarino, American colonel (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Leo Tindemans, Belgian politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Warren Barker, American composer (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – Arch A. Moore Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of West Virginia (d. 2015)
    • 1924 – John Harvey-Jones, English academic and businessman (d. 2008)
    • 1924 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (d. 1994)
    • 1924 – Rudy Pompilli, American saxophonist (d. 1976)
    • 1924 – Madanjeet Singh, Indian diplomat, author, and philanthropist (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Edie Adams, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – Pope Benedict XVI
    • 1927 – Rolf Schult, German actor (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Dick Lane, American football player and soldier (d. 2002)
    • 1929 – Roy Hamilton, American singer (d. 1969)
    • 1929 – Ralph Slatyer, Australian biologist and ecologist (d. 2012)
    • 1929 – Ed Townsend, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2003)
    • 1930 – Doug Beasy, Australian footballer and educator (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Herbie Mann, American flute player and composer (d. 2003)
    • 1932 – Maury Meyers, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Marcos Alonso Imaz, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – Joan Bakewell, English journalist and author
    • 1933 – Perry Botkin Jr., American composer, arranger and musician
    • 1933 – Vera Krepkina, Russian long jumper
    • 1933 – Ike Pappas, American journalist and actor (d. 2008)
    • 1934 – Vince Hill, English singer-songwriter
    • 1934 – Robert Stigwood, Australian producer and manager (d. 2016)
    • 1934 – Barrie Unsworth, Australian politician, 36th Premier of New South Wales
    • 1934 – Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (d. 2012)
    • 1935 – Marcel Carrière, Canadian director and screenwriter
    • 1935 – Sarah Kirsch, German poet and author (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – Lennart Risberg, Swedish boxer (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – Bobby Vinton, American singer
    • 1936 – Vadim Kuzmin, Russian physicist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Gert Potgieter, South African hurdler and coach
    • 1938 – Rich Rollins, American baseball player
    • 1938 – Gordon Wilson, Scottish lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1939 – John Amabile, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
    • 1939 – Dusty Springfield, English singer and record producer (d. 1999)
    • 1940 – Benoît Bouchard, Canadian academic and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Transport
    • 1940 – David Holford, Barbadian cricketer
    • 1940 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
    • 1940 – Joan Snyder, American painter
    • 1940 – Thomas Stonor, 7th Baron Camoys, English banker and politician, Lord Chamberlain of the United Kingdom
    • 1941 – Allan Segal, American director and producer (d. 2012)
    • 1942 – Jim Lonborg, American baseball pitcher
    • 1942 – Sir Frank Williams, English businessman, founded the Williams F1 Racing Team
    • 1943 – Lonesome Dave Peverett, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2000)
    • 1943 – Petro Tyschtschenko, Austrian-German businessman
    • 1943 – John Watkins, Australian cricketer
    • 1945 – Tom Allen, American lawyer and politician
    • 1946 – Margot Adler, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1946 – Ernst Bakker, Dutch politician (d. 2014)
    • 1946 – Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (d. 2015)
    • 1946 – R. Carlos Nakai, American flute player
    • 1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player and coach
    • 1947 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1948 – Reg Alcock, Canadian businessman and politician, 17th Canadian President of the Treasury Board (d. 2011)
    • 1950 – David Graf, American actor (d. 2001)
    • 1950 – Colleen Hewett, Australian singer and actress
    • 1951 – Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian author and photographer
    • 1951 – David Nutt, English psychiatrist and academic
    • 1952 – Bill Belichick, American football player and coach
    • 1952 – Michel Blanc, French actor and director
    • 1952 – Esther Roth-Shahamorov, Israeli sprinter and hurdler
    • 1952 – Billy West, American voice actor, singer-songwriter, and comedian
    • 1953 – Peter Garrett, Australian singer-songwriter and politician
    • 1953 – Jay O. Sanders, American actor
    • 1954 – Ellen Barkin, American actress
    • 1954 – John Bowe, Australian racing driver
    • 1954 – Mike Zuke, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1955 – Bruce Bochy, American baseball player and manager
    • 1955 – Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
    • 1956 – David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
    • 1956 – T Lavitz, American keyboard player, composer, and producer (d. 2010)
    • 1956 – Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
    • 1957 – Patricia De Martelaere, Belgian philosopher, author, and academic (d. 2009)
    • 1958 – Tim Flach, English photographer and director
    • 1958 – Ulf Wakenius, Swedish guitarist
    • 1959 – Alison Ramsay, English-Scottish field hockey player and lawyer
    • 1960 – Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician (d. 2007)
    • 1960 – Rafael Benítez, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1960 – Pierre Littbarski, German footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Jarbom Gamlin, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (d. 2014)
    • 1961 – Linda Ruth Williams, British film studies academic
    • 1962 – Anna Dello Russo, Italian journalist
    • 1962 – Douglas Elmendorf, American economist and politician
    • 1962 – Ian MacKaye, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1963 – Saleem Malik, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1963 – Jimmy Osmond, American singer
    • 1964 – David Kohan, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1964 – Dave Pirner, American singer, songwriter and producer
    • 1964 – Esbjörn Svensson, Swedish pianist (d. 2008)
    • 1965 – Yves-François Blanchet, Canadian politician
    • 1965 – Jon Cryer, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Martin Lawrence, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Jarle Vespestad, Norwegian drummer
    • 1966 – Jeff Varner, American newscaster and reality television personality
    • 1968 – Vickie Guerrero, American wrestler and manager
    • 1968 – Rüdiger Stenzel, German runner
    • 1969 – Patrik Järbyn, Swedish skier
    • 1969 – Fernando Viña, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1970 – Dero Goi, German singer-songwriter and drummer
    • 1970 – Walt Williams, American basketball player
    • 1971 – Cameron Blades, Australian rugby player
    • 1971 – Selena, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer (d. 1995)
    • 1971 – Seigo Yamamoto, Japanese racing driver
    • 1971 – Natasha Zvereva, Belarusian tennis player
    • 1972 – Conchita Martínez, Spanish-American tennis player
    • 1972 – Tracy K. Smith, American poet and educator
    • 1973 – Akon, Senegalese-American singer, rapper and songwriter
    • 1973 – Charlotta Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
    • 1973 – Teddy Cobeña, Spanish-Ecuadorian expressionist and representational sculptor
    • 1975 – Keon Clark, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Lukas Haas, American actor and musician
    • 1976 – Kelli O’Hara, American actress and singer
    • 1977 – Freddie Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
    • 1979 – Christijan Albers, Dutch racing driver
    • 1979 – Lars Börgeling, German pole vaulter
    • 1979 – Daniel Browne, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1981 – Anestis Agritis, Greek footballer
    • 1981 – Maya Dunietz, Israeli singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1981 – Matthieu Proulx, Canadian football player
    • 1982 – Gina Carano, American mixed martial artist and actress
    • 1982 – Boris Diaw, French basketball player
    • 1982 – Jonathan Vilma, American football player
    • 1983 – Marié Digby, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
    • 1983 – Cat Osterman, American softball player
    • 1984 – Teddy Blass, American composer and producer
    • 1984 – Claire Foy, English actress
    • 1984 – Tucker Fredricks, American speed skater
    • 1984 – Paweł Kieszek, Polish footballer
    • 1984 – Kerron Stewart, Jamaican sprinter
    • 1985 – Luol Deng, Sudanese-English basketball player
    • 1985 – Brendon Leonard, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1985 – Benjamín Rojas, Argentinian singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1985 – Taye Taiwo, Nigerian footballer
    • 1986 – Paul di Resta, Scottish racing driver
    • 1986 – Shinji Okazaki, Japanese footballer
    • 1986 – Peter Regin, Danish ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Epke Zonderland, Dutch gymnast
    • 1987 – Cenk Akyol, Turkish basketball player
    • 1987 – Aaron Lennon, English international footballer
    • 1988 – Kyle Okposo, American ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Reggie Jackson, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Vangelis Mantzaris, Greek basketball player
    • 1990 – Tony McQuay, American sprinter
    • 1990 – Travis Shaw, American baseball player
    • 1991 – Nolan Arenado, American baseball player
    • 1991 – Kim Kyung-jung, South Korean footballer
    • 1993 – Mirai Nagasu, American figure skater
    • 1993 – Chance the Rapper, American rapper
    • 1994 – Albert Almora, American baseball player
    • 1994 – Will Fuller, American football player
    • 2002 – Sadie Sink, American actress

    Deaths on April 16

    • AD 69 – Otho, Roman emperor (b. AD 32)
    • 665 – Fructuosus of Braga, French archbishop and saint
    • 1090 – Sikelgaita, duchess of Apulia (b. c. 1040)
    • 1113 – Sviatopolk II of Kiev (b. 1050)
    • 1118 – Adelaide del Vasto, regent of Sicily, mother of Roger II of Sicily, queen of Baldwin I of Jerusalem
    • 1198 – Frederick I, Duke of Austria (b. 1175)
    • 1234 – Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (b. 1191)
    • 1375 – John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English nobleman and soldier (b. 1347)
    • 1496 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy (b. 1489)
    • 1587 – Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (b. 1497)
    • 1640 – Countess Charlotte Flandrina of Nassau (b. 1579)
    • 1645 – Tobias Hume, Scottish soldier, viol player, and composer (b. 1569)
    • 1687 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English poet and politician, Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire (b. 1628)
    • 1689 – Aphra Behn, English author and playwright (b. 1640)
    • 1742 – Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, Italian poet and translator (b. 1672)
    • 1756 – Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (b. 1677)
    • 1783 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer and educator (b. 1719)
    • 1788 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French mathematician, cosmologist, and author (b. 1707)
    • 1828 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and illustrator (b. 1746)
    • 1846 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (b. 1763)
    • 1850 – Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (b. 1761)
    • 1859 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1805)
    • 1879 – Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (b. 1844)
    • 1888 – Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski, Polish physicist and chemist (b. 1845)
    • 1899 – Emilio Jacinto, Filipino journalist and activist (b. 1875)
    • 1904 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (b. 1888)
    • 1904 – Samuel Smiles, Scottish-English author (b. 1812)
    • 1914 – George William Hill, American astronomer and mathematician (b. 1838)
    • 1915 – Nelson W. Aldrich, American businessman and politician (b. 1841)
    • 1925 – Stefan Nerezov, Bulgarian general (b. 1867)
    • 1928 – Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founded Henry Birks and Sons (b. 1840)
    • 1928 – Roman Steinberg, Estonian wrestler (b. 1900)
    • 1930 – José Carlos Mariátegui, Peruvian journalist, philosopher, and activist (b. 1894)
    • 1935 – Panait Istrati, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1884)
    • 1937 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American military engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (b. 1870)
    • 1938 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer and manager (b. 1874)
    • 1941 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, English economist and civil servant (b. 1880)
    • 1942 – Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1878)
    • 1942 – Denis St. George Daly, Irish polo player (b. 1862)
    • 1946 – Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-American race car driver and engineer (b. 1884)
    • 1947 – Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (b. 1900)
    • 1950 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1905)
    • 1950 – Anders Peter Nielsen, Danish target shooter (b. 1867)
    • 1955 – David Kirkwood, Scottish engineer and politician (b. 1872)
    • 1958 – Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist and academic (b. 1920)
    • 1960 – Mihály Fekete, Hungarian actor, screenwriter and film director (b. 1884)
    • 1961 – Carl Hovland, American psychologist and academic (b. 1912)
    • 1965 – Francis Balfour, English soldier and colonial administrator (b. 1884)
    • 1965 – Sydney Chaplin, English actor, comedian, brother of Charlie Chaplin (b. 1885)
    • 1966 – Eric Lambert, Australian author (b. 1918)
    • 1968 – Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893)
    • 1968 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1885)
    • 1969 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai illustrator and painter (b. 1904)
    • 1970 – Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designed the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (b. 1892)
    • 1970 – Péter Veres, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (b. 1897)
    • 1972 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
    • 1972 – Frank O’Connor, Australian public servant (b. 1894)
    • 1973 – István Kertész, Hungarian conductor and educator (b. 1929)
    • 1978 – Lucius D. Clay, American officer and military governor in occupied Germany (b. 1898)
    • 1980 – Morris Stoloff, American composer (b. 1898)
    • 1985 – Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924)
    • 1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian commander, founded Fatah (b. 1935)
    • 1988 – Youri Egorov, Russian pianist (b. 1954)
    • 1989 – Jocko Conlan, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1899)
    • 1989 – Kaoru Ishikawa Japanese author and educator (b. 1915)
    • 1989 – Miles Lawrence, English cricketer (b. 1940)
    • 1989 – Hakkı Yeten, Turkish footballer and manager (b. 1910)
    • 1991 – David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
    • 1992 – Neville Brand, American actor (b. 1920)
    • 1992 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy and activist (b. 1915)
    • 1992 – Andy Russell, American singer and actor (b. 1919)
    • 1994 – Paul-Émilien Dalpé, Canadian labor unionist (b. 1919)
    • 1994 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and critic (b. 1913)
    • 1996 – Lucille Bremer, American actress and dancer (b. 1917)
    • 1996 – Stavros Niarchos, Greek-Swiss businessman (b. 1909)
    • 1997 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (b. 1921)
    • 1997 – Roland Topor, French actor, director, and painter (b. 1938)
    • 1998 – Alberto Calderón, Argentinian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
    • 1998 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
    • 1998 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian super-centenarian (b. 1880)
    • 1999 – Skip Spence, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1946)
    • 2001 – Robert Osterloh, American actor (b. 1918)
    • 2001 – Michael Ritchie, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
    • 2001 – Alec Stock, English footballer and manager (b. 1917)
    • 2002 – Billy Ayre, English footballer and manager (b. 1952)
    • 2002 – Ruth Fertel, American businesswoman, founded Ruth’s Chris Steak House (b. 1927)
    • 2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
    • 2003 – Graham Jarvis, Canadian actor (b. 1930)
    • 2003 – Graham Stuart Thomas, English horticulturalist and author (b. 1909)
    • 2005 – Kay Walsh, English actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
    • 2007 – Frank Bateson, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1909)
    • 2007 – Gaétan Duchesne, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1962)
    • 2007 – Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer (b. 1915)
    • 2007 – Chandrabose Suthaharan, Sri Lankan journalist
    • 2008 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (b. 1917)
    • 2010 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general and convicted war criminal (b. 1949)
    • 2010 – Daryl Gates, American police officer, created the D.A.R.E. Program (b. 1926)
    • 2011 – Gerry Alexander, Jamaican cricketer and veterinarian (b. 1928)
    • 2011 – Allan Blakeney, Canadian scholar and politician, 10th Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1925)
    • 2011 – Sol Saks, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1910)
    • 2012 – Sári Barabás, Hungarian soprano (b. 1914)
    • 2012 – Marian Biskup, Polish author and academic (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Alan Hacker, English clarinet player and conductor (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – George Kunda, Zambian lawyer and politician, 11th Vice-President of Zambia (b. 1956)
    • 2012 – Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish businessman (b. 1913)
    • 2012 – Carlo Petrini, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1948)
    • 2013 – Charles Bruzon, Gibraltarian politician (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Ali Kafi, Algerian colonel and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Siegfried Ludwig, Austrian politician, 18th Governor of Lower Austria (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Pentti Lund, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (b. 1909)
    • 2013 – Pat Summerall, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (b. 1949)
    • 2014 – Aulis Rytkönen, Finnish footballer and manager (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1948)
    • 2015 – Attaphol Buspakom, Thai footballer and manager (b. 1962)
    • 2015 – Oles Buzina, Ukrainian journalist and author (b. 1969)
    • 2015 – Stanislav Gross, Czech lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (b. 1969)
    • 2016 – Charlie Hodge, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
    • 2018 – Harry Anderson, American actor and magician (b. 1952)
    • 2018 – Jim Caine, British jazz pianist (b. 1926)

    Holidays and observances on April 16

    • Christian feast day:
      • Benedict Joseph Labre
      • Bernadette Soubirous
      • Drogo
      • Fructuosus of Braga
      • Isabella Gilmore (Church of England)
      • Martyrs of Zaragoza
      • Molly Brant (Konwatsijayenni) (Anglican Church of Canada, Episcopal Church)
      • Turibius of Astorga
      • April 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Birthday of José de Diego (Puerto Rico, United States)
    • Birthday of Queen Margrethe II (Denmark)
    • Emancipation Day (Washington, D.C., United States)
    • Foursquare Day (International observance)
    • Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (Hungary)
    • National Healthcare Decisions Day (United States)
    • Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan (Iraqi Kurdistan)
    • World Voice Day

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

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

    Births on April 15

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

    Deaths on April 15

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

    Holidays and observances on April 15

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

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

    • 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
    • 475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite Christological position.
    • 537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.
    • 1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.
    • 1288 – Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.
    • 1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.
    • 1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.
    • 1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
    • 1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.
    • 1511 – St John’s College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.
    • 1585 – The expedition organised by Sir Walter Raleigh departs England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish the Roanoke Colony.
    • 1609 – Eighty Years’ War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.
    • 1609 – Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the “Expulsion of the Moriscos”.
    • 1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
    • 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of the Saintes begins.
    • 1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.
    • 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
    • 1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
    • 1914 – Mexican Revolution: One of the world’s first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico.
    • 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun: German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
    • 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
    • 1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.
    • 1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
    • 1939 – African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
    • 1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
    • 1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends. An Indian Ocean raid by Japan’s 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire.
    • 1945 – Execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, anti-Nazi dissident and spy, by the Nazi regime.
    • 1945 – World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
    • 1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
    • 1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
    • 1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court’s 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
    • 1947 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.
    • 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán’s assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.
    • 1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
    • 1952 – Hugo Ballivián’s government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines
    • 1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.
    • 1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.
    • 1960 – Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg.
    • 1961 – The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.
    • 1965 – Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.
    • 1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.
    • 1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.
    • 1975 – The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association, the second oldest professional basketball league in the world.
    • 1976 – The EMD F40PH diesel locomotive enters revenue service with Amtrak.
    • 1980 – The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
    • 1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
    • 1989 – Tbilisi massacre: an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
    • 1990 – An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.
    • 1990 – Thirteen thousand members of the Dene and Métis tribes sign a land claim agreement for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.
    • 1991 – Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
    • 1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
    • 1999 – Kosovo War: The Battle of Košare begins.
    • 2003 – Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.
    • 2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor’s Guildhall.
    • 2009 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.
    • 2013 – A 6.1–magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people.
    • 2013 – At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča.
    • 2014 – A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.
    • 2017 – The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.
    • 2017 – After refusing to give up his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight, Dr. David Dao Duy Anh is forcibly dragged off the flight by aviation security officers, leading to major criticism of United Airlines.

    Births on April 9

    • 1285 – Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, Emperor Renzong of Yuan (d. 1320)
    • 1458 – Camilla Battista da Varano, Italian saint (d. 1524)
    • 1498 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (d. 1550)
    • 1586 – Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1665)
    • 1597 – John Davenport, English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (d. 1670)
    • 1598 – Johann Crüger, Sorbian-German composer and theorist (d. 1662)
    • 1624 – Henrik Rysensteen, Dutch military engineer (d. 1679)
    • 1627 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (d. 1693)
    • 1634 – Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau (d. 1696)
    • 1648 – Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
    • 1649 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1685)
    • 1654 – Samuel Fritz, Czech Jesuit missionary to South America (d. 1725?)
    • 1680 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright (d. 1754)
    • 1686 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1721)
    • 1691 – Johann Matthias Gesner, German scholar and academic (d. 1761)
    • 1717 – Georg Matthias Monn, Austrian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1750)
    • 1770 – Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist and academic (d. 1831)
    • 1773 – Étienne Aignan, French author and academic (d. 1824)
    • 1794 – Theobald Boehm, German flute player and composer (d. 1881)
    • 1802 – Elias Lönnrot, Finnish physician and philologist (d. 1884)
    • 1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (d. 1859)
    • 1807 – James Bannerman, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1868)
    • 1821 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (d. 1867)
    • 1830 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer and cinematographer (d. 1904)
    • 1835 – Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
    • 1835 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (d. 1913)
    • 1846 – Paolo Tosti, Italian-English composer and educator (d. 1916)
    • 1848 – Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz, Spanish Augustinian Recollect priest and saint (d. 1906)
    • 1865 – Erich Ludendorff, German general and politician (d. 1937)
    • 1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Polish-American mathematician and engineer (d. 1923)
    • 1867 – Chris Watson, Chilean-Australian journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
    • 1867 – Charles Winckler, Danish tug of war competitor, discus thrower, and shot putter (d. 1932)
    • 1872 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1950)
    • 1875 – Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (d. 1912)
    • 1880 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect (d. 1925)
    • 1882 – Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1946)
    • 1882 – Otz Tollen, German actor (d. 1965)
    • 1883 – Frank King, American cartoonist (d. 1969)
    • 1887 – Konrad Tom, Polish actor, writer, singer, and director (d. 1957)
    • 1888 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American talent manager (d. 1974)
    • 1893 – Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (d.1967)
    • 1893 – Victor Gollancz, English publisher, founded Victor Gollancz Ltd (d. 1967)
    • 1893 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian linguist, author, and scholar (d. 1963)
    • 1895 – Mance Lipscomb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
    • 1895 – Michel Simon, Swiss-French actor (d. 1975)
    • 1897 – John B. Gambling, American radio host (d. 1974)
    • 1898 – Curly Lambeau, American football player and coach (d. 1965)
    • 1898 – Paul Robeson, American singer, actor, and activist (d. 1976)
    • 1900 – Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
    • 1901 – Jean Bruchési, Canadian historian and author (d. 1979)
    • 1901 – Paul Willis, American actor and director (d. 1960)
    • 1902 – Théodore Monod, French explorer and scholar (d. 2000)
    • 1903 – Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
    • 1904 – Sharkey Bonano, American singer, trumpet player, and bandleader (d. 1972)
    • 1905 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
    • 1906 – Rafaela Aparicio, Spanish actress (d. 1996)
    • 1906 – Antal Doráti, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1988)
    • 1906 – Hugh Gaitskell, British politician and leader of the Labour Party (d. 1963)
    • 1906 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French painter (d. 1997)
    • 1908 – Joseph Krumgold, American author and screenwriter (d. 1980)
    • 1909 – Robert Helpmann, Australian dancer, actor, and choreographer (d. 1986)
    • 1910 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 1998)
    • 1912 – Lev Kopelev, Ukrainian-German author and academic (d. 1997)
    • 1915 – Daniel Johnson Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
    • 1916 – Julian Dash, American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist (d. 1974)
    • 1916 – Heinz Meyer, German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) during World War II (d. 1987)
    • 1916 – Bill Leonard, American journalist (d. 1994)
    • 1917 – Johannes Bobrowski, German songwriter and poet (d. 1965)
    • 1917 – Ronnie Burgess, Welsh international footballer left-half and manager (d. 2005)
    • 1917 – Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Henry Hewes, American theater writer (d. 2006)
    • 1918 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect, designed the Sydney Opera House (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – J. Presper Eckert, American engineer, invented the ENIAC (d. 1995)
    • 1921 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (d. 2008)
    • 1921 – Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician (d. 2015)
    • 1921 – Frankie Thomas, American actor (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Carl Amery, German author and activist (d. 2005)
    • 1923 – Leonard Levy, American historian and author (d. 2006)
    • 1924 – Arthur Shaw, English professional footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Virginia Gibson, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Art Kane, American photographer (d. 1995)
    • 1926 – Gerry Fitt, Northern Irish soldier and politician; British life peer (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Harris Wofford, American politician, author and civil rights activist (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Tiny Hill, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (d. 2006)
    • 1928 – Tom Lehrer, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and mathematician
    • 1929 – Sharan Rani Backliwal, Indian sarod player and scholar (d. 2008)
    • 1929 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist (d. 1993)
    • 1929 – Paule Marshall, American author and academic (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Nathaniel Branden, Canadian-American psychotherapist and author (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Jim Fowler, American zoologist and television host (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, founded McCain Foods (d. 2011)
    • 1931 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1991)
    • 1932 – Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (d. 2006)
    • 1932 – Peter Moores, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
    • 1932 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
    • 1933 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor and producer
    • 1933 – René Burri, Swiss photographer and journalist (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Fern Michaels, American author
    • 1933 – Richard Rose, American political scientist and academic
    • 1933 – Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor (d. 1994)
    • 1934 – Bill Birch, New Zealand surveyor and politician, 38th New Zealand Minister of Finance
    • 1934 – Tom Phillis, Australian motorcycle racer (d. 1962)
    • 1934 – Mariya Pisareva, Russian high jumper
    • 1935 – Aulis Sallinen, Finnish composer and academic
    • 1935 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
    • 1936 – Jerzy Maksymiuk, Polish pianist, composer, and conductor
    • 1936 – Valerie Solanas, American radical feminist author, attempted murderer (d. 1988)
    • 1937 – Simon Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge
    • 1937 – Marty Krofft, Canadian screenwriter and producer
    • 1937 – Valerie Singleton, English television and radio host
    • 1938 – Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian businessman and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Russia (d. 2010)
    • 1939 – Michael Learned, American actress
    • 1940 – Hans-Joachim Reske, German sprinter
    • 1940 – Jim Roberts, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1941 – Kay Adams, American singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Brandon deWilde, American actor (d. 1972)
    • 1942 – Margo Smith, American singer-songwriter
    • 1943 – Leila Khaled, Palestinian activist
    • 1943 – Terry Knight, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
    • 1944 – Joe Brinkman, American baseball player and umpire
    • 1944 – Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg, German shot putter
    • 1945 – Steve Gadd, American drummer and percussionist[9]
    • 1946 – Nate Colbert, American baseball player[10]
    • 1946 – Alan Knott, English cricketer[11]
    • 1946 – Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician[12]
    • 1946 – David Webb, English footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1947 – Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Italian economist and academic
    • 1948 – Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
    • 1948 – Michel Parizeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1948 – Patty Pravo, Italian singer
    • 1949 – Tony Cragg, English sculptor
    • 1952 – Robert Clark, American author
    • 1952 – Bruce Robertson, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1952 – Tania Tsanaklidou, Greek singer and actress
    • 1953 – John Howard, English singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1953 – Hal Ketchum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1953 – Stephen Paddock, American mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (d. 2017)
    • 1954 – Ken Kalfus, American journalist and author
    • 1954 – Dennis Quaid, American actor
    • 1954 – Iain Duncan Smith, British soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
    • 1955 – Yamina Benguigui, Algerian-French director and politician
    • 1955 – Joolz Denby, English poet and author
    • 1956 – Miguel Ángel Russo, Argentinian footballer and coach
    • 1956 – Nigel Shadbolt, English computer scientist and academic
    • 1956 – Vahur Sova, Estonian architect
    • 1956 – Marina Zoueva, Russian ice dancer and coach
    • 1957 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer and architect (d. 2011)
    • 1957 – Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer
    • 1957 – Jamie Redfern, English-born Australian television presenter, and pop singer
    • 1958 – Tony Sibson, English boxer
    • 1958 – Nigel Slater, English food writer and author
    • 1959 – Bernard Jenkin, English businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1960 – Jaak Aab, Estonian educator and politician, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia
    • 1961 – Mark Kelly, Irish keyboard player
    • 1961 – Kirk McCaskill, Canadian-American baseball and hockey player
    • 1962 – John Eaves, American production designer and illustrator
    • 1962 – Ihor Podolchak, Ukrainian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Imran Sherwani, English field hockey player
    • 1962 – Jeff Turner, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Marc Jacobs, American-French fashion designer
    • 1963 – Joe Scarborough, American journalist, lawyer, and politician
    • 1964 – Rob Awalt, German-American football player
    • 1964 – Juliet Cuthbert, Jamaican sprinter
    • 1964 – Peter Penashue, Canadian businessman and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
    • 1964 – Margaret Peterson Haddix, American author
    • 1964 – Rick Tocchet, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1965 – Helen Alfredsson, Swedish golfer
    • 1965 – Paulina Porizkova, Czech-born Swedish-American model and actress
    • 1965 – Jeff Zucker, American businessman
    • 1966 – John Hammond, English weather forecaster
    • 1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress
    • 1967 – Natascha Engel, German-English translator and politician
    • 1967 – Sam Harris, American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
    • 1968 – Jay Chandrasekhar, American actor, comedian, writer and director
    • 1969 – Barnaby Kay, English actor
    • 1969 – Linda Kisabaka, German runner
    • 1970 – Chorão, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1971 – Peter Canavan, Irish footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Leo Fortune-West, English footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Austin Peck, American actor
    • 1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
    • 1972 – Bernard Ackah, German-Japanese martial artist and kick-boxer
    • 1972 – Siiri Vallner, Estonian architect
    • 1974 – Megan Connolly, Australian actress (d. 2001)
    • 1974 – Jenna Jameson, American actress and pornographic performer
    • 1975 – Robbie Fowler, English footballer and manager
    • 1975 – David Gordon Green, American director and screenwriter
    • 1976 – Kyle Peterson, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Gerard Way, American singer-songwriter and comic book writer
    • 1978 – Kousei Amano, Japanese actor
    • 1978 – Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
    • 1978 – Rachel Stevens, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
    • 1979 – Jeff Reed, American football player
    • 1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
    • 1980 – Sarah Ayton, English sailor
    • 1980 – Luciano Galletti, Argentinian footballer
    • 1980 – Albert Hammond Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1981 – Milan Bartovič, Slovak ice hockey player
    • 1981 – A. J. Ellis, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
    • 1981 – Dennis Sarfate, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Eric Harris, American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
    • 1982 – Jay Baruchel, Canadian actor
    • 1982 – Carlos Hernández, Costa Rican footballer
    • 1982 – Kathleen Munroe, Canadian-American actress
    • 1983 – Ryan Clark, Australian actor
    • 1984 – Habiba Ghribi, Tunisian runner[13]
    • 1984 – Adam Loewen, Canadian baseball player
    • 1984 – Óscar Razo, Mexican footballer
    • 1985 – Antonio Nocerino, Italian footballer
    • 1985 – David Robertson, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Mike Hart, American football player
    • 1986 – Leighton Meester, American actress
    • 1987 – Kassim Abdallah, French-Comorian footballer
    • 1987 – Graham Gano, American football player
    • 1987 – Craig Mabbitt, American singer
    • 1987 – Jesse McCartney, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1987 – Jarrod Mullen, Australian rugby league player
    • 1987 – Jazmine Sullivan, American singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Michel Alves Baroni, Brazilian footballer
    • 1988 – Jeremy Metcalfe, English racing driver
    • 1989 – Danielle Kahle, American figure skater
    • 1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
    • 1990 – Ryan Williams, American football player
    • 1991 – Ryan Kelly, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Mary Killman, American synchronized swimmer
    • 1992 – Joshua Ledet, American singer
    • 1994 – Joey Pollari, American actor
    • 1995 – Domagoj Bošnjak, Croatian basketball player
    • 1995 – Robert Bauer, German-Kazakhstani footballer
    • 1996 – Jayden Brailey, Australian rugby league player[14]
    • 1996 – Giovani Lo Celso, Argentinian international footballer, midfielder[15]
    • 1998 – Elle Fanning, American actress[16]
    • 1999 – Montero Lamar Hill, American rapper[17]
    • 2000 – Jackie Evancho, American singer[18]

    Deaths on April 9

    • 585 BC – Jimmu, emperor of Japan (b. 711 BC)
    • AD 93 – Yuan An, Chinese scholar and politician
    • 436 – Tan Daoji, Chinese general and politician
    • 491 – Zeno, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 425)
    • 682 – Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari, Egyptian politician, Governor of Egypt (b. 616)
    • 715 – Constantine, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 664)
    • 1024 – Benedict VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 980)
    • 1137 – William X, duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
    • 1241 – Henry II, High Duke of Poland (b. 1196)
    • 1283 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (b. 1261)
    • 1327 – Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, Scottish nobleman (ca. 1296)
    • 1483 – Edward IV, king of England (b. 1442)
    • 1484 – Edward of Middleheim, prince of Wales (b. 1473)
    • 1550 – Alqas Mirza, Safavid prince (b. 1516)[19]
    • 1553 – François Rabelais, French monk and scholar (b. 1494)
    • 1557 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish priest and scholar (b. 1510)
    • 1626 – Francis Bacon, English jurist and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1561)
    • 1654 – Matei Basarab, Romanian prince (b. 1588)
    • 1693 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (b. 1618)
    • 1747 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1667)
    • 1754 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher and academic (b. 1679)
    • 1761 – William Law, English priest and theologian (b. 1686)
    • 1768 – Sarah Fielding, English author (b. 1710)
    • 1804 – Jacques Necker, Swiss-French politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (b. 1732)
    • 1806 – William V, stadtholder of the Dutch Republic (b. 1748)
    • 1872 – Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
    • 1876 – Charles Goodyear, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1804)
    • 1882 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (b. 1828)
    • 1889 – Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist and academic (b. 1786)
    • 1909 – Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (b. 1840)
    • 1915 – Raymond Whittindale, English rugby player (b. 1883)
    • 1917 – James Hope Moulton, English philologist and scholar (b. 1863)
    • 1922 – Hans Fruhstorfer, German entomologist and explorer (b. 1866)
    • 1926 – Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
    • 1936 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1855)
    • 1940 – Mrs Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
    • 1944 – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Ukrainian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1920)
    • 1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (b. 1906)
    • 1945 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (b. 1887)
    • 1945 – Johann Georg Elser, German carpenter (b. 1903)
    • 1945 – Hans Oster, German general (b. 1887)
    • 1945 – Karl Sack, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1896)
    • 1945 – Hans von Dohnányi, Austrian-German lawyer and jurist (b. 1902)
    • 1948 – George Carpenter, Australian 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
    • 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Colombian Minister of National Education (b. 1903)
    • 1951 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (b. 1862)
    • 1953 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (b. 1877)
    • 1953 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and television host (b. 1891)
    • 1953 – Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1891)
    • 1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (b. 1867)
    • 1961 – Zog I of Albania (b. 1895)
    • 1963 – Eddie Edwards, American trombonist (b. 1891)
    • 1963 – Xul Solar, Argentinian painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
    • 1970 – Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator and animator (b. 1896)
    • 1976 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1903)
    • 1976 – Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
    • 1976 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (b. 1891)
    • 1978 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed Portmeirion (b. 1883)
    • 1980 – Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and philosopher (b. 1935)
    • 1982 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1896)
    • 1988 – Brook Benton, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
    • 1988 – Hans Berndt, German footballer (b. 1913)
    • 1988 – Dave Prater, American singer (b. 1937)
    • 1991 – Forrest Towns, American hurdler and coach (b. 1914)
    • 1993 – Joseph B. Soloveitchik, American rabbi and philosopher (b. 1903)
    • 1996 – Richard Condon, American author and publicist (b. 1915)
    • 1997 – Mae Boren Axton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
    • 1997 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (b. 1916)
    • 1998 – Tom Cora, American cellist and composer (b. 1953)
    • 1999 – Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Nigerien general and politician, President of Niger (b. 1949)
    • 2001 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2002 – Pat Flaherty, American race car driver (b. 1926)
    • 2002 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian soldier, mathematician, and academic (b. 1891)
    • 2003 – Jerry Bittle, American cartoonist (b. 1949)
    • 2006 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player, coach, manager (b. 1916)
    • 2006 – Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2007 – Egon Bondy, Czech philosopher and poet (b. 1930)
    • 2007 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (b. 1907)
    • 2009 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (b. 1986)
    • 2010 – Zoltán Varga, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1945)
    • 2011 – Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri, Bahraini journalist (b. 1971)
    • 2011 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Malcolm Thomas, Welsh rugby player and cricketer (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – David Hayes, American sculptor and painter (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Greg McCrary, American football player (b. 1952)
    • 2013 – Mordechai Mishani, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – McCandlish Phillips, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-American architect, designed the Cosanti (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Gil Askey, American trumpet player, composer, and producer (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Chris Banks, American football player (b. 1973)
    • 2014 – Rory Ellinger, American lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Norman Girvan, Jamaican economist, academic, and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Aelay Narendra, Indian politician (b. 1946)
    • 2014 – A. N. R. Robinson, Trinbagonian politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Svetlana Velmar-Janković, Serbian author (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Paul Almond, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Margaret Rule, British marine archaeologist (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Nina Companeez, French director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
    • 2015 – Alexander Dalgarno, English physicist and academic (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Ivan Doig, American journalist and author (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Tsien Tsuen-hsuin, Chinese-American academic (b. 1909)
    • 2016 – Duane Clarridge, American spy (b. 1932)
    • 2016 – Will Smith, American football player (b. 1981)
    • 2017 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, writer, and satirist (b. 1948)

    Holidays and observances on April 9

    • Christian feast day:
      • Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Anglicanism, Lutheranism)
      • Gaucherius
      • Materiana
      • Waltrude
      • April 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Anniversary of the German Invasion of Denmark (Denmark)
    • Baghdad Liberation Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
    • Bataan Day or Araw ng Kagitingan (Philippines)
    • Constitution Day (Kosovo)
    • Day of National Unity (Georgia)
    • Day of the Finnish Language (Finland)
    • Feast of the Second Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
    • Martyr’s Day (Tunisia)
    • National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day (United States)
    • Remembrance for Haakon Sigurdsson (The Troth)
    • Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)